“She left?” He frowned.
Lachlan nodded. “She drove past my guests like a bat out of hell. Robyn made me tell security to open the gate for her.”
Scowling at the thought of Regan driving around in the pitch-black while emotionally distraught, Thane got to his feet and admitted something he didn’t want to. “I’m … I’m afraid that one day she’ll wake up and regret settling for me. For us. Because Eilidh and Lewis and I are a package deal. She takes on me, she becomes a mum to two young kids.”
His brother gave him an understanding look. “She knows that, Thane. The rest is up to you. The fear doesn’t go away. Every day I fight back the fear of losing Robyn. Some days it doesn’t even cross my mind … but there are other days it does, and it isn’t easy, but I fight it back because you were right: life with her is worth that battle.
“Your concerns about Regan leaving you will eventually go away. But it might take years. You just have to decide to trust her, to trust that she’s worth the risk. So if you’re waiting for certainty, for that knot of dread in your gut to melt away, you’ll be waiting forever if you don’t go to her. The only certainty you can trust is how you feel. And you wouldn’t be in this much turmoil, brother, if you weren’t in love with her.”
Thane let Lachlan’s words sink in, and they did with such profundity, he glowered at him. “Why the fuck didn’t you say that to me a week ago?” He pushed Lachlan roughly on the shoulder. “I need a car. Now.”
His brother’s lips twitched. “You can’t. You’ve been drinking. Jock will take you.”
“Now!” Thane demanded, already marching out of the room.
37
Regan
The image of that odious woman smashing her lips over Thane’s wouldn’t leave my mind! It had to be Angeline Potter, of all people! The woman had just ratted on me hours before and then put her sweaty little paws all over Thane.
How dare she!
How dare he!
I’d never experienced jealousy like it, watching that woman kiss the man I love, wearing his freaking kilt jacket just to make the image oh so cozy. The jealousy when Thane went on the date with that woman from his office building had been bad, but nothing compared to this. It consumed me. Because I knew it was the future I had to look forward to if I stayed in Ardnoch. One day he’d meet someone “more appropriate,” and I’d have to watch them kiss and watch her be affectionate with Eilidh and Lewis too. Watch them be a family together.
Tears blinded me and I forced them back, concentrating on the pitch-black road as I drove. Without even thinking about it, I found myself in Caelmore turning down the driveway toward home.
Except it wasn’t my home anymore.
“I shouldn’t be here,” I whispered as the headlights bounced across the driveway. Lachlan and Robyn’s home was in darkness, except for the outdoor floodlight. The hallway light was on upstairs in Thane’s. While most of the windows faced out toward the sea, he’d designed one long, narrow floor-to-ceiling window on the upstairs landing that looked out toward the fields and driveway. The light above the front door was also switched on.
I shouldn’t be here.
I slowed the SUV to a stop beside Eredine’s tiny electric Smart car. She was so tall, I wondered how she fit in the thing. The kids would be asleep. It was wrong of me to come, but I just … I just had nowhere else to run.
It was ironic and not at all funny that the one place I ran to, to get away from Thane, was the one place he’d find me.
“You’re hopeless,” I muttered, pushing open the door.
As I climbed the steps to the front door, I half expected Eredine to come out at the sound of my car. When she didn’t, I fumbled in my purse for the keys I still had and should probably give back. Letting myself in, I breathed in the house’s scent, and longing pierced my chest.
It smelled a little spicy, like cinnamon, but beneath the scent wafting gently from the kitchen was that indecipherable smell that was all Adair. It was on the kids’ clothes and buried beneath the citrusy aroma of Thane’s shower wash. I’d come to think of that scent as home.
Squeezing my eyes shut against the pain of loss, I took a breath and then opened my eyes when I realized how quiet it was. There wasn’t even the murmur of a television.
Eredine must have fallen asleep.
Walking into the living area, it was the dirty plates smashed on the floor by the island that got the blood rushing in my ears first.
