Because he was coming toward her, gliding over the path, and there was nowhere to run.
Chapter 10
It seemed as if the forest echoed and trembled with her screams. But then, suddenly, he was gone. He had been coming straight at her, and then... And then he was swallowed by the mist and the trees and the bracken.
Kit ran, unaware that she was screaming again. All she wanted was to get out of the forest, out of the mist, away from the creature she had seen. Pain streaked through her calves, and her breathing was loud as she struggled to reach the cottage.
“Kit!”
It was Justin, calling her name, but she didn’t know from where. A little spasm of fear swept through her. Had he donned the cape and mask, then cast them aside to come running to her rescue?
“Mrs. McHennessy!”
She reached the road that ran along the forest, running with such speed that she was unable to stop but went crashing into the second man who had called her name.
It was Old Doug, with his fey, watery eyes and gentle smile. Yet even while he spread his arms to steady her, Kit scurried away. If ever there was a candidate for the asylum, it was Old Doug. And suddenly she remembered what he had said when he had first seen her; he had asked about Mike! He had asked about her son, when he shouldn’t have known...
No. Maybe she was the one going crazy. He wasn’t sweating or panting, so how could he have cast aside a cloak and a mask and beaten her here?
“Are ye all right, lass?” he asked kindly. “Why, ye look as if a score of banshees were on yer trail, child!”
“Old Doug, were you just in the forest?”
He scratched his head. “Aye, that I was. Come to get my lunch from Molly.”
She stepped back, gasping. “Did you—did you see it?”
“Kit!”
She jumped as long arms swept around her waist.
It was Justin, his eyes dark, perspiration beaded across his brow, his breath coming raggedly. “Kit! What happened? Oh, my God, you’re all right!”
He pulled her tightly against him, holding her against his chest while he rested his chin on the top of her head. The thunder of his heartbeat was very loud.
Tears stung her eyes. She loved him so much, but she was so afraid. He had been in the forest, and he was panting, and he had been behind her.
He set her slightly away from him with a worried frown. “What happened?”
“The—” she began, but then old Barney Canail came crashing out of the forest, too. He took one look at her, saw that she was all right and sat down hard on the ground.
“Lord, Lord, if I’m not gettin’ too old for a chase such as that! Where were ye, girl! I heard ye scream.”
Then Barney was interrupted by Liam O’Grady, who had come more slowly than the others. His girth wouldn’t allow a faster pace.
Kit let herself rest against Justin as she faced the others. She was still shaking so badly that she was afraid she would fall, and it was worse now than it had ever been, because she was forced to be suspicious of men who were her friends—and the man that she loved.
No, she decided firmly. She would not suspect Justin. She had known in her heart of his innocence before she had come here, and she would not waver in her beliefs now.
“The—the goat-god was in the forest,” she said hesitantly.
“What?”
The word came flying out to her harshly from three of them. Old Doug just stood staring at her.
“The goat-god—”
“Kit, there is no goat-god!” Liam said softly.
“Someone dressed up like the goat-god was there. Someone in a cape and a horned mask. I was coming through the forest, and he was just...there.” Her lip trembled slightly. “Coming at me, out of the mist.”
Silence reigned; she couldn’t see Justin’s eyes, but she knew that the men were exchanging skeptical glances.
“I’m telling you what I saw,” she said coolly.
“Are ye sure, Mrs. McHennessy?” Barney asked. “There’s such a fog this mornin’, and ye’ve had the creature heavy on yer mind. You might have imagined—”
“I didn’t imagine anything. It was there.”
“Douglas, did ye see anything strange in the forest?” Barney asked the old man.
“Ah, the forest,” Old Doug said, smiling. “Why, ’tis a veritable haven for gods and ghosts!” he said cheerfully.
He would clearly be no help. “I wasn’t dreaming things up!” she insisted.
“Mrs. McHennessy—” Liam began.
Justin’s arms tightened around her. “If she says she saw it, then she did.”
A gentle faith rang from his words. But was it really because he believed her—or because he knew more than he was saying?
“Let’s take a look, shall we?” he suggested.
“All right, let’s see what we can find,” Liam said, taking charge. “Barney, cover the north sector. Justin, you and Kit take the path. I’ll search south.”
“I know the forest like the back of me own hand,” Old Doug offered. “I’ll find it.” He paused. “What am I looking for?”
Kit smiled. “A cape or a mask, Doug.”
He nodded and set off, crashing through the bracken.
Kit and Justin started down the path. The mist was growing thicker, so thick that she could barely see him ahead of her.
“Justin?” she murmured to him. Was she a fool? Was she signing her own death warrant by being here? By asking these questions? “Where were you this morning? What were you doing in the woods?”
He stopped, his back to her, and she saw the muscles tighten beneath his sweater.
He turned to her slowly, his eyes as glittery as the jeweled orbs in the goat-god’s face.
“Was I in the woods wearing a cape, Kit? Is that what you mean?”
