Page 10 of Sadie's Highlander (Highland Protector 1)

“Here’s your bedroom and over yonder is the…” Miss Lydia paused, frowning as she tapped her dimpled chin with a bent finger. She finally turned to Dwyn, still patiently standing just inside the main door to the suite waiting for instructions as to where Miss Lydia wanted the bags. “What did that decorator fella call that bathroom?”

“En-suite master spa,” Dwyn supplied, then held up the bags. “Where d’ye want I should put these?”

Miss Lydia pointed Dwyn toward the bedroom, then made an unimpressed face at Sadie. “I don’t know why that designer man Mr. Dwyn hired used such fancy words for the bathroom. I’ll admit, it is a bit on the hoity-toity side with all its doo-bobbles and such and I think you’ll like it, but let’s face it—a bathroom’s just a bathroom no matter what you call it.” She tossed a dismissive wave. “You go in there, do your business, and then get out. It’s just a bathroom, for cripe’s sake.”

“So do ye find the desk pleasin’ then?”

That voice.Sadie sucked in a surprised gasp. Thank goodness she didn’t have any gum in her mouth this time or she’d be choking again and hacking like a cat with a hair ball.Damn, that voice.A delayed shiver rippled through her like tinder catching fire. The man should bottle that deep, rich brogue. It would make millions as an aphrodisiac.

Alec stood in the doorway, blocking it completely with his height and broad shoulders, arms loosely crossed over his chest.

Sadie swallowed hard and patted the back of the chair. “This is gorgeous.” Plopping down in the plush leather seat, she wiggled and turned the chair back and forth. “Excellent chair. Spins without a sound.”Well, don’t I sound intelligent. What the hell am I doing? Trying to make him think I’m some kind of chair expert?

Sadie mentally shook herself, shored up her waning confidence, and traced her fingers across the cool smoothness of the desk.I can do this. It’s just a job.She picked up the knobby end of the HDMI cable and pointed it at Alec. “It’s the perfect height for my laptop. Most desks are way too high for my short little legs.” She nervously tapped her feet in a rolling bounce against the thick, lush carpet.Yep.Perfect height for hours of writing. Almost as though he’d planned it just for her.

An ever-increasing choke hold of edginess made her swallow hard again, then force in another deep breath. He couldn’t have installed this just for her. If he did, what was it going to cost her? What exactly was Alec MacDara’s angle?

“Very thoughtful of you to fit this out for business guests.” She flinched at the nervous pitch to her voice.What the hell is wrong with me? Be professional.She could do this, and she’d also made a promise to herself that she was going to give the man a fair chance. Who knows? Maybe he was just looking for a friend. He’d mentioned the emails. Seemed like he’d read a lot of them. She shoved her rising insecurities aside and concentrated on studying Alec closer. He did seem a bit on the lonely side. Why in the world would a man like him be lonely? Was something wrong with him?

Had to be a trap of some sort. Well. If it was…she could handle that too. She’d overcome a lot of bullies who thought it the best sort of fun to set up the chubby girl for a fall. She was a big girl and could handle anything.Yeah…I’m a big girl all right.She cleared her throat, swung the chair to face Alec, and spoke with more certainty than she currently felt. “The desk is perfect—especially for guests who might have to take care of business or something while they’re visiting.”

“He installed it for you. Said you’d need it for your writing.” Miss Lydia pulled the bedroom door closed behind her and toddled back into the sitting room, all the while shaking a stern finger in Alec’s direction. “And I thought I told you I’d be getting the young lady settled. What are you doing in here bothering us while we’re trying to get her particulars all sorted out?”

“We’ve a minor crisis in the kitchen that requires yer immediate attention.” Alec moved deeper into the room, noticeably widening his stance and planting his feet as if silently declaring that he wasn’t going anywhere.

“A crisis? Inmykitchen?” Miss Lydia glared at him with a warning look that would stop a herd of charging Black Friday sale shoppers. “Where’s your mother? Has Sarinda already headed down to the herbal shops?”

“Aye.” Alec nodded, a solemn look of impending doom shadowing his features. “Máthair’s already about her day and Esme has descended from her lair and is currently caterwaulin’ toAthairabout the frock I willna let her wear to the dance.”