“Eredine,” I whispered. I moved around the broken pieces, my gaze shooting toward the sitting room, looking for—
A limp hand peeked from behind the sectional.
“Ery!” I yelled, hurrying behind the large sofa to find my friend collapsed on the floor. “Oh my God, Ery.” I fell beside her, brushing her curls from her face and wincing at the sight of the blood trickling down her temple.
She’d been knocked out.
Terror consumed me.
“Eilidh! Lewis!” I jumped to my feet, slipping on some kind of sauce off the plates and catching my fall on the stairs. Righted, I launched myself up them faster than I’d ever moved in my life. “Eilidh! Lewis!” I screamed as I reached the landing.
But when I burst into Eilidh’s room, the duvet was thrown off her bed, and her new dollhouse was on its side like there had been a struggle. A sob burst out of me as I wrenched open her closet. “Eilidh!” I cried, pushing through the racks of clothing, hoping she was hiding.
Nothing.
Panic made my breath come in sharp, painful bursts, and I choked on my tears as I rushed from Eilidh’s room into Lewis’s.
“He isn’t here,” I gasped, trying to draw breath, trying to think.
His closet was empty too.
“Lewis!” I shrieked.
“Regan!” The voice cut through the blood pounding in my ears.
“Lewis?”
I turned around, following the voice.
“Regan!”
It wasn’t Lewis. It was Ery.
Hurrying back downstairs, I found Eredine leaning against the island, pale, trembling as she touched her fingers tentatively to her temple. Crossing the room, I grabbed her elbow to steady her. “What happened? Are you okay? Where are Eilidh and Lewis?”
Tears rushed to her eyes and spilled over in an instant. “They’re not upstairs?”
Fear clawed at my lungs. I shook my head.
“I was just … I was in the kitchen cleaning up. The kids were in bed. He came out of nowhere and I tried to get away,” she sobbed, shaking so hard, I thought she might break. “He smashed me over the head with something. I’m so sorry.”
“Who would take them?” I tried to stay calm, to not hyperventilate. They needed me. “Who would—” Realization dawned. “McClintock. Oh my God.”
Where was my cell? I’d left my cell! “Where’s your phone? We need to call Thane and the police. It’s McClintock.”
Eredine pushed off the island, frowning as she looked over at the dining table. “My cell was right there.” She pointed to the table. “That’s what I was rushing over for when he hit me.” Her eyes came back to me. “Regan.” Her gaze flew behind me and widened with horror. “Regan—”
Pain ricocheted across the back of my skull seconds before darkness descended.
38
Thane
He watched numbly as paramedics loaded Eredine into an ambulance despite her protests she was fine. She wasn’t fine.
He and Jock had come home to find the SUV Regan had been driving in his driveway. His relief was short-lived when he discovered Eredine knocked out on his living room floor and his children and Regan missing.
Eredine had come to and told them what happened. She’d been knocked out twice, so there were no arguments about her going to the hospital.
The shared driveway was a mass of activity. Lachlan’s security. The police. His family.
Thane watched from a distance, his emotions locked down so tight he couldn’t feel anything.
Becau
se if he let himself, he’d lose his goddamn mind.
Sean McClintock had kidnapped his children and Regan.
“We should never have taken security off them.” He heard Mac growl at Arrochar. She tried to soothe him, but Mac paced up and down the driveway like a caged animal. The police wanted his team out of it while they tracked down McClintock, and Mac had not taken kindly to the order.
Thane hadn’t either.
Walking toward Mac, he caught his eye and gestured for him to follow him down the side of the house toward the annex.
According to their calculations, Regan and his children had been missing for forty-five minutes. Time was passing too quickly. His family was getting farther and farther away. He stopped near the annex and turned to face Mac.
Checking over his shoulder to make sure the detective inspector in charge wasn’t nearby, Thane waited a second and then said, “Fuck what they want. I want you out there, using whatever contacts you have to find this bastard.”
