Legacy of the Highlands (29 page)

“I think I’ll stay here,” she said and peered
out the window again. She wanted to be alone to catch a glimpse of
Scotland, but a stubborn cloud cover hid its lochs, glens and
mountains and thwarted her chance for a private reunion with the
land of her ancestors, the dramatically beautiful land that was now
forever tainted by Will’s murder.

Diego’s mobile phone sounded as the plane taxied to
the terminal.

“Thank God,” uttered Serge when Diego
answered. “Don’t you ever check your voicemail? Didn’t I teach you
to always maintain contact? How am I supposed to protect you if you
can’t even do something as simple as that?”

Diego’s expression hardened, his full lips
narrowing in response to Serge’s tongue lashing, which was at a
decibel level loud enough for Alex to hear. She was surprised when
he took it in silence instead of defending himself. Alex suspected
that Serge was the only person who could lecture him and get away
with it.

“What? What’s he saying?” Alex tugged
impatiently on Diego’s sleeve to get his attention.

He put a finger to his lips to quiet her and
focused intently on what the bodyguard was telling him. Diego’s
brow furrowed and his jaw clenched. Concern filled his eyes as he
listened and he wrapped an arm tightly around Alex’s shoulders.

Something hard jabbed her side and she lifted
his sweater to see if her guess was correct. Before she could see
more than the bottom of the holster, Diego irritably tugged the
sweater down and glared at her. What the hell was he doing with a
gun? As much as she found sadistic pleasure in fantasizing about
ways to make Will’s murderer suffer, his punishment would have to
come from someone more rational than this madman whose combination
of Scottish and Sicilian blood predisposed him to violence and
vendettas. Once again, Alex was reminded of how little she knew
about the man she’d allowed to become her lover.

“What did he tell you? And what the hell are
you doing with a gun?” she demanded the moment the call ended.

“We have to go. I’ll fill you in on the
way.”

“Bullshit! I saw that look on your face,
Navarro. Tell me what’s going on right now or I head back to Boston
tonight.” She crossed her arms and waited.

“That’s exactly what I wanted you to do. I
thought you’d be safer in Boston, but I was wrong.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, more alarmed
by the tension on his face than by his words.

“Serge told me that you were being followed
in Boston.”

“What? Why would they care about me? I’m a
MacBain, not a Cameron.”

“Yes, but you slept with a Cameron. Remember
you told me you had an appointment with your gynecologist? That
kind of doctor also delivers babies, yes? You were followed, and
now they think you could be pregnant with Will’s child…the last
Cameron.”

“That’s ridiculous. Do I look pregnant?” Alex
asked as she ran a hand over her flat stomach.

“That’s not the point! Jesus Christ, woman!”
He didn’t know whether his anger was driven by worry or frustration
that she didn’t get it, but he was having a hard time maintaining
control. Diego stood over her and gripped the arms of her seat, his
face inches away from hers. “Doesn’t it tell you something that you
were being followed?” he hissed. “Don’t you see that they might
decide to kill you on the off chance that you’ve got John Cameron’s
grandchild in your belly?”

“But I’m not pregnant! I’m not…” her voice
trailed off. “No one’s going to kill me. If they wanted to, they’d
have done it already.” His use of the word “belly” jolted her as it
brought back the frightening encounter with that man in the alley.
She was tempted to tell Diego about it, but he’d lay into her about
that too. This was definitely the wrong time to give him a reason
to become even more crazed than he was already.

Diego slumped into the seat next to her as
they both tried to calm down.

“I don’t like that you have a gun,” Alex
finally said. “Besides, you can’t get it through Scottish
immigration.”

“You can if you have the proper paperwork and
I do.”

“But isn’t it Serge’s job to protect
you?”

“It is, but he taught me to defend myself and
I can, surprisingly well.” Diego took her hands in his and used one
finger to gently turn her face toward him. He had to make her
understand the danger posed by their adversaries. They’d killed at
least once and Diego knew they could do it again.

“I have no idea what we’re up against here,
but please try to trust me. I’ll never let anything happen to you,”
he said as he cupped her face tenderly and whispered, “You’ve
become too important to me.”

