Page 64 of Scotch & Dreams

Violet laughed. “I suppose so.”

"Ooh, you'll never guess what happened!" Fiona said, taking a nibble off a piece of her bagel.

"Do tell," Violet said, finally feeling satiated.

"Did ye happen to see the beautiful brunette in the white sequined gown? Anna MacDonald?”

Violet swallowed her tea and felt herself tense. "Yeah, hard to miss," she said, trying to be casual.

"Well, I mean, it's a bit of gossip, and I'm not sure how true it is, but apparently, your boy Lachlan—”

Violet interjected, "He's not my boy.”

"Yeah, yeah, dinnae fash. It seems you're not the only one with a crush on our boss."

Violet felt suddenly ill again. Fiona didn't seem to notice, and she continued to animatedly tell her story.

"I huv it on good authority that this wealthy Anna woman was hoping to snag Lachlan's attention, but apparently, Lachlan's sister overheard the woman being a real cunt to someone.”

Violet gripped her tea mug a little tighter. Was that someone her? Had Orlagh overheard them?

"The same person told me that he overheard Lachlan telling that Anna woman off. And do you know what he said?" Fiona's eyes were alight.

"He told her that he'd sooner date a slice of fucking stale moldy bread than be in her company and that she could take her money and her bitchy fucking attitude and go back to the hole from which she'd crawled out from."

Violet stared at Fiona and then burst out laughing. She laughed so hard tears formed in her eyes. She didn't believe for a second those words would have come out of Lachlan's mouth, but she enjoyed the story all the same. She wondered if there was any truth to it. Had Orlagh overheard Anna being a C-word?” That wasn't hard to imagine. It didn't necessarily mean she'd overheard their conversation, though. And had Lachlan told Anna off?

"Who told you all this?" she asked when she finally was able to breathe again from laughing so hard.

Fiona looked at Violet square on and grinned from ear to ear. “So I met someone last night.”

“Ooh?” Violet took a sip of her tea, eyeing Fiona expectantly. Who was this mystery person who apparently was privy to all the gossip? "Do tell!"

“Right, well, I was standing back just people watching when this drop dead gorgeous man started to walk my way. It was crazy, like he was on a mission. He was staring right at me as he came my way. I didnae ken what to think. My first thought was that someone was behind me. I didnae think he could possibly be coming to me. And then I thought that he was maybe some kind of security and I was getting kicked out.”

Violet snorted, almost spitting out her tea.

“Dinnae laugh!” Fiona chided. “It wouldnae be the first time.”

That was a whole different conversation that Violet would need to have with her, but at the moment, she wanted to know about this mystery guy.

“Sorry, I’m just imagining the situation. I can’t believe you actually thought you were getting kicked out.” The wind rattled against the windows outside, and Violet tucked her legs a little tighter under her on the couch.

“Aye, well, it crossed my mind. Anyway, he walked right up to me face to face, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.”

“And?” Violet urged.

“And he was flipping gorgeous!”

“Yeah, I got that, but what did he say? I'm assuming he didn't lead with the gossip of the evening.” Violet was glad to have something to distract her from the memory of her own events from the night before.

“He handed me a glass of champagne, winked at me, and then stood alongside me as if to join me in my people watching. I didnae ken what to think. Hot men dinnae just come and hang out with me. It was most extraordinary.”

“Well, he was probably like, ‘hot womendinnaejust stand in the corner alone.’” Violet mimicked Fiona's accent. “So then what?”

Fiona got all serious and moved in closer as if to tell a secret. “He asked me if I wanted to leave with him.”

“What?” Violet asked incredulously. “You didn’t?”

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