Mac’s expression hardened, and he nodded sharply. “Done.”
“When you find them”—because Thane had no doubt Mac could—“no police. I want at him first before we hand him over.”
Retribution raged in Mac’s eyes. “That I can do.”
Thane nodded, trying to keep a lid on the seething rage he’d bottled. He’d actually felt gutted for Sean, was determined to speak to the procurator fiscal on his behalf when the attempted kidnapping case went ahead because Thane knew grief did bizarre things to people.
And the bastard had come for his family again!
He had to keep calm, keep calm, keep calm. He moved to leave, but Mac’s head suddenly snapped back, and he held up a palm toward him.
Thane froze. “What is it?”
Mac cocked his head. “Did you hear that?” he whispered.
His pulse leapt. “Hear what?”
“Shh.” Mac strode past him and placed his ear to the annex door. Thane cautiously followed him and strained to hear.
A dull thud sounded from inside.
“Fuck!” He lunged toward the door, but Mac held him back. He shook his head at Thane and reached slowly behind his back to pull out a gun he’d tucked into the waistband of his kilt.
“Behind me,” he murmured to Thane. He reluctantly fell back.
Mac twisted the door handle, and it opened.
Thane frowned. That should have been locked.
Stepping quietly through the small entrance, his eyes fighting to adjust to the darkness, Thane stayed at Mac’s back even though he was desperate to push ahead. Then Mac suddenly halted with a hoarse “Jesus Christ.” And then, “Thane, get the light.”
“Lights on,” he called, but the annex didn’t light up. The smart device must have been disconnected.
A muffled squeal from within the main room caused a score of renewed fear through his heart, and he lunged for the light switch at the door. Mac was already striding into the room, and Thane moved with him.
Fury and relief were all Thane felt at finding Eilidh and Lewis each tied to a garden chair. Lewis’s chair was on its side, his son on the floor. Tears streamed down his children’s faces, and their yells of relief were muffled by the duct tape over their mouths.
“Jesus Christ,” Mac repeated in controlled rage as he hurried to Eilidh, tucking his gun back into his kilt and out of sight under his dress jacket.
Thane fell to the floor behind Lewis, struggling to untie the tightly knotted ropes binding his wrists behind the chair. “Knife!” he yelled at Mac.
“One second.” Mac pulled a Swiss Army knife out of his sporran and proceeded to saw at Eilidh’s bindings.
“It’s okay, Eilidh-Bug,” Thane promised, holding her teary gaze. “I’m here now.” He turned to Lewis, embracing him over the chair. “Dad’s here, bud. I’m going to take off the duct tape, okay?”
His son nodded frantically.
“It might hurt a bit, but I’ll be quick.”
Lewis nodded again.
Swallowing hard against the angry tears in his throat, Thane grasped a corner of the tape and yanked it off in one fast flick.
His son cried out in pain and then promptly burst into tears.
“It’s okay, bud,” Thane murmured through his own tears as he peppered his son’s cheeks with relieved kisses. “I’ve got you, you’re safe.”
He strained to look from the corner of his eyes as Thane tried to untangle the ropes again. Lewis hiccupped. “I heard you outside. Tipped my chair.”
Pride seared through him. “Good, that was good, Lew. I’m so proud of you.” The fear he’d been trying to keep at bay clawed at him. “Where’s Regan, Lew? Was she with you?”
Lewis stilled from his struggles to get free. “She wasn’t here. The bad man took us out of our beds. He threatened to hurt Eilidh if I didn’t go with him. I didn’t want him to hurt her, so I went,” Lewis cried.
Fuck.
Thane squeezed his eyes closed, wondering how on earth his kids would get through this latest trauma.
“You did the right thing, Lew. I’m so proud of you for looking after your sister.”
“Daddy!” Eilidh shrieked as Mac removed the duct tape. She sobbed and then pushed off the loosened ropes to fly across the room. Thane caught her in his arms, probably holding her too tight, but nothing was better than feeling her warm and alive. Even as her tears soaked his shirt.
