by Donna Grant
Cináed had recently been there, so he kept his attention on her. Minute emotions ran over her face. Shock at the state of things, bitterness at having her life stripped from her, and the pain of remembering that horrible night.
But it was the thread of terror that really caught his interest.
Just as he suspected, there was more to the story of that night than she had shared. If only she were willing to reveal more, he might be able to tell her exactly what happened. Because the more he listened to her and the more he walked the isle, the more he began to suspect that magic had been at work.
But magic from who? It wasn’t the Dragon Kings, which left Druids or Fae. Coupled with the story that Gemma said her mother told her of two Druid siblings, which was eerily similar to the Clacher family who always had a brother and sister charged with regulating the Druids. Such coincidences just didn’t happen.
Gemma swallowed heavily as she walked room by room on the first floor. She came to the stairs, and it took her several minutes before she put one foot on the bottom step and began to make her way up.
To his surprise, she bypassed the second floor and went straight to the attic. The stairs narrowed considerably, and the door was so short that he had to duck to get inside. With the decay of the roof, the contents of the attic had been exposed to the elements.
“There,” Gemma said, pointing to the wardrobe that lay partially on its side now.
He started to walk to it and realized that she still had a hold of his hand. Cináed caught her gaze. “Would you rather stay here while I go look?”
“Yes,” she said with a quick nod.
Despite her words, it took her another few moments before she loosened her fingers and released him. Cináed then walked to the piece of furniture and looked behind it.
“It looks like the wardrobe managed to shield the boxes from most of the rain, though the damp has set in for sure,” he told her.
There were three boxes just as she’d said. He decided not to look through the boxes there. Instead, he opted to carry them to the helicopter. Except when he lifted one, the bottom fell out.
“Shite,” he mumbled.
Behind him, Gemma giggled. “That’s the sort of thing that usually happens to me.”
He shot her a grin over his shoulder. Despite the mess, he was happy that she was able to find a little bit of humor. “You must be rubbing off on me.”
“I hope so,” she teased.
Cináed straightened and dusted off his hands. “I thought we might bring some things back with us. I have plastic containers in the chopper. I’ll run out and get them.”
Her lips parted as terror filled her gaze, but whatever she was about to say died on her lips. She clasped her hands together. “Do you need my help?”
“If you’d like to.” He knew she probably wasn’t keen on remaining in the house alone.
“I’ll be fine,” she stated after a small pause.
He gave her a nod. “I’ll hurry.”
Cináed rushed down the stairs and ran to the helicopter. As he neared it, he saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned to find an orange dragon head staring at him. He motioned Merrill back down into the water. It would just be their luck that someone from a neighboring isle would see a dragon head break the surface.
Or worse, Gemma.
As terrified as she was, Cináed didn’t think she could ever find out about what he was. There were some humans who could handle it, but most couldn’t. Unfortunately, Gemma fell into the latter category. And that really disappointed him. Not that he blamed her. She had been through something horrendous at a young age that prevented her from accepting anything normal, much less anything that couldn’t be explained.
He got the plastic bins and rushed back to the house. When he walked into the attic, Gemma was in the same spot he’d left her. He didn’t expect her to help him put the items in the boxes, but to his surprise, she did.
They did the chore silently and quickly. When it was finished, he carried two of the bins while she took the last one down the stairs. Cináed was outside before he realized that Gemma was no longer with him.
He dropped the tubs and went back inside, where he found her staring at a corner in the living room behind a chair. The sight of her so pale worried him. He gently took the tub from her hand and set it aside before he grasped her hands and stepped in front of her. She blinked a few times and focused on his face.
“Are you all right?”
She shook her head. “Have you ever thought you recalled everything about a moment in time? Then you return to the scene and realize that there is much you don’t remember?”
“I’ve no’. Is that what happened?”
She looked around him and jerked her chin to the corner. “That’s where I sat with Daisy until noon the next day. I don’t remember the space being so small.”
“It was a long time ago, and you had been through something horrible. Of course you willna recall every detail.”
“I remember every strike of lightning as it struck the earth and lit up this room. I remember huddling into the tiniest ball so I wouldn’t be seen. I remember the way Daisy shook as she pressed me against the corner. I remember the way my wet clothes suctioned to me and the cold seeped into my bones.”
Cináed didn’t interrupt her, even though she’d revealed a crucial clue. She had been hiding from someone. He didn’t say anything about that or the wet clothes for the moment. While he expected her to have gotten soggy, there was something about the way she talked about wet clothes that made him think it was more than just rain that had been to blame.
Her blue eyes flashed angrily even as she linked her fingers with his. “How could I recall those details but not the space itself?”
“You can no’ expect to recollect every detail from such a trauma. Some will always stick out more than others.”
“If I forgot something like that, what makes you think I haven’t forgotten something else? Or worse, misremembered something?”
