“Not my age,” Arrochar whispered. “She’s a few years younger than me.”
“Still. She’s what … twenty-nine?”
“Twenty-eight,” Lachlan supplied, watching as she talked with the nurse behind the desk.
“And a police officer,” Thane muttered. “She didn’t fall far from the tree.”
“As far as we know, she’s nothing like Mac.”
Arrochar tensed in his arms and reminded him, unnecessarily, “She’s his daughter, Lachlan.”
“Imagine having a kid at sixteen,” Thane continued in awe. “I can barely look after my two as it is. I can’t imagine being a father at that age.”
“One, you’re a great dad,” Lachlan replied. “Two, that’s my point. Mac was sixteen when Robyn was born. He was a kid. And her mother”—he gestured to Robyn—“made him into a villain. Somehow Mac’s the bad guy for going off to make some money for them? Mac’s the bad guy even though she stopped him from seeing his daughter. He’s lying in a hospital bed right now, and if Robyn even thinks of starting—”
“Whoa, calm down.” Arrochar pushed away from him. “Lachlan, you’re angry at whoever did this to Mac. At whoever is doing this to you. Not at Robyn. So don’t take it out on her while Mac is fighting for his life.”
Her words calmed the aggravation building inside him.
She was right. This wasn’t Robyn’s fault. Just like it probably wasn’t her fault her name was Penhaligon when it should be Galbraith. But he remembered when Mac found out she’d legally changed it. He remembered how hurt his friend had been.
Still, he nodded, and Arrochar relaxed just as Robyn’s heels sounded again.
Lachlan studied her as she neared, and when he noted the vulnerability in her eyes, the rest of his anger toward her deflated.
“No word yet,” Robyn informed them. That vulnerability he’d seen just seconds ago disappeared under flint. “Where are the police? Shouldn’t they be here?”
“They’ve already been,” Lachlan informed her. “They questioned Mac’s neighbor, Jim, and left.”
“Where is this neighbor?” She looked determinedly around the waiting room.
“I sent him home. He had quite a shock.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And what did he have to say?”
Lachlan tried not to react to her demanding tone. “That he was walking home from the pub when he saw Mac …” He took a breath. “Mac on his knees while someone, a man, stood over him. Jim thought he was punching Mac in the gut. When he shouted, the perpetrator took off. That’s when Jim got to Mac and realized he’d been stabbed.”
She didn’t flinch at that news. “Did he see the perp’s face? Any discernible qualities that stuck out to him about the guy?”
He shook his head, frustrated. “The man wore a ski mask. All black. All Jim could determine was his height. Around five ten, five eleven. Stocky build.”
“How did he catch Mac unaware?” Robyn asked in disbelief.
“It was right on his doorstep. He was dressed in a suit for dinner with you. The police reckon he’d just stepped outside the door when it happened. He obviously had no time to react.”
She nodded, processing this. Her gaze moved to the floor, and Lachlan contemplated her face, trying to uncover a resemblance to Mac. He couldn’t see it. Mac had dark hair. She had a mass of long hair that spilled past her shoulders and didn’t seem to know what color it wanted to be. Was it brown or blond or red? It was an undecided shade of all three.
But her manner … she had the same forthright quality as Mac. The thought barely formed when Robyn’s head snapped up and she glared at Arrochar. “What did you mean when you said someone meant to harm Lachlan, and they’d decided to take out his former bodyguard?”
Lachlan stiffened.
Arrochar shot her brother an apologetic look.
Oh, that’s just fantastic.
ROBYN
Adair took hold of my elbow to lead me away from the waiting room, and it took a lot of restraint not to shake off his touch. The man couldn’t make it any clearer that he despised me.
I let him lead me to an empty corner of a hospital corridor. “Well?” I finally shook off his hold, and he dropped his hand like I’d burned him.
Staring stonily down at me, I became much too aware that he had me pinned to a wall while he towered over me. His height and build, plus those eyes and that rugged face, had made him Hollywood’s perfect action hero.
In reality, his physique was perfect for intimidating people.
I didn’t appreciate it.
Slipping out from the wall, I put my back to the corridor, and Adair turned with me. I had an issue with putting my back to an entrance or open space, but after working through it with my therapist, I was determined to overcome the anxiety by forcing myself to stay put. To not encourage the fear by always placing myself with my back to a wall. Besides, I didn’t want my back to a wall in his presence.
Adair raised an eyebrow at my deliberate repositioning but didn’t remark on it. Instead, he offered, “There have been incidents at the estate.”
“What kind of incidents?”
“Not ones I’m willing to discuss with an outsider.”
Anger flared, but I kept it buried. “If it has something to do with what happened to my father, then I have a right to know.”
“Then it’ll be up to Mac to tell you himself. If he wants to. For now, all you need to know is that his attack is most likely tied to these incidents.”
His vagueness frustrated me. Instead of engaging in an immature spat, I opened my purse and retrieved my phone.
“What are you doing? Who are you calling?”
“My mom. I have to tell her Mac’s in the hospital.”
“No, you don’t.” To my shock, he grabbed my phone out of my hand.
Indignation roared through me. “What are you doing?”
Adair leaned into me, all pretense of politeness gone. His face was a mask of controlled fury. “The police have agreed to keep the incident with Mac quiet. As fucked-up as it may be, no one cares about a random man being stabbed. What people do care about is a man being stabbed in one of the safest villages in Scotland. A man who happens to be head of security at Ardnoch Estate. If you tell your mother, it’ll be all over the news.”
“You’re protecting your club?” I sneered. “My father is in surgery with multiple stab wounds, and you care about your goddamn club?”
“Don’t.” Adair slipped on an obdurate countenance. “Don’t take that high-and-mighty attitude with me. I’ve been by Mac’s side for seventeen years. You don’t know the first thing about him, but I do. And he was the one who wanted to keep all this from the police and the public. I’m just trying to obey his wishes.”
Keep all of what from the police and public? “Funny how his wishes coincide with your best interests.”
“Believe what you want. But you’re not calling your mother.” He held up my phone, captive in his big fist. “It would be hypocritical to say she’d give a shit.”