Midnight's Warrior

by Donna Grant

  Ramsey met their surprised gazes, but when Charon’s eyes lowered, Ramsey knew he had seen the magic that was once more swirling around him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Tara looked at the two men filling the doorway. They were tall, brawny, and there was something about them that reminded her of Ramsey but had nothing to do with looks.

  It was something to do with the men, something that set them apart from other guys. Almost as if Ramsey and these other two were in a class by themselves. A class where coiled violence, tangible danger, and dark seduction were part of their DNA.

  Despite their similarities, Tara wasn’t attracted to the newcomers as she was to Ramsey. She met the dark gaze of the one nearest the door, the one who had narrowed his eyes on Ramsey before shifting to her.

  “Tara, these are my friends,” Ramsey said as he moved so that he stood behind her. “The one with the goofy grin is Arran MacCarrick, and the one behind him is Charon Bruce. And this is Tara Kincaid.”

  “A pleasure to meet you,” Arran said as he held out his hand.

  Tara looked into his pale brown eyes and returned his smile as she briefly grasped his hand. “Likewise.”

  Charon moved around Arran and held out his hand. “Tara.”

  “Charon,” she said as they shook hands.

  He was studying her, of that Tara was certain. The why, however, was what she didn’t know. Charon wasn’t rude, but he was reserved, almost as if he didn’t trust her.

  That made Tara smile, which in turn had Charon’s dark brows rising.

  “Something amusing?” he asked.

  She looked at their still clasped hands and pulled hers from him. “You don’t trust me.”

  “Ramsey said you were able to read people. Does it bother you that I’m … reserved?”

  She glanced at Arran to find him watching her intently. “Not at all,” she answered Charon. “I’ll leave you lads to breakfast.”

  “Will you no’ stay?” Arran asked.

  Tara shook her head, wishing it had been Ramsey who asked. “I must return to the castle and my duties.”

  As she walked to the bedroom, she felt three pairs of eyes watching her, and it was everything she could do not to look over her shoulder at Ramsey.

  She shut the door behind her and leaned back against it before she closed her eyes. A sigh escaped her lips as she thought of the all-too-brief kiss.

  He had been about to deepen the kiss, but pulled back to announce that they had visitors. How could he have known that? Charon and Arran hadn’t knocked.

  Tara frowned, but realized she was most likely overreacting. She did it constantly and it had kept her on the run. Maybe it was time she relaxed a little.

  She pushed away from the door and began to unbutton Ramsey’s shirt. Her clothes were still damp when she put them back on, but she wouldn’t be in them very long.

  After making the bed and trying once more to fix her hair, Tara walked out of the bedroom to find all three men sitting at the table. They looked up at her arrival, but she focused on Ramsey.

  “I cleared a path to the castle,” he said as he stood.

  She smiled, hating to leave. Not only did she enjoy Ramsey’s company, but she liked how she felt around him. And then there was the attraction.

  “You can stay. Eat your pancakes,” he offered.

  Tara took a deep breath and grabbed her boots. She shook her head slowly while she put on her shoes. “I appreciate everything, but I need to get back.”

  “Of course.”

  “I hope you are no’ leaving on our account,” Charon said, his hand around a large mug of coffee.

  She met his probing stare. “Not at all. I do have a job to do.” With one last look at Ramsey, Tara left before she did decide to stay.

  The cold hit her instantly, and she crossed her arms over her chest and walked as fast as she could back to the castle. The first thing she was going to do was take a long, hot shower to warm up. Though thinking of Ramsey’s kiss was definitely helping her to withstand the cold.

  * * *

  Ramsey stood by the window and followed Tara with his eyes until she was inside the castle. He licked his lips, still tasting her upon them. He’d never tasted anything so wonderful, and he craved another kiss.

  One that would allow him to explore Tara at his leisure with his mouth and his hands. It had been a mistake to kiss her, but a mistake he wouldn’t reverse if he could.

  He looked down at his right arm where the tendrils of magic swarmed up to his shoulder. Somehow he’d managed to keep it hidden from Tara, but the longer he touched her, the more her magic would show.

  “She’s a damned fine-looking woman,” Charon said. “If we’d known we were interrupting, we wouldna have returned.”

  Ramsey shook his head and turned to his friends. “I’m glad you did. It doesna need to go further than it already did, which was much further than I ever intended.”

  Arran leaned back in the chair and regarded Ramsey. “Why no’? We’ve all had a hell of a life thanks to Deirdre. Why no’ take a sliver of happiness and enjoy it?”

  Ramsey held up his arm. “This is why. This is from touching her hair and briefly kissing her.”

  “What does it mean?” Charon asked.

