At speed, I pelted through the estate’s open ground, following orders from Jack.
Lochie’s friend, an expert in personal defence and hostile environments, had arrived early this morning. He’d already set me to task with fitness tests while we waited on Lochie to finish work. I was too full of energy to sit around the hangar.
In his late forties, Jack was grizzled, honest, and had an easy sense of humour. I envied his competence.
We jogged into the open hangar, past the helicopters, and to the mountain rescue suite. There, Lochie was winding up a call.
He raised his head and spotted us. “What do you make of him, Jack? Fit enough? Maybe a touch overweight?”
I choked out a laugh. I didn’t carry in an inch of fat on my body, and he knew it.
But if that was how it was going down…
I wheeled around to face the trainer. “Lochie could do with some help in the handling of an axe. Last time I went to his cottage, he was posing over a woodpile, bare-chested, his axe over his shoulders, an inch from slicing his ear off.”
Jack raised a salt-and-pepper eyebrow. “Lochinvar, you know better than that. What were you thinking, man?”
The leader of the mountain rescue glowered. “Ye should always hold an axe by the back of the head. But I was doing it to impress my lass. She was at the window.”
I grinned broadly. “There it is. The kind of nonsense ye get up to when you’re in love.”
Lochinvar muttered, and Jack readied himself for our lesson.
For a second, my mind cleared and my thoughts naturally gravitated back to Elise. Her trust in sharing stories with me. Her touch and how it sent fireworks flaring through my system. Her sweet mouth on mine…
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I peeked at the screen and nearly had a heart attack.
Elise: Hey. What are you doing?
Cameron: Training with a specialist. We ran by the bothy earlier. Couldn’t stop, though.
A short pause followed, then Elise replied once more.
Elise: Maybe you can come by later?
Jack called order with a clap of his hands, returning me to the room.
“If we’re ready to start, I first want to summarise our objectives and why I think I’m here. You were attacked on the estate. You found yourself surprised by how vicious a human could be. By the lack of reason that can come from a dangerous mind. And you never intend to let that happen again.”
“Exactly that.” I swung my gaze to Lochie.
He nodded once, his gaze hard.
“Then you’ve got the right man for the job.”
Jack walked us through his years of experience. To call him a mercenary wouldn’t be far from the mark. He had served in the army for twenty years, been all over the world, killed both remotely and hand-to-hand, and knew his shite. He’d mainly worked personal protection and security for the past few years. That subject had interested me, as my uncle Gordain provided it for Leo.
Twice, he’d asked me if I wanted to join his crew. To learn the trade, go with them on tour, and spend time away from the estate. So far, I’d refused.
Lochie and I talked through our gaps in training, and I admitted my entire lack of knowledge about defending myself from a gunman.
“I know how to shoot,” I explained. “But I dinna own a gun. Despite my job in managing the land here, I can’t bring myself to take down the animals who need culling.”
Jack regarded me. “Yet you found yourself with the man training a gun on you. How did that make you feel?”
My spine tingled. My hackles rose. “At an extreme disadvantage.”
If I’d had a gun, I would’ve been tempted to use it.
“And what happened?”
My heart thundered, my mind jumping back to the scene. “I rushed him and put myself in the line of fire. He pulled the trigger.”
Lochie’s hand landed on my shoulder, and Jack kept up his steady gaze.
“You were hurt,” he stated.
My torn muscles panged. “Badly.”
“The correct training might have saved you an injury. You need to know how to handle that kind of assault. Whether it be with a knife, gun, or worse. I’ll cover this off as a priority. You need to understand things like kill zones, disarming with limited risk to yourself and,” his eyes darkened, “how to get the jump on a fucker who’s trying to hurt someone you’re protecting.”
With Jack at the helm, we wasted no time. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon on the estate practising everything he preached. Other members of the team joined in, Max included, delighted with the opportunity to learn how to be a badass.
I pushed myself hard, running drills.
Being ambushed.
Getting accosted in a narrow lane.
By the end of it, I should have been exhausted. But the adrenaline only pumped me up more. While Lochie showed Jack around the hangar, I had yet more energy to spend.
Max and I were left alone in the ops centre. I paced back and forth, and he wrinkled his nose, watching me.
“I was going to ask if you wanted to come out for a drink. But I dinna think it’s me ye want to spend your time with.”
He was right. I only wanted to see Elise.
“Max?”
We both swung our attention to the man in the doorframe. Maddock, Max’s twin, stared back. He hadn’t been in the training session, a fact Max had double-checked before he’d been able to relax.
In his pilot’s jumpsuit, Maddock regarded his brother. “Earlier today, I took out the lease on Cait’s old cottage.”
Max’s mouth opened, and shock filled his gaze. “Ye have to be fucking kidding me.”
“I didn’t know until later that ye wanted it, too. I found out from Ma.”
“You’re barely here. What’s the fucking point in taking up that place?”
Maddock held his gaze. “I’m moving back for good. But that isn’t the point. I genuinely didn’t know. If ye want, I’ll sign it over to ye.”
I tensed up, anticipating a fight.
“There ye go, taking whatever ye want. Dinna do me any favours. Congratulations on your new home.” With a sneer masking acute but obvious disappointment, Max stormed past Maddock and away into the hangar.
Maddock sighed and rested back against the door, smacking his head into the wood. “I really didn’t know. There’s next to no chance that he’ll believe me, aye?”
“He will. In time.” I doubted my own words.
“I was thinking about what ye said—that we were too similar. I did something about that.”
“What?”
His hands went to his waistband, and he untucked then raised his shirt. A tattoo, freshly inked, wound around his side.
“Holy fuck.” I closed in and studied the artwork. “The easier thing would’ve been to make up your differences.”
“Don’t ye think I’ve tried?”
“Honestly? Not that hard.”
“Aye, maybe not. He gets my back up like no one else.”
I pointed at his side. “See? Too similar. No tattoo is going change that.”
A little girl ran into the room and stopped, her blonde curls bobbing. Isla, Lochie’s daughter. “Where’s my da?” She peered up at me. “Hey, Cameron, no dog?” Without pause, her attention fixed on Maddock, and she squinted. “Max! No. Maddock. Ha. I’m right.”
Maddock reinstated his shirt, and his gaze gentled. Since the twins’ sister, Cait, had married Lochie, they were now this little lass’s uncles. Maddock had spent far less time with his new niece.
“Maddock is correct. How can ye tell?”
Isla pulled an imperious expression. “I’m seven, not stupid.”
We both burst out in a laugh.
Isla huffed. “Max swings me around and flies me around the room. Even though I told him I’m not a baby.”
“Aye? Are ye sure, because I’m a pilot.”
Maddock swept in on Isla and grabbed her under her arms then swung out her legs. She giggled in glee.
“I’ll helicopter ye to your da. Catch ye later, Cam.” He flew her away.
For a moment, I paused and considered my options. I should go home, or take Max up on his offer of going out. Maybe getting him drunk would help. But I knew his pride well enough. He’d want to be alone until he’d gotten control of his hurt.
Which brought me straight back to Elise.
I knew I shouldn’t start anything with the woman. No matter how much she’d come out of her shell, she was hurting. But she’d kissed me.
Half on autopilot, I drove to the bothy.
Presented myself at her door.
A glutton for whatever affection she was willing to give.
Nor did she keep me waiting. Even without Ellie to bark our arrival and tempt open the entrance, Elise was there waiting before I’d even killed the engine.
My heartbeat skipped. I warred with myself over being the good guy, or being whatever she wanted me to be.
There was only one way to find out where I’d land.
