Coira refused to let Shay help clean up the dishes, so she explored the castle while waiting for Cody. She roamed halls wider than some of the rooms in her house. Massive rooms and staircases, with stone everywhere, on both floors and walls. It was an antique lover’s dream. Old rugs, ancient tapestries, leather, and antiques everywhere she looked. She rounded a corner and ran into Faelan.
“Whoa, there,” he said, steadying her with one hand. In the other, he held a tray. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. I just ate breakfast. Too much, I think.”
“Coira got hold of you, aye? I just heard the same thing from Bree. No worry of going hungry around here,” he said, smiling.
Cody wasn’t the only one who looked good in a kilt. “Where is Bree?”
“In the library with her nose stuck in a book. Can’t get her out of there.” His eyes lit as he talked. He obviously adored Bree. Would she and Cody be like that?
“Where is the library? I’ll pop in and see her.”
Faelan pointed out a room in the opposite direction and touched Shay’s shoulder. “See if you can get her to rest. She didn’t get much sleep last night. She’s upset over all this. Not about you, lass. She’s glad to have you as a sister, but she feels betrayed. I’m sure you know all about that.”
“She just needs time to sort it out.”
“Aye. Between us, maybe we can help her. I think I’ll like having a sister again, even if by marriage.” His smile was genuine, but she saw the shadow underneath. He lost his real sister when the demon locked him in the time vault.
“I can always use a brother-in-law,” she said, returning his smile.
“And if you need help keeping Cody in line, just let me know, aye?” He patted her head, as he usually did. “Tell Bree I’ll be there in a few minutes with her tea.”
Shay stepped through the archway, and her mouth fell open. “Jiminy Christmas!” The room was huge, two stories tall, with floor-to-ceiling shelves lining the walls and a ledge that ran around the top for access to the upper level.
“Isn’t it grand?” a voice called from somewhere above her head. Bree had one foot and hand on the ladder, stretching out to reach a book.
“Are you trying to give your husband an ulcer?”
“There’s a book, just there.”
“Won’t the ladder move closer?”
“It’s stuck.”
“Come down, and I’ll get it.”
“I’ve almost got it.” She stretched farther, perilously unbalanced.
“Faelan will kill you if he sees you up there.”
“Why do you think I’m trying to hurry?” Bree turned to grin at Shay, and her foot slipped.
“Damnation!” Faelan stood frozen in the doorway. The color drained from his face. He ran for the ladder, curses blazing from his lips.
“Don’t curse at me in Gaelic,” Bree said, regaining her footing but still reaching for the book.
“What are ye trying to do? Kill yerself?”
“You can judge his temper by his accent,” Bree said calmly, finally grasping the book. Gripping it to her chest, she started down the ladder. Faelan plucked her off, ranting at her. When she was safely on the ground, he pulled her into his arms and crushed her in a hug.
“Did you bring my tea?” she asked, voice muffled against his shoulder.
“You daft woman, what am I going to do with you?”
Shay left them hugging and went to see what was taking Cody so long. She tapped on the door.
It opened, revealing a woman dressed in a no-nonsense dark suit and crisp white shirt, but her face and body looked like a model’s. Short blond hair accented her striking face.
“Sam,” Cody called from the bathroom. “Did I hear the door?”
Shay gaped at the woman. “You’re Sam?” she said, backing away.
“Yes.” She turned as Cody called again.
“Sam—” He stepped into view, a towel wrapped low on lean hips. His eyes met Shay’s. He started to say something, but Shay turned and hurried to her room. She bolted the door and sagged against it, feeling her breakfast climbing up her throat.
“Shay?” Cody banged on the door. When she didn’t answer, he tried the knob. “Open the door, Shay.”
After a few moments, she picked herself up and cracked the door. He stared at her. “Can I come in?”
She didn’t answer, but turned and walked toward the balcony, trying to calm her thoughts.
