Page 25 of A Thistle Beyond Time
“Not interested.” Jenna shut him down immediately. “Please leave my room.” She walked to the door, waiting for him to leave and prepared to close the door and lock it behind him.
“Nae. I’ll not go until ye’ve heard what I’ve come here to say.” Cormac stood with his hands on his hips, filling the doorway and looking very determined about speaking with her.
“I already told you, I’m not interested. What don’t you understand about that?”
“Jenna, yer eyes saw something that was not as it seemed.”
“Oh, really! Well, my eyes sure saw you and your hands full of that busty redhead and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t imagining it.” Jenna refused to look at him. All she could see was a naked Cormac and a naked redhead in each other’s arms. It made her furious.
“Yer right, but ’tis nae what ye think. I was trying to swim past her and the other lasses when she wrapped herself around me. I couldnae believe it. I told ye I would not lie to ye and I havnae. I would never do something like that to hurt ye. I want to spend my time here with ye, nae with anyone else.”
Jenna was not good with confrontation. She hated it. There was always confrontation with Jonathan and she couldn’t deal with it anywhere else in her life.
“I really don’t need this right now. I’d appreciate it, if you’d leave me alone so I can think.”
Cormac looked totally defeated. He just stood there, not moving.
“Please,” Jenna softly said.
He sighed and dejectedly left her room. She closed the door behind him and wondered for the millionth time, what had gotten into her.
Cormac spent the rest of the party downstairs in the game room, avoiding the amorous lasses in attendance. He had never met a group quite like them. Back at Breaghacraig, the ladies could be forward, but never so many all at one time. He wanted nothing to do with it. He was trying to prove to Jenna that he only had eyes for her and if it meant isolating himself in the game room, then that was what he was going to do.
He could hear people leaving upstairs, as he lay sprawled across the sofa. The party had wound down and there were only a handful of Dylan’s friends left. As far as Cormac knew, Jenna had not left her bedroom after she closed the door on him. He had seen two different sides to Jenna. The soft side and the hard side. He knew the hard side was her way of keeping people at a distance. He also knew that he had the power to turn that hard side into soft, yielding Jenna. The Jenna who had kissed him, after she had yelled at him. He was so confused. He had never cared enough to let a woman baffle him before, but Jenna was proving to him that he did care. He just didn’t know what he was going to do about it. His days here were going to come to an end. He still had time left, but it certainly didn’t appear that Jenna was going to go anywhere with him, at least not willingly – and he was not going to force her. He came here to make Jenna his, and so far he was failing miserably.
“Cormac! What are you doing down here all by yourself?” Dylan asked when he came down the stairs, after showing the last few stragglers out.
“I’m attempting to stay out of trouble.” Cormac felt miserable; he couldn’t even muster a smile.
“I believe you are already in trouble. I don’t think you would have made it any worse by staying upstairs and enjoying yourself,” Dylan responded.
“Dylan, how is it that your cousin is yelling at me one minute, kissing me the next and then angry with me again – all in one night?” Cormac was exasperated and he flung his arms in the air as he spoke.
“Dude, relax. It’s Jenna we’re talking about. She won’t stay mad at you. I guarantee by tomorrow morning she’ll be all apologies. Believe me, I’ve been on the receiving end of her temper on many occasions, and she hasn’t thrown me out yet. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, bro.”
“I hope yer right, but I’m only here for five more days and I’m not making any progress.”
“I beg to differ. She was kissing you tonight, wasn’t she?” Dylan asked.
“Aye. She was.” Cormac smiled thinking about it. “Andshekissed me. I didnae initiate it. It was just like last night, when she had too much to drink.”
“Well, she is definitely into you. She doesn’t do that with just anyone,” Dylan reassured him.
Cormac began to feel more hopeful as he stood and clapped Dylan on the back. “I be verra tired and I’d like to go to bed.”
“I hear you. I’m just going to make sure everything is locked up and that the alarm is on, and then I’m going to hit the hay too.”
“The hay? Do ye nae have a bed, Dylan?” Cormac asked.
“It’s just an expression, bro. I have a very comfy bed and someone up there keeping it warm for me.” Dylan raised his hand in the air and Cormac looked confused. “High five?”
“I dinna ken.”
“Let me show you. Put your hand up in the air, just like mine. Now we’re going to slap hands.” Cormac did as Dylan instructed. “That’s a high five. In this case, it would be like congratulating me on my good luck at having a hot babe waiting for me in my bed.”
“I see.” Cormac said. “Well, enjoy yerself then,dood.” Cormac tried the word he’d heard Dylan use so many times.
Dylan laughed and said, “You’re catching on, dude, I like it.”
