Dawn let a small smile slip out, seeing where Cree got his scowl from and his commanding attitude.
Cree let out an annoyed huff as he said, “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“That is no apology,” his mum scolded again.
It was odd, but Dawn knew Cree would offer no more and she laid a hand on his arm and nodded, accepting what little apology he did offer.
“I believe Wintra left a costume here that she used for a reenactment one year. Perhaps Dawn can slip into that and be more comfortable in joining in the event,” his mum said.
“That would be perfect, Mum, thanks so much.” Cree leaned down and kissed his mum on the cheek, grateful for her understanding and annoyed at the guilt that jabbed at him for behaving as he had in front of her. He had been wrong and yet it didn’t matter to him. Dawn would obey him.
He almost shook his head at the ridiculous notion that was so misplaced. Why then couldn’t he shake it off?
“Come with me, Dawn, and you, Cree, get cleaned up and see to our guests,” his mum instructed.
Cree was about to object, intending to keep Dawn close to him for the remainder of the evening, but thought better of it. He had a responsibility to tonight’s event and he had not given as much attention to it as he should have, but then he had been preoccupied with what had been going on behind the scenes. Though, if he was honest with himself he had been and still was more preoccupied with Dawn, then anything else.
“Dawn,” Cree called out. “I’ll be in the gallery, when you’re done, come straight away and find me.”
She nodded and, for a fleeting second, thought to run to him and stay at his side as he had all but ordered her to. Fearing if she didn’t, she would never see him again. The terrifying thought of that happening froze her to the spot.
As soon as Cree saw the alarm in her dark eyes, he hurried over to her, his arm going quickly around her waist and lowering his head so that their brows faintly touched. “Don’t keep me waiting,” he whispered and forgetting his mum stood nearby, or not caring, he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her lightly.
She pressed her cheek to his before he eased his face away and gave a slight nod, letting him know she would do as he said, since she didn’t want to be away from him too long.
Cree rubbed his chest as Dawn walked out of the room with his mum, a sudden pain stabbing him there, stabbing sharply at his heart.
He shook his head. How did one fall in love in one night?
Love.
Good Lord, he was in love with Dawn.
Never would he have thought it possible. But he loved this woman he barely knew, though felt as if he’d known her forever, that she had always been in his life. He hurried out of the room, eager for the event to be done, eager to speak with Dawn. Eager to have her in his bed tonight and all the nights to come.
Dawn stood in front of the full length mirror staring at herself.
“I could swear I’ve seen you dressed like that before,” Wintra said, shaking her head and looking confused.
Cree’s mum had turned her over to Wintra, knowing the two would communicate more easily, and they did. Wintra was a whiz with sign language, holding a conversation with Dawn without a problem.
Dawn agreed with Wintra’s remark, since, she too, could have sworn she had dressed like this before. But before what?
“Sorry about the sleeveless top, but it was an unusually hot day when I wore it and I wasn’t about to suffer heat stroke, so I chopped the sleeves off,” Wintra explained.
Dawn smiled while continuing to stare at herself. The white, sleeveless shirt, the neck dipping in a deep V, sat tucked in the waist of the Carrick plaid that Wintra had fashioned around Dawn, then she had circled her waist with a thin snug, leather belt.
“I wasn’t about to trust that plaid coming apart during the reenactment of a time in history when the castle was supposedly under siege. Legend goes that the wife of Cree, my brother’s namesake, fought bravely to protect her clan.”
Dawn signed slowly, her wrist continuing to pain her. Had she been victorious?
“So legend has it.” Wintra scrunched her nose. “Something is missing.” She hurried out of the chair as best she could with her rounded stomach. “It’s your hair. Free it of that bun.”
Dawn reached up and pulled the pins from it and soon her normally straight, long, dark red hair fell in a series of soft waves, the tight bun had created, down past her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it, ruffling the waves and stared in awe.
“Your hair is stunning,” Wintra said, staring in awe as well. “I have sandals that will work with the costume, a little out of the timeframe but better than those god-awful laced-up, high heel boots they have you wearing.”
Dawn smiled and was more than happy to rid herself of the heeled boots and slip on the sandals, a tad too small, but would suffice.
“Mum told me that you’re the one,” Wintra said with a grin.
Dawn signed, the one?
Wintra nodded. “The one. The fortune-teller told Cree he would meet the one and not to let her get away or she would be lost to him forever. My mum couldn’t believe the way my brother looked at you or that he kissed you in front of her. To say she’s happy is an understatement. I wonder, though, how you feel about him.”
Dawn found her hands signed without thinking. It’s so strange. I don’t know him and yet I feel I’ve known him forever. I don’t like being away from him. I fear if I don’t remain by his side, as he wanted me to, that he will be lost to me. She rested her hand to her stomach. My stomach flutters every time I’m near him and my heart aches when we’re apart. It’s crazy to say I love him and yet it’s even crazier to deny that I do. She shook her head. It makes no sense and we need time to make sense of it.
“Oh, am I going to enjoy teasing him about this,” Wintra said with a laugh. “He teased me endlessly when I met Torr and in one day knew he was the one, and I was set on marrying him. Now my brother goes and falls in love within hours. Oh, how sweet revenge will be.”
