Page 56 of Wild Scottish Beauty

Who knew what the next morning would bring? At this rate, anything could happen.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Willow

Agentle bump at my head woke me from a dead sleep, and I blinked up at the ceiling before the bump happened once more. Jolting, I focused on the small kitten that was currently headbutting me, and everything from the day before came flooding back.

“Jeez, I’m surprised I slept at all. Hey, bud.” I scratched behind Calvin’s ears and his eyes closed, a rumbling purr emitting from his little fuzzy body. He reallywascute, even if he was waking me up before … I craned my neck to look at my phone … seven in the morning. “We’re going to have to work on the concept of sleeping in.”

Not that I slept in all that much, but since Ramsay didn’t want me at the store until ten, rising before seven did seem a touch enthusiastic. Today it would give me some time to get to know Calvin better, maybe get a phone call into my dad, and work on a few more designs. Picking up my phone, I scrolled to the world clock app, realized it was far too early to even contemplate calling my father who, albeit was an early riser, but not aone in the morningearly riser.

My phone also showed a slew of text messages from Miles, increasing in frustration at my lack of response. I ignored them.

He didn’t get a say in my life at the moment, and he probably already had all the intel he needed from Ramsay anyway. Would Ramsay tell him about the magickal happenings in Loren Brae? I doubted it, since the Kelpies hadn’t been a surprise to Ramsay, and Miles surely would have brought something of that nature up to me, as protective as he was.

“I guess I’ll have to get used to checking in with Dad later in the day. Ope!” I snagged Calvin before he tried to jump off the side of the bed. “That seems like a pretty big jump for you.”

I guess I was getting up.

An image flashed in my mind of Calvin’s food dish, and I paused in my attempt to extract my legs from the covers tangled around them.

“Are you doing that?” It felt weird, asking my kitten a direct question like that, but since nobody was around to judge me, I went with it.

Calvin licked a paw and didn’t reply.

“Calvin?”

The cat looked up at me. Did he already know his name or was he just looking at me because I was the only one speaking in the room? How would I test that he was actually communicating with me?

Maybe Loren Brae was beginning to make me think thatanythingcould be magickal.

“Can you show me what you want right now?”

The image of his food dish flashed in my head again.

Hmmm. Was I doing that because I knew he was probably hungry or was he doing that?

“Can you show me how you fell in the loch?”

An image of a car speeding, scaring him, and sending him careening off the wall into the water, surfaced in my brain.

“Really? A car ran you off the road? You poor thing.”

I went to scratch his ears and Calvin bit my finger. Lightly, maybe even playfully, but I grabbed it back.

“Sir. Rude.”

The food dish image popped back in my head.

“Okay, see … I think you have to be doing this. Because I’m not thinking about your food as much as you’re thinking about your food. I wonder what it means though?” Scooping Calvin up, I acquiesced to his demands, before showering and getting ready for the day.

My sequin skirt had dried from the day before, but now I paused as I considered my outfit choice for today. Yesterday I’d wanted to mix fun with a nod to Scotland in my tartan shirt, never considering that I’d be running through the rain to rescue a kitten. Since it was anyone’s guess what challenges would arise for me today, maybe I needed to consider ease of movement and sturdy footwear.

Pulling out my pink Docs, I paired them with grey straight-legged jeans, a Nirvana T-shirt, with an oversized tweed blazer with rolled cuffs. Piling on a tumble of statement necklaces, I lined my eyes with a smokey liner, andpinned half my hair back. Based on Ramsay’s preference of rock music, I figured he wouldn’t be too fussed by me wearing a band T-shirt at his shop, but we’d never actually discussed work attire. I made a mental note to bring that up with him later today.

A crash sounded.

“Calvin!” I poked my head from the bathroom to see the small box of sewing accoutrements that I’d brought with me from the storeroom on the floor. Calvin, who was on his back on the carpet, didn’t seem at all bothered by the mess he’d just made, and batted lazily at a ribbon.

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