The Highlander Next Door by Janet Chapman Read Free Book Online Page B

light revealing her smile as she handed back his jacket. “Everyone in the settlement always teased that Johnny and I already acted like an old married couple. Or they did until Sebastian showed up.” Her smile turned sad. “I want the man back that I fell in love with a year ago, and I want us to get married and live here in Spellbound Falls. I don’t care what the scientists say; this
is
a magical place, and I want to raise my baby here with Johnny.”
    “Then go after him with everything ye got, lass, and don’t stop until he’s on his knees begging you to marry him.”
    “Oh, I will definitely make him get on his knees,” she said with a laugh, grabbing the shoulder strap of his holster and pulling him down, then giving him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she said softly, “for caring enough to spy on me, and then for not treating me like I’m twelve.”
    Niall wrapped her up in a careful embrace, only to have her suddenly pull away when the screen door on the main house screeched open then slammed shut and he looked over to see Birch running down the stairs.
    Macie rushed to meet her. “Hey, Birch, what’s the hurry?”
    “What are you doing home early?” Birch asked, making a point of looking past her at Niall. “Are you sick and Chief MacKeage gave you a ride home?”
    “I, ah, I did leave work early because I was a little woozy, but I thought a walk in the park might make me feel better.” Macie nodded in his direction. “That’s where Niall found me, so we just sat and talked for a while.”
    “In the park?” Birch said on an indrawn breath. “You were in the park
together
? I mean . . . um, that was nice of him to give you a ride home. Wait,” she rushed on when Macie started toward the house. “Did you happen to see Cassandra in town?”
    “No,” Macie said with a frown. “She told me this afternoon that she was locking herself in her room all evening to study for a math final. She’s not there?”
    “She wasn’t when I just checked,” Birch said, waving her away, then striding up to Niall—he assumed to make sure he could see her scowl. She glanced back just as Macie disappeared inside, then rounded on him again. “You stay away from Miss Atwater, you understand? You especially have no business sitting with her in that stupid park. She’s confused and emotionally vulnerable right now.”
    “Excuse me?” Niall said, apparently more confused than Macie.
    “The girl’s barely
twenty-one
. And in my book, that makes her off-limits.”
    “Wait. Ye think I’m—”
    “In fact, all my residents are off-limits, no matter their age. They’re here because they’re
all
vulnerable. Now, come on,” she added before he could respond, grabbing his arm and trying to drag him around the front of his truck. “We need to go find Cassandra before she really does get pregnant. I’ll drive the camp road then look around town, and you go check out the town docks and park trails.
Come on
,” she repeated, giving his arm a tug when he stopped at his front bumper. “I swear there’s a baby epidemic going on around here. Aren’t they teaching sex education in school?” When tugging didn’t work, she tried pushing. “Cassandra’s pregnancy test might have been negative today, but we need to find her before the little twerp she’s seeing convinces her that he must be shooting blanks. Chief MacKeage!” she cried when she still couldn’t budge him. “Your job is to protect the citizens of Spellbound Falls, and that includes clueless girls.”
    “And maybe that girl in particular?” he asked, gesturing at the large tree growing beside the house—the one Shep was standing under, his tail wagging as he looked up.
    Birch spun around, her gasp letting him know she was just in time to see the pair of flailing feet disappear in through the window.
“Les maudit tannant!”
she hissed, spinning back to him—her expression making Niall decide that whatever she’d said wasn’t nice.