Dawn laughed along with her this time, thinking it was a dream. It had to be. All that was happening couldn’t be real.
“I can’t wait for Cree to see you. Come on, let’s join the party,” Wintra urged and curled her arm around Dawn’s as if already claiming her as part of the family.
Dawn cautiously took a step past two security guards once they reached the bottom of the stairs, leaving the quiet of the Carrick family’s private quarters behind. Laughter and endless chatter of the guests enjoying the event whirled around her. She was about to step in and take part of the festivities when her feet found it difficult to move. She didn’t belong here, and she took a quick step back.
Wintra paid no mind to Dawn’s hesitation. She kept firm hold of her arm and nearly dragged her through the archway to become one of the guests.
“Wintra!” a woman yelled out.
“Allison!” Wintra shouted in return and took off after whispering to Dawn, “find my brother.”
Dawn froze once again. This was not her world. She did not feel comfortable here and she was about to turn and hurry away when her eyes caught with Cree’s. He stood across the room with several men and women, all busy in conversation.
His eyes registered the passion that surged like quick fire. It’s burn powerful and difficult to extinguish. But she could extinguish it, since she felt the same potent burn herself, and when the two fires united they would explode with such molten heat that the fire would die, though not completely. An ember would survive and wait to ignite once again.
He turned to the group and said a few words, then headed her way. Her legs turned weak, her stomach fluttered as if a thousand butterflies had been let loose in her, and for a brief moment she feared his approach and what it might bring.
She wanted to turn and run and try to make sense of this senseless night, but all she could do was stand there and stare at Cree and the power in his quick strides as he hurried toward her. Her breath c
aught in her throat, her heart beat madly when he suddenly stopped, an arm grabbing his… a woman and a man, and his mum quickly approached.
In that second, she saw anger ignite in his eyes, but she could tell that this couple was important and he couldn’t ignore them. And for some reason she was grateful for their interference. Her breath returned to her and her heart slowed and she had one thought on her mind.
She had to go and talk to the fortune-teller… Old Mary.
Chapter 10
Dawn approached the room, the area empty, a sign on display explaining that readings were finished for the evening. Had she missed the woman? Would her questions, her curiosity, go unanswered?
The door opened and Old Mary peeked her head out. “I have been waiting for you.” She motioned Dawn in. “Hurry, time draws near.”
Dawn did as the woman said, entering the room quickly and the door shutting with a soft click behind her.
Old Mary smiled. “Now you look like the woman I know. The woman who has a courageous enough heart and soul to love a powerful warrior against all odds and through the centuries.” Her smile faded. “Your love for each other is more potent than I ever imagined. You must always remember this night. Never forget it.”
Dawn signed and Old Mary shook her head. “I do not understand some of your gestures. Speak to me as you once did.”
Dawn shrugged, not understanding what the old woman meant.
Old Mary’s smile returned. “You are confused.”
Dawn nodded and proceeded to gesture to the old woman the way she did to Cree. She tapped at her lips and pointed to the woman.
“I wish I could explain it all to you, but my time is limited here as well as yours. You need to secure your love for Cree and this night, this special time when the Heavens allow centuries and souls to collide, has given you the opportunity to do that. You must declare your love for Cree by midnight, then nothing, or no one, will ever come between you two ever again. If you do not, he will be forever lost to you. When it is done, tonight’s magic will be made known to you.”
Dawn shook her head, still not understanding and desperately wanting to.
Old Mary reached out, her aged hand slipping around one of Dawn’s to take hold. “Trust me, Dawn, as you have always done. Trust your love for this man who you think is a stranger yet your heart tells you differently. Trust this night is a gift and be grateful, but also vigilant, for one who caused you harm before is out to do so again.”
Dawn’s silent sigh had her shoulders sagging.
Old Mary squeezed Dawn’s hand. “Take heart and waste not another moment, but remember when this day turns to the next, the worlds collide no more and your chance vanishes.” A tear trickled down her wrinkled cheek. “Now go and do what your heart tells you to.”
Dawn had no chance to argue or ask any more questions. The old woman nudged her out the door and Dawn felt her urgency and her feet took flight. She slowed her pace when she entered the narrow hallway that led to the front rooms of the castle where the event was being held. She was about to step out of the shadows and hunt for Cree when an arm slipped around her waist and yanked her off her feet and into the small alcove to the right.
“Dawn.”
Cree’s soft whisper in her ear had her stilling her hands that were about to lash out at her mysterious abductor.
Cree spun her around in his arms to face him and to claim a kiss, a kiss he had ached for since seeing her dressed in the Carrick plaid. His heart had smashed against his chest and passion had hit him hard, almost had turned him hard if he hadn’t taken control of it. Never had he felt such emotional and physical intensity for a woman.
He held tight to her after his lips left hers, pressing them near her ear and whispering. “We need to talk, but first I must give my speech. Meet me in the conservatory after I’m done.”
With Old Mary’s words ringing strongly in her mind, she didn’t want to wait until then to tell him how she felt. She had to tell him now before it was too late.
