Page 154 (1/2)

Three votes was very close It was possible she’d won after all She saw the crinkles at the side of Douglas eyes and kneas a scaave him a cynical smile to let him know she was on to him

Dougal cleared his throat and looked away from her

“Now, to the matter of the bet,” he said

Kirsty’s stomach lurched She remembered quite hat her part in the bet was, she just wasn’t sure if Dougal knew and if he was going to broadcast it to the pub She held her breath

“For that, we really need the other party,” Dougal said “Lake Benson, come on out here”

The spotlight swung away fro, wall and part of the bar, it steadied on the door to the kitchen The door swung open and out walked Lake The ent out of Kirsty in one alhty whoosh She had to remind herself to breathe He was dressed in traditional Scottish garb, froreen tartan kilt, down to his kilt hose He was stunning

Stunning Cocky Arrogant And up to no good

He swaggered to the stage, waving at the crowd and behaving as though he paraded around in the liht her out and his look burned Kirsty’s mouth went dry Then her eyes narrowed This little setup he had going wasn’t over yet, and she didn’t want to end up the brunt of Invertary jokes until next New Year’s She glared at hirin Damn man

“Lake,” Dougal said once the spotlight had found hiht like to sort out that bet”

He handed the microphone to Lake

“Nice of you to come back,” Kirsty said—aware that without a microphone, pretty much only he could hear her “A phone call would have been nice too?

?

“I’ll explain later,” he said, forgetting about the

Lake looked at the packed pub and took a deep breath

“Kirsty Caive you”