Page 26 of Edinburgh Escape
“A safe place to meet and get to know each other,” Maggie said. “Afterward, we walked through town, talking all the way.”
“I took you on a picnic,” Callum added.
“We ate cold fried chicken by the lake and talked about American football versus Scottish football.”
“By the end of my vacation, I was madly in love and couldn’t imagine leaving you behind, so I proposed.”
“I, too, had fallen so deeply that I accepted your proposal. That’s when I got the DNA results.”
“I had to return to the UK to wrap things up before I could make a permanent move to Montana.”
“You’d move to Montana for me?” She smiled. “I’m honored.”
He gave her a wink. “Anything for my beautiful fiancée.”
“Before you could come back to Montana,” Maggie said, “I got the invitation to visit Ewan. You met me at the airport in London, which you really did, and here we are.”
“When’s the wedding?” Callum asked.
“It’s all so new to us, we haven’t set a date yet,” Maggie said. “I have to find a venue, get a dress, order flowers and a cake. I put it off until after I met my half-brother.”
Callum clapped his hands. “We have a cover story.” He glanced at his watch. “When are we supposed to be at the Drummond estate?”
“At three o’clock this afternoon.”
“You have the address?”
Maggie pulled up the address Ewan had given her on her cell phone.
Callum entered it into his map application and requested directions from their current location. “It will take us twenty minutes to get to the estate by motor vehicle.”
Maggie nodded. “I’d planned to rent a car at the train station.” She smiled. “Do you mind driving it? I have to admit my sense of adventure was strained at the thought of driving on the opposite side of the road. I was especially nervous about getting out of Edinburgh.”
“I can do that.” He drank the last of his beer.
“Do I have enough time to grab a short nap?” Maggie yawned. “I’m running on fumes.”
Callum nodded toward the guest bedroom. “Certainly. Rest easy.”
Maggie frowned. “What about you?”
“I’ll sleep on the sofa out here, if I feel the need.”
Maggie ate the last bit of her bread and cheese and chased it with the sparkling water. “Thank you for preparing this. I was hungry.” She stood and stretched.
Callum rose at the same time. “I’ll clean up. Go. Rest. I’ll wake you well before we have to leave.”
“I just need a couple of hours lying down, and I’ll be good to go.” She yawned again as she left the kitchen and padded barefoot down the hallway to the guest bedroom.
Callum gathered the dishes, washed them in the sink then dried and placed them in the cabinets where he’d found them. When he was done, he grabbed his shaving kit and headed for the bathroom where he showered, shaved and brushed his teeth. He emerged refreshed and ducked his head into the guest bedroom.
Maggie lay on her side, her hand tucked between the pillow and her cheek. She’d removed the towel from her hair and draped it over a chair. Her hair, still damp, lay in dark copper curls around her face and shoulders, and her russet eyelashes made dark semi-circles below her eyes as she slept.
Callum couldn’t look away. More than that, he struggled to resist reaching out to brush his fingers along the soft curve of her lips.
He realized that, like the story they’d concocted, he was smitten with this school teacher. Sadly, he wasn’t in a good place in his head to start a relationship with her or anyone else, for that matter. She deserved a man who didn’t have horrific nightmares that plagued his sleep, who didn’t often wake swinging. He’d be afraid he’d hurt her. Already haunted by the fact he hadn’t been able to help Smudge or Rook, he would never be able to forgive himself if he inflicted physical harm on a defenseless woman.
After one last glance, he backed out of the room and pulled the door closed.
