“Listen, I’m headed to Glasgow. It ain’t a pretty place, not like this.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I’d planned to take you to my place in Scotland once Kiera was?”
“Tucked safely away in another gilded castle?”
“Aye, andfeckthe sarcasm.”
“Yes, fuck it. Fuck every opinion other than your own, right? Here, I have the solution to one of your problems, my mouth.”
“Heh, if we weren’t searching for Kiera, I’d tell you exactly what to do with thatgubof yours.”
“Hardy, har, har.” I deadpan the cheesy cliché. “Send me home. When you find Kiera, I’d like to visit with her. I’m a nobody. You won’t have to worry about her safety while she’s visiting witha nobodylike me. Kiera and I will fly under the radar. She’ll probably experience more on a vacation with me than—”
“Send you home?” Kieran kicks up a seductive brow. “You must be referring to one ofmymany homes.”
“Oh, no,” I softly reply. “Back to Los Angeles. This crappy-abduction-fetish-storyline is over!”
* * *
While Kieran drives, I concentrate on what’s outside the window to avoid him. I run a hand over the ache in my shoulders.
“I’m not stopping for anything but gas,” he mutters.
Another thirty minutes trickle by, and I ask, “Who could she know in Glasgow? The MacKenzies?”
“No. My uncle runs that entire area.”
“Good ol’ Uncle Ewan, your mentor . . . I’m sorry,” I sigh. “I’m worried too. Should we ask him for help? Surely the infamous Ewan has some foot soldiers to spare.”
“Aye, paranoid as Ewan is, thebawbag’sgot an army.” Kieran rolls his shoulders as if he’d also endeavored not to look in my direction during our drive.
He heaves a sigh. “Actually, Ewan’s working on the trust factor. Only men I trust are MacKenzies or my guys.”
On key, we both glance through the rear view. While one SUV stayed behind to wash away Kieran’s sins at the gas station, two have trailed behind us. One directly, the other is two cars back.
“Anyway, Ava, if we send too many men to search—”
“These elusive enemies of yours might wonder?”
“Aye.” His deadly brogue sounds deliciously charming.
“And if I tell the MacKenzies,” he pauses, massaging his muscular neck, “theshitewill seem real. I don’t reach out to them for wee issues, Ava.”
Oye, the MacKenzies sound like they mean business.
I reach over and drop a hand on his steel thigh. “Wherever Kiera is, she’s got a good head on her shoulders. Maybe our little Kiera has a boyfriend in Glasgow.”
His already titanium muscles grow harder than obsidian beneath my touch.
“No. She’s too good for the likes of any laddies there.”
“Oh, they’re like you?” I crack.
A glimmer of amusement flashes across his face, though not reaching his eyes. With how fleeting it is, my heart sinks even further.
In a deep voice, he murmurs, “Bad, bad guys—worse thanme,little bird.”
Now, my heart, already held hostage, sinks into the pit of my stomach. A painful expression crosses Kieran’s face.
“Ten-year-olds selling drugs to their own mams. When we get there, you’ll not leave my side.”