Free Five Days in Skye: A Novel by Carla Laureano Page B

And James mentioned you were a lawyer?”
    “Yes. I practiced as a solicitor for several years before I took the job with Jamie.”
    “What kind of law?”
    “Corporate, mostly contract law.”
    Serena rolled her eyes. “Ian earned first honors at Cambridge, quite an accomplishment considering he spent most of his time on the river, rowing. Not that he’d ever mention it.”
    Ian didn’t need to. Their mother liked to spread the news of her favored son far and wide. Not a single one of their family members or acquaintances had lacked the details of Ian’s academic and athletic accomplishments.
    “You row?” Andrea’s gaze swept over Ian, as if she were trying to reconcile the information with what she saw before her. Or maybe she was just admiring him. It wouldn’t be the first time. It wasn’t as if his brother needed any help with women, when he chose to pay them attention.
    “I do,” he said with a shrug. “Or I did. I retired almost ten years ago.”
    “Ian was on the GB team for eleven years,” Serena said. “He won, what, four gold medals in the world championships?”
    Ian didn’t look up. “Five.”
    “Wow,” Andrea said. “That’s … very impressive.”
    James pushed down a twinge of something that, this time, he couldn’t pass off as anything but jealousy. Amazing how being in the same room with Ian could make him feel fifteen again, afraid to bring a girl home to meet his family in case she decided she fancied his accomplished, athletic older brother instead. It had happened, though admittedly not in recent years.
    The silence stretched, but before it could become any more uncomfortable, Muriel asked, “What about you, Andrea? Where are you from, originally?”
    “A very small town in Ohio.”
    “With a movie house and no signal lights.” James glanced at her and was rewarded with a tiny smile before she answered his aunt.
    “I did my undergrad work at NYU and then my MBA at Cornell. I’ve lived in some part of New York ever since. Right now, I live in Manhattan.”
    “Are you married?” Muriel asked bluntly. “Engaged? Seeing someone?”
    Andrea made a choked sound and brought her napkin to her lips. James patted her on the back, and she took a swift drink from her water glass. Finally, she said, “I’m single.”
    “Why is that? You’re a lovely woman. What, twenty-nine?”
    “Thirty-one.”
    “It’s long past time for you to settle down, don’t you think?”
    Andrea shot a wide-eyed look at James, obviously pleading with him to intervene. She was looking to the wrong quarter for help in this area. “Yes, Andrea, why is it you haven’t settled down?”
    She looked at Ian, who didn’t seem inclined to intervene either. She met James’s eyes again, a dangerous glint in her own. “Well, I travel so much for work, the only men I meet are clients. And most of them are self-serving egomaniacs, so you can imagine it puts a cramp in my social life.”
    A laugh burst out of him and quickly turned to a cough. He reached for his own water glass. That was the second time she’d surprised him tonight. Not that it should have. He’d already gotten a glimpse of her wickedly sharp tongue in the pub.
    Muriel nodded, her expression satisfied. “I like a woman who speaks her piece. Mind yourself with this one, Jamie. She’s not one to be trifled with.”
    “Yes, I’m beginning to see that.” James shot her a sideways glance, and she just smiled sweetly. Touché. If she thought she’d put him off, though, she was sorely mistaken. She might try to deny she had any interest in him, but she couldn’t hide the fact she held her breath whenever he got within a foot of her. He couldn’t help but take the words as an open challenge.
    At the end of the meal, Andrea brushed off Aunt Muriel’s protests and collected the dishes to take to the kitchen. Ian rose to assist, but James gave him a terse shake of his head and gathered the empty wine glasses. For once, his brother actually