Damn. Okay, it’s time to answer him, you hussy, she mumbled to herself.
Yes…an answer.
An answer.
Anssssssswer, please.
Ah, crud. What was the friggin’ question?
She hazarded another quick glance at him, trying to be casual, and hoping like hell she didn’t appear as aroused as she felt. “Um, I’m sorry, did you ask me something?”
Ooh, brilliant wit there, Té. Negative 5000 points for that line, sweetie. You’re so smooth.
He laughed softly, pausing at another light, and reached over to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, his touch hot against her cool skin. She jolted, as surprised by the affectionate gesture as by the licking, curling flames of heat spreading from the stroke of his finger against her skin to the slick, pouting flesh of her pussy.
“Aye, I did. I said you must be knackered—after your flight.”
She scrunched her nose as she looked at him. “Knackered?”
He grinned that devilish grin that was fast becoming her favorite. “Tired.”
“Oh—I’m—actually, I managed to sleep most of the way. Thought I’d be too excited, but the next thing I knew I’d crashed out.”
You’re rambling, Té. Get it together, woman. Do not look pathetic.
“That’s good, then,” he murmured, and damn but his voice sent another wave of chills across her flesh.
The light changed and they made the rest of the short trip in silence, until he pulled to a stop in a wonderfully expensive neighborhood, before a towering townhouse. Té looked out through the window, her jaw nearly dropping at her fist look at her sister’s new home. Kieran got out of the Jag with an amazing masculine grace, considering his size, and came around to get her door, but she was already scrambling out for a closer look. Shutting the door behind her with a wry smile, he retrieved her backpack and small case from the boot instead.
She watched from her position beside the car as he climbed the short flight of stairs and used the traditional key Lach had given him to open the beautifully hand-carved front door, while she just stood there on the cobblestone sidewalk, staring in awe at the stunning stone front of their home.
“Are you coming?”
Not yet, I’m not. But to Kieran, she simply said, “Yes.”
And she couldn’t help but laugh a little at herself, realizing she’d been standing there staring like a simpleton, though in truth, she was a little shocked. Being Magick was apparently a very lucrative business. “It’s…um, very beautiful.”
“Aye, it is,” he agreed, his black eyes blinking slowly as his gaze remained fixed on her, so intent it felt like a caress.
She frowned at the way he was staring at her, the meaning he had put behind his words, simply because she questioned her ability to resist him. Then he winked, that damn grin back in place, and walked through the entrance, climbing the staircase that hugged the right side of the room.
Té followed after him and closed the door behind her with a resounding thud, the fact that she was suddenly alone in a huge house with a gorgeous Warlock whom she very much wanted to get naked with hitting her like a ton of bricks. She stared up after him, liking the way his ass fit inside his jeans far too much for her peace of mind. “Um, what are you doing?”
He looked down at her over his shoulder and his smile flashed, wicked and white. “Showing you up to your room.”
“Thanks, but there’s, uh, really no need. I’ll be fine down here, and Evan can show me everything I need to see when they get home. They said they’d only be an hour or so.”
He hesitated, clearly weighing his next words while he set her bags on the wide landing and came back down to her. He was at the bottom step before he finally said, “You’re no’ afraid to be alone with me, are you?”
She made a scoffing noise beneath her breath. “Hardly,” she muttered, her tone somewhat insulted—defiant—but her body language was clearly saying differently as she wiped her palms on her jeans and shifted nervously from foot-to-foot.
His mouth twisted with what looked strangely like regret. “I’m no’ going to bite, you know.”
Though I’d sure as hell like to…
One slim golden brow lifted, mimicking his earlier expression of mocking humor. “I didn’t think you were.”
He laughed softly, shaking his head as he walked toward her and reached out, flicking the silver hoop in her brow. “We’ve got a hell of a problem here, don’t we, beautiful?”
Oh…she so wasn’t touching that one. No way in hell. “A problem?” she repeated, feigning innocence. She spun around, taking in the amazing room, still a little awestruck for the moment at the rugged beauty of Lach and Evan’s home. “With what?”
He snorted. “What do you think?”
She stopped to look at him. “Do you always speak in riddles?” She knew she sounded like a twit, but damn it, he’d been pushing her buttons since they first met…and clearly enjoying it.
“Do you always refuse to accept the obvious?”
“The obvious,” she said with a smile, determined to hold her ground even as he moved in on her. She wasn’t going to flinch, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to cower.
I just might pass out though…
“Aye, the obvious. It’s so strong I can feel it—taste it.” His head cocked slightly to the side as he studied her with those magnificent midnight eyes. “Why bother denying something that’s so obviously the truth?”
And why dinna you shut your fucking trap, man? What are you trying to do here, anyway? Hell if he knew. Stupid…arrogant…misplaced pride. It got the better of a man, be he Warlock or mortal, every damn time.
He had every intention of turning his ass around, walking away, and leaving her alone…for as long as he could…forever, if possible. Though at this point, he was seriously starting to doubt he’d make it five minutes. But before he could even put it to the test, she lifted her chin and said, “I really don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about.”