She heard and nodded, but couldn’t, or
wouldn’t, reply.

“Let’s go,” he said, breaking the mood as he
shifted into action. “We’re meeting Serge at his hotel after we
pick up our car. I hate driving on the wrong side of the road and
I’m going to need you to navigate us through those inane
roundabouts they love over here.”

“I’ll drive,” Alex replied. “Don’t forget
that Will and I spent a lot of time in London, so I’m pretty
confident I won’t smash into anything.” The switch to a mundane
topic helped to defuse the tension between them.

“Fine, but a woman behind the wheel and a man
in the passenger seat goes against all that is holy,” he teased, as
a grin spread from his mouth to eyes that sparkled with mischief
until he saw that Alex didn’t realize he was joking. “Of course
you’ll drive and I’ll do my best to stay calm. I may have more
machísmo
than you’d like, but that doesn’t make me a total
idiot.”

“Yeah, right,” she grumbled, but let it
drop.

He deferred to her when they chose their
rental — a red Mini Cooper, which wasn’t just cute, she said, but
also the perfect size for Scotland’s narrow roads, unlike the
muscular SUV he’d wanted.

They reached the hotel easily and found a man
Diego recognized as Serge in the lobby bar, but he looked like a
stranger to Alex. The transformation in his appearance amazed her.
He had a great tan and wore a navy blue Polo shirt, khakis and
tasseled loafers with no socks. His military-style short hair had
grown out and he could have passed for a more muscular version of
Brad Pitt. Serge couldn’t have looked more American if he’d been
waving the Stars and Stripes.

“What’s with the outfit?” Alex asked as Serge
led the way to his suite. He’d also lost the accent that had led
her to believe that English wasn’t his native tongue.

“Oh, this,” he said, as he looked down to
remind himself of what he was wearing. “The people here think that
I’m an American from Florida who’s in Scotland on business. I have
to look the part.” As soon as they were safely in his suite, Serge
turned his attention to Diego.

“Did you tell her?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Diego, “she knows.”

“And she’s okay with what we’ll do once we
find him?” Serge asked as he paced across the suite’s spacious
living room. He wanted to finish the job and get the hell back to
Florida or wherever Diego was headed next.

Alex glared at them, but they didn’t notice.
The longer the two men behaved as if she were invisible, the
angrier she became. When she couldn’t take it any more, she blocked
Serge’s path and jabbed a finger into his shoulder. “Hey! Can you
see me or have I suddenly vanished? The two of you better start to
include me in everything. Everything! And stop behaving like I’m
some weak damsel in distress.”

“She’s right,” said Diego. “Alex has
toughened up since you met her in Miami, although her muscles leave
something to be desired,” he teased, knowing she’d rise to the
bait. He dodged just before her fist connected with his jaw. “Admit
it, Alex, you haven’t been working out.”

“You idiot!” she spat. She was livid, but a
part of her liked that Diego noticed that she was growing stronger
every day.

“I apologize, Alex,” said Serge. “If Diego
wants you to be included in our talks, of course you will be.”

“Not only that, but she’s also part of the
plan I’ve come up with,” said Diego.

Serge’s eyebrows rose in surprise, then he
leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“Oh? You have a plan?” Sarcasm dripped from his voice. “Do you
think it might be important to hear what I’ve learned in the last
twenty-four hours before you tell us about your...plan?”

Diego didn’t like being second-guessed or
patronized. Alex recognized the twitching jaw and icy eyes that
signaled the effort he was making to hold his temper and his mouth
in check.

“Fine. You’re the expert. I defer to you,” he
said, his speech clipped.

Serge had dealt with Diego’s short fuse for
years and knew that the storm would pass as quickly as it rose, so
he simply proceeded with his report.

“Okay. You both know that one of the
listening devices I placed picked up a call to Mackinnon from the
man who was tailing you in Boston,” he said as he glanced toward
Alex for confirmation. She nodded. “They’re waiting to see if
you’re pregnant with your late husband’s child. If you are, they
plan to kill you. They’ll stop at nothing to wipe all traces of
John Cameron from the earth.”

