On the warm bonnet of my car, I reclined, not that I could feel the tiniest degree of relaxation. Tension and stress racked me, and I grumbled to myself, watching the sun descend from my high point on the mountain. Months had passed since I’d been shot. Multiple surgeries had removed the pellets, the last just a few weeks ago. With physiotherapy to help the nerve damage and rebuilding muscle, I’d get back to my old self, and to my job.
I needed that physical exertion like I needed air.
A fucker to achieve when I couldn’t use my strength.
In the meantime, I was going out of my mind. I couldn’t work. Couldn’t sleep. I felt stupid for putting myself in the line of that fucker’s shotgun barrel.
Lochie allowed me to help with the training and management of the mountain rescue but refused my request to go on call-outs. I missed it. The hard use of my body.
Truth of it? I was pent up, strung out, and seriously bored.
A dangerous combination of emotions for a man like me.
I worked hard to keep a calm exterior, and not to show the wildness inside me, but the battle was getting tougher. Soon enough, I’d lose it altogether.
From down in the late-spring heather, Ellie gave a wuff, and seconds later, my phone rang from inside the cab. I leapt down, ignoring the pain of the jolt, and collected the device.
Leo, the screen read. My favourite rock star, and husband of Viola, my cousin. I spent a lot of time with the couple and worked for Vi’s da, often living in their castle while they were away on tour.
They were home now. Vi was due to give birth in a couple of weeks so they’d be around for a while. I answered the call, a grin at the ready.
“Cam, I need to ask a favour,” Leo said.
“God, anything. Put me to work.”
“I have a friend coming to stay on the estate. They need collecting from the airport tonight. Viola’s in some pain, and I don’t want to leave her. Can you help?”
“Nae problem. Give me his name and flight time, and I’ll fetch him.”
“Her,” Leo corrected. “This is where it gets complicated. My guest is Elise. You know the film star? She acted in one of my music videos and she needs a getaway to handle some shit that’s going on. I told her where better than the Highlands? I have a bothy organised for her to stay in, but there could be problems with getting her here safely.”
I hummed interest, but my mind was away, spinning. Leo didn’t know, but from a young teen, I’d had the biggest crush on Elise.
Notorious for many reasons.
So fucking gorgeous she had me in pieces.
In my darkest moments, recovering from my injuries, I’d let her pretty face be my distraction. I’d played her movies too many times, lost in my own thoughts and needing to climb out, and using fantasy to do so.
Even my damn dog was named for her. I reached and ruffled Ellie’s fur, and she panted happily then bounded into the car.
Aye, I knew the name Elise, but I wasn’t daft enough to imagine I knew anything about the real person.
Then I caught up with Leo’s words. “What do you mean problems with getting her here?”
“She’s being hounded by the press. If they find her and follow her back to the estate, she’ll be worse off than when she started.”
My sense of alertness ramped up, adrenaline flooding my underused system. “Will they chase the car?”
“I hope not. Don’t get into a pursuit.”
Leo filled in the rest of the details. She’d land in Inverness in just a few hours. I’d come face to face with the woman I’d imagined so many times.
I hung up, and my heart thundered.
Finally, I had a purpose. A dark night, roads I knew like the back of my hand, aye, I was the right man for the job. I just had to wind in my age-old crush before I met the lass of my dreams, then prepare to save her from those who hunted her.
Elise
I was being followed. Despite the subterfuge—my disguise, zero entourage, and the cheap plane ticket to a place no one should be able to find me—I sensed attention on me, hot and cloying.
Stifling where already I could barely breathe.
I stole a peek over my shoulder, using my raised hood and carry-on bag to hide the look.
Farther back in the arrivals queue, a figure stared right back at me.
Fuck. Fuck!
A photographer, I was certain. Or was I being paranoid? That was possible. I shuffled forward as the line moved, fear sweeping down my spine.
As soon as I’d got off the plane, I’d read Leo’s message about his friend collecting me. Though he’d sent a picture of the man and the car license plate, tendrils of panic flooded my already mixed-up system.
Strangers pursued me. A stranger would be driving me.
I was a mess. Daylight scared me. Life fucking scared me. After everything that happened on that movie set…
No. I couldn’t think about it.
This short break was meant to help, yet dread was my new best friend.
“Miss?” A voice summoned me forward to the immigration window.
I handed over my passport with trembling fingers.
The woman showed no reaction to my name or face, and only waved me through. My heartbeat picked up more.
This was my chance.
The person who’d somehow followed me on my flight was still in the queue. I didn’t have any luggage beyond my bag so I was good to go.
As soon as I’d cleared the corner, I took off.
Sprinting, I rounded the barriers and jogged through the airport, my legs unsteady after the long cross-Atlantic flight. The dark night outside called me, and I burst from the exit, sucking in my first breath of cool Scottish air.
But I moved too fast. My feet hadn’t stopped when they should.
I stumbled straight into the road.
Right into the path of a large off-roader.
The wide blue eyes of the driver—the man from the photo Leo had sent—were the last things I saw. Then everything went black.
