It took them a long time to come down, lying side by side without saying a word. Her contentment echoed his quietness, and she wondered if anything could surpass the happiness she knew this moment. With a sweeping sensation that transformed all her thoughts into mush and made her body ignite, she realized she wanted more than anything to share all her nights with this man deep inside her. Loving her. Showing her his world and sharing all the time she had to give.
Later, after they agreed the restaurant would close soon and they didn’t have this room for the entire night, they dressed.
Erin felt shy and yet free as she kept her eyes averted from him while she slipped on her underwear. Not because she didn’t desire each glance she could at his incredible body, but because she didn’t think she could watch him without wanting to fuck him again.
“I’ll pay out front and we can slip out the back if you want.” He slipped her coat over her shoulders. His palms slid down to her waist, and he brought her against him. As his hot breath teased her earlobe, she quivered with delight. “Unless you don’t mind running the gambit of all the people in the dining room.”
As reality returned, so did her apprehensions. She’d performed what some people would qualify as screaming monkey sex with this man. For one irrational second she thought the evidence would show on her face.
He sighed and kissed her neck. “I know what you’re thinking.”
Feeling like a broken record, she said, “What am I thinking?”
“That we don’t know each other well and here we are in each other’s arms.”
“Yes.”
“And I canna tell you how wonderful it felt to be inside you.” His accent went rough with strong emotion. “Of course, I know you’re also thinking that we canna possibly be doing this—what did you call it—wild monkey sex.”
So much for him not reading her mind.
She sighed and turned toward Lachlan. “If we go out there right now, in front of the world, everyone in that dining room might look at us and read something in our faces, right? Maybe I didn’t comb my hair well enough, so I have bed head, and if my lipstick is smeared the smallest bit they’ll know we’ve been kissing.” She kissed him for good measure, accepting the arousing massage of his tongue with pure delight. “And there’s this other part of me that rejoices because there will also be women out there who will be envious because I have this incredibly gorgeous hunk on my arm. And they’ll realize I’ve fallen in lo—”
Erin clamped her mouth shut, but she could see he knew what she almost said. Of course he did, damn him.
He cupped her face in both hands. “Lass, I heard you the first time.” The twinkle of laughter in his eyes turned to heated, undeniable desire. When he took her home tonight she half expected they’d land in bed without a whimper of resistance. “You broadcasted it loud and clear while we were making love.”
He touched his lips to her forehead. “Do you know what it does to me to know you care about me?”
“I more than care, I…” Her throat threatened to close up as tears came to her eyes. She tried to remember a time when she’d been so happy.
He put his finger over her mouth. “Don’t say it now. Not if you don’t want to.”
Apprehensive, she caught that dark fire and kindness in his eyes all mixed into one stunning package. “Is this the part where you tell me not to get involved with you? Not to care so much?”
Care? Yes, that was a meager word to describe it. Cupid has fired one sure arrow into my heart. She knew whatever happened next, she would have to live with his decision, even if she didn’t like it.
Lachlan’s good looking face seemed more precious, more handsome than ever as a guarded air filled his eyes.
Before he could answer her in full, the phone near the bed rang. She started. “Whoa. I didn’t even know that was there.”
He laughed as he released her and walked toward it. “I think time is up.”
Sure enough, the “wake up call” let them know the restaurant would be closing in thirty minutes. After they collected their coats and walked out their private abode, she knew she wanted every woman out there to see her with Lachlan. For once she would be carefree and flaunt her condition; the ridiculous state of tumbling one hundred percent, amazingly, out-of-her-mind, in love with a man.
As it went, they didn’t see anyone they knew in the crowded main dining room, and no one seemed to pay special attention to them.
“I still can’t believe we did that,” she said in a hushed voice.
He slipped his arm around her and pushed open the door to leave the restaurant. His voice rumbled against her ear. “Believe it. And I want to do it again soon.”
Her stomach did a little jump of anticipation. “That room is something else. Why haven’t I ever heard of it before? Wouldn’t you think it would be illegal or something? It’s so…so…incredibly hedonistic—”
He laughed. “Are you complaining?”
“No, no.” She snuggled into his warmth, grateful for his strength and the security on a cold night. She chuckled. “Hell, no.”
“I don’t know why you’ve never heard of it. I learned of it through…um…”
“Yes, come on, fess up.”
“Through the grapevine.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He cleared his throat. “Tom told me about it.”
“I’m scandalized,” she said with a deadpan tone.
“I thought you would be.” The dry tenor in his voice made her smile.
“Now, Gilda…I could believe her telling you about the room.” She laughed.
Just before they reached the car, Erin heard a strange whisper nearby, almost as if the night came alive.
A clinging, awful darkness wafted around her like wind and wrapped her senses. Her throat tightened and instant sickness assaulted her stomach. She stopped and Lachlan ran into her back, his arms going around her waist.
“Do you feel that?” she asked, her voice shaking, her body following with one wrenching shudder of revulsion. “What is that?”
“Don’t move.” His grip tightened, and in the semi-darkness of the parking area, she searched for the source of the bizarre hate.
