Simply Blair: A Jet City Novel Read online

  Simply Blair

  A Jet City Novel

  Gina Robinson

  Copyright © 2017 by Gina Robinson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Gina Robinson

  http://www.ginarobinson.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Cover Design: Jeff Robinson

  Cover Photography: Jeff Robinson 2017

  Simply Blair/Gina Robinson. — 1st ed.

  A Captive Heart, A Forgotten Love

  A kilt meets dress modern love story. Simply smart, funny romance!

  * * *

  If you like good guy geek heroes who look hot in kilts, strong, intelligent heroines, and poignant romance, then you’ll love Simply Blair, the third book in Gina Robinson’s light, fun contemporary romance Jet City Kilt Series.

  * * *

  Seattle physician Blair Edwards is living the dream of many a Sassenach who swoons over the handsome Highland laird Jamie Sinclair on the popular TV series Jamie. She has her own Jamie, cosplaying lookalike, and real life entrepreneur and cyber security expert, Austin MacDougall. Their romance has captured the imagination of Jamie fans everywhere and made them minor celebrities, something Blair never imagined was even possible.

  * * *

  On their way to Scotland for a much-anticipated vacation to film a promo teaser for the upcoming season of Jamie, Austin is detained at the Seattle airport. At Austin's urging, Blair leaves for Scotland without him with his solemn promise that he will join her, no matter what it takes. But Blair's quick layover in London changes everything and challenges who she believes she is, what she believes she wants, and even whom she believes she loves. As Austin fights like a true Scottish warrior to get to her, will she remember the man she promised never to forget? Or will she lose her heart again to the Englishman who very nearly holds her captive?

  * * *

  Find out why readers love Gina Robinson’s good guy heroes, the strong women they fall for, and their funny, witty, romantic stories.

  Contents

  GinaRobinson.com

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Also by Gina Robinson

  About the Author

  GinaRobinson.com

  Visit ginarobinson.com to sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get exclusive access to new release notifications, series announcements, and more!

  The Jet City Kilt Series

  Almost Jamie

  Almost Elinor

  Simply Blair

  Simply Austin

  The Billionaire Matchmaker Series

  Lazer Focused

  Harte Strings

  Pair Us

  Dating Lazer

  Match Point

  The Billionaire Duke Series

  The Billionaire Duke

  The Duchess Contest

  The Temporary Duchess

  The American Heir

  The Switched at Marriage Series

  A Wedding to Remember

  The Virgin Billionaire

  To Have and To Hold

  From This Day Forward

  For Richer, For Richest

  In Sickness and In Wealth

  To Love and To Cherish

  The Billionaire’s Christmas Vows

  Gina Robinson’s Contemporary New Adult Romance Series

  The Rushed Series

  These standalone romances can be read in any order. But it’s more fun to read them all!

  Rushed, Zach and Alexis’ story

  Crushed, Dakota and Morgan’s story

  Hushed, Seth and Maddie’s story

  The Reckless Series

  Ellie and Logan’s love story begins one hot August night. This series should be read in order.

  Reckless Longing

  Reckless Secrets

  Reckless Together

  Chapter 1

  Blair Edwards

  July

  London

  The problem with a dream coming true is that it can too easily slip away. Become ethereal. A memory. Something that is too good to last. And if you're not careful, the disappointment will cripple you. Real life will never taste as good again.

  As my plane from Seattle taxied toward the terminal at Heathrow Airport, I was determined that wouldn't happen to me. To us. But I was worried. Really worried. I hadn't heard from Austin since he'd been detained at Sea-Tac on the way to board this flight to London.

  This was our dream vacation to Scotland, with a brief stop in London for me to take care of unfinished business. Most people might not actually call the trip a vacation. We'd be working and filming a promo for the upcoming new season of the hit TV show Jamie. Even so, it was a fantasy come to life for both of us.

  The Jamie novels the show is based on were my late mom's favorite. She and my father died when I was very young. Reading the books helped me get to know her and brought her closer to me. And now they'd given me Austin, who, I say with a straight face, even realizing how corny it might sound, is my heart. My soul mate.

  No, we aren't actors. Not even amateur actors. We're cosplayers who got caught up in a PR phenomenon. Phenom has a pretty ring to it, doesn't it? It's special in that you can't plan for it to happen. A bit like falling in love. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Usually, anyway. A glimpse of a unicorn. The downside is that you can get swept up and overwhelmed by it.

  By the random luck of genetics, skill with costumes, and a bit of makeup, we're lookalikes for the actors who play lovers Jamie and Elinor, a historic untamed Highland warrior laird and his English lady. We're both Americans, but no one appears bothered by that. At least, I consider myself American. I was raised in Seattle by my American aunt. But I'm half English on my late father's side and have dual citizenship. Austin has Scottish ancestry. That seems to satisfy the fans of the show.

