“I must have gone in when you opened it,” Delaney said, “and then couldn’t get back out when you closed it.”
Duncan turned to Alexander. “Why did you know of this and not us?”
“Calum told me on the eve of my wedding to Edwyna. I had not had a chance to even explore it. This cavern and the connecting passage had been constructed as a safeguard should Stonelachen be invaded. From here you can gain entrance to the sea.”
“Impossible,” Duncan said. “We are in the westernmost bowels of this mountain.”
“There is another Druid door, up there.” Alexander motioned to the large slab positioned above the top of the tumble of boulders. “It blocks a natural, spring-fed waterfall.”
“Waterfall?” Rory looked up, as did the rest of the group.
“Aye. The spring beyond is fed by a much larger one. I have a boat docked there. If you know which streams to follow, you will find yourself emptying out into the sea just below Kilt Rock. There is a natural cave. You can only go out or come in on high tide.”
“Why the moving door here? And the hidden lever for the passage door? How does it work from such a distance?”
“This door is to block the natural flow of water and allow entrance into the catacombs below. There are crevices in the rock that will allow the water to drain off. There is a swinging walkway from this boulder over to the tunnel end stowed in the tunnel behind the door. There is a side passage for safe travel along the stream. If you open the door fully, the water will flow faster than it can run off and will eventually fill up much of the cavern. With the bridge withdrawn, you could make your escape and your enemies could not follow. By the time the natural run off levels it out, you will be long gone.”
“And what of the other door? The one atop the stairs?”
“There is a lever below, in the catacombs. It is directly below the door. I know not how they put it all in, but it works. Only a strong pair of lungs could reach it once the cavern is full. And the swimmer would have to know its exact location.”
“Did Calum tell you of this, Duncan?” Rory asked of his brother.
Duncan shook his head.
“If we had been under serious threat of invasion, he would have told you,” Alexander assured them. “He only told me because he didn’t fully trust the Clarens. Once wedded to them, they would understandably gain fuller access to Stonelachen. He wanted me to be prepared for any eventuality. I don’t know why he decided against telling you. Perhaps he didn’t trust the weddings to take place.”
“See, even Calum realized that marriage might not be enough to end the wars between you,” Delaney said.
Alexander turned to her. “There is no certainty to any aspect of life, Delaney. He hoped the union would buy us time to build our strength. None of us truly believed the union alone would end our wars. It would be up to our leadership, our cunning, our—”
“Stupid male testosterone,” Maggie put in. She threw up her hands. “Haven’t you learned anything?”
“Apparently not,” Delaney offered.
“Enough!” Alexander shouted. Even Duncan and Rory straightened. That heartened him only a little. He turned to find the Claren women all staring at him with their arms crossed over their chests.
A formidable lot. They could give their ancestors a run for certain. He shuddered at the very thought.
Delaney turned at the bump of Balgaire’s shaggy head against her elbow. She stroked his neck making the dog groan and drool in foolish pleasure. Traitor, Alexander thought, even as he envied the disloyal beast her touch. He scowled.
Just then Delaney looked up and caught him staring at her hands, slowly moving through Balgaire’s scraggly fur. There must have been something of the yearning he felt in his expression because she grinned audaciously at him and winked. Winked!
He was mortified to feel his cheeks darken. He had to get himself and his brothers away from the influence of these Claren women. It had been their downfall before and would be again, he was certain of it!
THIRTY-THREE
Once they’d reached the castle proper, it was late and they were all tired and hungry. It was decided that the brothers would bed down in the castle and the women would spend the night in the hotel in nearby Flodigarry, where Duncan, Maggie, and Delaney had taken rooms the day before. When they’d begun the search for the key, they had all decided it would be smarter if Duncan, Maggie, and Delaney relocated closer to the castle. Cailean had quietly moved her belongings into Rory’s chambers.
