Page 54 of The Scot Who Loved Her

“Ah, boar.” Malcolm caught Olivia’s panic-stricken eyes. “I’ll have to tell ye about the time I killed a boar.”

Olivia now looked ready to throw up.

“Oh, Malcolm, please do not,” Caroline said with a tinkling laugh. “I’ve heard that story from Mama so many times I could retell it myself.”

That got the table into a bit of chatter, everyone begging Caroline to tell the story.

“Oh, I’m not certain it’s good breakfast talk,” she said charitably.

“Oh, come now,” Lady Helvellyn said with a hint of malice. “We’re not in London.”

Caroline either didn’t pick up on the other woman’s words or didn’t care, for she plunged headfirst into the tale of Malcolm’s childhood kill. He was surprised at the details, for she did seem to know the story as well as he did. He snuck a glance at Olivia across the table, who had such an expression of relief on her face he nearly laughed aloud.

At the end of Caroline’s rendition of Malcolm trying to gift their mother with a bloody tusk, the table erupted into laughter.

“I say,” Thirlestane chuckled. “Quite a bit more savage than my first hunt, which was pheasant. Have you hunted boar since, Dunlyon?”

If Malcolm wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of knowing in Thirlestane’s glance, as if he were almost daring him to admit what had happened in the forest at Jedburgh. Remaining calm and feigning boredom, Malcolm chuckled. “A few times, actually.”

“I’d love to hear the tales,” Thirlestane added.

“Over a few drams,” Malcolm promised, but oh, how he was promising so much more. This bastard knew about his fallout with the boar in the forest and Olivia; he was almost certain. Maybe even that he’d been shot over a month ago by Olivia.

Olivia tapped the table. “I think I’d like some fresh air and a walk to start my day.” She made eye contact with Caroline, who pushed back her chair, as did her friends at the table.

Thirlestane stood, too, his fingers pressing on Olivia’s elbow. “If you will allow me to escort you, Miss Olivia, I would be much honored.”

Flashes of anger ran hot across Malcolm’s vision. This bastard was staking a claim on Olivia. Or had he one already? How long had the man been courting her? Since before she shot Malcolm?

This did not bode well for Olivia. She could be in danger.

A niggling feeling in his gut pricked at his conscious, but he refused to put a name to it. That green-eyed monster could go to bloody hell.

Everything seemed to compound before his eyes. This breakfast, three men and the woman he was falling for all possibly involved in an operation he planned to take down in the next twenty-four hours.

Before he could follow them all out, Lorne came up beside him. “Is now a good time?”

Malcolm nodded. And with Thirlestane and Paisley chasing after the women and Lord Helvellyn staying back with some of the older gentlemen, Malcolm led Lorne, Alec and Euan into the study.

But as he was shutting the doors, Olivia looked back from the crowd, her eyes locking on his and, in that brief moment, causing Malcolm to pause. Their gazes melted, so much unspoken passed between them. Malcolm saw and understood so much in that silent stare. She didn’t want to go outside. She didn’t like Thirlestane, didn’t want anything to do with him. She pleaded for Malcolm’s understanding. That one look, for however brief it was, gave him hope. He needed to get her alone, to talk to her.

Desire getting in the way of his investigation was dangerous—even deadly. He knew that. But if he looked hard at the situation, he knew, deep in his gut, despite the coincidences, that Olivia was somehow innocent. And that was saying a lot because Malcolm didn’t believe in coincidences.

When he was finished filling in the details with his friends, he would find a way to divest Olivia of Thirlestane so he could converse with her. To find out exactly what she knew or didn’t know.

Olivia broke eye contact as her mother called out to her. With one last look, Malcolm closed the doors. He faced the three men he most trusted, outside of Wellington, with his life.

“What’s going on?” Lorne demanded.

Alec and Euan exchanged glances.

“I’ve been on a mission for the last month.”

“We figured as much.”

“And it has brought me here.”

“To a house party in Aberdeen?” Euan wrinkled his brow.

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