“Shh, my darling,” he hushed, rocking her as she sobbed and hiccupped in his arms. “I’ve got you.”
He nodded gratefully to Mac as he moved out of the way to the let his friend free Lewis.
“Was it the man who tried to take Eilidh last time, Lew?” Mac asked as he worked at the ropes.
“No, Uncle Mac.” Lew’s answer winded Thane.
He met Mac’s eyes.
If it wasn’t McClintock …
“Who the hell has Regan?” Mac uttered the question that made Thane light-headed with renewed terror.
39
Regan
Waves crashed.
They were so loud.
As it pulled me out of sleep, I wondered why the sea sounded closer, louder than usual. Had I left a window open? My head throbbed painfully.
What the hell?
Groaning as the headache became overwhelming, I pushed my eyes open, blinking into the dark of my bedroom. Why did my pillow feel weird?
Wait.
What?
I sat up slowly, my hands sinking into brittle winter grass. The moon streamed across the sky and the sea beyond. Harsh, icy wind buffeted through my hair and seared through my uniform.
I was sitting on a cliff top.
“I thought you would never wake up. It would have ruined everything.”
That voice.
Suddenly, my night came back in a flash. Eredine’s attack. The children missing.
It was him.
What had he done with Eilidh and Lewis?
Fear and wrath coexisted within, distracting me from the headache and consequent nausea. The bastard had knocked me out. Was I concussed? I felt concussed.
But I couldn’t think about that. I had to find Eilidh and Lewis.
Turning slowly to face the man belonging to the voice, I searched frantically around him, but there was no sign of the children on the cliff with us. The waves were choppy tonight, crashing dramatically into the rocks below.
Austin Vale stood bathed in moonlight, fields stretching behind him and hopefully toward Ardnoch. I didn’t know how long I’d been out and thus how far he’d taken me from my home.
“Where are they?” I glowered at the son of a bitch. “What did you do with Eilidh and Lewis?”
Bitter wind ripped across the cliff, and I shivered violently.
Austin lowered to his haunches several feet away from me, wearing a thick sweater with a jacket over it. Bastard.
“Eilidh and Lewis?” I demanded.
“They’re fine, beautiful,” he replied just loud enough to be heard above nature.
“Where are they? Why did you touch them?”
Oh my God, I’d put them in danger. Tears sprung to my eyes and I trembled harder.
“You make it sound sordid. It’s not,” he sighed heavily. “When I got here, you weren’t staying in the house anymore. You were supposed to be in the house. Instead, you were stuck behind the security gates of that estate, and you never left. I got impatient.”
I’d only been behind the gates for forty-eight hours. Which meant he’d not long arrived in Scotland.
“When I saw them leave the children behind with just that waif of a woman, I took the children to lure you out. Plus, I knew taking them would hurt you. And I want to hurt you a little, even though I love you so much.”
I ignored the words that repulsed me and concentrated on the kids. How did he know what Eilidh and Lewis meant to me? “How do you know anything about me?”
“You think the occasional tail from your sister’s cop friend was enough to stop me from finding you?” he scoffed. “I’m a determined man, Regan. I couldn’t just sit back and let you think I didn’t care. When a man loves his woman, he has to show it. No one would tell me where you went, so all I could think to do was keep running an image search. Nothing. You were like a ghost. I was low on cash for a while, which is a problem when it comes to resources, but I came into some money a few weeks ago, thanks to my brother. I hired a PI, and she did some digging for me. Found out about your sister and her engagement to that actor. From there, she found you. So I hired another PI here in Scotland. He emailed over photos and information about your life here. He couldn’t get too close to the house because you had security on the kids, but he did his digging elsewhere and got what we needed.
“Last I checked, you had security on the kids for that attempted kidnapping.” He tsked. “It’s a good thing I’m here to end this, Regan, to take you from these people. Bad things keep happening around them.”
There With You Page 37