Chapter 7

7

Since Gavin’s arrival, his charm and good looks had been bringing in plenty of extra business of the female variety, and the news of the handsome new barman was spreading fast. Soon all the taverns in the town would want to employ Gavin, but Maura was not going to let him go.

Old and young, they mostly came in pairs or groups, since a woman alone was very vulnerable to unwelcome attention, but they all had one thing in common. They could hardly keep their eyes off Gavin, who was revelling in all the attention and playing up to them with every ounce of energy he had. When he was by himself, he reflected that it was all a little tiring, although Maura seemed pleased with the results he was achieving, and pleasing her was what he wanted most.

The news that there were many pretty young women in the Goose and Gander soon meant that a large number of young men followed them to take advantage of the situation. On a Saturday night, which was the one before the Sabbath, the place had always been busy, but now it was packed to the rafters. Maura could hardly believe it, and decided to improve the situation even further by sending to Dundee for some good quality clothes for Gavin to make him look even more alluring than he already was.

On the first night that Gavin was wearing his new attire, something happened that Maura had been half-expecting, but definitely did not welcome.

Gavin towered over the little woman in front of him, who must have been more than a foot shorter than he was. He had always found that women loved a certain type of tall man who made them feel protected and safe, not intimidated, and he took advantage of it. He was treating her to a wide smile, and she was looking up at him with an expression that bordered on admiration. She was bemoaning the fact that she had straight bright red hair.

“I hate it,” she said disgustedly. “It looks like a bunch o’ carrots!”

Gavin, whose hair was a touch lighter, laughed. “You hate mine too, then?” he asked wickedly, raising his eyebrows.

The young woman blushed a shade that was almost as bright a red as her hair. “I’m sorry, I didnae mean?—”

Gavin laughed heartily. “Your hair is lovely,” he told her. “Do not let anybody tell you otherwise.”

“So is yours,” she said, with a shy smile. “In fact, ye are a very handsome man, but I suppose a lot o’ ladies have told ye that.”

Gavin laughed and shook his head. Her statement was true, but he could hardly answer her without sounding big-headed, so he changed the subject. “Do you live in the village?” he asked. “I have not been here very long, so I want to get to know as many people as I can. I think it’s important to make friends.”

“I live wi’ the Wilkinsons,” she replied. “I am their children’s nanny. I get one day off every two weeks, so I thought I would come here an’ see what a’ the fuss was about.” She giggled.

“Fuss?” Gavin pretended to be surprised. Again he changed the subject as he poured her second glass of ale. “What is your name, by the way?”

“Lorna,” she answered. “I know yours. A’ the lassies dae.”

She had given up trying to be shy and was now being openly flirtatious. She was a pretty little thing, Gavin had to admit, but he had absolutely no interest in her. However, it was his job to act as if he did, so he played the game.

Maura had been listening to them, even though she had to strain her ears above the noise of the conversation going on around them. She had been obliged to employ two extra bar staff, one a stout middle-aged man and the other a tall, masculine-looking woman. She and Gavin could never have managed on their own. She strolled over to them and smiled at the young woman.

“Have ye been here before?” she asked pleasantly.

Lorna smiled at her. “No, but I have walked past many times,” she replied. “I havenae usually got the money tae come in, but I was paid today, so I thought I would come an’ see what a’ the fuss was about.”

Maura, frowning, said,“Fuss? What fuss?” She knew perfectly well what the young woman meant, but it suited her to pretend to be ignorant.

Lorna was blushing so much that her face almost matched her hair. “I heard a lot o’ my pals talkin’ about the new lad behind the bar,” she replied. “They said they had seen him breakin’ up a fight, an’ he was very strong—an’ handsome.” With that, she turned and disappeared into the crowd, realising that she had embarrassed herself enough.

“It looks as though ye have another admirer,” Maura remarked drily. She went back to serving customers, but kept a watchful eye on Gavin, who was playing up to all the ladies. She felt unreasonably jealous, but told herself she had no reason to be. They were friends, no more, and she had no claim on him at all. However, she had revealed things about herself to him—things that she would not want others to know about, and she felt uneasy. She shook her head irritably as if to dislodge the notion from her head and walked into the kitchen, having been given an order of food from a young, impatient man who was trying to impress his lady friend.