He wondered if she knew that as she spoke, she walked closer to him, bridging the short gap between them. Cináed saw the silver flecks in her eyes. He wanted so badly to wrap an arm around her and pull her near, molding her body against his.
“I was so sure of things,” she continued. “Now I’m doubting all of it.”
When a single tear ran down her face, his control snapped. Cináed’s arms went around her. She pressed her cheek against his chest and clung to him.
“Then it’s time you found out the truth,” he whispered against her hair.
She sniffed loudly. “In order for that to happen, you need to know the rest of the story.”
He leaned back and cupped her face between his hands. “What you’re doing takes more courage than most people manage in a lifetime.”
To his shock, she leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his. They remained still, locked in time as if both were afraid to move.
Her soft lips against his brought his already heated blood to a boil. Just when he shifted to get a better angle for another kiss, Gemma pulled back. Her tongue glided over her lower lip like she was tasting him.
His cock jumped, begging him to taste more of her.
“I’m sorry for that,” she began.
He slid his hands through her cool length of ginger hair. “Doona apologize for kissing me. Ever.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She blew out a breath and stepped back, but she trailed her hands down his arms to his hands. “I don’t normally like people touching me, but it’s different with you. When you’re touching me, I want more.”
Damn. She really needed to stop, because if she didn’t, Cináed wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Kiss her for sure, but it wouldn’t stop there.
“Then I willna stop,” he promised.
Her lips curved into a smile. They said no more as they took the tubs to the chopper.
“Will you walk with me to the dock?”
she asked.
“Of course.”
They made their way hand in hand from the house and down to the quay. Gemma stood on the remains of the wooden dock. Cináed spotted Merrill beneath the surface, but Merrill made sure not to get close enough for Gemma to see him.
“My life was idyllic,” she said. “Nothing of the world touched us. Not even the little time we spent in the villages to get supplies. Looking back, I can say it’s like we were cocooned in some bubble that kept others away.”
Cináed frowned, because her words made him think of the bubble of magic around MacLeod Castle that kept the warriors and Druids from being found by the outside world.
“That’s why I fought so hard not to leave.” Gemma glanced at him, shrugging. “I knew something was wrong, even that young. After I got my dog and returned to this spot, the boat was gone.”
He jerked his gaze to hers. “Gone?”
“The light was out, but the lightning flashed enough that I could see that the boat was no longer docked. At first, I thought my parents left me. Then I felt it.”
A shudder went through her so forcefully that he turned and pulled her against him. Gemma placed one of her hands on his chest but her eyes never left the water.
“I couldn’t see what it was, but I knew it was there. Daisy barked at everything, but all she did was whine this time. It felt like someone had poured ice in my veins I was so terrified. I ran. There.”
He looked in the direction she pointed along the rocky edge, wondering how the waves hadn’t taken her over the side.
She inched closer to him. “The waves were so high and the rain came down so hard that it was difficult to see anything. A wave knocked me on my knees, and Daisy slipped from my hands. Then the next thing I knew, I was in the water.”
Cináed’s heart clutched. He knew the force of such storms. There was no way she should have survived.
“Before the water took me, I saw the form,” she continued. “The waves dragged me down so deep I didn’t think I’d get back up. When I started swimming, I stopped just before I reached the surface because I knew whatever was on the isle waited for me to come up for air. I remained in the water despite my lungs burning until I could take it no more. When my head breached, I was relieved to find I was alone.
“Daisy was waiting for me. I got her and went to the back of the house where I knew one of the windows wasn’t latched. I snuck in and huddled in the corner with my dog while the person walked through my house.”
Cináed had so many questions, but he asked just one. “Did you see who it was?”
“All I saw was a dark silhouette against the night. I don’t know if it was a man or a woman.”
“But you felt something?”
She nodded. “Evil.”
He rubbed a hand up and down her back and looked at the water slamming against the rocks. And it was a calm day. It was a pure miracle that she had survived.
Chapter Fourteen
There had been a time Gemma knew without a doubt that someone had been on the isle with her the night her family disappeared. Then, later, she began to question herself. So many told her that she had been a child and couldn’t possibly have grasped the entire situation as an adult would. Because, otherwise, she would be able to tell them what happened to her parents and brother.
That’s when she began to doubt what she remembered. That’s when she wondered if the figure had been a figment of her imagination.
Now, after being on the isle and standing at the dock, the memories had risen up like a tidal wave, swarming Gemma with the truth. She hadn’t been alone. She knew it for a certainty. It also helped tremendously that Cináed hadn’t hesitated in believing her.
“Did the entity say anything to you?” Cináed asked. “Did they make any kind of noise?”
She shook her head. “If they did, I didn’t hear it over the sound of the storm.”
“Did you see them do anything?”
“No. I wouldn’t have seen their silhouette if it hadn’t been for the lightning.”
