Page 4 of Sadie's Highlander (Highland Protector 1)

Without a look back, he headed across the practice arena with long, powerful strides. “Follow me. The board and I have our own terms and questions—as does my lawyer.”

Sadie started to follow, then looked back at Delia. Her red-faced sister was currently standing with both hands on her hips and staring after Alec as though she couldn’t believe he’d just insulted her and walked away.

Delia stomped one foot, a shrill hiss escaping her pursed lips as one of her heels wedged between the wooden boards. “Dammit! Is he crazy? I’m not walking through that filth in my Louis Vuittons.”

“Well, you’d better if you want this deal.” Sadie held out a hand to steady her sister. If she let Delia fall on her ass, she’d never hear the end of it. “I can’t believe you wore those shoes to a theme park. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Just shut up, Sadie,” Delia snapped. She wobbled across the uneven surface of the hard-packed dirt, nearly going down when one gleaming black heel sank into a pronounced dip.

Sadie caught her sister up by the elbows before she hit the ground.Just once, I should let you bust your ass.Inwardly, she shook her head.No. Gotta take care of Delia.She’s got the keys to the kingdom I want.

Comfortable shoes trumped high-priced heels any day in Sadie’s book, but Delia had always been a slave to fashion. Sadie tightened her hold on Delia’s arm as her sister stumbled across another rough patch of ground. “You’d better pick up the pace before he gets to the door and we lose him.”

Sadie glanced up just as Alec entered the building. “Too late. If that keep is as authentic on the inside as it is on the outside, it could be like a maze in there. We may be out of luck when it comes to this meeting.”

“If this meeting doesn’t go down, you’re going to be out of a hell of a lot more than just luck.” Delia hobbled faster, tightening her hold until her nails bit into Sadie’s arm.

Sadie flinched and steered Delia toward a smoother patch of ground. They finally reached the apron of concrete surrounding the massive stone archway sheltering the private entrance to the keep.

Delia yanked herself out of Sadie’s hands. “Just let me do the talking. None of your stupid jokes or idiotic attempts at humor. Keep your mouth shut, your back to the wall, and take notes like a good littlemuteassistant or this meeting will be your last. Understand?”

Thank goodness Alec had already disappeared into the keep and couldn’t have possibly heard Delia’s rant. Anger flashed hot through Sadie. Tightening her arm around her tablet, she sucked in a deep breath between clenched teeth and held it.Steady. Karma will get her. Sister Bitch will get what she deserves.Sadie released the breath and forced a smile at the stern-looking young man waiting for them beside the door. “Could you please point us in the right direction? I’m afraid we didn’t quite keep up with Mr. MacDara.”

The unsmiling youth glared first at Delia, then nodded at Sadie with a more amiable look. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the meeting room. Mr. Alec’s gone to change out of his workout clothes.”

Delia shoved her way in front of Sadie, her scowling backward glance clearly sayingyou’d better remember your place.She looped an arm through the waiting man’s forearm, snugging up against him as though he were a long-lost lover. “Thank you so much. By all means, lead the way.”

Gotta take it ’til I make it.Sadie sucked in another deep breath, fell in step behind Delia, and instantly felt better. A satisfied smile tickled her lips and she almost snickered out loud. One of Delia’s precious Louis Vuittons had an ever-widening split in the spiked heel and a jagged tear in its costly leather.

Thank you, dearest Karma. I love you.Sadie’s step lightened until she was almost skipping.

Chapter 2

Alec shrugged on the crisp white shirt, twisting his fingers up the length of buttons as he slowly walked out of a closet big enough to house a small clan. Things were certainly different here in the twenty-first century. Fifteen years they’d been here. Even after all of Dwyn’s fosterin’ and teachin’ about the strange modern-day contrivances, Alec still was no’ so sure of the whys and ways of this time.I’ll not understand this strange time ’til they lay me in the grave and the goddesses explain it when I get t’the other side.Some things here were a bit better—but there were a great many things that had suffered with the changing times. At least so far as he was concerned.

