“Inverness? Isn’t that pretty far?”
“About an hour by car.”
Shit.
“How fast can this thing go?”
In answer, Arrochar put her foot down on the accelerator.
5
Lachlan
The waiting room chair bit into his back.
It wasn’t the first time Lachlan sat in one and questioned why they made hospital waiting room chairs so bloody uncomfortable. Was it to keep you alert so you’d be ready for when the doctor came to give you the best or worst news of your life?
His nerve endings frayed. Launching out of the chair, needing to move, he ignored his brother Thane’s concerned look.
“He’ll be all right, Lachlan,” Thane assured. “This is Mac we’re talking about. It’s not even the first time he’s been stabbed.”
“But that was a bar brawl. This … was a premeditated attack.” Christ, how long had they been here? It felt like ages. That couldn’t be a good sign.
“Lachlan!”
He spun around to see Arrochar racing across the waiting room toward him. The fear on her face only made his worse. But he hid it and braced himself as she threw herself against him. Wrapping his arms tight around his sister, Lachlan whispered there was no word yet but everything would be okay.
As he said those reassuring words to her, his gaze remained locked on the person Arrochar had insisted on retrieving.
Mac’s daughter.
Robyn looked different as she approached. He didn’t know if it was the strained concern on her face that surprised him or how much the simple act of wearing her hair down transformed her.
Both.
Robyn drew to a stop before him.
Lachlan hadn’t noticed how big her eyes were. Not round. They were large and oval. Unusual. Lashes that went on for miles. There was no way to discern her exact eye color, only that the cool steel in them yesterday had disappeared.
Robyn Penhaligon was worried about Mac.
“No word,” he repeated to her as Arrochar pulled her head out of his chest. He didn’t release her because she trembled.
They all loved Mac.
It was hard to picture him as a father to Robyn who looked her twenty-eight years, but seemed older. Mac was just a kid himself when he’d fathered her.
“Do you think they’ll release more information to a family member?” Robyn asked.
“Perhaps,” Thane answered, moving to Lachlan’s side. He ran a comforting hand down Arrochar’s arm to let her know he was there. She reached for his hand and held it tight, still holding on to Lachlan too.
Robyn studied Thane, her attention drifting down to where Arrochar held his hand and then to where her head rested on Lachlan’s chest. Some kind of realization crossed her expression, and her jaw clenched as she looked away.
“I’m Thane Adair,” his brother introduced himself. “You must be Robyn.”
She nodded. “Hey.”
“Mac told us you were here. I’m sorry we’re meeting under such terrible circumstances.”
“Me too,” she murmured absently. “I’m just gonna …” She gestured to the nurses’ station and strode away, her heels clicking against the floor.
“It’s hard to believe Mac is old enough to have a daughter Arrochar’s age.”
“Not my age,” Arrochar whispered. “She’s a few years younger than me.”
“Still. She’s what … twenty-nine?”
“Twenty-eight,” Lachlan supplied, watching as she talked with the nurse behind the desk.
“And a police officer,” Thane muttered. “She didn’t fall far from the tree.”
“As far as we know, she’s nothing like Mac.”
Arrochar tensed in his arms and reminded him, unnecessarily, “She’s his daughter, Lachlan.”
“Imagine having a kid at sixteen,” Thane continued in awe. “I can barely look after my two as it is. I can’t imagine being a father at that age.”
“One, you’re a great dad,” Lachlan replied. “Two, that’s my point. Mac was sixteen when Robyn was born. He was a kid. And her mother”—he gestured to Robyn—“made him into a villain. Somehow Mac’s the bad guy for going off to make some money for them? Mac’s the bad guy even though she stopped him from seeing his daughter. He’s lying in a hospital bed right now, and if Robyn even thinks of starting—”
“Whoa, calm down.” Arrochar pushed away from him. “Lachlan, you’re angry at whoever did this to Mac. At whoever is doing this to you. Not at Robyn. So don’t take it out on her while Mac is fighting for his life.”
Her words calmed the aggravation building inside him.
She was right. This wasn’t Robyn’s fault. Just like it probably wasn’t her fault her name was Penhaligon when it should be Galbraith. But he remembered when Mac found out she’d legally changed it. He remembered how hurt his friend had been.
Still, he nodded, and Arrochar relaxed just as Robyn’s heels sounded again.
Lachlan studied her as she neared, and when he noted the vulnerability in her eyes, the rest of his anger toward her deflated.
“No word yet,” Robyn informed them. That vulnerability he’d seen just seconds ago disappeared under flint. “Where are the police? Shouldn’t they be here?”
“They’ve already been,” Lachlan informed her. “They questioned Mac’s neighbor, Jim, and left.”
“Where is this neighbor?” She looked determinedly around the waiting room.
“I sent him home. He had quite a shock.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And what did he have to say?”
Lachlan tried not to react to her demanding tone. “That he was walking home from the pub when he saw Mac …” He took a breath. “Mac on his knees while someone, a man, stood over him. Jim thought he was punching Mac in the gut. When he shouted, the perpetrator took off. That’s when Jim got to Mac and realized he’d been stabbed.”
She didn’t flinch at that news. “Did he see the perp’s face? Any discernible qualities that stuck out to him about the guy?”
He shook his head, frustrated. “The man wore a ski mask. All black. All Jim could determine was his height. Around five ten, five eleven. Stocky build.”
“How did he catch Mac unaware?” Robyn asked in disbelief.
“It was right on his doorstep. He was dressed in a suit for dinner with you. The police reckon he’d just stepped outside the door when it happened. He obviously had no time to react.”
She nodded, processing this.
