"It's the weirdest thing. He won't go out in the pasture even when I leave his door open. Yet, I can't find anything visible on him. There is no indication of sickness. I've pressed my hands all over his body but can't seem to find any spots of pain. I'm at a loss," Shane said sadly.
Cait's heart raced. She knew that she had no choice but to use her power, but she wasn't ready to tell Shane about herself. Terrified that Shane would be scared of her, she stared blindly into the deep brown eyes of the proud horse. Her heart won out and she dropped her mental shields and reached out to Baron's mind.
"What's wrong, baby? Can you tell me what's hurting you?" Cait crooned to the horse and scratched behind his ears.
Shane laughed, "I wish that he could."
Cait ignored Shane and continued to stroke Baron's ears.
"My foot. Glass or something under the horseshoe. Infection. Hurt. Can't stand anymore," Baron thought. Cait almost jumped. Communicating with a horse was far different than with a dog. She wondered if their intelligence level was different. Thinking about how to tell Shane, she continued to stroke Baron.
"Why don't you go get him a carrot and see if he will perk up? I've learned a few things from Flynn's stable hands, maybe he'll let me check him out," Cait said.
"Don't do too much until I get back. He is still a very powerful horse, Cait," Shane cautioned and stepped from the box. Moving quickly, Cait bent to Baron's hooves.
"Which one?" she whispered and laid her hand on each of Baron's legs until Baron twitched.
"This one," Baron communicated.
Cait bent her head to look closely, confident that Baron wouldn't kick her. If she looked really close she could just see a little pus oozing from beneath the horseshoe affixed to Baron's hoof. It would be easy for anyone to miss.
"Cait! Get your head away from his hoof!" Shane instructed calmly, knowing not to shout and scare Baron.
"I found something, Shane," Cait said and sat back on her heels.
"You did?" Shane moved close and, keeping a watchful eye on Baron, he bent to kneel by Cait.
Cait pointed to where the pus oozed from his foot.
"See that? Something must be lodged beneath the shoe," Cait said.
"Well, damn, you are right, something is there. Shit, I wonder if I can get him to stand and walk to where I can pry the shoe off."
Cait stood and spoke directly to Baron.
"Baron, can you walk with us just out to the aisle? We are going to help you but we can't do it from in here," Cait asked.
Shane looked at her like she was crazy and then jumped as Baron shifted.
"Well, shit, he likes you," Shane laughed and helped Baron to his feet, leading him to the hookup in the stable.
Cait ducked under the lead ropes to nuzzle her head at Baron's. Shane moved quickly, not wanting to prolong the pain. In a matter of moments he had the shoe off and swore softly.
"Damn it, it looks like there is a piece of glass in here. Now how in the world would that have happened?"
Cait tapped into Baron's brain.
"Does any of the pasture run the length of the road? Kids throwing bottles from their cars?"
"It does actually and I haven't walked that way in a while. I need to get out there and check the fence line," Shane said, disgust with himself evident in his voice.
"Hey, don't worry, these things happen. Baron will be okay. Can you get the glass out?"
The horse shifted against Cait.
"Just did. Now I am going to put some antibiotic cream on it. It is fairly infected but Fiona makes a very powerful cream for me," Shane said.
Cait peered around Baron's head to look at Shane.
"You use Fiona's medicines?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. Not sure if you believed in that," Cait said.
"Believed in what? Herbal remedies? Perfectly natural," Shane said and dusted his palms off. Standing, he came around to wrap his hands around Baron's head. "I'm sorry, buddy, extra carrots for you. You should be back to running the fields in no time."
The horse brushed his head against Shane's and Cait did a quick scan of Baron's mind to find him in a much better mood.
"I think he's feeling better already," Cait said.
Together, they led the horse back into the stable and crooned words of encouragement and love to the massive animal.
"I never knew that you were so good with horses," Shane commented as they left the stall. He placed a hand at the small of her back and Cait felt heat shoot through her entire body. Shane turned her the other direction and out of the stables, away from his house. As they left the stable, Cait gasped at the view.