“No, that’s not what I mean!” she retorted, but her voice faltered. “No, but I had just come from your house, and you weren’t there. The whole thing seems rather strange, doesn’t it? I see this creature in the woods, and then I run into Old Doug on my way out—and you and Barney and Liam are all running around like the Three Stooges.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Even in such a remote area, Kit didn’t see how he could have missed the Three Stooges. “Never mind. What I’m saying is that it’s such a coincidence that all three of you—”
“I see.” The glitter left his eyes, and he smiled. Then he looked at her again and pulled her close against him, kissing her forehead. “Kit, you haven’t been alone at all for nearly two weeks now.”
“What?”
“We’ve been splitting a vigil, Barney, Liam and I. Watching you.”
Anger at such an invasion of her privacy rose up inside her, but it quickly subsided. He had been worried, and he had seen to it that she was safe. Then her smile faded. “I was alone this morning.”
He stroked her cheek softly. “I didn’t think you’d appreciate waking up beside me.”
“No.”
“So I snuck out to shower and change. Barney was in the bushes at the cottage, and he followed you to the castle, but he lost you once you started through the forest on the way back.”
“Where were you?”
“Heading back to the cottage.”
“Oh.”
His lips settled over hers, and he kissed her gently beneath the arbor the trees made in the mist. And with that kiss, new faith throbbed into her blood.
“Third degree over?” he asked her.
He started forward again before she had a chance to answer, and she tripped over a root; if not for the strength of his arm around her, she would have fallen.
“Are you all right?”
“Fine.”
He turned to her again. She reached out to feel his face through the damp mist, dr
awing a finger over the line of his cheekbone and the angle of his jaw. “We’re not going to find anything, are we?” she murmured.
“I don’t know.”
They watched one another for several seconds, then were interrupted by the totally unexpected sound of Barney’s scream of triumph.
“Why, ’tis true! There’s a cloak hidden here, beneath a rock!”
“Where are you?” Justin shouted to him. “Keep talking!”
Barney kept up a steady stream of words until they reached him. He was in a small, sheltered clearing in the midst of dense foliage, a private haven, invisible to the world.
Liam reached the spot just as they did and knelt down beside Barney. “’Tis a black cloak, all right.”
“Is the mask there?” Kit asked nervously. She didn’t think she ever wanted to see it again, yet, paradoxically, she wanted it to be there.
“No, Kit. Just a black cloak,” Liam sighed. “Well, we can try fer fingerprints agin.”
“Did you—did you find any on the doll?” she asked, hope rising within her.
“No,” Barney said in disgust. “It were wiped clean, and the stone, too.”
Suddenly feeling sick, she swallowed, certain they wouldn’t find any prints here, either.
“Don’t look so upset, Kit,” Justin murmured to her. “There might be a hair on it, or something else they can check.”
Liam’s eyes brightened. “Aye, someone running in the woods might well have stripped off the cloak quickly, and perhaps a hair clung to it. We’ll see, now; we’ll see.”
“I’d best be gettin’ back,” Barney murmured. He looked at Justin for a moment then turned his gaze to Kit. “You all right now?”
She nodded. She really did feel better. At least she wasn’t losing her mind. The cloak existed, and that meant someone was trying to frighten her.
“Wait!” she said suddenly. “It isn’t old, is it?”
Liam, carefully picking up the material with a long stick, gazed at her curiously. He shook his head. “Looks like satin, new and shiny.”
“Why?” Barney asked her.
“Oh... I don’t know.”
Barney shifted from one foot to the other. “Now, you don’t really believe that some ancient god is comin’ back now, eh?”
“Barney!” She shook her head. “I was just thinking that—”
“Someone does believe in the legend,” Justin provided.
She shrugged. She didn’t know what to think anymore.
“I’ll take this in,” Liam said, and he, too, looked from Justin to Kit. “You’re all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m angry, actually. I don’t like being frightened.”
Barney, Liam and the offending cloak started back through the trees. Justin and Kit, by some mutual agreement, waited until they had gone. Kit looked around and shivered suddenly. The forest was so dense. She would take care not to be here alone again. Suddenly her legs wouldn’t hold her any longer, and she sat down on the stone behind which Barney had found the cloak.
“Kit?”
She hadn’t realized that she had been sitting in troubled silence until she looked up to find Justin’s dark, pensive eyes on her.
“What?”
“I’m not trying to make you angry,” he said softly. “But if you still insist on staying, I think you should come to the castle. If I have to be gone, Molly is usually about.”
“Justin, I really am here to work.”
“You can work at the castle.”
“But...”
“But what?” She could see that, though he was trying not to, he was becoming annoyed. She lowered her head and smiled. This was the Justin she knew—and loved. And though she was determined to hold her own against him, she wondered if she wasn’t wrong to attack his behavior. His self-confidence, his assurance, even his quick temper, were among the very things that she loved about him.
“But what, Katherine McHennessy?”
