The Heir of the Castle (Harlequin Romance) by Scarlet Wilson Read Free Book Online

eyes as he asked the question.
    Laurie rolled her eyes. ‘I should be so lucky. I don’t have enough hours in the day for myself let alone anyone else. Do you know, I think this is the first time I haven’t had a headache in months.’
    He leaned forward. ‘It’s all this good Scots air. It does wonders for your health.’ For a second, her breath was caught in her throat as the aroma of his woody aftershave invaded her senses. It was delicious.
    She gathered herself and smiled. ‘Yeah, but it’s making me exceedingly tired.’
    ‘You mean you don’t want to go and play nice with the relatives?’
    Laurie took a deep breath. She knew the correct answer to this question, but it just couldn’t form on her lips. She gave a little shrug. ‘Yes, yes, I do. But right now I’m just too tired to care.’ She looked over to the middle of the room where they were all currently holding court, talking—no, shouting—at the tops of their voices.
    She gestured over to the other side of the room. ‘The person I’d really like to sit down with at some point is Mary from Ireland. She’ll have been my father’s half-sister. And she looks really like him. I’d like to get a chance to talk properly to her.’
    The lights flickered out and the room was plunged into darkness, followed by a theatrical scream. And even though she should have half expected it, it really did make her jump.
    Callan’s arm slid around her waist. Even though she couldn’t see a thing, she could sense him leaning closer to her. And it was her natural instinct to move a little closer to him. ‘You okay, Laurie?’ His warm breath tickled her cheek. More of the aftershave. It was scrambling her senses and rapidly turning into her new favourite smell.
    She clutched the cup in her hands. Her hands had started to tremble. The last thing she wanted to do was shatter some priceless china on the parquet flooring. ‘Yes, thanks,’ she whispered.
    ‘I’m sure this will all be over in a second...’ his voice was low, the curls around her ear vibrating with his tone ‘...and hopefully then we can all get off to bed.’
    The words sent a shiver down her spine. Something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Something she hadn’t had time to feel in a long time.
    The realisation was startling.
    She’d only been here one evening and everything about this place was surprising her.
    She’d yet to feel a connection to any of her relatives—the one thing she would actually have liked.
    But she couldn’t get over the connection and tingle she’d felt to this place from the moment she’d stepped inside. She was under no illusion that Annick Castle would actually ever be hers. But she hadn’t expected the place to take her breath away. She hadn’t expected to get the tiniest sensation of belonging from just looking out of a window across an ocean.
    None of that made any sense.
    But what made even less sense was the man standing next to her, and the fact her skin was on fire beneath his fingertips. She didn’t even know him. She wasn’t sure if she even liked him. He was grumpy. He was prickly.
    But something made her feel as if Callan McGregor was the one true person about here she could trust.
    Then there was the fact she knew he was single. It seemed to have made her stomach do dangerous somersaults.
    And he seemed fiercely loyal to a man she knew nothing about.
    The lights flickered back on around them. It only took her eyes a few seconds to adjust. The blonde woman Ashley from earlier was now lying on the floor, with a blood stain on her dress. Thank goodness she could still see the woman’s slight chest rising and falling, otherwise she might have been totally convinced.
    Robin—the man in hunting clothes—immediately launched into his act. ‘Call the police, there’s been a murder! Everyone stay where you are—you’ll all be questioned.’
    Callan took a deep breath. ‘Oh, joy. Let the mayhem begin.’ He was shaking his head again and he moved