Page 17 of Highland Games
‘Not going to happen anytime soon, sweetpea, I’m falling in love with this place.’
‘The place or a person? What’s going on with Jamie? For a country boy he is proper hot!’
‘Eww, no! He’s like my brother! You can have him, although I think you might be too much for him to handle.’
Sam sighed theatrically. ‘I’malwaystoo much to handle. Ooh, hang on. Shit. Gotta go, agent on the other line.’
She hung up and Zoe rested back against the trunk. ‘That was Sam. She sends her love and says she can’t wait to meet you.’
Basil crawled out of her hair and ran along the branch, sniffing and moving his head.
‘What is it? Can you hear something?’ Zoe listened as the sound of a car engine drifted towards them. ‘It’s someone come to save us. Now be as cute as possible. Okay?’
Zoe craned to see the track more clearly between the branches of the tree. The engine roared closer but she didn’t see it until it rounded the bend. It was the filthy truck with the coat of arms she’d seen in the back courtyard of the castle.
She groaned.Please, let this not be Rory.
7
Zoe watched Rory swing out of the truck with ease and unstrap an extending ladder from the roof. He worked quickly and efficiently. Not once did he even glance in the direction of the tree where she sat, trying to make herself small and invisible.
Such a humiliation. Stuck up a tree like a sad cat, waiting to be rescued by the hunky fireman. He looked gorgeous, like a mountain lion crossed with a Chippendale. She thought of him stripping for cash in the local pubs on the weekend and couldn’t help snorting with laughter. That would be something she would pay a lot of money to see.
On the ground, Rory paused. Zoe clamped her hand to her mouth. She needed to pee and didn’t want him to leave her up there.
He moved the broken chair, put the ladder against the tree and kicked the feet into the soft earth at the base. Climbing up, he extended the ladder further until it reached the branch where Zoe was sitting. He climbed the ladder like a panther, light and lithe but all muscle and power. Zoe fixed her attention on his forearms; they were bigger than her calves. Did he possessanybody fat at all? He got to the top of the ladder and met Zoe’s eyes at last.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
‘Er, hello,’ she said finally.
Rory cleared his throat. ‘I was in the post office at the wrong time.’
‘Okay, that’s great. If you could just move out of the way I’ll shimmy down,’ Zoe said brightly.
He didn’t budge. Zoe lay on her front and swung one leg down towards the ladder.
‘Stop!’ His voice a command all sentient beings would have no choice but to obey.
‘What is it?’
‘It’s too dangerous. You might slip and take both of us out at the same time.’
‘It’s fine! I got up here, didn’t I?’
‘Breaking a chair in the process and getting stuck. Sit back up and we’ll do this my way.’
His way? Zoe took a big breath, drawing in the energy she needed to unleash a tirade, when he stopped her.
‘Please?’ The request was gentle, pouring oil on her troubled waters. She moved back up. ‘Thank you.’
‘Wow. Please and thank you back to back.’
He raised one eyebrow, sending a bolt of awareness through her. Holy crap was he hot. Oh my god, was he hot!
He climbed to the top rung of the ladder, his face now level with hers, just inches away. ‘Now what we’re going to do is—’
‘WAIT! You have to rescue Basil first.’