“But they saw you.”
She swallowed, unable to hold back a shiver as she recalled how it felt to have the attention of such a...thing...on her. “Without a doubt. If I had surfaced from the water while it stood on the rocks, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
“Nay, I doona think you would.”
Gemma watched as Cináed’s gray eyes slid to the water, his forehead furrowed deep in thought for several minutes.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, unable to hold back her curiosity.
“I’m still mulling that over.”
“You know something you aren’t telling me.”
Cináed sighed and turned his head to her. There was a deep resolve in his gaze that warned her that he was keeping many things from her. Yet, for some reason she didn’t get the feeling that he was trying to take advantage or harm her.
Instead...she thought he might be protecting her.
“Tell me,” she urged.
He gave a single shake of his head. “I doona think it’s time.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you are no’ ready.”
She looked at him, searching his face. “I came back here. It was the last place I want to be. I’m ready.”
Without thinking, she reached for his hand. She didn’t know why she had the inescapable urge to not only stand next to Cináed, but to have a hold of him, as well. She knew it didn’t make sense, and while she told herself to step back and release him—she couldn’t.
Cináed glanced down at their hands before his eyes returned to her face. His free hand rose and he slid his fingers along her neck and into her hair, gently holding her.
Her heart hammered in her chest. Not from fear, but from desire. There was no denying what it was. It rose swiftly, consuming her. And she welcomed it.
Embraced it.
As she sank into his eyes, she realized why she gravitated toward him. She felt safe with Cináed. The passion she felt, however, was another matter entirely. It was what recklessly propelled her to kiss him earlier.
And, oh, what a kiss.
Just a soft press of their lips together, but it had been glorious. She wanted more. It was all she could think about now as he held her against him. Their bodies were touching. She didn’t remember moving but that didn’t matter when she was drowning in the beautiful gray pools of his eyes.
Her lids slid shut when his head lowered toward her. A heartbeat later, his lips were on hers. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. And before she could grasp that he had kissed her, his mouth was moving over hers. With each touch of their lips, she was falling further and further under the desire that ruled her.
Then he let out a soft sigh and glided his tongue along her lips. She parted her mouth so their tongues could tangle and dance together.
Her heart leapt, her blood sizzled. And her body pulsed with a need she had never felt before.
The soft kiss quickly turned heated as their arms wrapped around each other. His hands traveled down her back before he palmed her butt. Then he pressed her against him and she felt the evidence of his arousal.
Excitement tore through her. The moment she moaned in response, Cináed deepened the kiss, taking her breath away. It all felt so good that she could have stood there for eternity and kissed him. Time was forgotten as she tumbled deeper into the passion that had them firmly in its grip.
It was the raindrop that pulled her to the present.
She ended the kiss and looked up. Dark clouds were moving toward them.
“Gemma, look at me,” Cináed said.
She had to force her eyes away from the sky.
He held her gaze a moment. “It’s going to be all right. I’m right here with you. It’s just a little rain.”
“I can’t stay here,” she told him.
Cináed took her hand and led her to the helicopter. He made sure she was secure before hurrying
to his side and starting the blades while he buckled himself in.
She couldn’t seem to stop watching the way one fat drop at a time landed upon the front window. Thankfully, they were up in the air and flying away not long after. Cináed didn’t take them far.
Gemma recognized Skye even from the air. She had been on the isle a few times herself. There was a particular look about Skye that made it easy for her to pick out. The farther that Cináed took her from her isle, the more she relaxed.
They flew over Skye, and she took in the rugged beauty of the mountains and glens. She spotted a cottage sitting alone between a river and the base of a mountain. When she realized they were descending, she jerked her head to Cináed.
He just grinned at her.
Sure enough, he set the chopper down near the white-washed cottage. Gemma kept waiting for someone to come out and greet them, but no one stirred from within.
She climbed out of the helicopter and waited for Cináed. Then she asked, “Whose place is this?”
“It’s one of many properties Dreagan owns,” he explained.
Her brows shot up in her head. “Here? Why?”
“Why no’?” was his response.
When he took her hand and gave her a tug, she dug in her heels. Gemma shook her head when he looked at her. “That isn’t an explanation.”
Cináed blew out a breath. “The short answer is that we do have property all over the world. Some small cottages like this, others huge mansions like in Venice.”
“Italy?” she asked, then realized how stupid that was.
“Aye. We like to make sure that there is a place for us to stay when we travel.”
“You never stay in hotels?”
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I wouldna say never. It does happen.”
“Why here on Skye? Why this place?”
“It’s beautiful, for one,” he said as he looked at the cottage.
When he didn’t continue, she quirked a brow in question. “And the second reason?”
“Dreagan has an interest in some of those here on Skye.”
Gemma frowned, noting that he had chosen his words carefully. “What do you mean?”