by Multiple
He rolled his eyes. This was nothing new to them. She needed to talk to him about something else, but she was trying to gain the courage to do it. Usually he would allow her the time, but this morning he was still too raw.
“Anice, just let me know what you really want to talk about.”
She frowned at him. “If you’re in a bad mood, we can deal with this later.”
“No. Now. Later I’ve got some meetings in Edinburgh.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Angus told me you had an altercation with Dr. Chilton a couple of nights ago.”
“And?”
His testy tone didn’t seem to stop her. It never did.
“I think you need to be very careful with that one, Callum.”
Weary, so bloody weary, he wanted to scream. His family loved him and meant well. He understood that. If any of them had any idea what had gone on the night before, they’d probably read him the riot act. And still, it didn’t matter. It didn’t affect the need he had for the infuriating woman. Right now, it was taking every bit of his control not to march to her room and take her again.
He rolled his shoulders and threw his sweat-soaked towel on his bed.
“If I have to hear concerns about Phoebe one more time, I’m going to start knocking heads.”
She studied him for a second longer than he expected. When Anice got on a roll, she rarely stopped to consider. But she was now.
“You called her Phoebe.”
“What?”
“You called her Phoebe. You usually call her Dr. Chilton.”
He sighed. “Anice, let it go. I might want the woman, but I understand my duty better than any of you.”
Callum was sick of saying that—of living it. It had been a bloody long time since he’d been carefree. He would give ten years of his life to be able to just have a day when he didn’t have to worry. To throw every caution he had to the wind and just live.
But he had lost that right years ago when he made one very bad mistake. He always regretted it, but not more than he did at the moment he had awakened next to Phoebe and realized it would be their one and only night together.
“Callum.”
He glanced at her and saw the pity on her face. Dammit. Anice might not be as savvy as the rest of them, but she had a soft heart. Many times, she seemed to sense when one of them was hurting, and unlike the men of the family, she always wanted to talk about it. If any of them knew how much he wanted Phoebe, it would be Anice.
“Let it go.”
She nodded. “I’ll let you know about the marketing department issues.” With one last look at him, she slipped out the door and left him alone.
With a sigh, he sat on his bed and tried his best to forget his night with Phoebe, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. He didn’t want it to happen. He wanted to remember one of her sighs—and the way she’d moaned his name. That one act would be imprinted on his memory for eternity.
He didn’t know if he should curse that or thank God for it.
Chapter Seven
A few days later, Phoebe was finally getting into her studies when Anice interrupted her.
“Do you have a moment?” she asked. Before Phoebe could answer her, she continued. “I was wondering if you could give me some advice about a man.”
Phoebe bit back a groan. In the three days since she’d been stupid enough to let Callum bed her, she’d been trying desperately to avoid the whole family. Callum had been easy to evade. He had all but disappeared. Most days, she didn’t even see him. She knew he had been in his office before she arrived, but the only explanation Angus had given her was that Callum was busy at another of their field offices. Phoebe should be thrilled, but she wasn’t. The first day, she had been thankful. Then, she had been irritated, which made no sense at all to her. It showed just how insane the impossible man was making her. She wanted to be near him at the same time it made her crazy to think that they would be in the same room.
Angus had been soothing at first, keeping to himself, allowing her the silence she needed. For as long as she could remember, she had escaped into work. It had been a little harder than usual, but she had done it. Then, the questions started. For a day and a half, Angus had tried to pry information from Phoebe about her personal life. All of the Lennons had been in and out today. All except Callum, thank goodness. Now this.
“Phoebe?”
Phoebe shook herself out of her thoughts. “I don’t think I’m the woman you need to talk to about this.”
She blinked. Phoebe had tried to keep her tone light, but she knew anyone with half a brain could hear her pain. From Phoebe’s experience with the woman, Anice had a brain and a half.
“But…you’ve been married.”
Phoebe nodded.
“And you were in the same career field.”
Phoebe nodded again. “Yes, he was a few years older than I.”
Anice snorted and eased a hip onto her desk. Oh, bother. Anice looked like she wanted to have a good long chat, and all Phoebe wanted to do was get back to work. Since Callum was avoiding her, she hoped she could finish her work before they actually had to spend any time alone again. With every member of the family popping into the office whenever they felt like it, she was getting very little work done.
“Really? I didn’t know that. I guess that makes sense, though. You’re so young to be so accomplished. Did the age difference give you any worry?”
“Worry?”
“Did you have any issues because of it in your marriage?”
She studied Anice for a moment. “Don’t you think you should talk to a family member or a girlfriend about this?”
She shrugged and slipped off the desk. She roamed the office, rearranging things. Phoebe had a feeling it was Anice’s way of coping with uncomfortable conversations. “All we have is each other, and if I try to talk to my brother or cousins about it, they will run a background check on him.”
Phoebe couldn’t fight the smile. She could see Callum doing that without a problem.