"Oh, Shane, this is beautiful," Cait said. The world opened up below the stables, rolling away in pastures of lush green before diving into the blue waters of the ocean. Cait felt a little lightheaded as the rush of beauty swept through her.
"So are you," Shane said hoarsely and Cait gasped at the naked need in his eyes. Shane pulled her to his chest and slid his lips over her own. A shot of pure lust hit her stomach and she stumbled against Shane as she went dizzy from her need. Undeterred, Shane wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up until Cait's legs straddled him. Cait almost fainted at the aggressiveness of Shane's move. She felt lightheaded and giddy and laughed against Shane's mouth.
Taking it as an invitation for more, Shane dipped his tongue between her lips. Cait felt herself moving and realized that Shane was walking her backwards. The scratch of hay brushed against her legs and Cait guessed that Shane had backed her into a pile of hay. She arched against him as he slipped her butt onto a bale of hay so that he stood between her legs. Shane groaned softly and broke the kiss, trailing his lips down her neck to nibble at the sensitive spot at her nape. Cait jerked against him and turned her head to allow him to continue his explorations. A shiver rushed through her as his lips brushed against her soft skin. Craving more, she ran her hands up his strong arms to thread her fingers through his thick hair. Swept under by the emotions that ran through her, Cait could only hold on as Shane took the lead.
In one smooth movement, Shane tugged on her tank top and ripped it over her head. Cait trembled as she sat before him half naked. She wanted him. Oh, did she want him. A surge of need shot through Cait and her skin felt like it was on fire. Her heart pounded in her chest and she met Shane's lust-filled eyes. Cait had never had a man look at her like this before. It filled her with confidence, knowing that Shane wanted her as much as he did. For once in her life, Cait felt powerful with a man, and she'd never been more turned on. Shane's breath shuddered out as he pierced her with his deep brown eyes, his hands tracing her waist softly. Before she knew what was happening, Shane bent and with one hand flicked the clasp of her bra open.
"Hey!" Cait gasped out.
Shane shot her a cocky grin and brought his mouth to her small breasts and liquid heat pooled deep in her core at the sensation of his mouth on her nipples. Cait moaned and let her head fall back against the hay as Shane pleasured her with his mouth. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him closer, craving contact. Shane groaned against her breasts and, bringing his head up, he captured her mouth with his and sucked hungrily at her lips. Cait ground her hips against him, suddenly desperate for release. She didn't want to think about what they were doing or where they were. She wanted Shane to make her world fall away, if even just for a moment.
"Hold on, Cait, just hold on," Shane whispered against her mouth and Cait whimpered into his lips as he unbuttoned her jeans and slipped a hand beneath her underwear to find her ready. Cait arched into his hand and in one smooth movement, Shane slipped his fingers inside of her. Shocked at the sensation, lust whiplashed through Cait and she shattered around his hand. Shane held her as she sobbed her release into his mouth, so happy, so alive for the first time in years.
Gently, Shane stroked her hair and held her close to him. Cait waited for his next move. Hearing him sigh, she pulled her head back to look at his fac
e. Shane looked…almost stoic as he removed his hand from her pants and slipped her bra back up on her shoulders. Confused at the sudden change in him, Cait put her walls up.
She didn't know what was happening, but couldn't deal with being on the blunt edge of rejection again. Quickly she fastened her bra and reached for her tank top, her mind whirling.
"Cait," Shane began.
"Just stop, I get it. You've got the blonde. So, we shouldn't be doing this. Fine, we are both adults, no big deal." Cait hopped off the bale of hay and pulled her tank top over her head, wanting to bury her face in its darkness for a moment. Standing straight, Cait patted Shane on the cheek, affecting a nonchalance that she certainly didn't feel.
"No, not that, not at all," Shane said.
"It's fine, I get it," Cait said and turned to walk away. She gasped as Shane whipped her back.
"No, you don't get it. I want more than the proverbial roll in the hay, as it were," Shane said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Well, looks like that's all you'll get today, sailor. So why don't you just back off," Cait ordered. She had known it was stupid to come here. Looking around at all of the wealth that surrounded her, she heard her mother's words. You're not good enough for all this. He only wants you as a side piece.