He followed her, still wrapped in a towel. “That was Sam.”
“I figured it was when you called her Sam.” She hadn’t realized Sam was a woman, a drop-dead gorgeous woman.
“She got here last night.”
Shay still didn’t say anything.
“Shay, look at me.” Cody turned her so she faced him, while he gripped the towel with the other hand. “You don’t think there’s anything going on between Sam and me, do you?”
“She’s in your bedroom while you’re wearing a towel. What should I think?”
“She came to get some papers. I was in the shower.”
“If you say so. What business is it of mine, anyway?”
“What business… what the hell does that mean? How can you say that after what we’ve done? After what you told me. And this.” He thumped the tattoo on his neck. “I swear you’re the most stubborn, infuriating woman I know. That’s why cavemen dragged women around by their hair.” He followed by digging a hand in her hair and kissing her, hard, demanding, and possessive. She struggled for a minute before her lips betrayed her. The kiss softened, and he lifted his head until they were separated by an inch. “Do you think I could kiss you like that if I wanted Sam?”
“You’ve seen her! How could you not want her?”
“Women!” Cody growled and kissed her again. “Listen to your heart; your head’s obviously screwed up. There’s nothing between Sam and me.”
“Never?”
He groaned. “How do women always know the one wrong question to ask? Once. A couple of years ago.” He leaned back, forcing Shay to look at him. “You have my word. Come on. I’ll introduce you, and then we’ll go to the police station and get some things from your house.”
Sam was nice, but Shay was still stewing over the matter, even after they left the police station. There was no evidence against Shay, so they couldn’t hold her, but they did ask her not to leave Scotland for the time being.
“You’ve known Sam how long?” Shay asked as they drove to her house.
“A few years.”
Great. “She’s married?”
“No.”
“Boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Lesbian?”
“No.” His responses were dry.
“She’s beautiful.”
“She is that.” Cody gave Shay an exasperated look. “Don’t make something out of it. We have other things to focus on, like a nearly thousand-year-old demon.”
“So it’s fine if you and Jamie go at each other like rabid wolves,” Shay said, although they were being civil now. “But I’m not allowed to say anything when some gorgeous woman shows up who you’ve slept with?”
“That’s different. You almost married the guy. I slept with Sam once. Once. How many times did you sleep with Jamie—” Cody growled. “Don’t answer that.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been an ass, but it was hell watching him near you, knowing you were mine. I probably didn’t react well when I found out he’d been keeping a lot more than his eyes on you—” He sighed. “Can we not talk about this?”
“Fine with me.”
Cody grew quiet for the rest of the drive. He turned toward her house without having to ask for directions.
“How many times did you come by my house?”
His jaw twitched. “Several.”
All those years she hated him, he kept watch over her, making sure she was safe, knowing she was his mate and that he couldn’t do anything about it. A spark of anger tow
ard Renee flared in Shay’s chest, but she remembered Renee’s dead, staring eyes and ached with sadness instead, for Renee, the victims, Cody, and herself. Renee had seen how upset Shay was after it happened. She probably believed she was protecting Shay. Everyone seemed to want to protect Shay, but she had paid the cost.
“Will you show me where my parents lived before we go back?”
“Sure.” They rounded the corner, and Cody screeched to a halt in front of Shay’s house. Black smoke rolled from the upper windows. Cody jumped out of the vehicle. “Call for help. Stay here.” He raced up the steps and put his hand against the door, testing for heat before he opened it. A puff of smoke seeped out. He covered his mouth and nose with his shirt and disappeared.
Shay jumped out of the car and ran.
Chapter 16
Smoke filled the house. The kitchen was in flames, the striped curtains she and Lucy had made three months before, ablaze. The oriental rug and sofa it had taken Shay months to find was smoking. Her stuff. Her life. Gone. She ran to her bedroom and met Cody, loaded down with a laundry basket, the phone at his ear. “Get outside! I got clothes and your laptop. Go. Now! And cover your mouth.”