  Our real-life love story spectacularly mirrors Jamie and Elinor's. As if fate, with its quirky sense of humor, is determined to bring the characters to life through us. It certainly was nothing we'd planned. Purely unintentional, but beautiful and thrilling. Had I been able to choose it, I would have.

  We became an immediate media sensation when we met at Jet City Comicon in March dressed as the fictional lovers played by Scottish actor Connor Reid and Welsh actor Samantha Roberts. Austin is tall, with lovely, penetrating green eyes, and striking auburn hair that has plenty of wave and gentle curls that soften the strong, masculine lines of his face. He has broad shoulders and a wicked sense of humor and wit. Which is what I find most appealing about him. Who can resist a man with a good sense of humor?

  With his striking similarity to Connor, he would have caught my attention regardless. But it certainly didn't hurt his cause that he looked extremely hot in his kilt. I've always been a sucker for a man with nice legs. Even the expression of pain on his face—he'd dislocated his finger—didn't detract from his raw animal magnetism. There, is that a dramatic enough description?

>   I'm a physician. Though I wasn't on duty or on staff at the con, I popped his finger back into its socket, earning his gratitude. He had VIP passes and front-row seats for the fan talk given by Connor and Samantha and invited me along as his guest. That was the beginning of our adventure together.

  I would have thought the furor over our relationship would have died down by now, but we seem to be every bit as much the sensations as we were from the start.

  Being part of a cultural phenomenon was still amazing to me. My dreams of fame, if I could say I had any, were way more modest and much more humanitarian. I'm an oncologist, a cancer doc. If anything, I dream of playing my part saving lives and giving patients more quality of life and time with their loved ones.

  The fantasy life of playing Elinor in a teaser for the fall season of Jamie was wonderful. But Austin and I both had real lives. I have patients I care about, and my aunt, who has her own struggles with cancer. Austin is a cybersecurity expert. He fights daily battles, trying to stop any number of cyberattacks from succeeding in shutting down commerce and panicking society. He's an intellectual warrior compared to the brawny, physical Highland laird, Jamie.

  For the last few weeks, at least, Austin has been worried about an impending cyberattack. Because the project he's working on is classified, he wasn't at liberty to tell me what was going on. All I knew was that he was putting in long hours and wanted to get to Scotland before the project put a freeze on vacation time.

  And then the government goons intercepted him at Sea-Tac. Austin urged me to go to the gate without him. That he had to answer a few questions. If things ran late and he missed the flight, he'd meet me in Scotland. He sent me a cryptic text telling me he loved me, and then, radio silence.

  When he didn't show up for the flight, I expected him to call or text with his new itinerary. At least pick up my calls. The flight from Seattle to London is just under ten hours. He couldn't still be answering questions. Could he? He had to know something by now.

  I had half expected him to be waiting for me. To somehow have found a faster flight and beaten me to London. Fanciful as that thought was, Austin was full of surprises and talents. But, unfortunately, he wasn't a time traveler, and a real-life teleporter still didn't exist.

  Once we deplaned, I looked for him as I exited Customs and headed off to get a cab. No Austin.

  Now that he wasn't here, I was in a quandary. I had less than twelve hours in London and an appointment with my English ex-boyfriend Nigel. As one might guess, Nigel was my unfinished business.

  Austin wanted to be nearby when I saw Nigel. In case I needed him. It was very sweet, and almost barbarically protective, of Austin. And maybe a touch jealous. I didn't need his help. Nigel was neither violent nor dangerous. He was a reserved academic, really. I guess you never know what thwarted passion could make people capable of. But I wasn't afraid. Not even slightly worried.

  I was meeting Nigel at a pub not far from Heathrow. There was a part of me that was tempted to cancel. And yet that hardly seemed decent of me, either. Or fair to Nigel. He was coming from across London to meet me. He'd had to take the day off.

  And I had no idea when I'd get another opportunity to see him and clear things up. For better or worse, I didn't like hurting people and didn't like them thinking ill of me. He deserved to hear the truth from me in person. We both deserved closure.

  I hadn't expected to find love so soon on the heels of breaking off my long-distance relationship with Nigel earlier in the year. I hadn't expected to disappear on Nigel, either, leaving things hanging until I told him it was over by phone. Calling it off that way wasn't fair, but it was what fate had handed to us.

  Nigel hadn't handled it well. He refused to accept that, after all these years of living on separate continents but still being loyal and committed to each other, it was really over. He thought it was a phase I was going through. A passing fling. That I would get over Austin and come back to him. He was so wrong.

  As part of his plan, Nigel was holding the things I'd left at his flat hostage, demanding I retrieve them in person. I'd been at Avebury, just a few hours outside London, when I rushed off, not taking the time to go back to his flat to retrieve my things. That wouldn't have been a big deal. I could live without most of them. But I wanted my grandmother's ring back. I'd left that in the flat for safekeeping. Nigel had refused to send it back to me.

