Katie was shocked. What did he mean he was guarding a woman and would be staying in a suite with her? This was totally unexpected.
“What the f,” she stopped herself from swearing since Sophia was lying next to her.
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
“Nothing honey, everything is fine,” she reassured her inquisitive daughter.
However, it was not fine. She could not get the thought out of her head that her man would be spending six months in a hotel with another woman. Once again, she felt helpless. There was nothing she could do. He said that this woman would be a prime target for kidnappers, so that made her nervous too. She tried to rationalize things. She would most likely be an older woman executive if she was in charge of running the business, so it would be okay. It would be okay anyway because Scott was devoted to her and could handle himself. As she and Sophia slowly climbed out of bed and headed towards the kitchen, she knew she would learn to deal with the fact that he was working in a dangerous place and doing it for their future. She knew if she was scared, worried or depressed she could not let him know it when they spoke, because if he was worried about her, he would not fully be concentrating on his job. If he was distracted, it could make things more dangerous for him. Everything would be fine, she thought, as she sipped her cup of coffee. It had to be. He promised to come home safely and he always kept his promises.
Chapter 3
10 MONTHS EARLIER
It was Saturday, a gorgeous, summer morning in Ashville, Ohio, a small picturesque village about twenty miles south of Columbus. Scott was sitting in his grandparent’s back yard typing on his laptop. It was a beautifully landscaped yard; with an abundance of mature trees and flowering shrubs. The smell of freshly cut grass was in the air. He arrived in the area a few days earlier to spend some time with them, not having seen them for a number of years. His Grandmother was American, born in Rochester, New York, and met his Grandfather in England while World War II raged on. She worked in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. They married after the war ended and lived in upstate New York until just after their first child, Scott’s mother, was born. Then, before she was even a year old, they moved back to his Grandfather’s hometown in the Scottish Highlands and lived there happily for years after the transatlantic move. Because his Mother was born in the United States, it meant Scott had dual nationality, giving him the option to live in either country without the hassle of applying for visas, which was quite convenient.
Scott was still recovering from his accident and trying to decide what he wanted to do next in his life. He was looking into the field of Physical Therapy and felt his background and all he had been through would suit him well if he pursued the idea. He was extremely grateful to the therapists who helped him learn to walk again when it seemed like it was not likely to happen. So he felt it was something he wanted to do.
Scott knew there were a few good schools in the area so he decided to take a vacation and spend some time with his grandparent’s while looking into going back to school. While browsing schools on the internet, he decided to place an ad on a local personal’s website. It was not planned, just a spur of the moment thing when he saw the website. He put in a few details about himself, mid-thirties, 6’3”, he used to be in the military and he was Scottish. It took him a few minutes to complete the posting then returned to checking out schools and enjoying the beautiful summer weather. He had never done anything like this and did not give it much thought but decided he would check his email later that evening in case there were any women around his own age that might have responded. His grandparents were usually in bed fairly early and he didn’t know anyone in the area, so the last few nights were a little too quiet.
That same afternoon, about forty miles to the north in the small town of Mount Vernon, Katie was also enjoying the weather. Her girls were camping with their grandparent’s for the weekend, something they did a lot each summer and Katie was thrilled with some much needed rest and relaxation. She was outside lying on her lounger, working on a tan and reading a romance book about vampires for a few hours. Every now and again, she would turn on her computer and surf the internet. The night before, a friend of hers was visiting, drinking wine and talking about various things. Her friend, Jen, tried to convince her that she needed to start dating again now that her marriage was over, but Katie was reluctant. When she pressed about what type of guy she would be interested in, Katie blurted out a few things. She only said this to convince Jen that the type of man she would want would be very hard to find. She told Jen that she would only consider someone who was tall, very tall in fact, very fit, independent, and she wanted him to have an accent. She loved historical romance novels where the hero was British. She wasn’t really ready to start dating and Jen wouldn’t be able to find anyone that matched her criteria so she wouldn’t be able to set her up with anyone. Katie thought herself clever and was quite proud of stalling her friend’s matchmaking plans. Just like Scott, Katie never really looked in the personal ads, but as she was talking the previous night about dating in general, she decided to look at some local posts, just for fun. She was shocked when she saw Scott’s ad. She thought since the post was only made a few hours before, that it must be Jen messing with her. It must be. For a post to appear with just what she had asked for, a Scottish man near Mount Vernon, this must be some kind of set up. Should she call Jen and question her? Or play along? She was not sure what to do, but she was intrigued. What if the ad was real? Katie tried to distract herself by doing housework. No matter what she did, she simply could not get it out of her mind. After an hour, she called Jen and asked outright if she was playing a joke on her. It was not a joke. Katie, convinced that Jen was telling the truth, thought now what should she do? If this ad was real then it must be fate and she should reply. But, she didn’t need personal ads and this was way too soon. Her husband had only been gone for a few weeks. She decided she should sleep on it. If it were genuine, then surely it would be there tomorrow.
