Chisholm Brothers 01 Bottoms Up

by Donna Kauffman

  Was what, what Kat wanted? And since when were Kat and Daisy bosom pals? Last he saw, Kat was staring daggers at the Yank. But before he had time to puzzle any of that out, Kat replied, “I don’t know what I want, but I do know I can’t go about it like this.” She gestured to the flowery shift she had on, then flipped at her hair. “Or this.”

  That was when Brodie realized that, for once, Kat was wearing her hair down. He’d been so caught up with the dress…and those legs…Of course he’d seen it down over the years, but usually that was only when she was in the process of braiding it back up again. It was all shiny and wavy, tumbling over her shoulders and partway down her back.

  “I like it,” he said to nobody in particular. Both women looked at him, and he shrugged a bit sheepishly. “The hair, I mean. And the dress.” When Kat’s eyes narrowed, he quickly added, “Of course, I liked your hair before, too.” Women. Damn, but he never knew what was going on in their minds. Here she went to all this trouble, but she was mad now that anyone was noticing? Like they wouldn’t have? Somebody explain that to him.

  “See?” she told Daisy, as if his comment explained everything. “Honestly, Daisy, I really can’t do this. He’s all yours.”

  “But I don’t want—”

  Daisy’s protest was cut off when Kat made a beeline to the door, amidst a few catcalls, an appreciative whistle, and another toast from Fife. Brodie tracked every step of her departure, and was still staring, somewhat dumbfounded, for a full ten seconds after the door closed behind her.

  “Well,” Daisy said at length as the pub activity finally returned to its normal level of chaos. “So much for winning new friends and influencing people.” She slid onto a stool and propped her elbows on the polished oak bar, sinking her chin into her hand. “I should have left well enough alone, but no.”

  “Ah, she’ll be fine. She’s been acting a wee bit off lately for who knows what reason, but she’ll snap out of it. Don’t take it personally.” Brodie drew her an ale and slid it across the bar to her.

  “Thanks. But I still feel stupid.”

  “Maybe if you explain what that little experiment was all about I can sort it out for you. I know Kat pretty well. Better than most, actually.”

  Daisy sipped her beer and seemed to think long and hard about his offer. Although what there was to think about, he had no idea.

  “She looked good,” he offered. “If that helps.”

  Daisy just took another long sip of ale. “I shouldn’t have meddled,” she said at length. “I mean, I’ve only been here a few weeks and I’m still getting my bearings. It’s just, it seems like there aren’t many single women my age and I thought maybe Kat and I might hit it off. I know we’re a bit different—” She stopped when he snorted. “See? I knew I shouldn’t have meddled.”

  “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, but you twoare different.” Earlier today, when Kat had seemed downright bristly, had someone asked him he’d have said those two would have made an improbable pair. But then it was back to that not understanding the whims of women thing. In his experience, stranger things had happened. And he sort of thought it was nice that Kat looked to be taking Daisy under her wing.

  Though, come to think of it, maybe Daisy had been doing the under-the-wing taking. He grinned at that. No wonder Kat had been so prickly just now. She was hardly the type to let others dictate to her.

  Daisy sighed, took another quaff. “You’re right, but we’re still women of a similar age, and so I thought it might be nice to get to know her better. Maybe our different backgrounds and life experiences would lend themselves to an interesting friendship. Or something like that. And it did, sort of. Briefly. We got to talking and I sort of talked a bit about my past, then she sort of unloaded a little, and the next thing I know I’m trying to help fix her up with—” She suddenly clamped her mouth shut, then studiously avoided his curious stare while finishing off her ale at an alarming rate.

  “Daisy—”

  She slapped the mug down on the bar and began fishing through her purse. “I should be going. I have a lot to do if I’m going to be contacting your brother with my proposal.”

  “I haven’t said anything to him yet, but we haven’t talked since I saw you this morning.”

  “No, that’s okay, that’s okay.” Suddenly she was in a big hurry to leave. Or, as she continued to avoid looking at him, get away from him.

  Brodie laid his hand on her arm, stilling her frantic search for her wallet. “The ale is on the house.”

  “That’s okay, I can—”

  “Daisy.”

  She stilled. “Okay. Thanks.” But she still wasn’t looking at him.

  “What’s going on?” he asked quietly. Earnestly. “I really want to know.”

  She said nothing, then finally blew out a long breath. “I so should have just gone straight upstairs tonight.” She dipped her chin further. “I promised myself when I came here that I would take things slowly, not get involved until I got a good feel for the town, the people, and here it is, only three weeks in, and I’m already embroiled in something that’s none of my business.”

  Brodie heard the sincere redress in her tone, but found himself smiling a bit anyway. He nudged her arm with his hand. “Hey.”

  Her shoulders slumped a little more, but she finally looked up at him. Any other time, seeing such a hangdog expression on her usually sunny face would have bothered him, but at the moment, it just made his smile grow a little. After all, she’d only been here three weeks—how bad could the situation really be?