Her head filled with a swimming sickness, then pain. The night dissolved around her.
Chapter 17
“Erin? Sweetheart, open your eyes. Come on, talk to me.”
“Is she all right?” The voice belonged to Cedric.
“I don’t know.” Lachlan sounded bleak. “Please, open your eyes, Erin.”
At his rough demand, desperate and full of heart-wrenching anxiety, she surfaced from the fog enshrouding her mind. She blinked open her eyes and looked up into the concerned expression of Cedric and two other patrons that hovered alongside. She lay half on the ground, Lachlan holding her in his arms.
“Thank you, God.” He brushed his fingers through her hair, then reached down to take her pulse. “How do you feel?”
“Should we call an ambulance?” An elderly woman, dripping in diamonds, asked.
“No,” Erin said, eager to go home and get away from prying eyes. “I’m—it’s all right. I’m fine.”
Lachlan shifted her in his arms. He stood up, and she gasped as he heaved her up as if she weighed nothing. “Thank you everyone. I think she’ll be fine now.”
He marched with her to the car and sat her down on her feet gently as if he thought she was as fragile as glass. He cupped her face in his warm hands. The concern hadn’t left his eyes. “How do you feel?”
“Perfect now. Maybe a little weak. I don’t know what happened. There was that horrible feeling again.”
“Like hate?”
“Yes, that’s it. It was hate. Or like a miserable, endless winter.” She couldn’t stay quiet, afraid if she didn’t explain this dire sensation, it would somehow eat her alive. “Like I’ve felt at the library several times and outside my home earlier tonight. It always gives me this headache.”
He inhaled deeply,
as if by his calm he could vanquish whatever plagued her. “It can’t harm you, no matter how it feels. Just remember that.”
Without another word, Lachlan opened the car and tucked her inside. The odd experience of moments before made her wonder if she’d imagined things again.
He started the car. “No, you didn’t imagine it.”
He pulled the car out of the lot, and then drove a little faster toward town, perhaps eager to take shelter in the number of people who might venture out tonight. Perhaps he wanted to escape the perilous sense of impending doom as much as she did.
Night rushed passed them, hedge-rows whished by in the deep, moonless darkness. Like hulking monsters the trees alongside the road hovered over them, and the lines on the road went on forever. As silence stretched, Erin decided the quiet interior of the car felt almost as creepy as what happened outside the restaurant.
She couldn’t take the silence. “What is it? Or should I say, what was that?”
“I can’t tell you. Not without you believing I’ve gone raving mad.”
She sniffed with derision. “Oh, come on. With this crazy mind reading thing, and this weird town, you don’t think I’ll believe you?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Is this some undercover thing? Something where you’d have to kill me if you told me the truth?” Half joking, she gave him full attention.
The dash glow gave his skin a pale cast, and his face seemed carved into the hardest and most unforgiving granite. He shook his head. “No. And yes.”
And as he turned his head to glance her way, she realized Lachlan’s whiskey eyes grew bright with a glow that shined in the meager light like a cat or another midnight creature. The light flickered out.
She sank back against the car seat, her heart pounding with fear of the unknown. “Lachlan. Please tell me I didn’t just see what I thought I saw?”
Worry wrinkled the skin between his brows, but he turned his full attention back to the winding road. “What did you see?”
“Your eyes…they are…”
“They glow a bit sometimes in the darkness. Yes, I know.” He said it so matter-of-factly she felt a hollow, disbelieving sensation in her stomach.
“Your eyes just glow. For no reason at all.” Even her own voice sounded incredulous to her ears.
“I don’t let many people see me in this kind of light. I figure when I have to start explaining why my eyes can glow, it’ll send them screaming into the night.”
“Or buying a one way ticket to a rubber room.” Erin felt bone cold, and she rubbed her mittens together. A shudder rippled her body. “So you’re telling me you know something extraordinary about that weird happening back at the restaurant, but you won’t explain what it is.“ She swallowed hard. “And then there’s this little problem that you read my mind and your eyes glow.” She heard sarcasm in her voice, but didn’t try to stop it. “If you told me everything you knew you’d have to kill me—maybe? Gee, I guess I’m supposed to conveniently ignore that?”
“Of course not.” Impatience laced each syllable. “I didn’t want this to hit you at once. We need to take it a little at a time.”
“You’re spoonfeeding me the truth?”
“In essence.”
Blow your essence, Lachlan.
Erin, this isn’t how I wanted to discuss this—
Then what way were you going to discuss it? If I didn’t find out that something odd and horrible is going on in this town? Were you going to conveniently forget it then? Were you going to hope I wouldn’t ask any more questions about why your fiancée dumped you when she learned you could read minds, or how your eyes glow for no earthly reason?
Yes. Maybe.
Her heart dropped straight into her shoes, along with the hope she’d gained at the restaurant that her budding feelings for him wouldn’t be dashed among the rocks.
Does it have something to do with the murders in town, Lachlan?
“How did you know that?” His voice came thick and hard with allegation.
“I don’t. I’m giving an educated guess.”
“Leave the murders to the police, Erin. I don’t want you hurt.”