Morag MacElwee, the cook, was ladling stew into bowls as Maura walked in. She was a thin, elderly woman with snow-white hair who had been working in the kitchen of the Goose and Gander years before Brian Hislop had owned the place. Her sharp eyes had taken notice of Maura dropping a few cups, spilling ale and speaking sharply to customers, behaving quite unlike her usual affable self. Now she looked up as a flustered Maura entered, and glanced at her out of her sharp brown eyes.

“A’ right, hen?” she asked, frowning. She had grown fond of Maura over the past few years, and hated to see her upset.

“Fine, Morag,” Maura replied, pinning a smile on her face, but Morag, armed with the wisdom of age, was not fooled. “Ye have feelings for that lad, dae ye no’?” she asked keenly. “I have been watchin’ ye, but ye value your independence. Ye dinnae want him tae take over your life, is that it?”

Maura shook her head vehemently. “No,” she answered. “It isnae that at a’. Ye know what kind o’ person I am. I dinnae believe in dreamin’ an’ hopin’ for the best. Ye cannae get anythin’ in this life unless ye work hard for it, an’ I willnae let some man stop me fae gettin’ what I need just because he is good-lookin’ an’ charmin’. There is more tae life than that.”

Morag looked at her and nodded her agreement, although she thought that Maura’s view of life sounded tedious in the extreme. Imagine a life where all you had to look forward to was working, eating and sleeping. She could not think of anything worse!

“You an’ I need tae have a wee chat sometime,” Morag told her. “But no’ right this minute. Here. Take this tae settle ye a wee bit, but dinnae tell your uncle, or he will murder me!” She handed Maura a small cup, at the bottom of which was a stiff measure of whisky.

Maura was not accustomed to drinking the strong spirit, and coughed as it burned a fiery path down her throat. However, it left a feeling of warmth behind it, and she asked for another.

Morag gave it to her somewhat reluctantly. “Last one,” she warned. “Or ye will be laid out on the floor.”

Maura grinned at her and went out to mingle with the crowd, not knowing that the proprietor of the Brown Cow had just walked in.

Gerald MacGowan saw Gavin at once, since he towered over everyone else in the place, and he was serving drinks to a gaggle of admiring young ladies and looking as though he were having a wonderful time.

He had to wait to be attended to, but when Gavin turned to him at last he looked surprised at first, then hostile. “Ale?” he asked angrily.

“Aye,” MacGowan answered, feeling vulnerable, since he was effectively on enemy territory. He put his payment and Gavin noticed that it was double what the drink actually cost.

“You have made a mistake,” he said, shoving the extra coins back to MacGowan.

“No, I havenae,” MacGowan said, attempting a conciliatory smile. “I want ye to come an’ work for me, an’ I will pay ye double as much as ye are gettin’ here. Maura was lucky tae get ye, but ye will get what ye are worth fae me.”

At this, Gavin laughed heartily and then thrust his face into MacGowan’s so that they were almost nose to nose. “I do not believe a single word you say. I would not work for you after the way you treated me. I cannot be bribed, and I will not be lied to. Now go and annoy somebody else.” He turned away and almost bumped into Maura, who was smiling at him in a slightly dazed fashion.

“Is that who I think it is?” she asked.

“Yes.” Gavin was still angry. “He wants me to work for him.”

“What did you say?” she asked as they watched MacGowan disappear into the crowds.

“I said no, of course,” he replied, grinning at her. “I wanted to say some other less polite things, but,” he shrugged, smiling mischievously. “I couldn’t be bothered.” He turned andshouldered his way back through the crowd to the bar.

When Gavin got the chance, he watched Maura as she made her way around, smiling and making easy conversation with all the customers, laughing at their jokes and occasionally even sitting on one of their laps. She was well-liked by both men and women, so she was happy to chat to other ladies and have what looked like scandalous tête-à-têtes. While he was not busy charming ladies himself, he was watching her, highly amused by her antics.

As time passed, and the tavern was closed for the night, he had to fetch a beer barrel from the cellar, unaware that Maura had followed him. When he saw her he was carrying the barrel on one shoulder, having just picked it up, but he put it down again, closing the distance between them.

“Did you want to tell me something?” Gavin asked, sitting on the barrel.

“Yes,” she replied. “I think ye were too friendly wi’ the ladies tonight.”

