by Lexi Post
He spoke toward the window. “Are you pleased to learn Holly had a wonderful childhood with the Tinders’ help?”
Holly? Oh right, the case. How could she have let him distract her? That’s right, he was Mr. Distraction and very good at it. “Of course I am. I’m just surprised. I felt like I hadn’t completed my job. I always regretted not finding out what had happened to Holly and her mom. It was the only fire I worked on a Christmas Eve. It felt so wrong for them to lose everything that night.”
“Were you always thorough?” He continued to talk to the ocean.
“I tried to be. But being a social worker in America was very busy. I rarely had time to sleep, never mind have a life.” She sighed. “There were so many clients. We were supposed to handle a case load of forty, but mine rose to sixty a number of times. There was so much need.”
Duncan turned. “And they all needed you?”
“Not me in particular.” She rose—the remembered stress of her job made her want to move. “Some I could help, others I tried to help and don’t know what happened.” She walked to the window where he stood. “Then there were those who didn’t really want help. Those used to break my heart, but I learned to focus on the other two groups because at least there was a chance of saving them.”
“I’d let you save me.” Duncan wiggled his brows.
She rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses up once again. “You definitely don’t need saving. You have your act together and then some.” She turned and walked back to her chair, resting her hands on the back of it. “The problem was, when I was able to help, it was like an addiction. I must have produced endorphins that had me craving another success story until it was all I focused on. I guess you could say my job was my life.”
“Did you no’ have any fun?” The fake look of shock on his face almost had her laughing, but she kept her humor inside.
“Of course I did.” She tried to bring up memories of good times and they all seemed to stem around her work. The Christmas parties for client children, the “retreat” to the beach for the staff, even the night she won twelve-hundred dollars playing bingo was at a fundraiser for those her agency helped.
“What did you do for yourself?”
She snapped her gaze to his. It was as if he’d read her mind. “Let’s see.” She dug deeper in her memory bank, back to before she was engaged when all they did was watch movies on television. “Oh, I dated some. I went bowling, to an amusement park…” She gave him a wink. “I even went to the highland games in New Hampshire.”
He raised his brow at that. “Really?”
“Yes. I found the men at those more appealing than my date.” She gave him a grin of her own. “Ended up going there every year with my friends before I moved out of state.”
“Good. Then there may be hope for you after all.” Duncan strode forward and grabbed her hands.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
His chuckle had her insides melting all over again.
“I mean, lass, I’m pleased to learn you are open to a little fun now and again because I think you need a lot more than you had while alive. But right now we should continue Holly’s journey. We dinna want to disappoint Cameron.”
“Or Holly.” She gave him a stern look. Once again he’d distracted her. He was dangerous to her profession and to her body. Luckily, she was smart enough to know him for what he was and the chances of her heart getting involved were nil. She couldn’t wait to see what other happy moments were in store for their client. Being the Spirit of Christmas Past was far more fun than her old job. Hopefully, it would be just as rewarding. She certainly hoped so.
Duncan had phased and waited for her to as well. When she’d done so, he grasped her hand and returned them to Holly.
Chapter Four
Duncan liked the feel of Jessica’s hand in his. He liked kissing her even more, but he didn’t like how his heart tripped when he held her. That, and her penchant for unwittingly making him reevaluate his own life and afterlife didn’t sit well. It made him…uncomfortable.
As the Christmas tree and older couple appeared, he pushed aside his thoughts and focused on Holly. That’s what Jessica did. The woman seemed to have a one-track mind. Too bad he and she tended to be on different tracks.
Holly floated over the shoulder of Mrs. Tinder as she stuck new tags on presents and handed them to her husband, who sat on the floor arranging them beneath the tree.
Jessica placed her hand on Holly’s shoulder. “I’m so glad everything worked out for you.”
Holly turned to her and grasped her in another hug. “I don’t know how to thank you. You changed our lives that night.”
She chuckled uncomfortably. “I didn’t know that, but I’m happy I could help.” She released Holly, but held both her hands. “I guess sometimes one small action can make all the difference.”
He’d swear Holly’s smile couldn’t get any wider. “I’ll say. Who knew a catastrophe would end up being the best thing to ever happen to us? If that fire hadn’t hit, you wouldn’t have helped us and we wouldn’t have met the Tinders. It’s weird to think of life like that, like a chain of events that could have gone so differently.”
Jessica nodded and let go of Holly’s hands. “I’m also pleased I was assigned as your Spirit of Christmas Past so I could see how perfectly everything turned out for you.”
Once again Duncan was surprised by the difference in height between the two women. It didn’t occur to him until now exactly how tall Jessica was. The lasses in his past were much shorter and the difference was obvious. The feel of Jessica’s curvy body lying atop his had his cock moving. He’d had to get her off him before she noticed his growing erection. She would be a joy to have in his bed.
“Duncan, Holly is ready for her next memory.” Jessica looked at him quizzically.
Blast, wrong time for dreaming. “Good. Take my hand, lass, and we shall see what we can find.”
