Page 20 of Love Bomb

But she was right.

Legally, they couldn’t have done a thing.

“I really want to pummel your parents,” he said as calmly as he could.

Her smile was breathtaking, and for a second, he felt dizzy at the sight. Rona hadn’t smiled like that as a kid. Back then it’d been more lopsided and full of metalwork. It was almost as though he was looking at a completely different person.

And then she opened her mouth and reminded him exactly who he was dealing with.

“If you really want to hurt them,” the demon said sweetly, “help me blow up their precious folly.”

CHAPTER TEN

It was clear that Bain wasn’t going to help her, no matter how much she asked, begged, or blackmailed him. And, after a day combing through the internet, it was also evident that learning how to make a bomb wasn’t as easy as Rona thought it would be. She blamed TV for that.

Turn on any American crime show and there was somebody explaining that the bad guy found out how to make a bomb online. But they never said where online. Online was a very big place and Rona didn’t have time to comb through thousands of websites in the hopes of finding something useful.

Plus, common sense told her that even if she did get a bomb recipe off the internet, she probably wouldn’t be able to find the right ingredients in Invertary. Even the locals had to drive into Fort William to get everything they needed.

Frustrated, Rona had gone to the hotel restaurant and ordered the biggest chicken pie on the menu. It was good, and helped lift her mood, but it didn’t solve her problems.

She paused mid-bite and considered Fort William. They did have a lot more shops than Invertary. Maybe somebody there sold explosives. She pulled out her iPad and did yet another search.

It didn’t take long to learn that explosives weren’t sold from just any old shop. They were highly regulated by the government, and you needed a special license to buy, store, or sell them. Getting her hands on some wasn’t going to be easy.

“Hey, you,” said a cheery voice. “The boyfriend’s no’ eating with you tonight?”

Rona looked up to find Bain’s youngest brother grinning down at her.

And just like that, her prayers were answered.

Conall might not know how to use explosives. And he might not have a license to store them either. But he knew someone who did. In other words, Conall had information she needed.

Rona beamed at him. “Tom naps a lot,” she said, as she pointed to the opposite bench in her window booth. “Want to keep me company for a bit?”

Conall glanced toward the bar. “I’m only here to pick up some takeaway for me and my brothers…”

“Surely they won’t starve while we catch up?”

She batted her lashes and tried to look innocent, which was surprisingly easy when you barely scraped five-feet-tall and had ringlets for hair.

Conall relaxed with a smile. “I think I can spare half an hour for a pretty lady.”

Man, he was so much easier to handle than his annoying brother. He unzipped his padded jacket and tossed it into the booth before sliding in beside it.

“So, you’re an architect now?” Rona signaled for the waitress to bring them a couple of drinks. “And you work for your family business? That’s so exciting.”

“It will be,” Conall said, looking exactly like the same eager-to-please puppy he’d been as a kid. “The business is still new, but we’re getting there. We’re lucky that, between us, we have all the skills needed to take a job through from idea to completion. All we need is a couple of big jobs and we’d be off and running.”

Yeah, yeah, that all sounded great. But Rona needed to work the conversation around to finding out where they stored their explosives.

“So,” she said as her mind raced for a way to get what she wanted. “You’re the architect and Bain is demolition. What do the rest of you do?”

“Kade does the carpentry, Darach is our project manager and muscle, and our Da does the electrics. Brodie was our electrician, but he’s gone off to find another World War Two plane for the museum his wife wants to open.”

This was getting nowhere. Who cared about an old plane? She needed explosives.

“I saw you have an office on the high street. Where do you keep all your building stuff?” She grimaced then smiled. “Sorry, I don’t know anything about how a building company works.”