“I promise I’m fine,” said Catrina, making sure she used a soothing tone. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
And she meant it. She wasn’t as fragile as everyone liked to think. No. She had an inner resolve that had driven her for years. It would see her through what was to come. That or be what got her killed. Either way, she’d face the monster that had killed her parents soon enough.
Diane choked back her emotions. “Good. Can I talk you into leaving this town and going far, far, far away?”
It would have been easy to take offense, but Catrina knew the woman’s comment was born from a real fear for her safety.
Diane had been friends with Catrina’s mother. She knew exactly what had happened years ago. What had prompted Catrina’s original departure from the area. And she was worried about history repeating itself.
“Looks as if you found yer missing friend,” said Liam, drawing Catrina’s attention. He lifted a glass of whiskey, as noted by the bottle sitting in front of him, and winked at her. “Hello, lass. It’s guid to meet you.”
Catrina eyed his kilt and bit her lower lip, wondering if he had a lot of women falling at his feet because he was sexy, foreign, and in a kilt.
Odds were, he did.
Heck. It was working for her, and she liked to think she was immune to handsome men. The two men at the table proved otherwise.
“I’d offer to buy you a drink, but since you work here, I do nae think it will hold the same sway,” he said. “How about I just offer to rock yer world later tonight, when yer shift is over?”
She snorted at his forwardness.
“Liam,” growled Duncan, pulling her attention to the other side of the table.
Fearful that whatever had occurred the last time she’d looked at Duncan would happen again, Catrina refused to make eye contact with him. At least not until she figured out what had caused her visceral reaction to the man.
“I was telling them a little about you,” said Diane.
Catrina tensed. “Oh boy. Do I want to know what you said?”
She laughed softly. “Like how much you love to read anything you can get your hands on. You’ve always been that way. When you were little, your parents would try to make deals with you to get you to agree to a limited number of bedtime stories rather than endless ones like you liked so much. Your father gave in each and every time, reading you at least six stories a night. He was very weak when it came to you and what you wanted. The apple of your father’s eye.”
Catrina’s gaze snapped to Diane. The woman was ordinarily tight-lipped about too much from the past. This was a curious change.
Diane tensed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring them up.”
Reaching out, Catrina placed her hand upon the woman’s arm. “It’s okay. You just don’t really ever mention anything to do with my parents. I’d love to hear more about them sometime. If you don’t mind. There’s a lot that I was too young to remember. A lot I’d like to know. I could learn about them through your eyes.”
Diane pursed her lips, fighting emotions. “I’d like that. I can tell you about when your parents met. And how your dad wrecked his motorcycle when he saw your mom for the first time.”
“My dad rode a motorcycle?” asked Catrina. She hadn’t known that.
“He did. He was a total bad boy,” replied Diane before thumbing in the direction of the men at the table. “They remind me of him. He sounded like them too, kind of. I forget what part of England he was from.”
“Och, lass, we do nae sound English,” protested Liam, looking horrified at the suggestion. “Bunch of bloody bastards.”
Catrina eyed him.
He bit his lower lip. “Erm, did I say that? I was just expressing Duncan’s thoughts on them. I personally love them.”
Duncan snorted. “Do nae drag me down with you. I made my peace with the English long ago.”
Catrina could still remember how her father sounded when he talked. Different from other parents and people in town. His British accent and his dark features caused many heads to turn. That much she could remember. Going places with him meant there would be a lot of women staring at him with silly looks on their faces.
She’d never really understood it all back then. Now that she was older, and couldn’t seem to get a grip around Duncan because of his good looks and accent, she more than got it.
Diane laughed softly. “Your father used to joke that you looked so much like your mother, he wasn’t sure he had anything to do with you. Then when your temper would show, your mom was quick to point out you got that from him.”
Catrina smiled, her chest tightening as she thought of her parents.
“Funny. The way your dad used to watch your mom is a lot like how Mr. No-Coffee-Beer-For-Me is looking at you,” said Diane, leaning in and lowering her voice, as if that would keep her from being overheard.
A questioning look formed on Catrina’s face.
Her friend smiled. “Duncan. He really does not like coffee beers. Nearly sprayed me down with it earlier when I mixed up his order with one of the college boys’ up front.”
Catrina chanced the smallest of glances at Duncan—to find him staring at her with an intensity that surprised her. It wasn’t a creepy, put-her-in-the-trunk-of-his-car kind of stare; it was something else. Something that didn’t freak her out in a threatening way. But it did make her pulse speed.
He looked at her in a way that made her picture him tossing her onto the tabletop and having his way with her.
Surprisingly, the idea had merit.
It wasn’t as if she made a habit of having men toss her against anything and do her. In fact, no man, to date, had ever done her, on a table or not on a table.
She’d been far too focused on tracking the demon that killed her parents to worry about sex. At least, that was the case before she’d taken one look at the hunk before her and felt like she’d fallen down a tunnel that led right to him.
Diane nudged her. “Catrina, are you listening to me?”
“What? Who?” she countered before realizing she’d been caught fantasizing about the hot guy.