Once he had both their hands securely in his own, he took them high and soared over the treetops a bit before bringing them down through the roof of an old, but well taken care of cottage on a pond. As they drifted into the living room, a teenager lay on the couch watching TV by the light of the Christmas tree. A fire across the room made the scene very homey. Then the teenager coughed and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose.
Jessica raised her brow at him, but didn’t scowl this time.
“Oh, this was the Christmas I had the flu.” Holly floated toward herself. “Ugh, I was so sick, I didn’t even go to school the whole last week. I missed the Christmas dance and parties. That was my junior year.”
Holly’s mom came in dressed in jeans and a pretty red sweater. “Honey, you have a visitor.”
Another woman with very short dark hair walked in bundled up in a blue parka and boots. “How are you feeling, Holly?”
Both young Holly and older Holly yelled at the same time. “Mrs. Connors!”
The woman laughed, showing pretty white teeth. “I don’t think you’ll be so happy to see me when I show you what I brought.”
Holly turned to him and Jessica. “That’s my teacher. She was the best teacher I ever had. She’s why I decided to go into business.”
After Holly turned back to relive her memory, Duncan looked over at Jessica. She wasn’t smiling. In fact she looked as if she was about to cry.
He reached over and grasped her hand. She looked at him and shook her head, even as she released his hand to remove her glasses and wipe her eyes.
He turned back to the scene to find Mrs. Connors explaining the classwork to the teenage Holly so she could catch up over the break.
Holly turned around to them. “I’d never been so happy to receive homework. I was acing her class and by doing that big pile she gave me over the break, I was able to keep my A. She always went above and beyond for her students.”
“Did she ever come in with any bruises or cuts?” Jessica’s tone was serious.
“Yes, now that you ment
ion it. She told us she was a klutz, but it was more, wasn’t it?”
Jessica nodded. “I’m afraid so. She was a victim of domestic violence. I finally convinced her to leave her husband and I settled her in at Willow Wood. But when I visited two weeks later, she‘d left. They thought she went back to her husband.”
Holly frowned. “I don’t think so. I took her the next school year for Advanced Marketing and she wasn’t Mrs. Connors anymore. She told us she divorced and remarried and to call her Mrs. Brennen.”
“Really?” Hope and relief battled for supremacy in Jessica’s face.
Holly nodded. “Yes. Did you know her long?”
“Not long enough. It had taken me almost a year to get her to leave her husband. I didn’t even question the staff at Willow Wood when they told me where she went. My supervisor at the time didn’t want us wasting time on what she called ‘beyond help’ cases, so unless Mrs. Connors contacted me, I couldn’t continue to work with her.” Jessica paused and glanced at him. “She never called.”
Holly smiled, a full smile that crinkled her eyes. “I loved her so much. In fact, I almost became a teacher because she was so influential, but my mom kindly suggested I might make a little more money in the corporate world.” Holly squinched her nose. “I never did feel comfortable there. I ended up working for smaller businesses, which was my happy place.”
When Holly turned back to watch the proceedings, Duncan grabbed Jessica’s hand. She needed to “process” this and so did he. What was Cameron up to? Something else was at foot here and he didn’t like it.
He floated her up through the ceiling and out into the dark night. He’d thought to bring her to her house, but in mid-transition, he headed for his castle, a need to have her in his domain, urged him home.
Jessica was too surprised by Holly’s revelation to question Duncan whisking her away again. These two cases she’d considered failures were not failures after all. Was it her perspective? Was it her tunnel vision on the job? Was it because she felt like she was the only one who could help people?
At her last thought, her stomach tightened. She shied away from where her mind wanted to go and instead looked around. Solidifying, she craned her neck as her gaze followed a wall over a twelve-foot door all the way up to what looked like a three-story ceiling. “Where are we?”
Duncan turned her toward the rest of the room. “My home.” He opened his arm as if he gave her a precious present.
A fire crackled in a large stone fireplace, which had a woven rug before it. Set back from this were two large wooden chairs with cushions that made her think of medieval thrones. To the right was what had to be a twenty-foot table pushed up against a wall and above it hung a beautiful, giant tapestry of a nine-point stag standing in a forest. To the left was an open double doorway that revealed an even bigger table with at least forty chairs set at it. There were three other smaller doorways, one of which she glimpsed a stone spiral staircase.
She stared at Duncan. His smile was hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure what she would think of his home. To see his usual confidence missing tugged at her heart. “This is huge.”
His smile lifted up on one side as if embarrassed. “My forefathers didn’t update this section, but I like the medieval feel of it. If you would be more comfortable in the sixteenth or eighteenth century wings, we can go there.” He lifted his hands, palms up. “I’m afraid the wealth of the Montgomeries in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries wasn’t enough to add on additional sections, but to be honest, this thing is a monstrosity as it is.”
She walked to the chairs before the fireplace and ran her hand over the carving of a thistle on the back. “I love it. I always wanted to go to Scotland. I planned to stay in one of those castles they renovated into a hotel.” She strolled around the giant chair and pushed on the cushion with her hand then sat. “Wow, I feel like a queen.”
Duncan finally moved, striding over to take the other chair. “I’m glad you like it.”