She covered her mouth and nose. Cody let his drop and took her arm, pulling her out of the bedroom, tugging at her when she stopped to grab a picture Renee had given her. The living room and kitchen were fully engulfed with flames. Heat blasted Shay’s skin. She and Cody were both coughing as they hurried for the door. Shay turned back for one last look at her sanctuary, in flames.
On the porch, she gulped in fresh air. Cody led her onto the lawn. Tears streamed down his face from the smoke. He set down the laundry basket, and the distant wail of fire engines sounded.
“Damn!”
“What?” Cody yelled over the screaming fire engines.
“My jewelry box—no! Cody, don’t!” She clutched at his arm. “It’s not worth it!”
He pulled free and rushed toward the house. Fire glowed red at the windows. Red eyes. Death. Shay had a vision of Cody fighting the vampires. “Cody!” she cried as he covered the lower half of his face again and ducked inside the monster’s mouth.
She ran toward the house, feet sluggish, heart thumping out each second like a ticking bomb. Between beats she heard shouts as the fire truck rolled to a stop. An explosion rocked the house. “Cody!” she screamed.
A big arm caught her around the waist, holding her back. “You can’t go in there,” a firefighter said.
“Cody’s in there,” Shay shrieked.
“Someone’s inside,” the firefighter yelled over his shoulder.
Shay struggled with him, trying to pull away. She had to find Cody, but each time she was blocked. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She sank to her knees, the grass cool beneath her as waves of heat rolled off the fire. She stared at the flames, unblinking, as the firefighters moved toward the house. A smoky form materialized in the doorway, and Cody burst out, coughing, his face and arms streaked with black, her jewelry box cradled under one arm. He uncovered his mouth, gasping for fresh air, as the firefighters hurried him off the porch. Shay searched his face, sooty, but not burned. With a soft cry, she flung her arms around him.
“It’s okay,” he said, squeezing her tightly.
Someone eased her back and checked Cody for injuries. He refused oxygen, and after a minute, he pulled her close, his arms sheltering her as they watched her house burn.
The firefighters gave it a good effort, spraying her house and the others nearby, but hers was too far gone. Neighbors gathered and watched, the horror of the flames reflected in their eyes. Shay surveyed the somber faces and realized one was missing.
“Lucy isn’t here.”
“Your neighbor? She’s probably running errands.”
“She never goes anywhere,” Shay said. “I do her shopping. There’s a woman from her church who sometimes helps out.”
“She’s probably with her, then.”
“Can we check on her?”
They started around the corner to Lucy’s house, when Shay heard tires screeching and a bang. Voices yelled, “Shay! Oh my God, Shay!”
Shay turned back and saw Nina climbing out of a black BMW parked with one wheel on the curb, the rear sticking out in the road and the front doors open. Nina and Matilda trotted across the grass toward the blazing front porch. A firefighter tried to stop Matilda. While they struggled, Nina darted past. A second firefighter caught her. They were yelling so loudly they couldn’t hear Shay calling them. When Shay reached them, the two women grabbed her in a hug, tears rolling down their cheeks. Matilda’s looked like a raccoon, with her mascara running.
The neighbors slowly drifted back to their unscathed homes, as the last of the fire was extinguished. Nina held Shay’s hand through it all, while Cody stood on the other side, his arm around her. Shay stared at the blackened shell of her house, dazed. Her stuff. Her life. Everything she owned, gone.
Someone mentioned an accelerant, and Shay could see the firefighters poking through the soaked and charred rubble, some spots still smoldering here and there. A flurry of activity caught Shay’s attention. Three men squatted and examined something.
“Come on. We’ve got to go,” Cody said. Something in his face sent a chill up her spine in spite of the heat from the ashes. Scanning the area, he escorted her, Nina, and Matilda into his vehicle. “I’ll be right back.”