Kieran groaned, recognizing defeat when he saw it. So much for hightailing his ass out of there. Suddenly he was right there, pressing into her, bringing her up hard against the back of the mocha-colored leather sofa.
She blinked up at him, her neck craned back at a sharp angle, their noses touching as he leaned over her from his greater height, her breath warm and sweet against his lips.
“No?” he growled. “Then maybe I ought to demonstrate.”
He leaned closer, nuzzling the top of her head, wishing he could just bury his face into the soft, silken mass of her red and gold tresses. His muscles tightened, and he knew he was going to kiss her. There was no other choice. It was taste her or die. Giving over purely to instinct, ignoring the voice of reason screaming in his head, he grasped her hips in his big hands as his mouth found her ear and licked the tender shell, nibbling on the delicate lobe.
Té jolted, lurching against him, and he growled again, the sexy rumble erotically seductive against her sensitive flesh. “I want to be in you—deep in you—so damn bad,” he rasped, nibbling on her lush skin. His lips trailed up the soft arc of her cheek, pressing a kiss against the corner of one eye while she stood completely still within his grasp, not even breathing. Then his lips grazed the fine skin of her temple and he froze.
Té stiffened within the tight circle of his arms, knowing what was coming, even though she knew it impossible for him to know. The bruises had faded weeks ago, leaving only the emotional scars that she’d done her best to ignore.
Acknowledging their existence would have been just what Lexi would’ve wanted, and she would be damned before she gave him that kind of sick satisfaction. The bastard.
Yeah, she knew it was impossible, and yet Kieran’s words were exactly what she’d been expecting. Had known he would say. “You’ve been hit—struck,” he snarled, a sudden edge of violence in his deep tone. It sent a shiver of delicious anticipation down her spine, and she wondered just what that said about he
r. Lord, maybe she really was as twisted as Lexi had claimed.
No! Damn it, Té, stop thinking about him. Don’t let the miserable creep poison your mind.
She tried for a smile that she was sure looked as fake as it felt. Crap, at this rate he was never going to believe her, and if she couldn’t convince a complete stranger, she knew there was no way in hell she was going to be able to convince Evan. Good Lord, what had she been thinking to come here? Evan had been able to see through her since Té was old enough to know a lie was sometimes easier than the truth. The truth of her life hadn’t always been pretty, and she’d learned early on that a clever play on words often kept that sickening look of pity off a person’s face, which was just as she wanted it.
But it’d never worked on Evan.
Yep, she was sooooo screwed.
But what the hell? Might as well give it a go.
“You mean the knot?” she asked with wide-eyed innocence, at least as much as she could muster. “I got that in the fifth grade when Amy Murray whacked a line drive and I was playing shortstop. Drilled the hell out of me.”
Kieran’s black eyes drilled into her now, until she began to feel dizzy from following the shimmering glints of light in their reflective surface. “You expect me to believe this was made by a baseball in grade school?”
His warm breath caressed her face as he leaned over her, and she knew she was such a goner. All she wanted to do was keep staring up at him, memorizing the masculine perfection of his body, the strong, corded length of his throat and that perfect spot between neck and solid shoulder where she wanted to nip him with her teeth, hear his empowering growl. His raw, sharp-edged power blasted against her, wrapping around her like invisible claws, imprisoning her within the bonds of his control and savage appeal. Seeking balance, she placed her hands on the hard, warm surface of his leather-covered chest, desperately ignoring the feel of ripped, sculpted muscle beneath her palms.
Good god, this guy was fine. Too damn fine for her peace of mind.
Oh geez, now I’m rhyming, she thought with a low groan. It was time to get her act together before she did something she would assuredly regret and jumped his sexy-as-sin bones right then and there.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything but what I tell you,” she challenged in a deliberately cool voice, the denial accompanied by an even harder shove against the solid wall of muscle caging her in.
Oomph—he didn’t even budge.
“You’re lying.” The strong, masculine tendons in his neck stood out in anger, a small muscle jerking hard in his dark jaw.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I can still feel the energy—the anger. Someone struck you, and it was someone a hell of a lot bigger than you are.” And he knew it was somehow connected to that faint trace of watered-down Magick that he’d scented on her before, though he could hardly credit such a bizarre suspicion. Until this morning, she hadn’t even known that his kind existed. It was far from likely that she’d been interacting with other Magicks back in America—and even less likely that she’d known any and not realized. A Magick’s power was so much a part of who they were, the idea of keeping it a secret was damn near inconceivable.
And yet…Kieran knew that elusive trace beneath her light, lush scent was going to drive him out of his bloody mind until he discovered its source.
Té stared up at him, eyes narrowed in frustration, while dread coiled in her belly, a sudden fear taking root at just how well this man could read her. She didn’t want him knowing her secrets, damn it, digging into her mind. “He’s not your problem.”
“He is until he’s dead.”
That was it. Point blank. Matter-of-fact.
Kieran intended to kill for her.
Té didn’t know whether to laugh or smile….or run like crazy and get her stupid little ass as far away from these crazy McKendricks as she could.
Only, she wouldn’t ever be completely free of them, because her sister was now one.
