Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“Well, I’m not leaving you here alone.”
“Don’t you have the best home security system ever?”
I glowered at her dry tone. “Not the point.”
“It’s very much the point. I’m literally safest in your house. You have panic buttons downstairs and upstairs, for goodness’ sake.”
Rationally, I knew she was correct. I had the kind of security system I didn’t actually require, but since it cost me half the price it would cost someone else, I went all out with it. Once that alarm system was on, no one got past it. And whether someone broke in or Eilidh hit a panic button, the security team at Ardnoch (and me) would be alerted immediately to an intruder and my office was ten minutes away. Ardnoch Estate wasn’t much farther. “Fine. But, Eilidh, if that bastard comes near you again, I am going to kill him.”
“Get in line.”
“I mean it.”
Her expression gentled. “I know.”
Sighing, I grabbed my car keys and strolled over to kiss Millie on the head. She seemed to be doing a lot better this morning, so I hoped her infection was already clearing up. “I’ll see you soon, wee yin. Daddy loves you.” The words slipped out without thought, and I froze for a second over her pen.
I glanced back at Eilidh and she was smiling, tears bright in her eyes.
There was that overwhelming sensation inside me again, so big, so expanding, it was terrifying.
Millie’s babbling brought my head back down. “Daddy loves you, Mills,” I repeated intentionally as I stroked my hand over her hair. She beamed up at me, her new teeth making her gummy smile so fucking cute, it killed me.
Swallowing hard, I forced myself away from the pen and strode toward the front door. I stopped at Eilidh’s side first.
My heart bloody well ached at the look in Eilidh’s eyes. They were filled with hero worship, something she hadn’t given me in years. Christ, I’d forgotten how much that look made me feel ten feet tall. And I hadn’t realized how much it hurt to have her not look at me like that anymore.
I’d taken so much of Eilidh for granted.
If she’d let me, I’d spend a lifetime making it up to her.
“When I get back, we need to talk about earlier. I won’t do casual with you, Eilidh. But I won’t let you go without a fight either.”
There was a sexual playfulness to this morning’s encounter.
It was doused now with abject emotion.
Fear shadowed her features. “I can only offer you casual.”
“I can’t. I won’t.”
“That’s what I need.” She shrugged sadly. “I need time to trust. To take things super slow, no promises, no commitments. Time to know that what’s between us is more than you needing a partner, needing a mum for Millie. Because that won’t last, Fyfe. Eventually, you’ll wake up one day and realize you settled.”
I gaped at her, stunned that she could ever think that. “It boggles my mind that you could imagine a man would ever be settling for you. Don’t you know how spectacular you are, Eilidh Adair?”
Tears brightened her eyes.
I bent my head to look deep in them. I wanted her to feel my sincerity. “I would never start something with you and then abandon you.”
“I know. You would never abandon anyone once you committed to them. I don’t want someone who’ll stay with me out of obligation and a sense of honor. I know that’s what you’d do. I want a man who wants to be with me for the rest of his life.”
Jesus, she still wasn’t getting it. I opened my arms. “Then look no further because here he stands.”
She sucked in a breath. “You don’t mean that.”
“I am not having this conversation with you while I’m rushing out to work. In fact, I’m not having this conversation, period. You will never believe words. You need action. That action starts tonight.” I nodded, decided, and strode toward the front door.
“What does that mean?”
I just shot her a cheeky grin over my shoulder and walked out.
“What does that mean, Fyfe Moray!” she yelled as I shut the door behind me.
Thirty
FYFE
My stomach knotted as I stared at the screen in front of me. Walker leaned back in his desk chair, waiting grimly for my response.
“Do you think he came here to target her?” I straightened.
The information was everything Walker’s contacts had dug up on Dr. Cameron Phillips. It seemed he had a history of harassing female colleagues. He’d worked in several general practices around the country in his short career. A little digging uncovered formal complaints in the last two practices (from a female doctor at the previous and a receptionist at the one before that).
It seemed Dr. Dick tended to fixate on a woman. These women had stated in their reports that they had only been dating a few weeks when Dr. Dick became possessive, aggressive, and threatening. When they tried to end things, he turned up at their homes, he called them at all hours of the night, he cornered them at work, and he’d followed them when they were out in public. There were police records for both women, but there was little the police could do unless he physically assaulted them.