"No, I won't back off. We have something here. I want more. I want you," Shane said directly, his eyes boring into her. Tears pricked her eyes and for just a moment, Cait allowed herself to imagine being with him. It would be wonderful. Thinking of the blonde, she knew that she wasn't in Shane's league.
"Sorry, Shane, but I just needed to blow off some steam. Thanks for being a friend," Cait said and kissed him lightly on the lips. This time when she turned, Shane didn't stop her.
"You're full of shite, Cait Gallagher. When you get it figured out, let me know," Shane said bitterly behind her. Cait didn't turn, just walked through the stables with tears blurring her vision. She heard Baron's soft whinny but kept walking, her back ramrod straight. She had a business to run.
Chapter 13
Cait grasped the steering wheel blindly and without thinking, turned her car towards the cove. She shuddered as she thought about what she was driving away from. Trying to pull herself back from a crying jag, she steered her car down the lane from Fiona's house. She wasn't ready to face Fiona yet was too restless to go home. Inexplicably pulled towards the cove, Cait got out of her car and raced across the fields to stand at the top of the footpath that led to the cove.
Her breath shuddered out as she stared down at the waters that refused to reflect the sun's rays as it dipped towards the horizon. Finally answering the call of the cove, Cait followed the path that led down the side of the cliffs. She skidded to a halt at the sandy beach and remembered Fiona's instructions. Cait looked around desperately for some rocks or flowers…just something to give as a gift. Finding nothing, she pulled her wallet out of her purse and dug in the side pocket. Inside lay a small tarnished silver charm in the shape of a heart. It had been foolish of her to keep it all these years, Cait thought. The charm had fallen from a bracelet of her mother’s and Cait had used to pretend that Sarah had given it to her as a gift.
Who was she kidding? Her mother never gave her gifts, Cait thought bitterly as she rolled the charm between her fingers. With a small sigh, she stepped onto the sand and slid her shoes off. Tracing a little circle, she stepped into it and felt the warm sand squish between her toes.
"Um, so, I'm here. I know that you want me to be. And I don’t even know why I'm here. But, um, I offer you this gift and ask for protection while I am here. I mean the cove nor those who rest here any harm," Cait said. With a last look at the heart, she tossed it into the water, imagining its path to the bottom of the ocean mirroring that of her own sinking heart.
Cait waited quietly for something to happen. Silence greeted her. Slowly, the tension seemed to ease from her shoulders and Cait allowed herself to take in her surroundings. The sun was a warm ball of light that was sinking between the two rocky cliffs that hugged the cove, its light shooting to the canyon walls behind her. The water lapped gently at the sand and Cait took a few deep breaths before stepping closer to the edge of the water. When the water stayed the same, Cait smiled and allowed herself to enjoy the freedom of being on an empty beach.
Too keyed up to sit still, Cait began to walk the length of the beach. As Cait paced the soft sand of the beautiful beach, she tried not to cry. What had she been thinking? She had let her powerful attraction to Shane cloud her judgment.
"I want you. I want to be with you." Shane's words drifted through her mind. Had he meant that? What about the blonde? Cait wished that she had just asked him about his relationship with that woman.
It made Cait angry to think about Shane's hands on another woman when he'd just had them all over her body. She'd never been so viscerally attracted to a man before. Yet, Cait feared that her mother was right. Cait would never fit into Shane's world. She wasn't high society or anything fancy. The only thing she wanted was to run a good business, to travel, and to start a family someday.
The thought of a family made Cait skid to a stop. Did she want a family? She had never really given the idea that much thought. Perhaps because she didn't come from a traditional family unit, Cait rarely got those maternal urges that many of her friends seemed to get. Cait dipped her toes in the water and tried to imagine what her and Shane's baby would look like. She laughed softly at herself and shook her head. How could a pub owner even fit a baby into her schedule? Stupid, Cait thought.
"I gave birth on a ship in mid-battle. I'm quite certain you'll do just fine." A voice like molasses on a knife blade startled Cait. She whipped around and her heart simply stopped. Just for a beat. When Cait could drag a breath in again, she turned her head to look for help.