For the night, however, the Claren cousins had decided to allow the brothers to reunite in private. Delaney had watched the couples’ parting kisses and some of her concerns about this set-up abated. Duncan was open and lusty about his feelings for Maggie, whereas Rory and Cailean had that simmering-about-to-boil-over type passion arcing between them that was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head.
She’d kept her attention studiously averted from Alexander during the prolonged good-byes. Her feelings for him completely disconcerted her. The more she thought about it on their return trip, the more confused she’d become.
She’d also worried that leaving the brothers alone together was a tactical error. It would give Alexander all night to convince his brothers of his plan. There was no doubt that was his goal, and why he’d been the first to encourage the sleeping arrangements. She had caught his eye then. He’d boldly held her gaze like the clan chief he was, all but daring her to comment. She had held her tongue, but had played her own trump card by insisting that Cailean pack a bag and return with the other two women, to allow the brothers their reunion in complete privacy.
The tightening around Alexander’s mouth had been signal enough that he’d understood her greater goal of keeping the Claren Key away from the MacKinnon brothers. Without Cailean, they would not likely find the portal on their own.
But upon witnessing their good-bye kisses and private whisperings, she’d also begun to think that Alexander might have a more difficult task set in front of him than he had thought, clan chief or not.
Now it was the following morning. The sun had made a stunning debut over Staffin Bay and the three cousins prepared to head back to Stonelachen.
Despite their wish to get an early start, Delaney had talked them into stoking up on a big breakfast first. “They’ll still be there when we get back,” she’d teased, but the two women had only mustered weak smiles.
Maggie slid a piece of toast from the crisps rack and crunched on it, her expression turning thoughtful. “Are you saying that you don’t feel any, you know, electricity, between you and Alexander?”
On the trip down to Flodigarry, she’d told them about the guns and Alexander’s plan, but they had been so exhausted she’d been spared talking about her feelings toward Alexander. A good night’s sleep hadn’t rendered her any more ready to discuss him now. “Electricity?” she responded wryly. “We met when he was holding a gun to my head and his three hundred pound dog was drooling in my face.”
“And you’re holding that against him? Believe me, it’s not hatred I see in his eyes. Frustration, yes. Lots of that.” Maggie laughed. “But I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you aren’t watching him. Which isn’t often, you know.”
Cailean smiled at that, but hid it by quickly taking a sip of her tea.
Delaney hadn’t missed it. She dropped her head on folded arms. “It’s true. I know I stare. I can’t help it.” She lifted her head and peered at them both, a grin curving her lips. “But did you get a look at those arms? And that backside? I mean, come on, I’m only human!” Her grin left her and her shoulders rounded a bit. She couldn’t do this. Her cousin’s smiles faded as well.
“What is it, Delaney?” Maggie asked.
She shrugged, hating the helplessness she felt. “It’s hard to explain. I have always believed in the power of true love, real love, you know, soulmate stuff.” She stopped, not sure where she was going, but knowing it would be better once she gave voice to it. “Okay, I
joined the military when I was eighteen because I craved adventure as a child, and figured that was the best way to get it. I discovered I was a good strategist and I got into the terrorist aspect of things when I was invited to join a task force being implemented to look into ways of dealing with the growing concern. By the time my tour was up, I was hooked. I was helping people in the worst of circumstances. Bringing about some happy endings and getting adventure all wrapped into one. I went civilian because it gave me greater latitude.” She took a breath and tried to organize her thoughts. “In all this time, I always felt like it would be my turn at some point. That true love would just knock on my door.” A small smile came out. “Well, almost-love and wish-it-were-love came knocking a lot, but that one special, you-know-it-when-you-see-it love. It’s silly, but I’ve just always known …” She trailed off, unable to explain.
Cailean laid her hand on her arm. “I understand all about unexplainable feelings.”
“It’s Alexander, isn’t it,” Maggie said in a hushed tone. “He’s ‘the one’?”