  Once in the cab, I tried Austin again. When he didn't pick up, I decided there was nothing I could do but go to my meeting with Nigel and hope Austin got there when he could. He was probably over the ocean with little to no coverage. Or had silenced his phone so he could get some sleep. Nothing to worry about, I told myself. If only I could believe it.

  * * *

  Austin MacDougall

  Ten hours of inquisition. Ten. I'd been up all night. I was sleep-deprived. My flight to London had been scheduled to depart at six in the evening. It made for convenient timing if you were actually able to catch the flight. Board, get dinner, nap four or five hours, land in London just after noon as if you'd had a real night's sleep. Not so convenient if you were taken into custody and questioned all night.

  I didn't even know for sure exactly where I was. Though I had a pretty good idea. Hard not to working the top-secret, hush-hush projects I did. Such was the life of a cybersecurity expert. I knew more than I probably should. Which made me dangerous. That had always been the risk.

  I'd been transported to a government installation for holding, "While we sort things out." My phone and laptop—all of my electronics—had been confiscated.

  An allegation had been made against me. A very serious allegation. An anonymous allegation. Convenient. No chance to face my accuser. But the extreme seriousness of the charge warranted my "arrest." No, not arrest. It was more of a detention. So I'd been told. Yeah, a detention. That's almost like a government-funded holiday, right?

  I was accused of allowing a breach, a back door, into a very sensitive database I was charged with protecting. While the investigation was ongoing, I would be a guest of the government.

  I hadn't cracked or confessed to anything. I'd like to brag about my strong constitution and will. That I could survive and resist any form and amount of penetrating interrogation. But the truth was I had nothing to confess. I'd been falsely accused by this anonymous source. Which made denying everything easy. Until it wasn't. Until I was so fatigued I was on the brink of confessing to something, anything, just to be able to call Blair and get some sleep.

  Before I accidentally became entangled in one of the feds' traps and said something I shouldn't—hey, I'd seen enough cop shows to know better—I asked for a lawyer and refused to answer any more questions until I got one. To my surprise, they allowed me one supervised call to hire one.

  I was tempted, I can't tell you how tempted, to call Blair. But common sense, and its companion—a strong survival instinct—kicked in. I called the one person I thought could help me most—my billionaire buddy, Lazer Grayson. Lazer had connections everywhere with people of wealth and power. He promised to send the best lawyer he could find and told me to keep my mouth shut in the meantime. Hey, buddy, I know that much.

  And if I'd been thinking straight when they brought me in, and not foolishly believing I could talk myself out of this, that it was all a simple misunderstanding, I would have asked for a lawyer immediately.

  When the door to the holding room opened, I expected it to be my lawyer. Instead, Randy Dixon, my nemesis, and lead on the project I was on, walked in. I was pretty sure he was also my accuser and the guy who was trying to frame me. Trying, but he wouldn't succeed. I knew something Randy didn't. If the damn feds would allow me to help them…

  But before I cut any kind of a deal, I was talking to my lawyer.

  Randy waved his hand in front of his nose. "Whew! It's ripe in here. The interrogation getting to you?"

  From someone else, the comment might have been a joke to lighten the tension. From Randy, it was barbed. He was ri
ght on one count—it smelled like a locker room. But he was the one who needed a shower.

  "Never make assumptions, Randy," I said, trying to keep my cool. "I'm fresh as a daisy." I lifted my arm to emphasize my point. No underarm ring there. "Talk to the guys questioning me. They were sweating bullets. Under a lot of pressure to please the boss, I guess." I held his gaze.

  Randy shook his head and sneered. "Always quick with a comeback." His eyes narrowed. "I don't think you realize the trouble you're in."

  I balled my fist, wanting to take a swing and knock that smug look off his face. "Trouble? I'm an innocent man."

  He took a seat in a chair opposite me across the interrogation table.

  The room was sparsely furnished with the table, a few chairs, white walls, and, if I didn't miss my guess, a closed-circuit surveillance camera. No, I wouldn't be dancing around the room like a crazy person when I thought no one was looking. Unless my observers were mind readers, they were getting nothing out of me.

  Randy was sharp enough to know, or guess, about the camera, too. He put his back to it. "Your little woman will be missing you in London by now."

  He spoke in a low voice that reminded me of the hiss of a snake. He was a snake, a low-down, belly-crawling sidewinder, to quote my buddy Dylan when he was in his cowboy frame of mind. "Be a shame if you missed the whole trip. And lost your big endorsement deal with that Highland show."

  "What do you want?" I stared him down.

  "I'm your friend, Austin, as well as your boss."

  That made two lies. He wasn't even officially my boss.