She ran her hand along the chair arm carved as a lion. “I do.” Feeling his gaze on her, she looked at him to find him not smiling and his eyes intent. “Why did you bring me here?”
He shrugged, but it wasn’t the effortless motion he usually portrayed. This one appeared forced. “I thought you may want to talk about what you learned about Mrs. Connors.”
Actually, she didn’t and she turned her head away. “Are the clients and the Spirit Guides always so entwined?”
“No.”
At his short response, she glanced at him again and found him brooding. He looked like a different person, like a man of power and control and her stomach flipped over. “What are you thinking?”
He had his chin resting on his right fist, his elbow set on the arm of the chair, and for a moment, she didn’t think he would answer.
“I think there is more to our assignment than what Cameron told us.”
This was a different side of Duncan and she liked it as much, if not more, than his fun side. Did that make her a bore?
“I think,” he turned his serious gaze on her, “he’s testing you. And I dinna like it.”
Why did her heart speed up at the protective sound in his voice? She needed to get a hold of herself. “You mean a test to see if I’m good enough to go it alone as a Spirit Guide?”
He shook his head. “No, I determine when you can go on your own.”
“You do?” That thrilled her and bothered her at the same time. “So after I finish with Holly, you make a decision based on how well I helped her? Talk about pressure.”
Duncan finally smiled. “Oh, I never let a Guide go by him or herself after just one trip.”
She started to take offense before she recognized the gleam in his eye. He was teasing her. Finding a new camaraderie with him, she lifted one eyebrow. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Duncan’s laughter filled the room and sent tingles skittering across her skin. Maybe she did like the fun side better.
He winked. “Then again, if you aren’t ready, I get to accompany you on your next assignment.”
She caught her breath. It was clear that was his preference. But was it because he enjoyed her company or that he still didn’t have faith in her abilities? She pushed her glasses up to hide her confusion.
Duncan stood and held out his hand. “Would you like to see more of this wing?”
Something in his look reminded her of an old pick-up line, I’m an artist. Really. Would you like to see my sketches? There was far more on his mind than just a tour and her body sensed his intent. Not sure how she felt about that, she hesitated and his smile faltered.
Oh, that was too much. What harm was there in seeing the place? “I’d love to.”
The smile he gave her this time was genuinely honest. He loved his home and for some reason, he wanted her to like it, too. Not hard to do, considering it was a castle. He walked her to the stairway and too soon released her hand.
“Up you go, lass. To truly appreciate this pile of stone, you need to start at the top.”
She nodded and lifted her skirt with both hands so she wouldn’t trip on the narrow stairs. After two stories of going around the tight spiral, she felt dizzy and placed her foot too close to the center where the step was no more than a couple inches wide.
As she lost her balance, she dropped her skirt and threw her arms out to catch herself.
Duncan’s strong arm wrapped around her as she fell back. “I’ve got ye, lass.”
The sound of his deeper accent, combined with the rapid beating of her heart, caused her to melt into him. “Thank you.” She barely got the words out, no more than a whisper.
“My pleasure.” Duncan’s breath tickled her ear as he spoke, sending awareness through every nerve ending.
Her body lit up like a Christmas tree. His hard chest against her back kept her safe while the heavy arm that held her lay just beneath her breasts. Could he feel her heartbeat? “I’m okay now.”
Instead of loosenin
g his hold, Duncan held her tighter. “Aye, that ye be.” No sooner had his words passed her ear than his lips found the side of her neck and he kissed her.
Her whole body shivered at his touch.
He smiled against her skin then nuzzled her nape before taking a deep breath. “Ach, lass you smell of Christmas and tartness and everything good. It makes me want to eat ye up.”
“Oh.” His words formed an image in her mind of his deep-blue eyes looking up at her from between her legs, a crooked grin on his lips. Probably not what he meant at all, or was it?
His other hand snaked around her and unbuttoned the top button of her blouse.
She should stop him because…because…there was a reason, but her mind refused to grasp it.
And then his hand was on her skin, moving toward her right breast, his fingers sliding beneath the white satin of her bra cup to find her nipple.
Her sheath reacted, tightening as her pussy swelled. His two fingers began to play with her hard nub, squeezing, rolling, flicking it until moisture gathered in her folds. She arched into his hand even as he nibbled her earlobe, making every part of her hot. Maybe all his experience did have some benefit.
She pressed her left hand against the stone wall as the ache inside her grew.
Duncan’s arm around her waist moved lower, and his hand sneaked under the waistband of her skirt, burrowing its way beneath her panties.
Her body was primed, ready. Reaching her other hand out, she grasped the curve of the center column of the stairway and tilted her hips toward his traveling fingers.
Duncan didn’t disappoint her. He moved his hand lower, pushing through the hair covering her mons, moving over her clit to explore the wetness of her folds. One finger slipped inside her ready sheath.
He cupped her, his finger still buried deep inside, and pulled her pelvis back against him, the hard ridge of his cock pressing against her ass. His other hand covered her whole breast and squeezed her to him. “Ach, lass, I could take ye right here.”
Her pulse, already beating fast, skipped a beat. She let go of the walls and grabbed both his wrists, pressing his hands into her.