Delaney slapped the table, making them jump. “See, that’s just it! He can’t be ‘the one.’ Can’t be. He makes me crazy. Not to mention the fact that he was born just a few years before me.” She dropped her head to the table. “It makes no sense. I waited all this time for him?”
“Who said it was supposed to make sense?” Cailean said.
“Why did you crave adventure?” Maggie asked quietly.
Delaney lifted her head, frowning. “I’m not sure. Maybe because my parents were gone when I was so little, I was left to my own devices a lot. I was always creating wild, fantastical worlds.”
Maggie grinned. “See? Now you have a real fantastical world. Maybe this makes more sense than you think.”
“You’ve accepted us into your life fairly easily,” Cailean said.
“Yeah, but you guys are flesh and blood normal.”
Cailean rolled her eyes at that. “So you say.” She grew serious. “You’ve accepted that we’ve all been brought together for a reason. A larger than life reason. Why not accept that maybe Alexander is going to play a role in that as well.”
“Because I can deal with rescuing other people’s lives and making the ending work out right. That’s much safer than thinking about my own. I can’t control that as much.” She swallowed. “Nuts, huh? Handling terrorists is safer than handling my own life. What in the hell does that say about me?”
Maggie leaned forward. “It says you like to be in control and when you lose for someone else, it isn’t as hard as when you lose for yourself.”
“I hate to lose period,” she said, scowling.
“Make-believe worlds and make-believe love are easier to believe in, to trust in,” Cailean said.
“I certainly deal in real enough life! As real as it gets,” Delaney shot back defensively.
“But that’s an unreality of it’s own, don’t you think? Keeps you from doing the white picket fence thing.” Her tone gentled. “The normal mom and dad thing.”
She opened her mouth to argue, then stopped and leaned back in her chair. “Okay, maybe you’re right. But it doesn’t mean I’m ready to accept that my future is meant to be tied with a … to a …”
“Actually, I think he makes perfect sense for you,” Maggie said, then raised a hand. “So it’s not totally perfect, it would be nice if he were born in this century.” She smiled and deflected Delaney’s half-hearted smack. “But look at your backgrounds, your training, everything. Finding yourself attracted to him makes perfect sense. And it’s obvious he’s never met anyone like you.”
Delaney scowled. “Attracted is one thing. It’s the feeling that we’re linked somehow, that it has to be him. I don’t like it.”
“And you think we did?” Cailean asked. “Your destiny is as intertwined with Alexander as mine is with Rory and Maggie’s is with Duncan.”
“What happens if I don’t want it? Hell, maybe I don’t know what I want or what is right for me. I’m thirty-two and single for Christ’s sake.”
“So? All three of us are single. It doesn’t mean we’re losers. We’ve all given a great deal of attention to our careers,” Maggie said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t incorporate that into a fulfilling relationship and do the happily ever after thing if the right man came along.”
Delaney snorted. “And these are the ‘right men’? Come on! We should all run screaming for the hills.”
“So why haven’t we,” Cailean said seriously.
“I hate it when you do that ‘Key’ thing. Gives me goosebumps.”
Maggie shook her head. “It’s not about ‘is it normal and is it easy.’ It’s about whether you could walk away without trying. If you can walk away, then that’s your answer right there. It’s when you can’t walk away that things get interesting. I know I might be in a no-win situation. Believe me, I’m terrified as much by never seeing Duncan again as I am about trying to make it work and failing. But the other alternative, to just walk away now, curse or no curse, is simply not an option. What I feel for him—” She broke off.
Delaney covered her hand. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I didn’t mean to make you hash through all of this.”
“It’s okay. But do you understand? Am I supposed to ignore it because it’s not what I imagined true love to be? How I feel, how he makes me feel, all of it, is so incredible, and so different than I’ve ever felt before. We both decided we’d rather have it for whatever time we can than not have it at all.”