“And stop smiling. It isn’t cute or just them looking out for me. I can’t go out on a date with a man just for fun without them sticking their noses in my business.”
“It is kind of sweet that they care so much.”
Anice tossed her hair back over her shoulder, crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and frowned. “You have no idea. You’re an only child. And you’ve no idea exactly how long I’ve been putting up with it.”
With a resigned sigh, Phoebe closed the diary and sat back in her chair. “They do it because they care.
“I understand that, but my first…date wasn’t a pleasant experience. Fletcher, who we all know sleeps with any attractive woman who is still breathing, threatened him. He was sitting at the table cleaning a broadsword. As did all the others. Then, Callum, he was the worst. He just stared at my date with one of those looks of his.”
She mimicked her cousin’s most thunderous expression. Phoebe couldn’t help it. She giggled.
“I call that his ‘Lord of the Dead’ look,” Phoebe said. The moment she said it, she regretted it. Anice stared at her for a second, her expression so serious. Then, in the next instant, she burst into giggles herself.
“Och. That is definitely Callum.”
Anice’s amusement relaxed Phoebe.
“He’s always one for telling us what to do.”
She wanted to move away from that conversation. It could only lead to things she didn’t want to talk about.
“So you said you wanted my opinion?” she asked as she took a sip of her tea.
“Oh, yes. Have you ever been involved with a man you worked with?”
She choked.
“Are you alright?”
She nodded as she patted her mouth with her napkin.
“Did I shock you?” Anice asked. She sounded worried so Phoebe shook her head.
“Oh, no. Like I said, I met my husband on the site, and well…th
e archeology set is a rather randy group. This type of thing goes on all the time in my career field.”
“Don’t you have a meeting this afternoon?” Callum’s ominous tone filtered over the room. Phoebe immediately stiffened, but Anice tossed him an annoyed look and stood to face him.
“I do, but I wanted to talk to Phoebe about something.”
“She has got work to do, Anice.”
The ominous tone didn’t faze his cousin. She settled her hands on her hips. “Is she not allowed a break now and then?”
The rising tension in the room was almost overwhelming. She didn’t understand it. All of the cousins argued with each other, but this was something else. There seemed to be another layer of irritation between them. Really between everyone and Callum. What little she saw of him. Each day, tension within the household had risen, and she hated that she might have been the reason for it.
Anice stepped closer to Callum, and Phoebe’s stomach churned. It wasn’t something she was used to. Her family might disapprove, but they did so in stony silence.
“I think you need to mind your business.”
Callum’s frown turned darker. “Watch yourself.”
Anice opened her mouth to argue, but Phoebe had had enough. “Stop, please.”
Both cousins whipped their heads around to look at her.
“I really don’t like being tossed around like that.”
Anice’s expression softened, but Callum’s, of course, did not. He stared at her as if she were being rude. Stupid man.
“No need to worry, Phoebe. We’re always arguing,” Anice said.
“I won’t have it. It’s too much to take. All this drama and arguing, how is a person supposed to work?”
She realized then that she had overreacted. The irritated look Callum had been giving her was now one of confusion, and perhaps a bit of worry. She pulled her emotions back under control, pushing aside her agitation.
“Anice was just asking me a question about the diary.”
Anice tossed her a grateful glance. Phoebe realized then that Anice did not want her cousin knowing about her romantic troubles. Which, dammit, tugged at Phoebe’s interest. Anice was apparently keeping this under wraps.
“I’m sure Dr. Chilton has more work to do, and you are keeping her from it.”
Anice rolled her eyes. “I’ll chat you up later, Phoebe.”
She left them alone as she sauntered out of the room, giving her a cousin a look that Phoebe knew meant she wasn’t done with Callum.
The door shut with a definite click and silence descended.
Phoebe turned around to face her desk and tried to get back to work. But she couldn’t. Not then, not while Callum stood behind her as silent as a tomb. She read the same line three times before Callum cleared his throat. She glanced over her shoulder and found him looking at her.
“Did you want something?”
Then the most amazing thing happened. His cheeks turned ruddy as if he was embarrassed.
“No.”
But he said nothing else. “Are you sure? I understand if you need to get back to work.”
And he had been busy with work, or had made himself busy enough to stay out of his office. Now, he didn’t seem to know what to do.
“I need to work at my desk.”
“Okay.” Not wanting to stare at him anymore, she turned back around to her desk.
He paused and then he moved to his desk. She could feel him walking past her, then the squeak of his chair. It took a few moments, but she finally concentrated on the Old English passage she was trying to translate.
“I wanted to apologize.”
Her heart stuttered almost to a stop. “Please don’t.”
Another pause. “But I feel that I have made a mistake.”
Her stomach churned, and the surge of anger caught her off guard. She counted backwards from ten.
“I would really rather not speak of it.”
“I feel that I must. After a little discussion with my cousins about this, I believe that it would be best to clear the air.”
