Page 106 of Filthy Lovin Heroes

“That’s a huge tree, even for Lachlan.”

“It needs to be impressive for the Christmas Eve ball.”

“You’re hosting a Christmas Eve ball?”

“I forgot how many questions you ask.” Malcolm kissed me again, turning my mind to mush.

I was vaguely aware Fergus turned the sleigh around as we headed back towards the castle.

I closed my eyes, dropping my head back. Malcolm at a Christmas Eve ball. I could well imagine how many women would be flocking around him. I tuned the gossip about him out in New York, or at least I tried. My life was work.

But now, things were different. He was no longer a colleague.

I didn’t open my eyes and let the snowflakes melt on my upturned face. Pleasure hummed through me, but at the edge of my brain, reality rallied. What was the harm in letting the fantasy continue a while longer?

Seven

Malcolm

Three days later, Lachlan Castle was decked out to impress for the Christmas Eve Ball. My mother took her hostess duties seriously; the whole place was dressed with greenery, lights, and decoration. Extra staff was hired to assist with all the guests.

I’d received good news the other morning in the study and the family finances were back on track. Lachlan would remain as it was. The specter of having to sell-off even a small part of the estate had hung over me for the last seven months. I hadn’t created Ronan’s mess, but I sure as hell didn’t want to be the Murdoch who had to reduce the estate. Legacy was a powerful thing, even though it felt like it had a chokehold on me. For the millionth time, I wished that I’d stayed in the States and that my damned fool brother hadn’t had a death wish.

Entertaining never interested me much. I preferred my life in New York to being dressed up in a traditional kilt and paraded around the crown heads of Europe like a stud bull. But as the host, I was required to greet everyone in the receiving line. The inane chit-chat gave my mind plenty of time to wander.

What must Holly think of this world? Most of these people had never worked a day in their lives. Though they may have attended world-famous universities, they weren’t accepted to them based on their merit, but on the size of the donations their families had contributed. They never planned to use the degrees they earned and only acquired their diplomas as just another mark of their pedigrees.

I’d been pleasantly surprised that Holly and my mother got on well. They were as different as could be, but they found common ground in respecting each other’s dedication to their chosen work. Holly assured my mother that we were not a couple, and my mother had demurred badgering her about it.

She saved that for me.

“Tell me again why you aren’t announcing your engagement tonight?” My mother had succeeded in cornering me as I was trying to reach Holly across a crowded room.

“Because we aren’t engaged.” Though for the hundredth time today I wondered if she already carried my child. I nodded at a passing couple of Italian royalty. Two hours into the event, I was seething with jealousy. While one obligation after another snared me, Holly was free to mingle, dance, and socialize with every man who had two eyes in his head and a cock.

“And whose fault is that?”

“It’s no one’s fault. It’s complicated.” I growled. Most people backed off when I growled.

Not my mother.

Or Holly.

My mother raised a manicured brow. “Malcolm,” she said gently. I hated it when she tried to be motherly. It was as anxiety-producing as a crocodile cuddling a kitten. “She can’t practice medicine here without retraining. What do you think she’d do here?”

Holly was smiling at Nevil Brockton. Undoubtedly, he was telling her about when he crewed at Oxford. Brockton was an ass, surely she would see that? Now that she was back in my life, I didn’t want to let her go. But keeping her from her true calling wasn’t good for her.

But she would have plenty to do once I knock her up, whispered the devil on my shoulder. My gaze stayed on Holly. Fuck it. I was dedicating myself to filling her pussy every chance I got. If she was pregnant, she’d have to stay. I should’ve been ashamed but I wasn’t. Dukes were used to getting what they want.

My mother’s brows arched towards her hairline. “Whatever the problem is, fix it. Show her Scotland has plenty to offer as do you. You’re the Duke of Lachlan.”

“I’m well aware of my title. Not everyone’s sole objective in life is to be a Duchess. You’re aware that we’re in the twenty-first century, right?”

She waved away such a small detail.

“You were a bright boy, Malcolm. Figure out what she wants and give it to her.”

That didn’t put me in a better mood. What Holly wanted was to practice medicine, and that I couldn’t give her. Worse, the only way she could do what she loved was to be an ocean away from me.

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