“I’m not sure we ever really have a choice when we meet someone who affects us like that,” Cailean said quietly.
“You mean fate?” Delaney asked.
“Not exactly. Certainly we are all free to make the choice to follow our feelings or not.” She looked at Delaney. “You could walk away right now and not look back. I believe we have many potential destinies depending on the choices we make as we go along. But there are some paths that will bring greater fulfillment than others.
“As to what you feel, well, it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s an inconvenient time to feel them. The right person comes along and bam, you feel it. You have a reaction like you’ve never had to another person. Time doesn’t matter, place doesn’t matter, propriety doesn’t matter, nothing matters. You may not like it, but you can’t change that, any more than you can make yourself feel something for someone just because he has come along at the right time, at the right place, and fits in perfectly.”
“I’m not sure what my feelings are,” Delaney said, even more confused.
“Well then, you’ll have to decide if you want to find out,” Cailean responded.
Delaney groaned. “You make it sound so easy.”
Maggie and Cailean both laughed. “Oh yeah,” Maggie said dryly. “Piece of cake.”
Their food arrived and they all fell silent as they ate, each lost in her own thoughts. What did she feel for Alexander? It wasn’t anything simple enough to put into words. They were finishing up when she spoke quietly. “He gets my attention. Like no man has ever gotten my full and undivided attention before.” She stopped, but couldn’t find any better way of putting it. “He drives me crazy, totally frustrates the hell out of me. I want to wring his neck every other second, but I can’t take my eyes off of him. Or stop wondering what he’s thinking, or what he will do, or say. Or if he’ll ever kiss me again.” Her cheeks flushed at that unplanned admission, but Maggie and Cailean simply smiled and nodded.
“We never said it was all bliss and birds singing,” Maggie said. “It can be that and more, but all your emotions are engaged. Full scale chaos.”
“Sounds like something you should get a shot for,” Delaney muttered.
They paid their bill and were in the parking lot when Delaney spoke again. “Well, whatever happens, at least we’ll have each other to hang on to. And that’s already more than I’ve ever had before.”
Maggie and Cailean agreed and they moved into a brief, tight embrace.
It w
as then that Delaney noticed Cailean looked a bit paler than she had moments before.
“Are you okay?”
Cailean looked up, almost startled by the question. “Yes, yes, fine. I’m fine.”
Delaney shared a quick look with Maggie. “What is it?” She led Cailean to a bench overlooking the lawn and Maggie followed. “You felt something, didn’t you?”
Cailean kept her gaze focused on the water.
“Cailean,” Maggie said. “You can’t keep this inside. It tears you apart, and it’s not fair to us.”
Her gaze swiveled to Maggie, eyes flashing. “Not fair to you?”
“It’s our lives too, and you’re part of that. Maybe we can’t do anything to help, maybe it will just make us more scared, or whatever. But we are family and we will stand with each other.”
“She’s right.” Delaney put her hand on Cailean’s shoulder. “You don’t have to suffer through this stuff alone anymore.”
Cailean’s shoulders slumped and her chin dipped as a weary sigh slipped out. “I don’t want to suffer with this stuff at all, alone or together.”
Maggie slid off the bench and crouched in front of her, taking both her hands. “Just tell us what you saw. Don’t take it all on yourself.”
Cailean looked first to Delaney, then to Maggie. “We’re going to find the key.”
Maggie’s mouth dropped open then quickly shut. Cailean tried to stand but both Maggie and Delaney held her back.
“When?” Maggie asked.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. Maybe today, maybe not for a few days. But we will find it. Soon.” She did stand then, turning to stare up at the craggy pinnacles of the Quiraing that loomed in the distance behind the hotel. “And then we will see what is to become of all of us.”
THIRTY-FOUR
Alexander paced the length of Calum’s council room, which he’d turned into makeshift quarters for himself. Delaney had asked to meet with him privately before they all sat down as a group.
The Legend Mackinnon Page 31