Unfortunately the mic picked up the end of his sentence and hysterics ensued. Dougal tried to call order. Eventually people were quiet. Dougal grabbed the mic, giving Lake a look that told him he'd abused his privilege and wouldn't be allowed to hold it again. Lake grinned and rolled his eyes at Kirsty, which made her take a turn at swallowing a smile.
"Perhaps you would like to explain for the town what this means?" Dougal said.
Then he shoved the mic under Lake's nose, because he wasn't going to risk handing it over again.
"It means that I no longer have a business, or savings. The plans I had are no longer possible. It looks like I'm stuck in Invertary."
Caroline gasped and clasped her heart. She always was a soppy romantic. Kirsty gave her a look that told her she'd deal with her so-called best friend later too. Caroline hung her head in an admission of guilt. Kirsty signalled that she wanted the mic. Dougal held it in front of her.
"Why thank you, Lake," she said loudly. "It's the least you could do. Now, tell me, what exactly will you be doing now that you're stuck in Invertary?" She smiled sweetly as she waved the contract. If he thought he was getting it back, he had another think coming.
The mic went back to Lake. Dougal looked like he was about to burst and answer the question for Lake. It seemed like everyone knew what was going on except Kirsty. Lake gave her that lazy smile that famously wooed women out of their knickers. Kirsty pretended it didn't affect her. His eyes sparkled at her.
"I thought," he said lazily, "that I'd settle down and marry the new owner of the business."
There was screaming, singing, whistles and the odd whoop from the crowd. Lake gave her a confident grin that said he had everything under control. Kirsty was not impressed with his presumptuous attitude—even though the thought of marrying Lake made her knees turn to jelly. She grabbed the microphone from a beaming Dougal.
"What if the new owner doesn't want you, hotshot?" she shouted to be heard over the noise.
There was silence again as everyone turned to Lake. He folded his arms and grinned at her. That smug grin that said he knew better. It made her flush in places that, thankfully, people couldn't see.
"You're not exactly a catch any more," Kirsty carried on. "You don't have any money, or prospects. You're homeless too, unless you plan to move in with Betty. Not to mention you've been gone since before Christmas, without even a phone call. What woman in her right mind would want that?"
"Me!" several women shouted at once.
There was laughter and calls that this was the best New Year's ever. Her mother was trying to tell her off with a look and Caroline held her head in her hands with shame.
"Plus, lest we forget," Kirsty carried on, "you're English." She pointed at his kilt. "The disguise didn't work."
Kirsty opened her mouth to say something else, but Lake leaned towards Dougal.
"We tried it your way," he told him. "Now I'm doing it my way."
He strode towards Kirsty with a gleam in his eye. There was no time to run. In two long steps, he was in front of her. He grinned, bent over, scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder and jumped off the stage.
Kirsty still had the microphone.
"Isn't someone going to do something?" she demanded.
There was laughter and applause.
"Isn't someone going to save me from the English?"
"Enjoy it, lass," someone called. "It's not every day you get an English invasion that looks like that."
Kirsty growled into the microphone.
"Caroline," she shouted. "Do something."
Her best friend shrugged helplessly. As they reached the doors, Kirsty tried one last time.
"Whose side are you lot on, anyway?" she demanded.
"Lake's side," was the unanimous roar.
Then she was outside in the freezing night air, being carted up the high street by the man she loved.
Epilogue
The first day of a new year
"Tell me again why I helped you to win her hand?" Betty demanded of Lake.
To Kirsty's great dismay, she'd discovered that when Lake gave her his shop, he also gave her his underwear mascot.
"Technically, he hasn't won anything," Kirsty said. "For there to be an engagement, there has to be an actual proposal and a declaration of love. Then there has to be an acceptance. None of these things have happened."
They were in the tiny kitchen in the flat above Lake's old shop. They'd squeezed in to eat breakfast, which was pies for Betty and cereal for the people who cared about their arteries. Lake wrapped his arm around Kirsty's waist and pulled her to him. He lowered his head and whispered in her ear.
"I can show you how much I love you, if you like?" he whispered, and her heart skipped a beat.
Memories from the night before flashed on the screen inside her head. Delicious.
"Stop canoodling," Betty said.
Kirsty turned to her latest problem. It had been a shock to Kirsty's system when the flat door had thudded open at seven in the morning and Betty had shouted that she'd brought pies. Lake had rolled over, kissed her on the side of the neck and asked her to get him one before he curled back under the duvet. She'd put her feet on the small of his back and kicked him out of bed.
"Hand over your key to the flat," she told the evil one. "I'm not having you walk in any time you like."
Betty folded her arms and shook her head.
"It's my building. I'm keeping the key."
"Lake?" Kirsty said in exasperation.
"You can keep the key if you want to," Lake said.
