SBC Fighter: Tails Of Love Part 30

An enthusiastic tail swish showed the dog had no intention of obeying.

He kept his canine stare pinned on Jil y, total y ignoring the man who drew to a halt beside him.

Jil y looked at him and forgot to breathe.

"Holy heather, la.s.s, I'm sorry!" The man-probably the most gorgeous she'd ever seen-curled firm fingers beneath the dog's col ar and pul ed him away from her. "He meant no harm, I swear. It was the haggis, no' you."

"The haggis?" Jil y glanced at the clean-licked plate.

Cutie nodded. "He has an insatiable hunger for haggis.

That's the reason I have him."

"Oh?" Jil y stared at him, thunderstruck by his dimples and b.u.t.tery-rich burr.

The dimples deepened, his clear blue gaze not wavering from hers. "Haggis can't resist haggis. He-"

"His name is Haggis?" Jil y glanced at the dog, his wagging tail answer enough.

"Och, aye, he's Haggis right enough." The man smiled.

"He belonged to the owners of another inn, but when they couldn't put a stop to his haggis-napping, they meant to put him away. I couldn't bear to think of him in a kennel and so"-he shoved a hand through his dark hair-"he's been mine ever since."

A thump of Haggis's tail against a chair said how much he approved of the relationship.

Jil y understood. With his bold good looks-there was definitely a flair of the Celt about him-she was sure the Scot charmed everyone, including capricious canines.

But it was hard to ful y appreciate him with his furry-faced friend stil eyeing her as if she might be as edible as her haggis.

Even so, she did note his remarkable blue eyes and the sensual curve of his lips. He had the kind of mouth that would have set her heart to gal oping if they'd met under different circ.u.mstances.

Such as not in Luss of al places and certainly not with her last clean pair of travel pants stained by mud smears and dog s...o...b..r.

She started to tel him to just take his haggis-addicted dog and leave, but before she could the proprietress returned with a gla.s.s of water and a smal , linen towel.

"Ach, Kieran, whatever are you going to do with that beast?" She flashed him a look as she plunked down the water and the cloth.

To Jil y, she added, "I'l have a fresh plate of haggis for you shortly. If"-she glanced at the dog before hurrying away-"Kieran can shepherd his dog outside where he belongs!"

"He was in my boat where he always is." Kieran s.n.a.t.c.hed up the cloth and dipped it into the water. "He would've stayed there if he hadn't caught sight of some fool Jack Russel running circles on the beach."

"A Jack Russel ?" The pretty American's brow knit. "A smal brown and white one?"

Kieran wrung out the cloth. "I was too busy trying to cal back Haggis to pay much attention to the little b.u.g.g.e.r. I only knew he bolted away from the strand and made a beeline for the Colquhoun Inn."

He offered the girl an apologetic smile. "With Haggis on his tail that meant trouble."

"Indeed." She glanced at her mud-stained thighs.

She had sweet, shapely thighs. And he was dabbing at them with the dampened cloth.

"Och, sorry!" He jerked back as if he'd scorched himself.

"I didn't mean-"

"I'm sure." She s.n.a.t.c.hed the towel and rubbed vigorously against her knee, the color in her cheeks revealing she real y had thought the worst of him. "I can get the stains out myself, thank you."

"No, please . . ." Kieran felt his own face flaming. "I'd like to make it up to you. I'm Kieran MacCol , a local . . ."

He broke off, horrified to realize he'd been about to a.s.sure her he wasn't some reprobate. Blast, he'd wanted to make amends, not put his foot in his mouth.

Not that she appeared to be listening.

In fact, he was sure she'd dismissed him.

Kieran frowned.

"Look," he began, "I have a boat-the Salty Seal-and I'l take you on a tour of the loch. You can meet me at the pier, at four o'clock if you're interested."

"The Salty Seal? " She looked up, her hand stil ing on her knee.

He nodded. "The name is a story in itself. I'l tel you on the boat."

Her eyes narrowed with a bit too much apprehension for his liking.

Kieran gave her his best I-am-not-an-axe-murderer smile. "You won't be sorry, I swear it."

"I have things to do." She went back to scrubbing her thigh. "I doubt I'l have time."

Haggis chose that moment to lunge forward and lick her hand. Unfortunately, it was one of his ful -out slurpy-wet kisses.

She jerked back, dropping the cloth.

Then, to his surprise, her lips twitched. "I'l think about it,"

she said, looking on as he bent to scoop up the towel. "But I can't make any promises. I real y do have a ful schedule."

"Four o'clock at the pier." Kieran gave Haggis a look that said it was time to go and started for the door, some half- crazed instinct tel ing him not to give her a chance to say a definite no.

There was something about her that made him determined to see her again. Something indefinable that went beyond her obvious charms.

Something oddly familiar.

He just needed to figure out what it was.

CHAPTER TWO.

At approximately two minutes before four o'clock that same afternoon, Jil y caught herself just before she stepped onto the Luss pier. Stopping in her tracks, she gave herself a shake, grateful that Kieran Whatever-His-Name-Was had his back to her. He stood beside his boat, a st.u.r.dy-looking craft al gleaming white and with the name Salty Seal in bright blue letters on its side.