His words, sincere and meaningful, warmed her heart a little. But the frost didn’t go away. “Will you tell me everything?”
“Erin, I don’t think it would be wise.”
She tried not to anger, but found it impossible. “Before we made love you promised you would.”
When he stayed silent, watching the road with single-minded intent, she heaved a deep breath. So that’s the way it would be. She rubbed her temples as they came into the outskirts of town. Not long now and she’d be home. She could close the door on him and do some sober thinking about where their relationship went from here.
Resentment mixed with hurt. They’d had such a wonderful, beautiful evening. Until the darkness had leapt out at them like a ghost intent on scaring the hell out of them and destroying her peace of mind about Lachlan.
With purpose she tried to keep her mind free of incriminating thoughts. If he could read her wishes, dreams, and fears, she didn’t know if she could live with that. The situation bordered on too intrusive for her to accept. Even if the hunk reading her mind was the most incredible, wonderful man she’d ever laid eyes upon.
When they reached Erin’s home, and he walked her to the door, she stepped inside but didn’t invite him to follow. “Lachlan, I must think. Please give me this time.” She smiled, lessening the blow and hoping to hell he wouldn’t hate her for this. “I don’t know if being with you is right. After these additional revelations tonight, I’m not sure I can be with you.”
She shook her head, unsure what else to say and feeling empty.
For a moment Erin allowed Lachlan’s deep, hypnotic gaze to gather her close. Before she could protest, he slipped his hands into her hair and his mouth came down on hers. As his mouth devoured, his tongue taking instant possession, she leaned against his powerful body. Her arms slipped around his neck, and the cool texture of his coat against her skin made her bury her fingers in his hair. He broke the kiss. His gaze, lacking that strange glow she’d seen earlier, but still hot and needing, almost made her change her mind. She could tell he wanted her, and dear God, she wanted him regardless.
“Remember this moment, lass. And remember I’m a phone call away if you need me. If you ever are frightened, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll be watching.”
With another swift, mild brush of his mouth against hers, he turned away. As she closed and locked the door, she knew without a doubt the pain in her chest was her heart breaking.
* * * * *
The dream came to Erin late at night, and it swept her into a nightmare world. Lachlan danced with her once again at Ricardo’s, his hands on her body possessive and hurtful. His eyes glowed down at her with cruel intentions. She struggled against his grip, and his fingers pressed into her upper arms so hard she cried out in pain.
“No! No!” She shoved at his chest, her heart pounding and fear growing higher. Why was he doing this to her? “Let me go!”
How could he do this to her? How could he betray her with such awful brutality?
“You are mine now,” his voice said, thick with that same lust she’d heard in his syllables when they’d made love. “And I’m never letting you go. Ever. You are bound to me and no other will take you.”
“No!”
She broke from the dream and sat up. The cold night wrapped around her like an entity, unforgiving and desolate. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, and she stared into the darkness of her bedroom. She glanced around, half afraid Lachlan might be in the room with her in reality. After all, he’d done some odd things on their date that he couldn’t explain. Correction, wouldn’t explain. Soul-deep hurt reminded her that she couldn’t be with Lachlan, no matter how much she wanted it. If he wouldn’t tell her the truth, she refused to remain his lover.
Maybe she’d never realized how important hone
sty in a relationship was to her until Lachlan wouldn’t come clean with her. Fresh pain splintered her world as she huddled under the covers and tried to become warm once again. After a few moments, she realized she couldn’t regenerate heat. Shivering, she slid out of bed and switched on the bedside lamp. She grabbed her robe and slipped into the warmth. Grabbing some thick socks from her dresser, she put them on her freezing feet. After going into the hall she did a quick check of the thermostat. It showed the house temperature much warmer than what she felt. Could she be coming down with a bug? That would explain the weird dream, perhaps, and maybe why she’d fainted at the restaurant.
Erin got under the covers again and tried to visualize the pleasure she’d experienced with Lachlan not so many hours ago. She didn’t want to forget that ecstasy right away.
Obviously the disagreement they had intruded on her sleep, and that brought on the horrible dream. She cringed when she remembered the malice she’d seen in his eyes in the nightmare and the meanness in his touch.
Would Lachlan treat her that way?
No. No, he wouldn’t do that.
Or would he?
She deliberately tore her thoughts away from making love to him and concentrated on imagining a pond with lily pads on the crystal surface. She drifted on a huge pad, content to drift upon the water downstream.
This image worked often, but not tonight. After an hour of her mind running in circles, and the lily pad visualization going nowhere, she gave up. She peeled open one eye and spied the digital clock on her bedside table. Three a.m. Maybe she should read.
She’d left her latest book in the living room, so she headed in that direction, flipping on lights as she went. After retrieving the hardback mystery from the coffee table, she stopped in her tracks.
She was being watched.
She whirled around.
Scanning the hallway, she didn’t see a thing. Erin wondered if the dream’s effects continued to linger in her psyche. She rubbed her arms, well aware that nightmares could keep fear heightened for some time after waking up.
Deep is the Night: Dark Fire Page 18