  “I have no idea what’s going on with you and Kat, but trust me, she’s the most self-sufficient person I know. Given how bad you seem to feel about whatever it is, I’m sure your heart was in the right place. She’ll know that.” Of course, he had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but he hated to see Daisy torture herself. “Besides, Kat rarely lets anything defeat her for very long.”

  “I just hope I didn’t make things worse.”

  “What things?”

  She suddenly pushed her stool back. “You know, you’re entirely too easy to talk to.”

  Brodie chuckled. “Well, I am a bartender. But you’re not exactly spilling your heart out here, luv. In fact, it’s rather like pulling teeth.”

  “If you were anyone other than you, I probably would be.”

  He frowned, confused. It was a feeling he was getting entirely too familiar with.

  “I could use an outside opinion, and you’d probably be the best person for a lot of reasons, which also makes you the worst person.”

  He shook his head, laughed. “Females.”

  Daisy laughed a little, too. “I know I’m making total hash out of this. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

  “I can’t say one way or the other since I still haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. But I’ve never been short on offering up an opinion on things I know nothing about, so if you can’t find one that suits you, feel free to come back by and ask me. I’ll do my best.”

  She smiled, nodded, gathered her purse, then paused, looked at him. “You are a really good guy, Brodie. If Kat knows what’s good for her—” She shook her head and shot him a fast grin. “I really need to shut up now and just leave. The meddler in me must be stopped.”

  He leaned on the bar, propped his chin on his hands. “You do realize you’ve gotten me quite curious. One of the reasons I like runnin’ Hagg’s is because I’m nosier than an auld woman. Which makes me a good listener, too, by the way.”

  “I already know you are. Too good.”

  “So…?” He let the offer dangle, and when she continued to linger and didn’t immediately take her leave, he nudged a bit more. “Tell me what all this is about between you and Kat. Just because I’m a good friend of hers doesn’t mean I can’t keep my thoughts to myself. I won’t mention this talk to her if you’d rather I didn’t. But I canno’ help if I dinnae know what’s wrong.”

  Daisy sighed. Clearly torn.

 
“Why the dress and the new hairdo?” he asked, figuring they might as well get right to it and stop beating around the subject. “What was the point of it all? Were ye’ tryin’ to make her over or something? Because, you know, Kat isn’t much for frills and the like. Everyone here knows her and loves her for what she is. She doesn’t need all that. I mean,” he turned his palms out, not wanting to offend, “she looked wonderful, as I said, but it’s not her.”

  “But you thought she looked good?”

  “Sure. Pretty lass in a pretty dress—what’s not to like?”

  “So you think she’s pretty?”

  That made Brodie pause. “Of course I do—why wouldn’t I?”

  Daisy lifted a shoulder. “Well, she plays with auto parts every day and spends a good amount of time every evening scraping grease out from under her nails.”

  “She’s an ace mechanic,” he said proudly, “almost as good as Alastair. Has nothing to do with whether or not she’s pretty.”

  Daisy sighed. “Men.”

  Brodie laughed. “Why do I feel that we’re both talking at cross purposes here?”

  “Probably because we are.” She tapped her fingers on the bar, a look of internal debate clear on her face. “I wish I knew you both better—I’d be better able to figure out how best to handle this.”

  “How best to handle what?”

  “You really find her attractive?”

  Brodie sighed. “Aye, aye. Why is this an issue?”

  “You’ve known her forever. Best friends and all that. Have you two ever dated?”

  Brodie’s mouth fell open. “No, of course not.”

  “Why do you say it like that? You just admitted she was pretty. And though I’ve only been here a short time, I already know that you’re not shy when it comes to the ladies. Is it because you think of her like a sister or something?”

  Brodie’s mouth was still hanging open. Was Daisy getting at…what it sounded like she was getting at? Because that was simply too preposterous to contemplate. “No, I don’t think of her like a sister. I think of her like a best friend. I wouldn’t mess with that. She’s closer to me than almost anyone.”

  “But you don’t think of her like a sister,” Daisy repeated.

  “No. At least, not in the way you mean. I think.” Now he was really confused. And starting to be very sorry he’d pushed his nose into this business. Especially as it was becoming increasingly clear it had something to do with him. “Maybe we should both reconsider our meddling ways,” he muttered.

  Only Daisy apparently heard him and smiled. “You’re probably right.” She leaned across the bar. “So I’ll just leave you with this, and you can do with it whatever you want.”

  “Do whatever I want with what?”

  “The fact that she finds you attractive, too. And she definitely doesn’t think of you as a brother.”

  Chapter 5

  Honestly, she really did need her head examined. One minute she’d been giving Daisy MacDonnell the evil eye, and not ten minutes after her rival had extended the olive branch of friendship, Kat was pouring out her frustrations and desire for Brodie, carrying on about how she wanted him to look at her the way he looked at Daisy. Or any other woman.

