Fire Maidens Scotland (Billionaires & Bodyguards #6) - Anna Lowe Page 0,15
to mind. This is what you do to me — and why I need to steer clear of you.
All his life, he’d been able to pick apart the most complex problems given only a few clues. But around Holly…
They wound through the streets of Edinburgh, then joined the motorway. Soon, they were zipping past green countryside where the sun chased away the last strands of morning mist. He inhaled deeply. The Highlands were hours away, but he could already breathe more freely. If it weren’t for Mungo panting, he might even have enjoyed the ride.
You really have been away for a long time. Holly’s words haunted him, along with the unspoken part. What else have you missed? And, Are you even the same man I once knew?
He had been gone a long time. Too long? He glanced in the rearview mirror, surprised by the harsh expression of the man in the reflection. Had he changed that much?
Yes, his dragon sighed. And no.
Lachlan frowned. What the hell did that mean?
Holly’s hair whipped in the wind, a wildly tempting distraction. What he would do to run his hands over her S-shaped locks once more. To gaze into her eyes. To lean closer and—
He jerked his attention back to the road.
Holly opened the glove box, pulled out a map, and unfolded it. “Where’s Burgess?”
Lachlan stared. He had a state-of-the-art, up-to-date navigation unit. Why did she bother with that old map?
Because there’s a joy in paper, he remembered Trevor once saying. A sense of mystery in the journey.
He sighed and tapped on the map. As soon as he did, Holly held it up for Mungo.
“See, sweetie?” The map flapped in the wind, but that didn’t seem to bother Holly. “We’re here, and we’re going here. You’re going home. Home, Mungo!”
The dog stuck his nose in the map then snuffled in Holly’s ear, making her giggle. The sound made something move inside Lachlan. Something old and grinding, like a millstone that hadn’t budged in decades.
Home. The word echoed through his mind.
He rolled his shoulders. Home was Murburne Manor, the dull, sprawling, fifty-room mansion he’d grown up in. Simple.
Yet the word continued to echo in his mind, searching for a better answer. Home…
He tapped his fingers on the wheel. The question hadn’t bothered him over the past ten years while he shuttled from one military post to another. It hadn’t bothered him over the past few weeks — his first back in Scotland. Yet now, a yearning set into him, and his heart longed to find that place.
That person, his dragon corrected him.
Holly spoke, breaking the silence. “How long is the drive?”
He glanced at the GPS, corrected for traffic and the stop for the dog Holly was sure to insist on, and quickly calculated. “Ninety-three minutes.”
“Ninety-three?” She grabbed his arm and turned his wrist for a glance at his watch. “I’ll hold you to that.”
The millstone in his soul ground another few inches, straining at the cobwebs that had sprouted around it.
More, his dragon whispered. Keep laughing. Keep waking that part of me.
“You do know what they say about the best laid plans…” she warned.
He looked over, his mouth set in a straight line.
“No matter how much you plan, things turn out differently,” Holly finished. “Believe me, I tried. Once.”
“Once?”
She shrugged. “Maybe twice. Totally not worth it. And the more complicated your plans are, the more you’ll end up winging it in the end.”
“Winging it?”
She nodded firmly. “Winging it. You’ll see.”
Lord, he hoped not.
Then she laughed and raised her arms, making a flapping motion. “Ha. Winging it. You get it?”
His dragon chuckled heartily, and his lips quirked in spite of his efforts to maintain a straight face. One thing was undeniable about Holly. She didn’t just know all about joy, laughter, and fun — she knew how to share them too.
Too bad this wasn’t about fun. He was escorting Holly to the very island where Europe’s deadliest criminal was detained, and anything could go wrong. For her sake, he had to focus on the job, not his heart.
Another few minutes passed in silence. To his surprise, it was he, not Holly, who eventually broke it.
“How have you been?” he asked very quietly.
“Good,” she blurted, averting her eyes. “How about you?”
“Fine.”
Another minute of ponderous silence stretched by, which ought to have suited him just fine. Silence was his thing, not Holly’s. But for once, she was the quiet one, and he found himself burning to hear her voice. Where had she been all these years? What had