Cassidy Cayman [Lost Highland Wild about the Witch (epub)

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.Foolishly, she wondered what Shane would think of her in one of her ball gowns.“Ye’re fine as ye are,” he said.“I must beg your forgiveness for smelling of goat.”She caught a whiff of him when he opened the car door for her, and smiled to herself.He smelled like grass and wool, two of her favorite scents, with just a hint of the good soapy fragrance left over.She had a moment of alarm when no one was at home when they arrived.He showed her into a sitting room and waved his hand.“Watch some telly or play on the computer if ye like.I’ll just take a quick shower, then make ye something to eat.”“Your mother or father willna be home?” she asked.“They’re at the inn until late every night,” he explained.“I usually go help out if it’s busy, but they’ll live without me.Danny might be home later.” He smiled guilelessly at her, and she didn’t think he had impure intentions.All of Mellie’s warnings echoed in her mind.She wondered if she should escape while he was in the shower.How could she possibly be alone with him in his house? Her brother would kill him if he found out, and then deafen her with his yelling.But then he clicked at a small black thing and the big screen on the wall sprang to life before her eyes.It was glorious.He poked at something else on a desk and another screen lit up a few moments later.“This computer’s just games, so click whatever ye like.”He left her alone and no force on heaven or earth could have made her leave.After gaping at the telly for several minutes, she got up and looked at the computer.Feeling ignorant, she poked at it to no avail, sometimes getting something to pop up on the screen, but not knowing why or what to do with it.Giving up, she sat at the desk until Shane returned.He nearly took her breath away when he pulled up a chair right next to her.He was squeaky clean, his hair still wet and dripping onto his snug t-shirt.She found herself mesmerized by the small dark spots smattering his shoulders and wished she had escaped when she had the chance.“Is it not working?” he asked, reaching over her.She frowned and admitted she’d never used a computer.“Never? Not even in school?”She wanted to cry.Mellie was so well educated, and apparently so was Shane.Perhaps everyone in this time was.She shrugged, not wanting to admit her aunt had taught her at home.He didn’t notice how upset she was and clicked a few times.“We only had a few at my school,” he said.“And they were shite.Anyway, it’s easy.Just click on whatever ye want.Ye canna break it, I promise.”He took her hand and placed it on the wee oval thing, pressed her finger down.She nodded, seeing what he was talking about, and relieved she wouldn’t be able to do any damage.“I’m going to heat us up some spaghetti, only be a few minutes.”“Ye must let me help,” she said, getting up.He pushed her back into the chair.“Ye’re a guest, dinna be thick.Kill some zombies or something.”Now that she knew how to operate the tiny arrow, she immediately clicked on a folder labeled with Shane’s name.It was full of tiny, colorful pictures and she clicked one at random.Music began to play and a cartoon monkey danced across the screen.By clicking on it, she could make it jump for fruit and every once in a while it congratulated her.It was so fun, she didn’t notice Shane come back until he plopped a bowl in front of her.“Ah, that stupid game,” he said.“I quite like it,” she said.He laughed and tugged at the collar of his shirt.“It’s so embarrassing.I did that one when I was twelve or so.They’re all mostly garbage, but there’s definitely better ones than Monkey Mayhem.”“Do ye mean to tell me ye created that game?”“I did all those,” he said, tapping the screen and running his finger over the pictures.“I get along all right with coding, I just dinna like it much, and as ye can see, my artistic skills are sorely lacking.”“It seems like magic,” she sighed.He laughed again and looked uncomfortable.“Ye’d really rather work on a farm?”“Absolutely.Not much money in it, though,” he said with a shrug.“Which is why my parents want me to go to programming school.I’ve been slacking too long, they say.”Catie learned he was nineteen, and apparently had to make his decision quite soon.He acted as if he would end up doing what his parents wanted, which she admired on principle, but hated to see him unhappy.She wanted to tell him she understood completely.Having to get married to secure a large sum of money when she didn’t care at all about such things, and only wanted to live peacefully on her aunt’s farm seemed quite the same dilemma to her.When they were done eating, they watched a program that moved her to tears it was so dramatic, then he took her back to the castle.A perfect gentleman, or at least as much as he could be with the lax rules of the day.In fact, as she thought about it, she decided he was more of a gentleman, because he acted properly on his own, with no chaperone to berate him if he did wrong.Between exploring the village with Mellie and wandering the castle grounds with Shane, the week flew past, and she only worried about Lachlan for the few minutes each night before she fell into an exhausted sleep.On the day he and the witch were to arrive home, Mellie asked her if she was nervous about seeing her brother again and she realized she’d been deep in denial, her stomach plummeting at the thought.She could barely make conversation, and begged off taking a drive in the golf cart with Shane.When she wasn’t helping Mel clean, she spent the day pacing and wringing her hands.“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Mel said.It was late and they were due any time.Catie wore her long dress, thinking it would be difficult enough for Lachlan to adjust to her being there.If he saw her in jeans and a t-shirt, his head might explode.“He won’t be angry,” Mel assured her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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