Shay watched through the side mirror as he walked close to Nina’s rental, looked around, and quickly drove his dagger into her front tire. It happened so fast, Shay wasn’t sure she saw it.
Cody approached the grim-faced men near the burned house, spoke to them for a moment, and then jogged back, eyes scanning the area. “Let’s go.” He got in and started the engine. “They have your phone number, and mine, if they have any questions.”
“What about my car?” Nina asked.
“It has a flat. I’ll have the rental agency pick it up.”
“What’s wrong?” Shay whispered.
“They found bones in the fire.”
“Bones?” She kept her voice low, although it probably wasn’t necessary, with Nina’s and Matilda’s poor hearing. “Whose?”
“I hope the arsonist’s.”
“They’re sure the fire was set on purpose?”
“They don’t know for sure, but it looks that way. We’ve got to get back to the castle.” His face was strained.
“Why would someone set the fire? As a warning?”
“More likely to draw you out into the open.”
***
“Are we there yet?” Matilda asked from the backseat. “I need to use the little girl’s room.”
“A few more minutes,” Cody told her.
“What a shame about the rental car. I can’t believe the tire went flat,” Nina said.
Shay distracted them with conversation while Cody took a long, awkward route to the castle to make sure they weren’t followed. They had no choice but to bring Nina and Matilda there. Too many people surrounding Shay had already died.
Nina reached over the seat and patted Shay’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about your house, honey, but you know you always have a home in Virginia.”
“I know, Nina. Thank you.” Shay was too brain-dead to contemplate what she would do when she left the castle. In addition to demons and vampires, now she had police, insurance agents, and fire investigators to deal with. Would they think she set the fire? Who did the bones belong to? “Lucy!” Shay blurted out. “Oh my God, Lucy.”
Cody took his eyes off the rearview mirror. “What?”
“Lucy wasn’t watching the fire… the bones…” She pulled out her phone and tried with trembling fingers to reach Lucy, but she didn’t answer. “We have to go back and check on her.”
“We can’t. I’ll call when we get to the castle and have someone go by her house. She’s probably somewhere else.”
Matilda leaned forward, peering over Cody’s shoulder. “Does this castle have a dungeon?”
<
br /> “God help us,” he muttered under his breath as he turned into the castle gate. “If there’s a dungeon, I’m sure the owner doesn’t want anyone down there.”
“Humph. Oh, look, Nina. He’s a hunk,” she said, waving at Conall, who was guarding the gate.
Nina pursed her lips. “You’d better be on your best behavior, Matilda, or they’ll ask us to leave. We’ve never stayed in a real castle for more than one night.”
“What about towers? I just love tall towers like Rapunzel lived in. Remember that tower in Ireland, Nina, where the tour guide fell down the stairs? The one that had the nose turned up like a pig’s?”
“He didn’t fall; you knocked him down when you tripped in your high-heeled boots. Nobody tours a castle in high heels. Poor man rolled all the way to the bottom. Cracked his tailbone and five ribs.”
“His mother shouldn’t have named him Porky, with a nose like that.”
“His name wasn’t Porky, it was Parker,” Nina said.
“They didn’t even give me my money back.”
“You’re lucky they didn’t sue you.”
“Here we are,” Shay said, as the castle came into view. It wasn’t a massive castle, but it was impressive nonetheless. Two towers rose on either side of the three-story structure. The grounds gently rolled with stands of trees, natural, not overly manicured.
“Nina and Matilda pressed their faces to the window. “It’s so… exciting,” Matilda said. She threw open the door and climbed out of the Range Rover. “I can’t wait to explore.” She trotted toward the door, stiff red hair bobbing up and down.
“I think there’s something wrong with her,” Nina said, and took off after her cousin.
“She’s just now figuring that out?” Cody muttered.
“Sean and Coira are prepared?” Shay asked.
“Is anyone ever prepared for Matilda? They’ve been warned. There they are now.”
Embrace the Highland Warrior Page 24