Later that evening Scott was watching sports at his grandparent’s. They went to bed early again and he was alone watching a baseball game in the living room. It was a nicely furnished comfortable room. The brown patterned wallpaper and the shag carpet wasn’t exactly Scott’s idea of modern décor, but it did have a homey feel, especially with numerous photographs of his parents with him as a small child gracing the walls. He loved all sports and was really getting into watching and learning more about the famous American past time. The Cleveland Indians were playing the Cincinnati Reds and it was a close, exciting game. There was some kind of sport on every day in America, which he thought was great. Back home there were televised soccer games most weekends, but not every day. Having forgotten all about the ad he placed earlier in the day, when the game finished, he headed for bed.
Around 2:00 a.m., Katie was still wide awake. She’d laid in bed for a few hours, but just could not sleep. She was restless; her mind was racing. She kept thinking about the words written in the ad. As much as she tried to relax and drift off to sleep, it was not happening. She read a few chapters of her book and watched reality shows that she was not particularly interested in, but no matter what, she could not fall asleep.
She knew what she had to do, but still was not 100% sure she should. There was no chance of going to sleep if she did not. After a few more minutes of tossing and turning, she got up and went downstairs to her computer. As she turned on the laptop, she wondered about the post and this mysterious Scotsman. Would the post still be there? If it was real, what was he doing here? What if it is just some local guy pretending to be Scottish just to hit on women like her who liked the idea of a man with an accent? Her whole body tingled when she saw the ad was still there. She hadn’t missed her chance, but she knew that even if he was real, there was no guarantee that he would even reply. Therefore, she decided that she would have to send a message that would catch his attention and pique his interest in finding out more about her. For what seemed like hours, she sat at her kit
chen table typing a message, deleting it and starting again. Then deleting parts of it and changing her mind about what she wanted to say. She breezed through three cups of coffee so she was not going to be sleeping anytime soon. Finally she thought she had it right:
Hi,
I would like to start by saying, that responding to your post totally freaks me out. I have never responded to a post before because let’s face it there are some really weird people out there. I can’t help but be intrigued by you. You have piqued my curiosity, which is why I’m responding. I have nothing to hide, but I would love to chat with you via email a few times before sending you my picture. I just don’t know if you are for real. About me: I’m 33 years old, 5’6”, 138 lbs., I’m not fat, have curves in all the right places, long blond hair, & blue eyes. I love to curl up and read. I love learning new things. My friends tell me I’m the life of the party and I love nothing more than a man who can make me laugh. The fall is my favorite time of year. I think it must be the crisp air. I do not need a man to take care of me, but it’s just really nice to snuggle up to someone. I am divorced, and have two girls. I will never make any excuses about having my girls. They have made me who I am, and make me laugh every day.
If you are interested in chatting, I would love to know more about you. For instance, what brings you to the U.S.? What makes you smile?
Thanks,
Katie
She kept reading it over and over, thinking about what parts she should change. Was it too much about herself? Did it seem too eager? It was nearly 5:00 a.m. and the sunlight was starting to fill her kitchen. Her finger hovered above the enter button. If she pressed it, the message would be sent and there was no way she could get it back. For more than ten minutes, she just sat there bending and straightening her finger until finally she pressed the button. ‘Message Sent’ it said on the computer. It was done, no turning back now. Her heart skipped a few beats. She knew she shouldn’t get too excited. Even if he was real, there could be many other women who were also replying. She had never done anything like this before. This man intrigued her enough to keep her up all night, and she didn’t even know him. There was no chance of sleep now, but knew she needed rest so she headed back upstairs and climbed into bed.