  To her credit, Daisy had laughed and taken the news a whole lot better than Kat might have if the opposite had happened. It helped that the only part of Brodie she wanted to get her hands on, or any other man in Glenbuie, for that matter, was his publicity business. She’d come to town ostensibly to take over Maude’s shop, but in fact, she was hoping to bring her skills and talent as a marketer to the local shopkeepers.

  After listening to Kat bemoan her lack of feminine wiles—she still couldn’t believe she’d done that and had decided to blame it on the aftereffects of a very long day, far too much of which had been spent brooding over Brodie—Daisy had confessed that back in the States, she’d been known as something of a matchmaker amongst her friends. And though she didn’t claim to know Kat or Brodie all that well, it had appeared clear to her that there was definite chemistry between the two, and that maybe all Kat had to do was get him to open his eyes and notice her in a different way. She said that most men didn’t appreciate subtlety and suggested that perhaps it was time to take a more direct, more blatant path to getting his attention. It was all about marketing, really, according to Daisy.

  Hence one of the more embarrassing moments of Kat’s life. My God, she’d never be able to show her face in Hagg’s, or anywhere else in town, for months after her little stunt last night. What the bloody hell had she been thinking? A dress, makeup, her hair hanging all over the place? Could she have looked any more ridiculous? They were probably still laughing it up at her expense.

  Sure, sure, there had been that wee moment when Brodie’s look of shock had worn off and he’d actually given her a once-over that at any other time in her life she’d have swooned over. But she’d immediately realized that if the only reason he was noticing her like that was because she’d had to tart herself up, then she didn’t want him. Marketing be damned. But it was the truth. She knew right then that the only way she’d have him was if he wanted her for who she was.

  And the only thing he wanted from the Kat Henderson he knew was a hot game of take-no-prisoners darts and a shoulder to occasionally lean on when times were tough. A friend. That’s what he wanted. A friend.

  She wanted him as a friend, too. She also wanted him naked, sweating, and hot for her.

  “Jesus and Mary, I need a drink.” A shame it was barely half past eight in the morning. She’d been hiding out down here since dawn, when she’d given up any hope of sleep. Mercifully, her father had gone off to Sudley shortly after daybreak to pick up supplies and wouldn’t be back till dusk. So she’d escaped his far too keen eye…and any chance he’d hear about her entrance into Hagg’s last eve.

  She’d already finished up Hinky’s car, and now she was in the office, going over the books and paying the bills. Likely as not, he’d hear about it the moment he got back, but she at least had the remainder of the day to find her balance. She supposed she should be thankful Glenbuie was too small to support its own newspaper. She could only imagine the headlines:

  MECHANIC TRIES TO WIN THE HEART OF PUB OWNER BY FLAUNTING HER BITS AND PIECES ALL OVER TOWN.

  Not that the village needed headlines. Word would have spread by now. Laughingstock was what she was. Though honestly, she could handle the rest of the townsfolk giving her a hard time. The only part of the whole thing that really bothered her was that Brodie was likely laughing right along with them. Not that she could blame him. After all, if someone else had pulled that kind of silly stunt, she’d be right next to him, leading the chorus. Served her right to be the butt of every joke. Stupid, stupid idea.

  The things a woman did for love. And the possibility of hot sex.

  Kat glanced through the sole window in the tiny office. The round patch of leaded glass was permanently hazy, but clear enough for her to make out the shop across the square. Daisy was up. Her curtains were pushed open. Kat had waited tensely to see if her newfound friend would make an appearance, or stop by the shop to discuss the previous evening’s events. But, as yet, there had been no sign of her today.

  Kat had thought about going over there herself, just to make sure Daisy knew there were no hard feelings. She’d certainly known better than to try to be something she wasn’t. She’d just gotten caught up in the moment, and Daisy’s enthusiasm. It had felt kind of good, actually. For a few moments, anyway. Her gaze drifted down the square to the corner, and Hagg’s Pub. She wondered what Brodie was doing this morning. Probably sleeping in, as usual. Such was the lot of a pub owner. Her gaze drifted to the narrow, gabled windows above the bar…and her thoughts drifted to images of what Brodie looked like, sprawled across that huge, heavenly featherdown bed of his.

  Not that she’d been in it with him, of course. But she’d been with him when he’d bought it at an auction four years back. He was a big man, sixteen stone an
d just shy of a full two meters, and he’d bitched so often about his feet hanging off the bed he’d inherited from Hagg, that Kat had finally dragged him off to an auction in Inverness one weekend and made him open his tight fists long enough to see what a good investment a nice, big bed would be. She didn’t hold his frugal ways against him; in fact, she was quite proud of how hard he worked to contribute to the Chisholm clan coffers. It took a lot to maintain the family property, and Brodie was never one to demand much in the way of creature comforts.

  But she would sure like to have him demand a few things of her in that big down bed of his. She imagined they could find all kinds of comfort, creature and otherwise, romping about in that oversized—

  A light rap on the door made her jump guiltily and turn her attention away from the window and back to the books. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to find her doing anything resembling lusting after Brodie Chisholm today. Or any other one from this day forward.