"Lake!" Kirsty said as she elbowed him.
He grinned mischievously.
"I have to warn you though, Betty, there's a good chance you'll see more than you want when you walk in. You know what newlyweds are like. Insatiable. I expect there will be sex everywhere. In the living room, on the couch..."
Kirsty grinned at him.
"...The hall carpet, and the kitchen counter," she said.
"I eat there!" Betty said in disgust.
"I'm just letting your know what you're in for," Lake said. "Might be a better idea to knock the door first, until the novelty wears off—say, in twenty years or so."
Betty mumbled something under her breath, delved into the hidden pockets in her dress and came out with a key. She thumped it into Kirsty's hand.
"This isn't fair," she grumped.
"But better for all concerned," Kirsty told her.
Betty frowned.
"Who's going to be in charge of the shop now that the two of you are here?" she asked.
From the way she said it you could almost hear her think, not Kirsty, not Kirsty.
"Me," Kirsty said with delight. "It's my shop now."
"What about the one over the road? That's your shop too. You belong over there. It isn't like you don't have enough to keep you occupied without bothering with this one."
"Actually, I've had some thoughts on that," Lake said as he casually sipped his coffee.
The women gave him their attention. He cleared his throat.
"I thought I'd turn it into a security business," he said.
Kirsty's heart skipped a beat. He really meant to stay.
"With what?" she said. "You don't have any savings, I don't have any insurance and you gave this shop to me."
"I thought I'd use the backroom downstairs first off. Run classes, start the business and as the money comes in we can renovate over the road."
"Where will I design my new lingerie line?" Kirsty said.
"Can't we share the space?" he said with a smile. "It's big enough. I can partition a section off for you."
"Half," Kirsty said.
"A quarter," Lake said.
Her eyes narrowed.
"We'll talk about it."
He pulled her close and whispered in her ear.
"We can negotiate in bed," he promised.
Kirsty doubted those sorts of negotiations would go in her favour. She felt herself mel
t against him anyway.
"What about me?" Betty grumped. "I don't want to be stuck with the knickers while you do all the fun stuff."
Lake looked towards heaven, it seemed he was counting to ten. Kirsty smiled, she loved this new expressive side of him.
"I thought," Lake told Betty patiently, "that you might like being the security business mascot a little more than being the underwear mascot."
"Do I get to carry a gun?" she said hopefully.
"No."
"Investigate?"
"No."
"Go undercover?"
"No."
"Then what's the bloody point in that then?" she fumed. "I'd rather stay with the lingerie shop. Your business doesn't sound any fun at all."
"I'll let you interrogate people."
"It's a deal," she said with a grin. "Now that's sorted, I'm going home. Cardboard Lake and I are watching the Coronation Street omnibus."
With one last grump she was gone, waddling out of the house like their own wee tartan duck. Lake grinned after her before turning to hug Kirsty. She leaned into him and breathed deeply. So this is what contentment smelled like.
"Want to go look at the space downstairs and see what we can do with it?" he said to the top of her head.
"Not right now," Kirsty said. "We have more important things to do."
She took his hand and led him along the hallway and into the bedroom. She opened the curtains wide. Over the road, white snow covered the remnants of her old life, making it clean. She turned to Lake, who did that raised eyebrow thing he thought was cool. Kirsty pointed to the old armchair beside the bed.
"Have a seat," she ordered.
He did as he was told, with an amused smile on his face.
Slowly, Kirsty began to untie the belt of her blue wool dress. Lake's eyes went wide. She let the dress fall open. Lake licked his lips.
"I owe you a striptease," she told him. His eyes shot to hers. "In daylight."
He thought for a minute and then he grinned widely.
"Caroline," he said.
"Yep," Kirsty said as she let the dress fall to the floor. "You should never have expected her to lie."
His gaze darkened as it followed the length of her. Kirsty's heart raced within her.
"Remind me to thank her," he said in that husky lust laden voice of his.
Kirsty reached behind her to unsnap the pink La Perla bra she'd nabbed from Lake's shop - from her shop.
"You may have won the bet, but I'm still keeping your shop," she told him. "This doesn't change that."
Lake grinned at her.
"I wouldn't expect otherwise," he said as she threw the bra at him.
"As we both know," she told him as she hooked her thumb into her panties. "The shop is a separate issue."
He didn't answer as she wiggled her hips to slowly lower the satin and lace.
"After all, you were very clear that I had to fight back," she said as she kicked off the underwear.
She took a step towards him, wearing only the black high-heeled boots he loved so much.
"Looks like that backfired on you, soldier boy," she told him with pride. "Especially seeing as you have completely and utterly lost this lingerie war."
Lake gave her that grin of his that said he knew better, then he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap.
If you enjoyed this book, you might like to leave a review on Amazon.