Damn.
“Listen, Kieran, because I’m only going to say this once. I’m not your problem. Not now. Not ever. So drop it. I don’t need saving.”
He smirked in the face of her denial, not backing down an inch. “You, Té Hayes, are most definitely my problem.”
And she knew there were so many separate, powerfully distinct meanings to that statement.
A strange sort of panic settled into her jittery system, quickening her breath. But she wasn’t afraid of him. No, suddenly she was very much afraid of what she realized she could feel for this man…this Warlock. “I’m not staying, so whatever you say, whatever you think, doesn’t matter. I’m not looking for another meaningless fling—”
“Good,” he grunted with a clipped nod of his dark head. “Because I have a feeling I’m looking at forever, whether I want to be or not.”
Her chin came up in a surge of anger. “Damn it, I’m not going to let myself feel anything for you.”
“Too late, lass,” he said with that wicked twist of his lips that made her want to slap him and kiss him all at the same time. “You already do.”
Her breath huffed out in a hard sound of exasperation. “God, you’re irritating.”
To her surprise, he threw back his head and laughed, the warm sound pooling through her system like succulent, dripping honey. “Dinna worry, darlin’. I’ll grow on you.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he quickly turned her around and swatted her backside, pushing her toward the stairs while he still could. “I will find out what I want to know, but for now be a good girl and go grab a nap. The guest room is the fourth door on the right.”
She muttered something under her breath and began climbing the stairs.
Kieran watched the sexy sway of her ass until he knew a second more was going to send him barreling up the stairs after her. Shaking his head at his own remarkable weakness where this little mortal was concerned, and still not having a clue as to what he was going to do about it, he called out, “I’ll see you tonight.”
She turned to look down at him, those lush lips pulled into a frown. “Tonight?”
“Aye,” he drawled on his way to the door, needing to get away from her as soon as possible. It was too damn dangerous being alone with her. One more second of having her pressed against the back of that sofa and she’d have been flat on her back, just like Little Red at the mercy of the Big Bad Wolf. “The family will be champing at the bit to meet you. And there’s no’ stopping the family, lass.” He shot her a sly smirk over his shoulder. “We McKendricks can be pretty persistent when we want something bad enough.”
The door closed behind him with a reverberating thump that seemed to echo the sickening drop of her stomach. Nervous energy fluttered across her skin and she licked her dry lips. Shit. She could lie all she liked, but one thing was for damn certain.
She may not want—may not need the complication a man could cause in her life, but it sure as hell looked like she had one. What was the point of denying it, when her thundering heart rate and dazed senses spoke for themselves? The sad fact of the matter was that she was already falling hard and fast for the dark, dangerous, Magickal Kieran McKendrick.
God help her.
Chapter Five
The nap that afternoon had done her wonders, as well as the hot, luxurious shower in her private bathroom and sisterly beauty time spent with Evan. Té felt refreshed and at her best, dressed in a long, light cotton skirt and sleeveless top in a deep, dark blue that matched her eyes and showcased her new tan. Her sister and her new brother-in-law had made her feel completely at home throughout the easy afternoon, but when she walked into the packed family room later that evening, she felt entirely like a fish out of water. The family gathering was in full swing, and there were McKendricks everywhere, along with some of the family’s closest friends, not a single space or piece of furniture left unoccupied.
Friendly looking faces smiled at her from every direction, but Evan first introduced h
er to the High Council, Lach’s uncles, which she knew included Kieran’s father, Iain McKendrick, thanks to her sister’s earlier rundown of the family. Té didn’t know what she’d been expecting, based on the brief descriptions Evan had provided her, but certainly not this. She supposed she’d imagined anyone who governed over such a powerful people to be distinguishably ancient, but despite their long, silvery white hair and beards, Kieran’s father and uncles were a powerful, mesmerizing sight. Their snow white hair adorned rather young looking, handsome faces, the long robes hardly concealing what were obviously still strong, virile physiques. She had no idea of their ages, but they were an intimidating lot, even though they welcomed her with genuine, if not expectant smiles and warm words—Iain even giving her a warm wink that perfectly matched his son’s.
And now, thanks to Evan, she was a part of their family.
Jesie Chrisie, as Aunt Ellie would say.
And then there were the girls, as the family called them. Five Witches in their early twenties who Seamus had apparently taken under his wing and reared as his own, when their own families were lost during a dark time of hostile feuding among the Magick. They’d been welcomed with open arms, Kieran and his cousins apparently adoring them, acting like overprotective brothers if other Warlocks so much as showed even a flicker of interest in the young women. The thought brought a smile to Té’s face, though she doubted the Witches found it so amusing. Lord, it probably drove them mad.
Needing to oversee some last minute preparations in the kitchen, Evan ushered her over to the group, introduced her to the girls and then left, leaving Té to fend for herself. She plastered on a smile and tried her best not to feel self-conscious surrounded by such stunning beauty. They were breathtaking, even up close, the five most beautiful women she’d ever seen, though each one looked decidedly different from the other four.
“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” she offered apologetically, hating to have intruded on their conversation.
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