He yanked at the shirt, scowling down at the last of the accursed slippery buttons that were entirely too small for his fingers. Damned if he could easily throw a knife at fifty paces and part a gnat’s wings but could barely fasten these worrisome buttons. “Has Davie settled them in the room yet?”

“Aye.” Dwyn MacKay, legal counsel and goddess-assigned advisor to the cherished MacDara clan—and to all the faithful descendants of the ancient druid clans covertly residing in the twenty-first century—perched on the edge of a leather-cushioned bench facing a wall filled with monitors showing various locations throughout the park. He nodded toward Alec’s chest. “I told Mistress Lydia to stop buying those shirts with the tiny pearl buttons, but she refuses. Says the shirt makes the man and by golly ye’ll be a-wearin’ them ’til ye settle down and give yer mother a house full of grandchildren.”

With a defeated shake of his head, Dwyn turned and stared at the largest of six screens centered in a wall of video surveillance, pointed a small remote at the monitors, and clicked until the view of the meeting room appeared. “It appears t’me that yer mother and Mistress Lydia have been talkin’ entirely too much t’one another and yer arse is doomed.” Dwyn leaned forward, squinting as he glared at the monitor. “What has that thin one there gone and done to herself? She looks…unnatural. Reminds me of a banshee I once came across in Ireland.”

“Who’s ta say?” Alec tucked his shirt into his jeans, sat on the bench beside Dwyn, and yanked on his boots. “Ye ken her type as well as I. She’s as fickle as the wind. I felt it in m’bones as soon as I set eyes upon her.” He leaned forward, hands on both knees, nodding at Delia’s pinch-faced image. “ ’Tis why I feel this is wrong and we waste our time. I dinna trust her nor her company. And yer own research found they dinna always keep to their word. Ye discovered the law nippin’ at their heels how many times?” Alec kept his gaze trained on the center screen focused on the two women. ’Twas a damn shame they were having to deal with one such as Delia Williams to meet the writer of those emails. A damn shame indeed.

Dwyn rose from the bench and slowly approached the wall of monitors. Spindly arms folded across his thin frame, his bushy red brows arched to where his hairline would’ve been if he’d had any hair other than a wild reddish-blond tuft sprouting out of the top of his head and slicked back as though he were some exotic bird flattening his crest. “Forget what I found. What did the Heartstone tell ye about this venture?”

The manwouldbring that up. Alec ignored the question, just as Dwyn had refused to acknowledge his. “Look at the vile woman. Look how she treats her sister, no less.” Again, Alec shook his head at the monitor, his blood heating even more as it appeared that Delia was once again berating Sadie.

He could tell by Sadie’s carefully held mask of calm that Delia’s rant was directed at her. Sadie might appear as though her sister’s words caused her no troubles, but even in the camera he could see the pain in the kind lass’s eyes. “I fail to see how one sister can be so brimming with warmth and kindness while the other is as spiteful as a demon. They canna possibly share the same blood.”

“What did the Heartstone tell ye?” Dwyn repeated the question with a look Alec knew all too well. The stubborn demigod was as relentless as the sea when he set his mind to something.

“I didna ask the Heartstone about the production company.”

“Ye said ye consulted the stone regarding this particular undertaking.”

And he had—but not as Dwyn was thinkin’. Deep in the tunnels beneath Castle Danu, Alec had sat in the hidden artifact chamber and read each one of the emails to the Heartstone. Such enjoyable missives they were. Alec smiled to himself. Those daily emails had become so entertaining, so warm and inviting. He’d begun to look forward to their arrival each day.

Dwyn moved to stand directly in front of Alec. He lightly cleared his throat and fixed Alec with the smug look that clearly said he already knew what Alec was trying to hide. “So what exactly did ye bring before the stone if it was no’ the business with Realm Spinners Productions?”

---