Page 25 of A Flower for Angus

“Why would he contest the will?”

“Adrian never liked me,” she confessed. “He was convinced I was a gold digger, but it wasn’t true. When Julian left me with some really good investment portfolios and a nice sum of cash, Adrian was furious. He insisted that his father didn’t want me to have anything according to the prenuptial agreement, which was true, so I didn’t expect anything. But what we didn’t know, is that Julian had his lawyer change the prenup so that I wouldn’t be left penniless if something happened to him. Not that I would have been. Julian was very generous with a private allowance put into a bank account for me above and beyond what we shared as a couple.

“Adrian never realized it, but the investments Julian left me were ones I had advised him on. I was delighted that they had done so well. He left a good sum of ready cash because he was leaving the family ancestral home and everything else to his only child. It was all above board and Mack, that’s the lawyer, insisted the will was ironclad. But Adrian wouldn’t give up.”

“And now here ye are, on the run, off grid, and takin’ a housekeepin’ job just to survive,” Angus growled, shaking his head.

“D-Do you believe me, Angus?” Macy asked tentatively, peeping up at him. “Because if you do, you would be one of a select few. The papers didn’t do me any favors when it all came out because Adrian kept dragging me back into court. Being crucified in the court of public opinion was devastating.” She shivered again, her fingers trembling as she tugged a lock of hair behind her ear.

***

“COME HERE, LASS,” ANGUSsaid gruffly, pulling her into his lap and hugging her tight. “I may not know ye, but I believe ye. It sounds like ye’ve been through the fires of hell.”

Macy put her face in his shoulder and sobbed with relief. Her bottom hurt and she was getting a headache from crying, but this man she was attracted to was willing to believe her. That meant a lot. She knew she shouldn’t be in his lap like this, but it did feel really good to be held. “Maybe I won’t have you arrested after all,” she croaked through her tears. “You just earned some forgiveness.”

He tipped her chin up and smiled down at her. “Verra good to know, wee one, ye really had me worried.”

She smacked his shoulder with her small fist and chuckled. “Jobbie.”

“Now ye owe me,” he replied with mock fierceness, his big thumbs brushing the tears away just before his mouth closed on hers.

His lips were warm and solid, nibbling her mouth slightly open to deepen the kiss. She could swear her toes curled as desire zinged right through her. Julian had never inspired her bloodstream like this and Sam had been a weak version. This was different altogether.

“Angus,” she gasped when he finally lifted his head.

“Before ye continue to seduce me, I need to send a text to Darro and warn him.”

She punched him again with her fist. “You kissed me.”

“Umph,” he grunted with a teasing grin. “Looks like I’ll need to warm yer bottom again if ye keep that up.”

She huffed and shot him a death glare but he missed it. She watched as Angus quickly sent a text to Darro that she had a stalker and to be on the alert for a stranger at Neamh. They were on their way home to explain the rest.

Angus dropped his phone in his pocket. “Jonny was right, it will only be a matter of time before yer stalker finds us. The Sangster and MacCandish families have been around for generations and everyone knows us, Macy. We need to get back to Heaven’s Gate. As much as I’d love to continue this, we need to corner this guy and find out what he’s doin’ here.”

Macy turned pale and nodded. “Do you think he means me any real harm?”

“That I don’t know, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“One more thing, Angus. My real name is Poppy Condoloro. Macy is just the name I’ve been hiding under,” she confessed.

Angus’s grin split his face. “Ye are a flower after all.”

“Is that important?”

“I’ll tell ye later, right now, ye need to relocate yer sweet bottom,” he chuckled.

Happy to be Poppy again, she got off his lap so he could get back under the wheel. “Ouch,” she complained as her bottom hit the leather seat.

“Are ye sore?” Angus asked, sliding under the wheel and starting the truck.

“I can’t believe you did that, actually,” she admitted. “I’ve never been spanked before, not by Julian or Sam.”

“I have a lot of patience, wee one, but I don’t make idle threats either. Ye were being unnecessarily stubborn and I called ye on it. Ye’d best remember that in the future.”

Poppy didn’t reply. There was too much going on in her life to consider she might have a future with another man. Did she even want that if she could? She was certainly attracted to Angus in a way she never had been to anyone, but she had never considered affairs either. Sex just hadn’t been that big a deal in her life. It was nice, but not a hotbed of intense desire by any means. She wondered what he had in mind.

Caught musing, she started when he pulled on her arm to bring her closer to him. “I’m lonely over here by myself, and I need you to keep me warm. Curl in here and tell me who Sam is. I take it you were married before Julian?”

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