Later that morning, Scott awoke and walked into the kitchen to get his morning glass of orange juice. He never was much of a coffee drinker. His grandparents, having been up for a while, were sitting and talking in the living room. He joined them. His Grandfather talked with him about Scotland, and about how his Grandmother used to love seeing him in his kilt when he was younger. There were still two or three kilts in his closet, but he did not wear them anymore, saying he was too old. Scott brought one of his own kilts with him, but had not worn it yet. He was not sure how people would react to it in Ohio. His grandparents asked him if he wanted to join them for their morning walk around the local park, but Scott declined, saying he’d see them later. He wanted to check out some more school websites on the computer. They left, but made sure he knew that they would be taking him out for lunch when they got back and Scott happily did not object. As he turned on the computer, he remembered the ad he placed the previous day so decided to check his email first, not really expecting any replies. He could not believe it when he saw his inbox - twenty-seven new messages. You have got to be kidding me, he thought to himself. There were three spam messages, but the rest were replies to his post. One woman had replied four times. After her first reply in which she did sound quite nice, she had sent three more messages asking why he had not responded yet. She was deleted. He didn’t want a stalker. He did wonder if he was doing the right thing by placing this ad. He was not quite sure what to make of it, but two more messages were from men asking if he would consider a relationship with another man! He quickly hit delete again and again, the number of new messages was getting smaller. There were a couple of messages from women who sounded nice, but they were in their early twenties, which was way too young for him. He realized that he should probably have put some type of age requirement, but he was new at this. Maybe he should have made it clearer, that he didn’t want any men to respond. He thought by asking for a lady, he was being specific. Obviously some people didn’t read it properly. One by one, the replies were deleted, for many reasons. One lady sounded nice. She was about the right age, but lived in Cleveland, nearly a three hour drive, so that was never going to work. Scott was a little disheartened and ready to admit defeat as he clicked on the last new message. It was from Katie. He started to read, expecting to delete it, but he kept reading. She sounded very nice, was a little younger than he was, sounded intelligent, witty and funny. However, she didn’t mention where she lived. He hoped she was local and decided to send her a reply:
Hi Katie,
Thanks for your message. I’m with you. This is totally new and very unusual for me, too, but I figured I’d give it a go as I don’t know anyone around here. I agree with you about the pictures. I’d like to chat via email for a wee, bit, too before I’m comfortable sending pictures. I think I already said in my ad, but I’m 37, 6’3”, around 200 lbs., athletic build, very short brown hair, and blue eyes, and am very clean cut.
I am here visiting family and checking out schools as I’m looking for a new career after leaving the military. I’m very laid back and easy going and am happy doing most things. I am fine with going out to bars, but am just as happy cuddling up to someone at home.
I’m really looking for someone local to show me around, have some fun and see where it goes.
Where do you live?
Anyway, I wanted to keep this fairly short for now, but if you want to continue to chat, then send me an email.
Thanks,
Scott
He was happy with his reply. He kept it short and to the point, very friendly and offered her the chance to continue their email chat if she wanted. He decided to remove his post from the website; there were just too many weird people out there. If he got the chance to meet Katie, then fine. If not, he would just carry on as he had been over the previous few days.
Katie had fallen back to sleep and it was nearly lunchtime before she rose from bed. As she made her way downstairs, she wondered if he would have read her message yet. She did not even make herself a cup of coffee, unheard of in the Johnson household. Before she did anything, she enjoyed a cup of coffee when she got up. But today, there was something more important to do. Her fingers trembled with anticipation as the computer powered up. There was one new message there, could it be? A huge smile grew on her face as she realized it was from him. Plus, he sounded genuine. She sent him another message telling him where she lived, that she was a teacher, and gave him a little more information, then asked him a few more questions. Now it was time to play the waiting game again.
Scott replied later that day and over the next few days, they emailed one another quite a lot, eventually feeling comfortable enough to send a photo. She sent him a photo taken in her kitchen, a close up showing above her shoulders. It was a great picture, which showed off her beautiful face, pretty blue eyes, wonderful smile and her long gorgeous blond hair. When Scott saw the photo, he was amazed at how pretty she was and was a little concerned about sending a photo back in case she did not like what she saw. However, he need not have worried. Katie thought he was cute. He actually sent two pictures, one a recent close up and the other a few years earlier in his military days on a training exercise. After the photo exchange, they decided they should talk on the phone. Katie gave him her cell phone number and asked him to call her later that evening around 9:30 p.m., after the girls went to bed.
Scott called at exactly the time she asked Thursday evening. He was always on time, something to do with his military days. They talked for nearly two hours about all kinds of things. She told him his accent was very sexy. He wasn’t used to women being this forward, but was very happy she liked his accent. Katie told him all about her girls, her job and the city they lived in. She held off telling him that sh
e was not divorced yet, just legally separated. She would do that when the time was right. He talked about his military background and what he wanted to do next in his life. He hadn’t mentioned his injury or gone into great detail about his accident. He would do that if they met in person and when he was ready, as it was still a very difficult subject for him to speak about. They talked about meeting in person Saturday morning at a park near her house. It was a beautiful park full of hiking trails, woods and lakes. She thought they could go for a walk and then maybe go for lunch. Scott was happy with this, and couldn’t wait to meet her. She emailed him directions and they both looked forward to it.
Chapter 4
“You have got to be kidding me,” said Jen.
“Don’t worry, I will be fine,” Katie reassured her friend.
“But you don’t know this guy! He could be a rapist or murderer, and you’re going to meet him in the woods! You need to wake up.”
“It will be fine. Don’t worry. If it makes you feel better, I’ll call you when I meet him and every hour after that.”
“You’re damn right you will! I might be making a trip to the park myself to keep an eye on him.”
KILTED DESIRE - Sands of Betrayal Page 3