"I mean you no harm, little one. You're of my blood, after all," the voice said.
The ghost? Vision? Apparition? Stood across from Cait on the sand. She seemed almost human but there was a soft translucence to the skin that showed that she wasn't of this world. In the time between day and night, the veil between worlds grew thin. Grace O'Malley stood before her, a proud woman with beautiful eyes, in an ancient dress.
"Grace?" Cait whispered.
"Of course! Who else would walk my cove?" Grace tossed her hair arrogantly and eyed the cove as though she owned it. Which she did, Cait thought.
"You're stunning," Cait said, unable to help herself.
"Why, thank you, little one. It is nice to know that my beauty holds. But, I must go before the sun slips into the sea. Why did you come here tonight?"
"I…I don't really know. It was like I was drawn here," Cait admitted.
"Ah, and your feelings? They are full of sorrow…and, I'm not sure the word today…inferiority perhaps?" Grace tilted her head and eyed Cait.
Cait flushed at the assessment and nodded.
"Um, yes, I suppose inferiority would be close. Insecurity is really the word we use now," Cait said.
"And you feel inferior to a man?" Grace raised an eyebrow incredulously.
"Well, not really. Yes and no. I feel like I can never really step into his world, he is so rich and I am barely getting by," Cait admitted. She shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
"Is that so? And that is the only thing that is holding you back from this man?" Grace put her hands on her hips and waited.
Cait gulped and raised her hands before letting them drop to her sides. She felt like she was at a therapist's office or something of the like.
"I, okay, no, it probably isn't just the money," Cait said.
Grace waited silently.
"Okay, fine. I just don't see myself in relationships. I was raised in a bad household, I didn't have an example of a good relationship growing up, and I just don't really know how to do it. If…if I can do it at all," Cait whispered. Tears pricked her eyes. Surprised, she dashed them away quickly with her knuckles.
"Ah, yes. There we have it," Grace said.
"Yes, there you have it," Cait said forlornly.
"Do you think that you are not worthy of love?" Grace asked.
"What? No, I mean, of course I am." Cait's head shot up and she met Grace's eyes.
"Do you not think that you are a bright and interesting person?"
"Well, sure I am," Cait said.
"One that is capable of running a business, interacting and dare I say…having relationships with hundreds of customers on a regular basis?"
"Yes." Cait nodded.
"One that has lifelong friendships?"
"Yes, ma'am," Cait said.
"And a woman that is descended from my own blood…a blood that ran in the bones of one of the proudest women in the history of Ireland? I chose my suitors. Never did I wait for them to choose me nor did I wonder if I was good enough. I knew that I was deserving of love and picked based on that alone. You, my dear, are of my blood and are powerful beyond belief. Choose, my little one, choose love," Grace said before fading silently into the darkness as the sun slipped below the edge of the water.
Cait's mouth hung open and she gaped at where Grace had stood. Whirling around, she faced the water to see a faint blue glow emanating from the depths of the cove. A shiver ran through her. But, instead of fear, it was power. Cait smiled and nodded at the water. She knew an ass-kicking when she saw one.
"Okay, Grace, duly noted. I'll do my best to make you proud," Cait said to the water and laughed as the light brightened for a moment. Cait raced to the path before she lost all light for the climb back to the top of the cliffs.
Cait was overwhelmed with the enormity of what had just happened. Was this why the cove had called to her for so long? Had Grace always wanted to meet up with her? Cait wondered if Grace was just a figment of her imagination. Maybe the stress of the day had caught up with her and tipped her over into crazytown, she thought with a soft laugh.
She'd always been one to dismiss her gift, as well as all of the mysticism that surrounded Grace's Cove. And yet…tonight had been undeniable proof of what was. Quite simply, Cait couldn't argue her away around what had just happened. A strange sense of joy filled her. It was almost as if having the ghost of Grace O'Malley claim Cait as her own gave her a sense of belonging that her mother had never been able to impart to her. Mulling over Grace's words, Cait made her way across the fields to her car. She saw the light glowing in Fiona's cottage. Knowing that Fiona would see her emotions, but unable to stop herself, Cait drove the short distance to check in on the old woman.
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