Page 4 of Love Bomb

“Do you need a builder?” Bain prodded. “Because you’re out of luck. Our business is booked solid for months.”

He crossed his fingers as he spoke. The building firm he’d started with his brothers was barely breaking even. There wasn’t a helluva lot of work in Invertary, no matter how hard the town council tried to expand the region. Apart from endless work on the new dental clinic, because the owners kept changing their minds, he didn’t have much else on the books.

“No.” She shook her head, making those wild curls bounce. “I don’t want to build something. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

She shifted nervously, which made him suspicious. Rona was never nervous. Or at least, she hadn’t been when they were kids. In fact, back then, she’d been shameless. He still had nightmares about some of the questions she’d asked him when she’d hit puberty.

“You want to spit it out then, Rona?” He said as the kettle boiled.

He turned toward the counter, even though he didn’t like having his back to her, and filled the teapot. All the while wondering why he was making her tea. He blamed his mother. She’d insisted that all her sons learn good manners and the training had stuck.

“Rona,” he said again when there was no answer. “Why are you here?” He reached up into the cupboard to grab a couple of mugs.

He heard her take a breath.

“I need you to blow up the folly,” she said.

Bain dropped a mug. It hit the edge of the counter and shattered, spreading debris over the kitchen floor.

CHAPTER THREE

“Are you insane?” Bain demanded as he swept up the mug shards with a small dustpan and brush. “Don’t bother answering that, you’ve always been mad.” He crouched in front of the sink and glared over his shoulder at her. “I’m not blowing up the folly. It’s not happening. Never. You hear me?”

To be fair, Rona had expected some resistance, but his adamant refusal was beginning to get on her nerves.

This was Bain MacGregor, famous throughout the highlands for blowing stuff up. He’d been so good at it as a kid that he’d turned it into a profession and travelled the world as an explosives expert. He’d imploded casinos, excavated mines, and brought down apartment blocks.

And yes, she’d stalked him a little online over the years. So sue her.

The point was, Bain lived for blowing things up and she was offering him the chance to do what he loved. Obviously, he was only refusing because it was her.

Talk about holding a grudge.

“It’s my folly,” she snapped. “I can do what I like with it, and I want it gone.”

He arched a brow as he stood. “It’s your folly? Since when? I thought it was going to your dad when Old-Man Dalgliesh croaked it?”

Rona would have reprimanded him on his less than sensitive terminology for her recently departed grandfather, but he wouldn’t have bought her outrage. He knew how little she cared about the man.

“Grandfather left it to me in his will,” she said icily. “It’s mine and I can do anything I want with it.”

His laugh was annoying. “I bet the local historical society will have a bone to pick with that statement. The folly is a listed building. You need permission to do anything with it, even if you own it. And nobody on the planet is going to let you blow it up.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t intend to ask for permission. I have under a week to get the job done and I need you to do it. You’re the only explosives expert I know.”

Bain’s grin made his eyes sparkle. “You know, when I opened the door and saw you there, I thought you were back to harass me into a relationship. I thought that your little stalker obsession had finally made you snap, and you’d come home for some of this.” He gestured to himself. “Then you tell me you’re here to blow up one of Invertary’s historic buildings. I don’t buy it. Tell me the truth. Is the folly job just an excuse to get close to me?”

Rona didn’t even know where to start with that incredibly offensive statement.

“First,” she snapped. “I got over you years ago. In fact, I’d forgotten your name by the time we reached Edinburgh.”

“Yeah, right.” He was still grinning, and the sight made her blood boil.

“Secondly, even if I hadn’t gotten over you, ten minutes in this town would have shattered any illusions I may have had.” She couldn’t help but scowl with disapproval. “Since I arrived, people have been tripping over themselves to tell me all about your exploits with women. Seems you’ve been sleeping your way through the highlands ever since I left.” And weirdly, she’d expected better of him.

“Not just the highlands, darling,” he drawled.

“And finally, the only part of you that I’m interested in is your expertise with explosives. I didn’t come back for anything else.”