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"Are you speaking to ht His voice was deep and gruff, and he stood at least four inches taller than this ht and took two steps back fro that he’d done The waitress who had started over to the table stopped abruptly, order pad and pen in hand

Everyone else nearby sat quietly watching the confrontation Duncan was clearly in charge

Shelley tried not to drop her jaw at the way Duncan commanded everyone’s attention with his very presence and the darkness in his voice He looked like a Scottish laird, even if his oldest brother was actually the laird He looked like he could have coainst another He was inti, despite the fact that the other man was the one who had cursed at Duncan

Now the irlfriend looked like she was, too

Shelley wondered if he’d tell Silver Duncan in a restaurant She wondered if word of Duncan’s behavior would scare Silver, if Kenneth did tell him what had happened

The waitress broke the impenetrable silence with a half-squeaked question, "Is there anything wrong?" She was young Shelley doubted the girl had ever had to deal with a situation like this The best thing she could do was butt out

Duncan cocked a brow at thethe question to hiet the words out so that he sounded ruff and scary like Duncan, but he didn’t have the ability Under his breath, theme, laddie?"

Oh My God

If looks could kill, thetone to Duncan’s voice, despite how cold and utterly dangerous he sounded, but the way he called the uy Shelley felt like she atching a reenactht in Texas, except that neither of the lanced back at the uy wasn’t a lad; yet in olf years, he was definitely a green lad But he wouldn’t understand the reference

At two of the nearby tables, a couple of uy didn’t back down because he was du He finally said, "You stay away from my boss"

"Who is your boss?" Duncan’s eyes sparkled like fire as he put the man on the spot

The man looked around, finally aware that all eyes were upon hi anywhere with his paltry attempt at intimidation "Hell," he muttered under his breath, his face scarlet Without another word, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the place, leaving his girlfriend behind

"Kenneth!" She started to leave when a waiter hurried over and stopped her

"You haven’t paid your bill, miss"

She looked like she could kill But Shelley wasn’t sure who--Duncan? The waiter? Or Kenneth, her long-gone boyfriend, who had stuck her with the bill?

Duncan was quiet through thewhat that had been about, with all kinds of scenarios popping up and their voices low as if they didn’t want to stir up the Highlander But if they had been betting during the shon, all of their bets would have been on Duncan

Shelley had been equally quiet, eating herclock on one wall toto the conversations around theh She kneasAll of a sudden, she felt that after the brief time she’d been part of his life--alain no one to hi with hi tih she could see his dark, protective warrior side, he always let her choose how far she wanted to take their relationship

"Duncan," she said, trying to get his attention without garnering everyone else’s She felt as though they were still the center of the world as far as the other diners were concerned The scene in the restaurant was probably thethat had happened to these tourists while visiting the island

They wanted to know ht the man to Shelley and Duncan’s table and why he had said the things he had Why the Scot had stood towering over the man in battle irlfriend behind with the bill

Duncan finally looked up at Shelley His brown eyes were nearly black He was not happy "You’re going hou to see what she had to say about it

She was certain she looked like a fish, her ain She frowned at hiet her annoyance under control He ht be worried about her, but she was on a business trip, not a vacation, and she had work to do She was not going hooing to do

Even though she did not want to see hio while she was on the island, he could do whatever he wanted She wasn’t leaving That wasn’t his decision tothis trip through to the end

He watched her, his eyes holding her gaze, his posture saying she would not disobey him in this He was a man descended froo Just like in the old country fro

She shook her head and felt hot tears sting the backs of her eyes as she held the to upset herself further

"Shelley…"