Gavin stared at her for a moment, astonished. “Because that is what you pay me for,” he answered. “To attract more ladies to the Goose and Gander . Are you saying I must stop doing it?”

Maura stood before Gavin, and the smell of whisky on her breath wafted over to him. “No,” she answered. “Ye dae a good job.” She smiled at him. “But dinnae charm the ladies in front o’ me. I dinnae like it.”

“But you are there all the time,” he protested. “How can I avoid it? One of us will have to leave.”

Maura had not thought of that. All she could think of now was the most handsome man she had ever seen standing in front of her. She pouted, as if annoyed, but Gavin could see that she was merely being coy.

Then a thought occurred to him. “Are you jealous, by any chance?” he asked, chuckling.

Maura glared at him for a moment, feeling intensely frustrated, then she turned away, shaking her head. Gavin watched her, intending to let her leave, but suddenly, he found that he could not do it.

He stood up and caught her arm, pulling her around to face him. “Maura, wait,” he said softly.

For a few seconds, they gazed at each other, then she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. His skin was rough with a day’s worth of beard, and it rasped pleasantly against her palms, making them tingle.

Gavin’s eyes, close up, looked much more green, with a circle of gold around his pupils; they darkened as he gazed down at her with an expression of—tenderness?

As Maura’s sky-blue eyes looked up at him, he felt an enormous protectiveness; he could be her shelter from the storms of life if she let him. He would stand between her and any kind of danger that threatened her; the thought astonished him, since he had never felt anything like it before.

Up until now, Maura had been unsure of him, but now she realised that she cared about him, and she thought—hoped—that perhaps he felt the same way about her. They had come to know each other a little and although Maura knew that he did not love her to distraction, she suspected that he had some affection for her.

“What do you want, Maura?” he whispered, but before she could answer, he placed a tiny kiss on her lips, as light as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing. “Is it this?”

A thrill shot through her from where his lips had touched her to every other part of her, leaving her trembling. He must have sensed it, for his mouth twitched up at the corners, and he took a tiny step closer to her so that their bodies were just touching.

“Relax,” he whispered, and ran his thumb over her full lower lip as she held on to his face. “There is nothing to be afraid of. I would never hurt you.”

“I know,” Maura studied his face for one more moment, then gently pulled him down to her. The moment his mouth touched hers again, she felt the same thrill as before, but threefold. She had not expected his lips to be so soft, and as she allowed herself to sink into his embrace, it was glorious to be surrounded by the musk of his body as he pulled her yet closer.

She could taste wine on his lips, and briefly wondered where it had come from. However, she was too busy enjoying him, becoming lost in him, allowing herself the delight of letting him give her so much pleasure to give it any more thought. There might never be another moment like this, Maura thought. If this was going to be her first and last kiss, she wanted it to be forever etched in her memory.

She felt a plunge of disappointment as he drew away from her, but it was only to look into her eyes for a moment. Then he wrapped his arms more tightly around her and his mouth descended on hers again.

He parted her lips with his tongue and began to stroke hers, and Maura gave a little whimper of delight. She could feel the hardness of his arousal against her; it inspired her body to react in its own way, and she felt a sweet, pleasant fluttering between her legs.

Maura sighed into his mouth and completely abandoned herself to him as she felt his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him. He became more insistent, his lips caressing hers with more force, increasing the passion until Maura felt as though she might burst into flame at any moment.

It was like lying in the sunshine on a balmy summer day, the kind rarely seen in Scotland, soaking up the rays of the sun and bathing in the warmth of love, and she never wanted it to end. Inevitably, though, it had to, and they reluctantly drew apart.

Gavin hesitated, then caressed Maura’s cheek gently with one hand before whispering, “Goodnight, Maura.” With one last lingering glance, he picked up the barrel and walked away back into the bar.

Maura felt bereft and overjoyed at the same time. The kiss had been everything she imagined; tender and passionate, with Gavin taking the lead and showing such gentleness she could hardly believe it.

Now she felt annoyed because he was gone, and she could no longer feel the warm hardness of his body. Moreover, although she did not regret a single moment of their encounter, how was she going to face Gavin in the morning?

Little did she know that exactly the same thought was going through Gavin’s mind. Maura knew little about men, he could tell that by her response to him, but he loved that. He would teach her, but then he realised that she might not want him to; perhaps tonight had been their one and only kiss.