Page 77 of Wild Scottish Fortune

Even if he didn’t plan to.

Even if he promised me over and over that he saw a future in Loren Brae.

Even when he consulted me on decorating choices for his house, which he had casually started referring to as our place. Like I had anything to do with the purchase of such a grand cottage.

People leaving me was the only truth that I’d everknown, and I was scared that the minute I told Finlay how I felt about him, he’d do just that. If I didn’t give him that last piece of myself, well, when he did finally leave, I’d be able to lie and tell myself that it hadn’t really been love. It would make the inevitable a touch easier, or so I was trying to delude myself into thinking. The reality was that when he left, he’d leave a huge gaping Finlay-sized hole in my heart, and I was certain it would be almost impossible to recover from that loss.

“Orla?”

“Yes?” I turned to find a statuesque woman with muscular arms, a curvy body, and a riot of dark curls standing before me in jeans and a tank top, a leather crossbody satchel at her waist. I was on-site at the distillery, working through my to-do list for the day, and my thoughts scattered as I tried to place the woman.

“I’m Kaia Bisset, the metalsmith? Your assistant pointed me in your direction.”

“Och, right. Of course. Sorry, I’m a touch behind today so I’d forgotten about our meeting.”

With Finlay’s help, I’d finally hired an assistant, Stacey, and I had to admit, it had made a world of difference in my business. Not only was she scarily efficient, but I was no longer bogged down with handling admin when I was exhausted at the end of a long day. In turn, it had left me more time to be on-site with clients, as well as more time with Fin. An ulterior motive he likely had in mind all along when he’d insisted I hire someone, but I couldn’t complain. I really enjoyed our time after work. At first I thought I’d be annoyed at having someone in my space, but Fin enjoyed quiet time as much as I did, both of us putting onheadphones as we listened to our various podcasts, and he’d often work at his computer late while I worked on my next crochet project.

It was scary how easily we’d fallen into a routine.

Me, someone who’d never had a person to go home to before, now had a partner.

Honestly? It kind of blew my mind.

“No biggie. I’m pretty flexible with my schedule.” Kaia looked around, interest in her eyes, and I paused as the Green Lady drifted behind her shoulders, giving the newcomer a nod. When Kaia turned sharply, looking directly at the Green Lady, my eyebrows winged up.

My my, what do we have here?

“Everything all right then?” I asked, wondering if she would tell me that she’d seen the Green Lady.

“Yup, just thought I heard something.” Kaia rubbed one arm over the back of her neck, likely against the chill that the presence of a ghost would bring, and I studied her a bit more closely. Her accent was American, and she stood confidently, her blue eyes seeming to miss nothing as they surveyed the room behind me. “Pretty site.”

“It is at that. I’ve had great fun working on it.”

“I can’t say I run into many women on the job, so I am beyond delighted to learn you’re the master builder.”

“No, I suspect you probably run into the same problem I do.” We sized each other up, mutual grins of understanding on our faces, and both nodded.

“Everyone assumes we should be men.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. Turning, I motioned for her to follow me. We were hoping to build some custom wrought iron gates for the entrance to the distillery, and Kaia’s namehad come recommended from someone that Hilda and Archie knew. Apparently, she was new to town, but not to the industry. At the very least, I was willing to give her a chance. “Particularly because my company is named Clarke Construction after my last name. It reads more manly than feminine, but I wasn’t feeling particularly creative when I came up with the name.”

“It’s a good name. And why shouldn’t you have your last name on the business? It’s yours, isn’t it?”

It was, even though I never gave much weight to my name. It was attached to a family line that I’d long disregarded, so what did it really matter? Lia had even searched for a Clarke in her spells book but had found no mention of an ancestor of mine. Which was fine, I was told, since not all women were written into her book.

But still. I’d been hopeful for a wee moment. Nevertheless, circumstances liked to remind me that I was on my own in this world.

“I agree. Plus, I enjoy putting men in their place when they make assumptions.”

“You and me both, girl.” Kaia laughed, a booming sound that had more than one man on my crew turning to check her out. I couldn’t blame them. This was a woman who took up space and demanded attention. “So, it’s gates you’re thinking of, right?”

“Yup, out here.”

We stepped outside the building to where the entrance was, and my heart did a little spin in my chest as Finlay waved at me from where he walked with two of my electricians.

“Whooo boy. Hottie alert.”

“Taken,” I said mildly, even though her words made me more annoyed than I wanted to admit.

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