was packed with a combination of locals and tourists. The members of the Bluegrass Jacobites, including Iain, were gathered around a table in the back. While Iain wasn’t in the thick of the storytelling, his face creased into a genuine smile that made her heart soar. All of them wore kilts, but Iain wore his best. Granted, she might be a tiny bit biased.
She weaved through the tables, and Iain looked up, homing in on her in the crowd as if she emitted a signal only for his internal antennae. She smiled. He didn’t return it, but stood and circled around the table to meet her halfway.
Without thought to anyone who might see, he folded her in his arms, tucking her head under his chin. While he’d been a huge help with the animals and vendors, his ability to stay calm was his superpower. She was a bird come home to roost, and her stress melted away.
“Everything good?” he asked.
She would tell him about Gabby later. “More than good. You?”
He made a chesty sound she had learned to take as an agreement and led her over to the table, where Robert gave her a subtle thumbs-up.
The bartender hopped on stage and introduced her and the band. After the players were settled, the Jacobites warmed the crowd up with a couple of rousing drinking songs. Iain’s concentration was inward on the music and his part to play, so she was free to study him.
While not traditionally handsome with his aggressively masculine features, strong brow, and scar, he attracted her like no other man. His spirit was solid. Izzy had said he was a sticker, and Anna was beginning to understand what that meant. She could lean on him, and he wouldn’t crumple. She could count on him.
To a point. She couldn’t let herself forget he was leaving.
The song ended, and Robert gestured toward her, announcing her to the crowd. She took a deep breath and stepped into the same zone Iain had entered. The space on the floor was limited, but she laid her heart and soul out for the crowd during the performance. As the last strains of music faded, silence filled the space before clapping and whistles erupted.
Anna took a deep curtsey before performing her second dance number with the band, then she took a seat and sipped on lemon water, enjoying the rest of the set from the Jacobites. Burn’s classic “Auld Lang Syne” wrapped up the entertainment, and the bar patrons sang along, arms thrown around shoulders and voices raised enthusiastically if a little off-key.
Another half hour of socializing followed. Anna considered it a warm-up for the hand-shaking and baby-kissing of her campaign for mayor. Finally, though, she grabbed Iain’s hand and pulled him toward the exit.
“Where are we headed?” he asked.
“My place is closer.”
He raised his eyebrow, but his pace quickened. Anna unlocked the door to her apartment, and Iain ducked his head to enter. He filled the room to bursting. With her body still humming from the performance, she threw herself at him—literally. He caught her to him, his hands cupping her bottom. She twined her arms around his neck and her legs clamped his hips.
“Take me to bed, Highlander.” She smoothed a hand over his cheek and beard and smiled. He didn’t smile back. Without closing her eyes, she kissed him, a simple brush of her lips. The moment was sharp with an intimacy unfamiliar to Anna.
He moved toward her bed, bumping his head on the top of the doorframe and scraping her back along the side. Finally, they collapsed side by side on her mattress. The creak of her bed frame did not bode well for the activities Anna had planned. Laughter burst the serious mood.
“I’m not sure my place is going to survive the fallout of what I want to do to you. It might end up a pile of rubble.” She pushed him to his back and straddled his hips, leaning over him, her hair a curtain around his face.
“Isn’t that how everything eventually ends?” The question twisted with meaning beyond the physical.
She hung still above him, not sure what to do or say in response. As the moment veered awkward, a pounding came from the door.
“Anna? Are you there? Please!” It was Loretta’s voice, but imbued with an unfamiliar tremor.
Anna scrambled off Iain and skip-ran to the door. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Loretta’s panic transferred to Anna with a shot of adrenaline. “A leak from the sink in the bathroom.