In the meantime, Invertary book two, is due out soon!
Coming late 2013!
To sign up for information on release dates go to my website
Mad Love on Amazon
Madeline Lewis wants to be the next big thing in something - anything. She is tired of failure, although to be fair she does cause most of it, but now she wants to be a success. And the only thing standing between her and world domination is Dean Montgomery, her childhood friend.
Dean has been in Maddie's life so long that he's taken on the attributes of wallpaper. That's something Dean plans to change and fast. He'd tired cleaning up Maddie's messes, he's tired of being the sensible one and he's tired of being invisible. Maddie might be confused about what she wants out of life, but Dean knows what he wants - Madeline Lewis.
She won't know what hit her.
Winner of the 2013 Silken Sands Star Award from Romance Writers of America
Laura’s Big Break on Amazon
Laura needs to interview the hero of the moment to keep her new job with a women's magazine. She'd rather stick a fork in her eye. Twelve years have passed since her disastrous one night stand with Charlie and they've barely exchanged two civil words in that time. She calls him the Neanderthal and he calls her The Iron Maiden. If it wasn't for the fact his sister was Laura's best friend, she wouldn't have anything at all to do with him.
Charlie has come back from a stint in Afghanistan with a souvenir - nightmares. After one afternoon arguing with Laura, Charlie makes a wonderful discovery: she's so irritating, she scares away his dreams. So Charlie agrees to give her an interview - at a price. She has to accompany him on a two week cycling holiday in Holland, that way he might actually get the rest he needs. He takes particular delight in the plan because he knows that Laura hates exercise, loathes the outdoors and despises him. It feels good to have the upper hand for a change.
Laura needs an interview. Charlie needs sleep. And they both need to grow up and get over the past. But not before Laura cycles into a canal, sets fire to a tent and posts nude pictures of Charlie on the internet - all with the hope of getting her story.
The Davina Code on Amazon
It's irritating when romance gets in the way of your goals. And falling in lust with Jack Miller is definitely getting in the way of Davina's plans. Davina has a movie to make and an acting career to resurrect - okay, so it was never alive in the first place, but that's not the point. The point is: she's hitting thirty and she wants to be famous. And if that means making an indie movie with "borrowed" film equipment and shooting the movie in Jack's house without permission - then so be it.
She's a woman on a mission and nothing is going to stop her from achieving her dream. Not even her sexy, ex-cop, landlord who is pretty focused himself. Unfortunately his goals revolve around evicting her from his house, putting her in jail and getting her into bed - and he doesn't seem to mind which one happens first.
This is a self-portrait I did when I was going through my ‘blue period’ – we affectionately call it ‘Janet Smurf’. Now you can see why I write instead of paint!
But enough about that—here’s a little about me. I was born in Scotland and now I live in New Zealand. I’ve been here almost ten years and I absolutely love it! I’m married to a lovely Dutch man who tolerates the fact I make fun of him on my Facebook page. I have two adorable little girls and several mad animals that eat up a lot of my time during the day. This means I do all my writing in the dark when everyone is asleep. I put on some music and entertain myself with stories of people falling in love. It’s such fun to watch the characters screw up from the comfort of my wee office! I’m a trained artist, an ex-teacher and travel junkie. But most of all – I LOVE to talk to people! So if you want to contact me, then please do.
Here is my facebook page
Here is my website
Here is my Amazon page
A big thank you to fabulous Scottish fashion photographer Jodie Mann for letting me use her beautiful photos on the cover of my book. And another big thank you to Irene Wadsworth, designer of Impractical Clothes whose work features in Jodie's photos. Two very talented Scottish women who make my book look wonderful.
Thank you to the ladies of Romance Writers New Zealand for their support, humour and encouragement. I would feel like a nutty hermit without you!
Thank you to Liz Dempsey, who reads all of my books searching for mistakes, even though she'd rather be reading horror!
Thank you to my wonderful supportive husband, who after eighteen years together still makes my heart race. Without you ente
rtaining the kids, there would be no books. Although, there would be even more if you stopped constantly interrupting me to ask how the work was going! I love you very much and hope that one day you'll actually read more than the acknowledgement page and make it through a whole book!
And, last but not least, thank you to my readers. You lot are lovely! Your letters of encouragement and support have a huge impact on my life and I appreciate them ever so much. Thank you for reading my books.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidentaCopyright © 2013 Janet Kortlever
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior permission can be obtained by contacting the author through her website. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.
Cover photos by Jodie Mann
www.jodiemann.co.uk
Clothing in cover photos by Impractical Clothes
www.impracticalclothes.com
Author's website:
www.janetelizabethhenderson.com
ISBN: 978-0-473-24390-6
Lingerie Wars (The Invertary books) Page 31
