To Scotland With Love by Patience Griffin Read Free Book Online Page B

I get my house rebuilt, the sooner I’ll be out of your room above the pub.” She rose without his help. “Thanks for having me over.”
    â€œAnother time?” He echoed her words back to her.
    She narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see.”
    He needed answers, sooner rather than later. The only thing he’d gotten from Caitie last night was companionship. As great and unusual as it had been for him to spend an evening in lively conversation with a cute, brown-haired firecracker, he hadn’t gotten to the truth. It rankled, so he tried another tactic. “How about this afternoon? By the dock. The sun sets at three thirty. I’ll bring food.”
    She shook her head. “Seriously, a picnic? Do I look like a polar bear?” She leaned down and slipped on her boots.
    He snatched up her parka as if to take it hostage. “What kind of reporter turns down an offer to spend time with a missing screen idol?”
    She stilled at his words.
Aha, got you, Caitie Macleod
.
    She pretended to adjust her boot, avoiding looking at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you I’m a quilter.”
    â€œAye. And I’m a bluidy fisherman.”
    She took a deep breath and finally faced him. “I really must go.”
    â€œYeah, I’m sure there’re some urgent quilting matters awaiting you.” He held open her coat for her, like a gentleman ought to do. But with her, he felt more like a rogue. As he slipped the coat over her shoulders, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “If it’s any consolation, I enjoyed sleeping with you.”
    Gooseflesh rose up on her creamy neck. He’d gotten to her, and she couldn’t deny it, even if she wanted to.
    Ah, hell.
A lot of good it’d done. Turning her on had turned him on as well. He couldn’t stop himself. He breathed her in and felt a little drunk all over again.
    She whipped around, finger raised, snarkiness smeared all over her face, ready to give him a piece of her mind.
    But before she could, he dropped one of his disarming smiles on her. Like an anvil. She stopped. Oh, yes, he knew all about disarming women. He spoke with the consistency of honey. “Why, Caitie Macleod, your eyes have grown to the size of camera lenses.”
    â€œOh, you. You . . .”
    He smiled because Miss Smart-Mouth Reporter couldn’t think of a single comeback.
    Like a skittish doe, she lurched for the door.
    He let her go. Though it amused him to have an effect on her, the truth was, he wasn’t immune to the effect she had on him.
    He remembered her mother, Nora, a mixture ofkindhearted and stubborn. Caitie was so much like her. Graham couldn’t reconcile the things he liked about Caitie with the idea that she had come here to expose him—his treasured slice of normal life, his family, his town, Gandiegow.
    Alone, he went to his laptop and flipped it opened. He had to take precautions. Caitie was attractive, but she might be poisonous as well. Although he couldn’t stop thinking about her wrapping herself around him, in the end, he’d prove what she was all about.
    * * *
    As Cait rushed off the bluff back to the pub, her headache increased in size. Last night’s alcohol couldn’t take all the blame. Her gran’s surly temperament had Cait’s head close to cracking wide open now. Even more disconcerting had been the rapport between Graham and Deydie. Cait wondered whether she’d ever be as comfortable with her own grandmother as Graham was. How had he done it? How had he endeared himself to the prickliest woman alive?
    More unsettling yet was how gorgeous Graham looked this morning—his rumpled hair, the splash of stubble on his face, and that sleepy-eyed look he’d given her. He’d had her close to forgetting the promises she’d made to herself—to never be a man’s pawn again.
    She’d come to Scotland for a fresh