“Lord have mercy on that child’s soul because I’m gonna have her behind.” Miss Lydia set her jaw, puffing up until the perfectly starched apron tied around her middle and pinned to the neckline of her printed cotton dress looked as though it was about to pop off and go airborne.

“Who is Esme?” Sadie hated to interrupt, but she had to ask. If she was going to be a part of Alec’s team for the next six weeks, she needed to know all the players. “And who’sAthair?” She struggled to pronounce the word just as Alec had said it. She didn’t want to insult anyone with sloppy enunciation.

Alec turned to her with a heavy sigh, weariness reflected in the sudden slump of his broad shoulders. “Esme is m’wee sister. Fifteen years of age and determined t’send us all to an early grave.Athairis Scots Gaelic for ‘father.’ Ye met Emrys MacDara, m’father, at the meeting the other day.”

“Ahh…” Sadie understood completely now. A fifteen-year-old girl—and the baby of the family with nothing but older brothers for siblings. Definitely a recipe for disaster. Teenage girls could be snarling hormonal demons of epic proportions at times. Sadie had interned one summer at a girls’ camp for extra credit toward her psychology degree. She shuddered at the memory. There had been times when she’d wondered if she’d make it out alive.

“She doesn’t need to throw Mr. Emrys into one of his spells.” Miss Lydia hurried across the room, pausing when she reached the door. She turned to Alec with an expression that left no doubt as to what she was about to do. “That young lady is not too old for me to dust her britches. She knows better than to stress out Mr. Emrys.”

“Do whate’er ye deem fittin’. I trust yer judgment with that wee beastie.” Alec fisted a hand over his heart and gallantly gave her a short, reverent bow. “May the gods be with ye.”

“Hmpf.” Miss Lydia let out another disgruntled huff, then rapped the door facing with her knuckles. “That young’un knows better than to cross me. You’d better be praying for her. Time I get through with that child, she’ll think twice about throwin’ a tantrum around her daddy.” Then Miss Lydia disappeared into the hall, the thick heels on her sensible black shoes clacking down the hardwood floors like the drum cadence of a battle charge.

A smug grin wiping away his earlier signs of weariness, Alec turned back to Sadie. “I’d best guard me boots well. The last time wee Esme became angry with me, she filled them with fresh horse shit.”

An embarrassingly loud snorting laugh escaped her. Sadie couldn’t help it. The look on Alec’s face paired with the mental picture of him shoving his foot into a boot full of horse manure was more than she could bear. “Sorry—” She clapped her fingers across her lips.

The nervousness she’d been fighting ever since she arrived threatened to swell to epic proportions. She suddenly realized she was staring at Alec like an animal caught in his headlights.

Sadie forced herself to blink, drop her hand away from her mouth, and smile. Her clenched teeth made her face feel tight and unnatural.Great.Alec was waiting for her to take hold of the conversation and all she could manage was a strained, dumb-ass grin and a glassy-eyed stare.

Sadie made herself unclench her teeth, nervously licked her bottom lip, and walked over to the wall of windows encasing an unusually wide set of French doors at the farthest side of the room. The double glass doors fitted with ornately curved brass handles opened out onto a private deck overlooking an autumnal wood halved by a sparkling stream.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Sadie kept her gaze locked on the breathtaking view.Don’t look at him. Just be yourself and stop acting like this is the first time you’ve ever talked to a member of the male species. This is just business and he’s just a man. A damn fine man, but a man just the same.

Sadie immediately forgot her advice and risked a glance back at him. “Sorry,” she repeated. She cleared her throat and consciously relaxed the stranglehold she currently had on one of the door handles. “I didn’t mean to laugh”—she stole another glance back over her shoulder—“but you have to admit the child’s creativity is impressive.”

Something else he’d said about the crisis in the kitchen gave her an idea to help calm her case of raw nerves to a more manageable level and find something—anything—to talk about.Ask him about the crisis. Get him talking about this family. Concentrate on the other people.“You said Esme might push your father into one of his spells. Is he in poor health?” The elder MacDara had seemed a bit odd and absentminded in the boardroom, but other than that he’d looked fine.

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