“Cree,” Wintra called out, stepping into the hallway. “I saw you enter here. Where are you? It’s speech time.”
Dawn’s cheeks flushed when he stepped out of the alcove, taking her with him.
Wintra grinned, her eyes turning wide as she opened her mouth to speak.
“Not a word, Wintra,” Cree warned and walked past her, Dawn in tow.
Dawn tugged at his arm when he went to enter the room where everyone waited for him and looked to Wintra as she signed.
Wintra interpreted for her. “Dawn would prefer to remain tucked in the back of the room where she can take her leave more quickly. And she says please don’t keep her waiting. There is something very important she must tell you.”
Cree ran his finger gently down Dawn’s cheek. “Never will I keep you waiting.”
His tender words wrapped around her with the same intensity as his arms when he held her and she watched brother and sister walk off together. Laughter trickled silently through her, hearing what Wintra had to say to her brother.
“One night and you’re in love. Oh, how I am going to tease you after this night is done.”
Dawn’s smile vanished in an instant and her body tensed when she felt the point of a blade pressed at her back.
“Try to attract attention and I’ll shove this blade right through you and leave you here in the shadows to bleed to death.”
Dawn recognized Lady Ann’s grating voice. She had no doubt the woman meant it, having nothing to lose at this point, and Dawn nodded.
“Take slow steps back.”
Dawn did as the woman ordered until they stood in the hallway where Dawn had been with Cree only a few moments before.
“You’re my way of escaping unharmed. No one will dare approach me with a knife to your back. One good jab, in the right spot, and you’ll be dead in no time. So keep that in mind if you’re thinking of trying to get away from me. Come with me without protest and I’ll release you as soon as I’m a distance away from here.”
Dawn scrunched her brow.
Lady Ann snickered. “Your body grows rigid. You don’t believe me?”
Dawn shook her head.
“Whether you believe me or not makes no difference to me. You have no choice in the matter. Now move,” Lady Ann ordered.
The tip of the blade, feeling as if it was about to penetrate her flesh, had Dawn moving and she was surprised when in just a few short steps they entered through a door that opened on complete darkness. Light suddenly flickered on and jostled around and she realized that Lady Ann had turned on a torch.
“Climb,” Lady Ann demanded.
“Cree’s father Douglas brought me to this area of the castle when we were young. We would explore it, as we did the secret passageways, and pretend to be our ancestors fighting our enemies. It’s the oldest part of the castle and rarely, if ever, used. Douglas and I talked about what we’d do with it when the title fell to him, both of us assuming we would marry one day. Then he went off to University, traveled some, met Colleen, and everything changed.”
Dawn heard the hurt and anger in the woman’s voice even after so many years.
“Colleen got what was mine and I got a marriage to a self-absorbed man who ruined my family’s fortune. And did Douglas offer help when I asked him?” She laughed and to Dawn it sounded more like a witch’s cackle. “He’d only help if my husband and I allowed his accountants to take control of our finances. My husband refused and shortly after died of a heart attack, not that it mattered to me. What did matter was that I had no choice but to turn my finances over to Douglas’s accountants and they keep me on a short leash. I barely have money to spend. His family’s brooch would change all that. It’s been said that the brooch is priceless and that idiot Colum ruined everything for me.”
Dawn almost lost her footing when the woman gave her a shove.
“Keep going. It’s not far.”
Hurry, time draws near.
Old Mary’s words echoed in her
head. Dawn thought on the event schedule. Cree’s speech had been set for ten minutes before eleven since the doors for the dessert extravaganza was set to open at eleven. However, there had been delays throughout the evening. Dawn tried to recall the last time she had seen a clock, there being several throughout the castle rooms.
Her heart skipped several beats when a flash of a clock caught in her memory. Cree hadn’t started his speech until ten minutes after eleven. Five or more minutes had to have passed which put the time not far from half eleven.
Dawn’s stomach churned. She didn’t have much time. She had to get back to Cree.
The generous applause that followed Cree’s speech wasn’t what brought a smile to his face. It was that he was going to meet Dawn in the conservatory and tell her how he felt about her even though they barely knew each other. He had the strong, uncanny feeling that she felt the same way. He had been surprised and concerned when he hadn’t seen her in the back of the room, but then he thought that she was so eager to talk with him that she had left early for the conservatory. He wished she had waited for him, but then he should have kept her by his side as he had felt an overwhelming urge to do. He would be with her soon and then he would never let her go.
A few handshakes as he made his way through the crowd and he’d be on his way, then his mum took hold of his arm, keeping him where he stood.
“We know how much you have all waited for this moment, the reveal of Chef Turbett’s dessert extravaganza,” his mum said into the microphone. “My son is now going to do the honors and open the doors to an unforgettable and decadent experience.”
The guests clapped enthusiastically and turned toward the doors, the two guards stepping aside as Cree and his mum approached.
Cree wanted to rush forward and toss the doors open, but this was his mum’s moment and with the exciting expression she wore, she was truly looking forward to it and he didn’t want to spoil it for her. Once done, it would be easy to slip away and go to Dawn, and leave his mum to enjoy the much deserving accolades.
Highlander's Magical Love Page 10