Page 67 of Moonlit Nights & Northern Lights
“We like to keep all vehicles by the manor house. The estate is essentially a wilderness reserve. No cars beyond this point.”
Maxwell didn’t look impressed. “Then how exactly are we supposed to get to this cottage?”
“Golf buggy,” Alex said, gesturing toward a small green vehicle parked nearby. “We can load your bags on that.”
Five minutes later, I had Freddy hidden in my pocket, then we all crammed into the tiny buggy with the luggage precariously balanced around us. Alex drove, with Isla squished beside him in the front, while Maxwell and I were wedged together in the back. Maxwell’s hand was wrenched away from mine in the process, and now my palm felt cold, still tingling from the memory of his soft skin against mine.
The buggy bumped along a narrow path through the woods, jostling us with every rock and root. Maxwell’s thigh pressed against mine with each turn, something he made no effort to stop.
“There’s a dinner this evening,” Alex shouted back over his shoulder, the wind carrying his words. “Eight o’clock. Your attendance is… suggested.”
I barked a laugh. “Is it now? Who will be there?”
“Close family only.”
Great. Still over a dozen wolves. Judging eyes. Bonds I used to have, now shattered.
Isla twisted in her seat. “Look, I don’t want to be here either. We’ll suffer through together, promise.”
“We’ll come,” I said, because the whole point of this mission was to infiltrate and interrogate, not to hide away and cry about my childhood being a shitshow.
The buggy rounded a final bend, and Primrose Cottage appeared before us—a small stone building with a thatched roof and pink rosebuds climbing up its walls. It looked like something from a fairy tale, quaint and utterly disconnected from the imposing manor house.
As we climbed out and started unloading our bags, Isla smiled. “This will be nice for you. You can pretend you’re just on a normal romantic getaway!”
I let out the loudest snort.
Then promptly remembered that was maybenotan appropriate reaction.
Quickly, I turned to Maxwell, capturing his arm and beaming up at him like he was my personal sun.
“Teddy here doesn’t need a picturesque cottage to be romantic, do you, baby?”
Maxwell’s eyes bulged for a second before he pulled his face into a grimace-smile that looked physically painful. Then his hand found the small of my back, and before I could process what was happening, he leaned in close. His lips brushed my ear as he murmured, “Careful there, Terrier.”
Trust him to make my ridiculous code name sound like the hottest thing he’d ever whispered. And when he pulled back, the transformation on his face sent a jolt through my entire body. Gone was Theodore Maxwell, perpetually stern detective. In his place stood a man with eyes that sparkled with joy, a devastating smile that revealed perfect teeth—and bloody hell, were thosedimples?
“Darling,” he purred, his voice a warm caress I’d never heard before. “Why don’t we get settled in? After all that time in the car, I’m rather looking forward to stretchingmy… legs.”
My brain short-circuited. The suggestive tone, the raised eyebrow, the hand now tracing small circles on my lower back, the staring at me like I was a particularly delicious dessert…
Alex cleared his throat loudly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Right, well, we’ll leave you two to… settle in.”
“It was lovely meeting you both,” Maxwell continued, his thumb now pressing into the sensitive spot just above my hip. I bit back a squeak as he pulled me against him. “Rory’s told me so much about his family.”
I pinched his side where my relatives couldn’t see. His smile didn’t falter, but I felt his fingers dig into my back in retaliation.
Isla’s wide eyes darted between us, a small smile playing on her lips. “We’ll see you at dinner, then. It’ll be the usual over-the-top affair,” she warned me.
“We’ll be there,” Maxwell assured them, his free hand coming up to brush an imaginary strand of hair from my face.
I leaned into Maxwell’s touch before reaching up to straighten his collar, letting my fingers linger. For the act, of course.
As Alex and Isla climbed back into the buggy, Maxwell waved enthusiastically with one arm while the other remained firmly around my waist. He maintained his besotted expression until they disappeared around the bend in the path.
The moment they were out of sight, I expected him to drop his arm and jump away. Instead, he kept his grip firm, leaned down, and said low against my ear, “Your uncle was watching us like a hawk. Some of his thoughts… I had to make it convincing.”
His breath was warm against my skin, and I fought back a shiver. When he finally released me and stepped back, I forced myself to take a deep breath to refocus myself.