Mortification mixed with her anger and had her turning around and standing to face him. “You discussed it with your cousins? How dare you?”
For a moment, the confusion was easy to read in his expression. Then it cleared. “I’m talking about keeping the diary in the office.”
“Oh.” Embarrassment filled her. “Well. No worries. I would rather keep it here.”
He opened his mouth to argue with her, but she shook her head. “No. I would rather not. There will be no question on the integrity of my study if we keep it in here.”
“Phoebe—”
“No, I said I would rather just keep it the way it is.”
He didn’t appear to be happy with her announcement, but he nodded.
“If you will excuse me, I need to grab a bite to eat.”
He looked like he didn’t believe her. Why should he? She was taking the coward’s way out and running to her room with her tail between her legs.
Without another word, she practically ran to her room. She couldn’t be near him just then. She hadn’t had time to prepare herself for the onslaught of emotion. When she reached her room, Phoebe closed the door and leaned back against it. Before she could catch her breath, her mobile buzzed on her nightstand. She walked over and was relieved when she saw Izzy’s number.
“It’s about damned time. You are out of the country, off running amuck in the Highlands.”
The sound of her best friend’s voice soothed some of Phoebe’s anxiety, and she could afford herself a little smile. “I’m not running amuck. I’m working.”
“You were supposed to check with me every few days.”
It was true. But their last talk had been before her night with Callum. Phoebe had been avoiding this. Even across the miles, over a mobile phone, Izzy would ferret out something had happened.
“I’ve been busy.”
“Well, I have been trying to get a hold of you. I had Roberto look up your laird.”
That gave her pause. Roberto was a little overprotective of Phoebe because she was Izzy’s best friend. “I thought he knew Callum.”
There was a pause. “I was talking about McWalton.”
Her face felt hot, and she was glad they were talking over the phone. “Oh.”
“We’ll return to the fact that you sounded very territorial over a man for whom you are working.”
“I didn’t sound territorial.”
“And defensive. But first, we have to talk about this other man. Roberto did a check.”
“Personally?”
She couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice.
“We have to. We know those parents of yours won’t take care of you.”
“Give me the phone,” Roberto said in the background.
“I can tell her what you told me.”
“And you are ready for a fight. Let me have it,” Roberto said with his usual patience.
There were sounds of the phone being struggled over and a string of Spanish that would have made a sailor blush.
“Hello, Phoebe. How are you doing?”
She couldn’t help but smile. Her best friend had found the perfect man. Izzy was all drama all the time. Roberto was the calm she needed to be balanced.
“According to your wife, I’m running amuck through the Highlands.”
He snorted. “Isabella has no room to talk. I did some checking, and you can be mad at me later, but we wanted to protect you. I’ve heard some grumblings about McWalton.”
She settled on the bed. “Grumblings?”
“The man doesn’t have the best reputation. Backed out of a few contracts, and he’s known for some shady deals. In fact, I would say that he skirts the law on a few things. Interpol keeps an eye on him.”
Her head started to pound. “And what does this have to do with me?”
“Not much, but I wanted yo
u to know that this man is a con artist.”
“Okay.”
“And apparently, there is no grant.”
For a moment, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. Then she had to swallow the bile that rose in her throat.
“No grant?” She barely got the words out of her mouth.
“No. I’m very sorry, love.”
“But, why? Why would he make up something like that?”
“I’m not sure what the angle is. There has to be a reason. McWalton does nothing without some kind of motive. From what I found, he’s a predator. Is there anything he’s said that would explain that?”
She thought back to their conversations. “No. He seems very interested in what I am doing, but benefactors do that from time to time. Makes them feel like they are participating in the research.”
“Makes them feel smarter than they really are.”
She would normally smile at Roberto’s quick catch, but she couldn’t. The feeling of dread now settling in the pit of her stomach wouldn’t allow her any levity. The ramifications of what the bastard had done to her were starting to hit.
“But apparently, I am not the smartest person in the room.”
Roberto sighed. “We’ll find out just what he’s after. You’re sure you can’t think of anything? There was a little rumor that there was some animosity between Lennon and McWalton a few years back over a broken engagement.”
“Callum was engaged?”
There was a pause. “No. McWalton. Not sure what it was, but it was apparently ugly enough to linger several years later. I think you should leave.”
A spat of Spanish followed that statement, and even if she couldn’t speak the language, she knew Izzy wasn’t singing a lullaby. She opened her mouth to agree, but something held her back. Something was telling her to stay there.
“No. I can’t.”
“Phoebe, darling, you need to come see us. There is something else going on, and I don’t think you should stay. It might be too dangerous.” Roberto said.
Part of her agreed. McWalton was playing a deep game, and now she knew for sure he couldn’t be trusted. She’d known from the beginning there was something very odd about his story and the grant. Now, though, she was too entrenched. She wanted to stay. Partly because of the work…and partly because of Callum. It was idiotic, but she wasn’t ready to leave him just yet.