His haggis-eating dog was nowhere in sight.

Nor were the twenty or so tourists she'd been told to expect onboard for the boat tour. The innkeeper had sworn he never went out empty. She wouldn't have to worry about being alone with him. There'd be no need to make smal talk or avoid personal questions with a group of eager-to- see-the-scenery people keeping him busy.

She frowned.

Seeing him alone changed everything.

A soft rain had fal en earlier and low clouds stil clung to the hil s across the loch while the water gleamed like smooth, polished silver. Standing against such a backdrop gave any man an advantage. When that man happened to be a tal , broad-shouldered, and very good-looking Scot, the results were nearly fatal.

And more than enough reason for her to turn around and leave. She'd been out of her mind to consider joining his boat tour in the first place. After al , she did have other things to do.

Wel , one thing.

But it was extremely important.

She lifted a hand to the locket that now seemed to pulse hotly against her skin. Her cheeks felt heated, too, and her heart thundered. She tried to tel herself that she was jittery because of her mission and not because the Scotsman on the pier looked so ruggedly handsome. As if he could stride across Loch Lomond's mist-shrouded hil s, each blade of gra.s.s, stone, and clump of heather acknowledging his birthright to being there.

Jil y cast another glance at him and was relieved to see he stil stood with his back to her. With luck, he wouldn't see her slipping down the lochside path as she made her way to the Luss Church and its graveyard.

A destination she wasn't going to reach because even if Kieran hadn't noticed her arrival and quick turnabout at the pier, someone else was staring right at her.

The kilted man and his dog.

His ghost dog.

Something she was quite sure of because although the old man sat calmly on a bench, smiling at her, his Jack Russel dashed about on stubby little legs, sniffing the damp cobbles and-Heaven help her-she could see the nearby stone wal right through him!

In fact, when the man raised his walking stick in cheerful greeting, she couldn't help but notice that he, too, appeared rather transparent. She could see the loch-front cottages behind him, including the detail of the roof thatch and the colors of the doors, the deep reds and blues standing out against thick white-washed wal s.

Jil y stared at man and dog.

They were ghosts!

And she was going the other way.

Spinning around, she sprinted for the road. But the instant she nipped into it, she saw the man again. He stood about halfway between her and the inn, admiring the flowers crowding the steps of one of the houses.

The Jack Russel danced at his heels.

See-through as before.

"O-o-oh, no!" Jil y ran in the only direction left to her, dashing onto the narrow stretch of sh.o.r.e beside the pier.

But that escape, too, proved futile.

Haggis sat smack in the middle of the strand, clearly waiting for her. He had a red ribbon-tied scrol attached to his col ar and Jil y knew without looking that the message was for her.

A swish of Haggis's tail confirmed it.

Jil y stared at him. She was sure she didn't want to know what the note said. What she wanted was to be back in her bed at the inn with the door locked and the covers pul ed up over her head.

Haggis seized the moment, using her hesitation to leap to his feet and bound over to her. He nudged her leg with a cold, wet nose, peering at her expectantly.

His solidity alone kept her in place.

As did her certainty that if she went anywhere else, the old man and his terrier would reappear.

Jil y shuddered.

Then she caved and reached to retrieve her note.

Luss Pier, aboard the Salty Seal To a certain blond, blue-eyed American . . . (I've yet to learn your name) Dare I, Haggis, ask a special favour? The human who belongs to me, one most likeable chap named Kieran, is refusing to give me the haggis that is tucked into a picnic hamper on his boat unless you join him in partaking of the other treats he's prepared.

Since I am known to become very unhappy when deprived of haggis, I hereby beg you to agree.

In high hopes of your cooperation, Haggis Jil y couldn't help but smile. She looked down at the dog and for reasons she was sure had only to do with him, her heart started thudding. Of course, she wasn't fl.u.s.tered because of the man she knew had penned the note. And it certainly wasn't because of that particular man's soft lilting voice. Nor was it the way his eyes twinkled when he smiled.

From what she knew of Scots, they al had such burrs and it wouldn't surprise her if eye twinkles didn't rank a close second on their list of dangerous attributes.

Dimples and dogs were on the list, too.

Haggis leaned in to her then, proving the canine bit of her theory. She was smiling, after al , and she'd even stopped worrying about the ghosts. Who could fret about phantoms when a tail-wagging border col ie seemed determined to lavish his affection on you?

"He likes you."

Jil y screeched as she jumped and spun around, almost col iding with Haggis's owner.

True to his race, he grinned, eye twinkles and dimples very apparent.

She frowned. "Do you always sneak up on people?"

"Only those who appear lost." His gaze flicked to the note. "Has Haggis persuaded you to join us?"

Her fingers tightened on the scrol . "I wasn't lost and-"

Haggis's bark made a liar of her.

His master's eye twinkle said he knew it.

She tucked the note into her jacket pocket. "I knew exactly where I was going."