Coveted (Completed) - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

This woman was driving me mad, did she know everyone, I wanted her to smile at me like that, I had never felt so out of control with a female... ever.
I cleared my throat "My apologies, I don't know what came over me" she looked up at me and nodded, her head tilting towards the waiter, "I"m sorry" I repeat.
The boy smiled "Can I get you any drinks?" and like that everything moved on. The boy hurrying away with our drinks orders whilst we looked at the menu.
Maisie set hers aside and looked between us. "Have you had any luck finding Stewart yet?"
Angus shook his head "No, but Jamison is very good at his job and I am sure he will find him, I expect the Commander is also looking"
"God yes, lets hope you find him first, Bishop will kill him, he always said Stewart was a problem waiting to happen. I hope he didn't steal too much from you"
"Two million" I answered and watched the shock cross her face "The additional piece of land he sold us, that wasn't his to sell was two million. That was on top of what we paid him for the land that was his"
"Ohh" she sat back. "I am sorry"
"Why are you sorry, you didn't steal anything, he did" I ask curious.
"But he is my cousin and well... I don't know, I feel guilty as he is family" she mutters out and I take her hand in mine on top of the table.
"You have nothing to feel guilty about, it is us who should be guilty, what she sent to you, in our name, our company name was not just out of order but against everything we try to do, but similar to your feelings, its our name, our company, no matter who did it, it was done"
She peeks up at us from under her lashes and I feel her nerves returning "I won't sell the land to you... and I will oppose the resort here. Bishop too" she looked between us "I just wanted to make that very clear, in case you want to end the evening here"
"No!" Angus almost shouts and I put my hand on his arm to calm him.
"No, we don't want to end the evening, in fact, thank you for being very clear, now we can move on past the land issues. You are right, we can find another location for the resort and we will work out what to do with the land once we have found Duncan"
"Oh, okay that sounds alright"
"So now we can focus on you... and us"
"Us?"
"Yes, Us" I squeeze her hand gently and watch her blush.
"Is that something you would be interested in... Us?" Angus asked.
I could feel the fine vibrations running through her. "But you don't know me, why me?" she sounded genuinely confused.
"When I saw you it was like a bolt of lightening hit me, and I can't get you out of my head" I tell her.
"You walked into that room and you were all I could see, I didn't care about the money, the resort, none of it, except as a way to interact with you. When we left, we were already planning how to see you again" Angus adds.
"We stopped for flowers and I knew roses were not for you, you are pure untamed wildness"
Her gaze narrows at my words and I run them back in my mind as she speaks "So I'm a challenge? You think you can tame me?"
"Hell no, I mean no that's not what I mean, damn it woman, you have my mind all twisted up. I just want you" I growl at her, hearing her gasp and the quick sound of retreating footsteps.
"I think you have just scared poor Ewan" she says softly, a blush staining her cheeks.
"And you, did we scare you?" We both watched her, the blush spreading under our gaze. "Please look at us"
Her eyes met mine and I could see the doubt but also interest. "Please give us a chance, get to know us"
"Us?"
I looked at Angus who nodded, "We want to share you"
She frowned "People don't really do that"
Angus took her other hand bringing her attention to him "They do, especially within our family and friends" he smiled softly "Our sort of cousins, Cosmo and Cassian Devereaux are with Alexandria Forbes Hamilton and our brother Rupert is in a committed relationship with his three best friends and their wife Per, it can be beautiful and it does work, if you want it to" he tells her.
"Its why, when you smiled at the boy I reacted, I was jealous you smiled at him, with Angus I am fine but any other male..." I watch her face, taking in the expressions crossing it, she didn't say no but I could see her struggling with her thoughts, time to change them. "Tell us about yourself"
Her brows rose and she looked at me "You want to play 20 questions?"
"Quid pro quo" Angus added, just as another much older waiter appeared.
"Good evening, Are you ready to order?" he looked between us all, keeping his attention on Angus and I after a quick look at Maisie.
Maisie shook her head before laughing "Thank you George, I will have the Salmon, and my apologies if we scared Ewan"
George gave her a short bow, "I will pass that on your ladyship" he looked back at us "Sir?" We both order steak and sat back as the waiter hurried away.
"Do you know everyone?" Angus asked and she nodded.
"Small town, everyone knows everyone, I would expect by the time this evening is over news of this" she waved her hands at us "Is all over the town"
"Why are they so interested?" he mused.
"Is that one of your questions?" she asks and we nod "Between Bishop and I we own or manage most of the surrounding land, most of the people within the town work for one of our estates or have someone in the family who does" she explains. "My turn, where do you live?"
"London is our current base but we have family homes around the world that we spend time at, depending where our work takes us" Angus replies.
"How old are you?" I ask.
"That's rude, you should never ask a lady her age" she murmurs but we just look at her waiting... "Twenty four... You?"
"Thirty two. What do you do?""
We paused as George brought back out drinks and set them out in front of us.
"I'm an author. You?"
"We manage the property arm of Breitmeyer Investments currently" Angus replies.
"Why currently?" she looks between us "Are they holding you responsible for what happened with Stewart?"
We both grin, she sounds worried however, so we rush to reply.
"No, that's all in hand, we have retrieved the money and Ms Strait, we just need to find him and get everything settled"
"The reason we say currently is that every couple of years we rotate through the different parts of the business so we can learn it all, Our brother Rupert does similar but he also has a partnership within his family group"
"Do you enjoy it?" she asks softly.
"Yes and it has its upsides" I grin at her "It bought us to you"
She blushes again, and I squeeze her hand.
With the arrival of our food we turned the conversation away from the personal and towards the local area and I smiled to myself as she relaxed and allowed herself to become more animated as she showed us with her descriptions her love of the area.
"Did you ever think of leaving?" Angus asked after the meal was finished and we both held our breath as she contemplated his question.
"I did, but this is my home, I do spend some time travelling, sometimes with Bishop" she smiles affectionately as she says his name.
"What about for work, you said you were an author?" I ask and she nods.
"I'm lucky, I can do everything from home and my publishers work with me, I think I did one press release and signing... it was my second book and it was horrible, I froze and then had a panic attack. Needless to say we renewed the contract with a few changes."
I feel Angus tense then grin at her "Pluto's Adventures, you wrote that!"
She blushes and nods, "I did, they are under a different pen name but yes, I wrote those"
"Our niece and nephew each have a Pluto toy and all the books" Angus tells her and she grins.
"There is a new one due out next month, I will give you an advance copy for them"
"Will you sign it?" I ask softly and she blushes again before nodding.
George returns to the table and we all decline dessert, leaning back to add our compliments to Maisie's before requesting the bill.
"Can we see you again tomorrow?" Angus asks and she laughs.
"Aren't you supposed to ask that when you drop me off at home?"
"I'm making sure we have a chance to change your mind if you say no" he admits and I grin as George stifles his own laugh as we settle the bill.
"Please" I add.
"Yes" she agrees almost silently but we hear her.