“Well, I’d better do lots of crunches and
watch my diet,” Alex joked, but she shivered and felt goose bumps
rise on her scalp at the matter-of-fact way Serge spoke about her
murder. She and Will had longed for a child for so many years that
it was weird to be happy that the regular periods she’d had since
he’d died were absolute proof that she wasn’t pregnant. And she was
on the pill. Nope, definitely not pregnant.

“Alex,” Diego said, interrupting her reverie.
“Do you remember that vagrant we saw near your house? Remember that
I thought there was something off about him? Serge found out that
he was one of two men sent to follow you.” Diego raked his hair
with both hands as he paced from one end of the room to the other.
“I told you to watch out for him, didn’t I? Christ, I never should
have gone to Buenos Aires and left you alone. What if he had…”

“Why are you angry? Nothing happened,” Alex
shot back, but that was only half true. If this guy were one of
them, it was important for Serge to know about her encounter with
him. Diego would explode, but that was his problem. She was sure
that once she told them, these two men would watch her like hawks.
Maybe she should be grateful for that instead of fighting it. She
didn’t want to die. She cleared her throat and took a deep
breath.

“I have something to tell both of you. And
Serge, it would probably be a good idea if you get a firm grip on
Diego because he’s going to flip out.” She had their full
attention. “One of the men that you just said was following
me...well...he and I actually met while you were in Argentina. He
seemed harmless enough, just down on his luck.”

“What!
¡Díos mío!
Why didn’t you tell
me about this? What did he say to you?” Diego bolted out of his
chair as if a firecracker had gone off under him.

Alex turned her back on both men and gazed
out the window at the timeless beauty of Inverness Castle across
the river from the hotel. It calmed her until she felt Diego’s
breath on her neck. I suppose now he’s going to strangle me, she
thought, but instead his arms came around her waist as he leaned in
and whispered, “Don’t you know the risk of talking to such a
person? I’d never forgive myself if he’d harmed you.”

Although the warm strength of his body was
comforting, his compulsion to protect her was maddening and she
pulled away. How could he brag to Serge about her strength one
minute, then think he had to rescue her the next? She glared at him
and shoved him away.

“Do I look hurt? No. Did he do anything to
me? No. Well, he did touch my stomach at one point and said
something odd, but…”

“He touched you?” Diego interrupted, his face
in hers again.

Serge seemed to be enjoying their performance
and was patiently waiting for it to end so that he could continue
his report.

“Stop interrupting and I’ll finish,” she
hissed. “And stop breathing in my face. You could use a mint or
something.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’m mad at myself,
not at you. Go on,” Diego said as he silently accepted a mint from
Serge. Alex hoped it would keep his mouth busy for a few
minutes.

“After I saw the doctor I went to the alley
where Will died. I needed to see it. You might think I’m crazy, but
I felt Will’s presence there. Anyway, I sat on the ground for a
while…talking to him…until that same street person came along. He
heard me talking to myself and wanted to know if I was okay. Can
you imagine? Anyway, I thought he might know someone who’d
witnessed Will’s murder. I asked if he knew of anyone who slept in
that alley or whether he’d heard anything about a man being stabbed
there. He mumbled that he didn’t know anything and staggered away.
I went after him and when I caught up he put a hand on my stomach
and said the weirdest thing.”

“What?” the two men asked in unison. She
finally had Serge’s attention as well as Diego’s.

She rubbed her head again to try to get rid
of the goose bumps that prickled her scalp and took a steadying
breath. “I’ll never forget his words. He said, very clearly, ‘Did
your man plant something in there before dying, I wonder?’ I wanted
to chase him, to ask him what he meant, but he began to run. I knew
I was too shaky to catch him so I didn’t try. I went straight to
Francie’s. If they’re trying to figure out if I’m pregnant, maybe I
should do one of those home pregnancy tests in front of Mackinnon
to prove there’s no baby for them to worry about.” She was dead
serious.

“That’s not such a crazy idea if it would
keep you safe,” said Diego. “What do you think?” he asked
Serge.

“If your only goal is to protect Mrs. Cameron
— and I know that’s important to you — her idea could work. These
people say they’d prefer not to harm her...something about her
having the blood of some Scottish hero — MacBain, right?”