“Justin!” She sighed softly. “Justin, you’re forgetting your own home. This is a very Catholic area, and the townspeople—”
“The townspeople here are no different than any others. Some will talk; some will be sensible, and think that you’re a bright young lady to take care.”
“Justin...”
“Are you worried for me, Kit? Or for yourself?”
“For both of us. For Mike.”
He hesitated. “I’m thinking of Mike.”
Startled, she met his eyes. “But Mike isn’t in any danger! He’s the—”
“The what?”
She lowered her eyes again. “He’s the O’Niall.”
“He’s a little boy. Little boys can get into trouble—especially if they find themselves in a situation where they feel they need to protect their mothers.”
“Justin, listen—”
“No, you listen, Kit. Things seem to be closing in on you. First the doll, now this.”
“Someone is trying to frighten me.”
“And what if it goes further than that?”
“I keep the doors locked—”
“And you wound up alone here in the forest anyway, the stupidest thing you could possibly have done.”
“Damn you, Justin! And you want me to move in with you?”
“It’s the only sensible thing to do.”
“I...can’t.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then turned and stood with his back to her, his stance stiff and furious.
“Justin!”
There was a note of panic in her voice, and he turned quickly, reaching out a hand to her. She rose and took it, then met his eyes, and they kept walking.
She didn’t know where they were heading, but in a matter of minutes they had come out on the road that led to the cottage. She wasn’t at all surprised when he slipped his own key into the door, then shoved it open and allowed her to walk in first. She went straight to the living room and sat down. The hearth was filled with ashes, and instead of sitting down beside her, Justin set about sweeping it out and stacking logs. He was quick and adept; in seconds a fire was burning against the chill in the cottage.
Finally he sat down across from her, studying her for so long that she grew nervous. Eventually she couldn’t keep herself from speaking. “Stop it!”
“Stop what?”
“Stop staring at me that way. After what you did last night—”
“You didn’t throw me out,” he reminded her.
“I felt sorry for you. I thought you could barely stand. And it was all an act, wasn’t it?”
He shrugged. “No, I’d had a few pints with Barney down at the pub.”
“Hmm.”
He leaned back in his chair, staring at her so intently that she leaped up and walked over to the window.
“You must have something to do,” she said irritably. “A building to build. A sketch or a blueprint to work on.”
“Actually, I do have something to do.”
“Then?”
“I’m not leaving, Kit, until I’ve gotten you moved into the castle.”
“Justin...”
“I’ve had it with the three of us hiding in bushes and following you around, Kit. And I cannot leave you alone.”
“And I can’t—”
“You could always marry me now. That would still any wagging tongues.”
She lowered her eyes. She didn’t know what to say, only that a little thrill of panic was sweeping through her.
She loved him, didn’t she? Her life had been a vast, emotionless wasteland when she had been away from him. She’d spent eight years pretending that she just didn’t meet the right people, but it had all been a pretense. He was the only right one for her.
Justin would be uncompromising, though. He would demand that Michael be told the
truth. He would want her son’s name changed. He would want her to move to Ireland.
“I can see the gears in that mind of yours working away,” he told her.
She shook her head sadly. “I can’t....”
“Kit, just what can you do?” he demanded coldly.
“I need time.”
He threw his hands up in disgust. “Time for what?”
“You don’t understand, do you? I love this place—even though I lost a husband here, I love this place. The people are warm and friendly and giving, but...but it’s not my home. Not yet, anyway.”
“All right, Kit, God knows why, but I can never win a single argument with you. I can’t get inside your mind. All I know is that this is insane. I love you, and I believe that, despite yourself, you love me. Oddly enough...” He paused, smiling. “Oddly enough, you do seem to have faith in me. You believe in my innocence.”
“I do,” she whispered.
He walked toward her, and though he was fully dressed, she couldn’t help remembering her dream. His gait was the same: sure, slow. He knew where he was going; he could afford to take his time. She watched him, thinking that perhaps she should run, or push him away when he moved to touch her.
But she couldn’t do that. She inhaled the clean, heady scent of him as he gazed down at her with a crooked smile.
“It’s a pity that you don’t have more faith in me as a man.”
“I—I don’t know what you mean.”
“Aye, you do. But I’ll let you think on that for a minute.”
She knew that the kiss was coming, and she was certain that he intended it to be just a kiss, nothing more. But when his lips touched hers, she tasted the salt of tears she hadn’t known she was shedding.
She clung to him, not knowing how else to tell him that what she felt for him was so deep that it was terrifying. That she could all too easily swear to give up everything that she was, everything that she had been, just to be his wife.
But it would be wrong, and it wouldn’t work. But because she couldn’t put it into words, she put the love she felt into her kiss. Her tongue traced his lips and danced deliciously within the warm, moist cavern of his mouth. She arched against him, putting all her desperation into their kiss.
He smiled at her. “I did have something to do, but it can wait.”
Sinister Intentions & Confiscated Conception Page 16