Diane laughed. “Oh honey, you and Duncan certainly do remind me of your parents when they first met. It was here in Ralph’s bar too, funny enough. Your dad was in town to visit Ralph, just passing through, and your mom was waiting tables here while she took classes over at the community college.”
Catrina had never heard the story of how her parents met before. She smiled at the thought of it all before realizing that Diane had come right out and said Duncan had eyes for her—and she had eyes for him.
A blush stole across Catrina’s cheeks as she glanced quickly at Duncan again. She braced for impact, assuming she’d feel as if she were being tugged in his direction. While she did feel drawn to him, it wasn’t the literal yanking she’d felt before.
That being said, breaking eye contact with the man was easier said than done. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, still staring at him.
He was staring at her too.
Liam snorted. “Awkward.”
“I think it’s nice,” said Diane, sounding excited. “I’m telling you, Catrina, your dad was the same way with your mom. You should have heard the growl Duncan made when he saw you from across the bar.”
Catrina blushed, wishing Diane had something in the way of a filter.
Growl?
No.
She hadn’t heard anything of the sort. Though, to be fair, she was too busy worrying about being mystically yanked in his direction to notice much beyond that.
“I half thought he’d get up out of that chair, charge you, and rut you like a bull or something,” said Diane, laughing merrily.
Liam joined in. “Aye, I imagine he thought it might play out in much the same way.”
“Shut it,” warned Duncan, sliding a cold look at Liam.
“Sweetie, are you paying any attention to what I’m saying?” asked Diane.
Catrina star
ed harder at Duncan. “Uh-huh.”
“Then what did I just say?”
“You said his eyes are really blue,” blurted Catrina. She instantly wanted it back. “I mean, you said, um…what did you say?”
Liam slapped the table. “This is great. The lass desires you, cousin.”
Embarrassed, Catrina stepped back, lowered her head, and let her hair fall into her face. It was something she did often when she felt vulnerable.
Duncan cleared his throat. “Guid. Because I desire the lass.”
She stiffened, and the smallest of squeaks came from her, making Diane’s smile widen more.
Duncan licked his lips and eased his gaze over her. Each area his gaze slid over seemed to heat her, making her breath catch.
Liam lifted his drink to her, and Catrina snatched hold of it, gulping the remainder of its contents. The liquid burned her throat and chest, but she didn’t let on as she handed the glass back to Liam.
“Thanks,” she managed, shocked she still had vocal cords and the liquor didn’t singe them off.
Liam seemed pleased as he refilled his glass. “The lass can hold her whiskey. Quick, Duncan, marry her.”
“I plan to,” said Duncan, at a level everyone in the immediate area could hear.
Catrina moved toward Diane quickly, as if she’d save her from the big bad hot guy.
Liam leaned back in his chair, shock on his face. “Duncan?”
“Aye?”
When Liam spoke again, it wasn’t English.
Heated words were exchanged before Duncan jolted upright in his seat.
Liam nodded, as if that was all the proof he needed for whatever his argument had been.
Duncan flipped him off.
Diane laughed more. “You two are great. I’d bring you a round of wings on the house, but I like you too much to poison you with Ralph’s food.”
“I heard that!” shouted Ralph from the bar area. It was not close to them at all.
Catrina couldn’t help but look up at Ralph, wondering how much of the conversation he’d been able to overhear, if any. She wiped her palms on the thighs of her jeans and nodded to Duncan and Liam. “It was nice meeting you both. I should lend Ralph a hand. Looks like he’s got a college boy traffic jam about to happen at the bar.”
“Must be time to stock up on flavored beer again,” said Diane with a snort as Catrina hurried away.
Chapter Eight
Catrina made sure the college boys had everything they needed, which happened to be several flights of flavored beer and chicken wings (which she was fairly sure did not, in point of fact, come from a chicken—at least not the ones Ralph was serving). They were taking their lives in their own hands if they were consuming anything Ralph cooked.
She made her way to the bar. Ralph was there washing glasses, his plaid shirt sleeves rolled.
His gaze went toward Diane, who was still conversing with the Scottish men. She was standing next to the table, laughing at something one of them had said.
“That’s good for her,” said Ralph.
“What is?”
Ralph met her gaze. “Seeing that men can be more than dirtbags.”
“Why, Ralph, under all that bluster is there a romantic?” she asked as she put her elbows on the bar top.
“Hardly.” He finished drying the glasses he’d only just washed and then set the towel on the counter. “Activity is picking up in the area.”
She knew what he meant. Paranormal activity. Ralph monitored anything to do with the supernatural in the tri-county area.
“Is everything all right?” she questioned. “I mean, with the slayers and whatnot.”
His jaw set a moment before he exhaled slowly. “I’m not sure. There haven’t been any reports of anyone being hurt, but something deep in my bones is telling me there is an issue. One I’m just not fully aware of yet.”
That was hardly comforting.
She swallowed hard. “Can I do anything to help?”
He cast her a sideways glance. “We’ve had this talk before, Catrina. You’re not trained. You’re not official.”
That didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own, and she suspected he knew as much. “I know, but I’ll help if you need me to.”
He gave a curt nod. “Your mother was the same way.”
She stiffened. “Funny how she’s been mentioned more than once tonight.”
Ralph stared past her at Diane. “Really?”
“Yes.”
He sighed. “I know why you’re really in town. It’s not to connect with your roots.”
She averted her gaze.
“You know as well as I do what this weekend is,” he said, his voice low. “Catrina, your parents wouldn’t have wanted this. They never wanted any of this life for you. That’s the truth.”
Lowering her gaze, she nodded. “I know, but I have to do something. I’ve seen the demon, Ralph. I’ve looked it in the eye. I’ve felt its hot breath on my cheek and will never forget the sickening smell of sulfur it gave off. And I’ve seen what it’s capable of firsthand. Letting it hurt someone else is something I just can’t do.”
“It’s in your blood to want to take a stance,” he returned.
It was hard not to notice the number of times he kept looking in Diane’s direction.
Catrina stiffened. “She’s safe, right? It’s not coming for her, is it?”
Ralph pulled out lemons and began cutting them into wedges as if they weren’t deep in a conversation about hell-spawned demons and danger. She knew he needed to stay busy and couldn’t blame him. “Honestly, it will come for anyone in its path.”
Deep down, she knew he was right. The last thing she wanted was Diane caught in the crossfire. “The odds of me convincing her to leave town for the rest of the weekend are…?”
“Nonexistent,” supplied Ralph. He tossed lemon wedges into a bin on the bar top. “She’s very aware of the threat and she might be even more stubborn than you. That’s hard to beat. I’m worried about you. I understand you’ve spent years researching this demon, but books and scrolls don’t make you an expert. They don’t leave you able to stand against it and live to tell the tale. Yes, you’ve been face-to-face with it before but you were a little girl then, Catrina. And it managed to kill two powerful people from the side of good. My fear is that you’re next.”
She had the same concern but wasn’t about to voice as much out loud. A change of topic was in order.
“Thank you for worrying about me,” she said, stepping back. “I should check on Diane. She might be working on loser boyfriend number forty right now.”
Ralph chuckled. “I doubt it. Besides, the men she’s with now aren’t like her normal picks.”
“You know them?” she questioned.
“Let’s just say I know they’re not a threat.” With that, he turned and headed toward the cellar door where the extra liquor was kept.
Catrina made her way back to the table where Liam and Duncan sat. She bumped hips lightly with Diane in a playful manner, wanting to keep the tone light. “Your shift is over. You should run like heck out of this joint.”
And far away from this town for the weekend.
Diane smiled. “I was just listening to Liam tell me stories about a woman who’s driving him nuts.”
Liam squirmed, uncomfortable with the line of conversation.
Understandably.
He too was suffering from Diane’s lack of a filter. The hot seat was never fun.
Diane put an arm around Catrina. “This one here, I was best friends with her mom. And like I already mentioned, her dad took one look at her mom and that was all she wrote for him. And her mom knew how to give the man hell.”
Catrina forced a smile to her face and noticed Duncan watching her with a strange expression. She didn’t want to have this conversation in front of him, or at all at the moment, but deep down she knew why Diane kept going down memory lane.
It was the anniversary of the death of Catrina’s pare
nts, and Diane was seeing similarities in everything around her. She was no doubt latching on to the fact Duncan was foreign and seemed interested in Catrina. And that, more than likely, reminded Diane of the past, and ultimately, the loss of her best friend.
Diane laughed softly. “Oh sweetie, you remind me so much of your mother. She, like you, was always lost in a book. Always telling us some strange fact. She also refused to leave this area.”
Catrina drew Diane around to face her and then hugged her. As she drew back, she offered a warm, reassuring smile. “This isn’t history repeating itself.”
Shaking her head, Diane continued to tear up. “It is. Your mom and I worked here together through college. Your dad rode into town one night on his motorcycle and swept her off her feet, seducing her, and no matter what happened, they stood their ground. Your mom refused to listen to any of us who told her to go. To get far from here, and all that this area brings. But she wouldn’t hear of it.”
Catrina couldn’t help but look at Duncan. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to be having the discussion at all, let alone in front of him—a virtual stranger—but it was too late to put the horse back in the barn. The least she could do now was damage control. “Want to seduce me, knock me up, get a house, a dog, a white picket fence, and give up your bad boy ways to play husband?”
She snickered, waiting for him to freak out or, at the very least, make it clear none of those items were on his to-do list.
Instead, the man raked his gaze over her and licked his lips before putting his hands on the table and clenching his fists. “Aye, lass. I’m verra willing to do all those things with you and more.”
The smallest of surprised squeaks came from her as she looked in the direction she’d last seen Ralph, as if he alone would save her from getting an instant husband.
He was nowhere to be found.
Of course.
Liam coughed and hit his chest, having been in mid-swallow when Duncan agreed to all her terms. “Cousin, you just…you… I have to call Kennard and get him on video chat. This is too guid to pass up.”
Duncan blinked and looked to his cousin. “What are you going on about?”
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