  “Hell if I know. I know if I touch her skin, the magic is stronger and lasts far longer. Other than that, I have no answers.”

  Arran rose and gripped Ramsey’s arm where the white tendrils of magic swarmed. He pulled back almost instantly. “Shite! That is strong magic.”

  “This may have something to do with you being part Druid,” Charon said.

  Ramsey nodded. “Or the fact that one moment Tara’s magic is the strongest I’ve ever felt, and then the next, some of the weakest.”

  “When we walked in earlier, it felt strong to me,” Arran said.

  Charon scratched his neck, his brow furrowed deeply. “Aye, but when she came to see Ramsey yesterday and we hid in the bedroom, I could barely feel it.”

  “I’ve touched plenty of other Druids at MacLeod Castle and even before, and no’ one of them has made me have such a reaction,” Ramsey said.

  Arran shrugged and stabbed his fork into the stack of pancakes before dumping them on his plate. He straddled his chair and sank down in it as he reached for the syrup. “Maybe that’s why Declan wants her so badly.”

  “Maybe. But if her magic comes and goes so quickly, it’ll be a great risk he’s taking.” Ramsey speared four pancakes for himself before Charon and Arran ate them all.

  Charon stuffed a huge bite into his mouth and shrugged. “Maybe Declan knows something we do no’,” he said around his food.

  “I’ve already considered that,” Ramsey said as he turned the syrup upside down and coated his pancakes thoroughly before Arran snagged it out of his grip. “Tara is opening up to me, but it’s going slower than I’d like. We doona have the kind of time it will take to earn her trust.”

  Charon set down his fork. “You do realize whatever trust you earn from her will be shattered the moment she discovers what you are? She’ll think you tricked her, mate.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Ramsey said with a deep sigh. It was something that had bothered him since he’d first come to Dunnoth Tower. “I doona know another way.”

  “Tell her what you are, what we are,” Arran said.

  Ramsey halted his fork midway to his mouth and just stared at Arran. “She’d run.”

  “Run where? Have you looked outside? I’m making sure Declan doesna get here, remember?”

  Charon chuckled and said, “Arran does have a point. Tell her, and if she runs, then we catch her.”

  “You doona understand how skittish she is,” Ramsey said.

  Charon snorted. “Oh, but, mate, I do. I was once verra much like her. I might no’ have liked the truth, but being lied to, even by omission, was much harder to take.”

  Ramsey, his appetite suddenly gone, lowered his fork to the plate and looked out the window at the castl
e. “If I doona tell her, she may open up more to me and give me information about her family and who she is. If I do tell her, we can forget about learning anything from her.”

  “No’ so,” Arran said. “It’s no’ as if she’d tell you, who she thinks is just an ordinary man, about magic or that her family are Druids. That’s a secret she’d only share with someone who understood.”

  It was a no-win situation Ramsey was in, and one he couldn’t find a way out of without incurring Tara’s hatred.

  He ran a hand through his hair and rose from the table. “Arran, call Broc. See if he can try to locate Declan. I know Declan has been using his magic to block him, but I suspect Declan is verra close.”

  “All right,” Arran said.

  Charon finished the last of his coffee and set aside the mug. “What are you going to do?”

  “First, I’m going to take a shower. Then, I’m going to talk to Tara.”

  “The only place for her to run if she tries is either to the road or across land. I’ll be at the road watching,” Charon said.

  Arran threw one arm over the back of his chair and flattened his lips. “I know we suggested telling her, but do you think you should do it today?”

  “Putting it off will only be worse for everyone involved,” Ramsey said.

  “Doing it in the middle of the day at the castle is no’ such a grand idea either,” Charon added.

  Ramsey inhaled deeply and wondered why it was so difficult for him to make a decision about anything involving Tara. He’d never had a problem before.

  He closed his eyes and thought of her, searching for her magic. It took less than half a heartbeat for him to feel her magic. She was in her bedroom. She seemed content, but before he could get a decent read on her magic, it vanished. As if there had never been any.

  Ramsey looked at his right arm and knew she did indeed have magic. But what was turning it on and off? The only way to learn that was to tell her he was a Warrior and half Druid.

  He prayed she didn’t run, because he would catch her and she’d never forgive him for that. With his decision made he looked at Charon and Arran.

  “It’s being done today,” Ramsey told his friends before he stalked into his room.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Declan stood in the snow uncaring that it quickly coated his uncovered head. It wasn’t as if he feared getting sick. The Devil had invested too much in him for a little cold to do him in.

  “I looked at the weather report as you asked,” Robbie said, his breathing heavy after tracking through the dense snow.

  “And?”

  “They’re as stumped as everyone as to where this weather came from.”

  “As I suspected. It’s magical,” Declan said.

  “By who?”

  “Someone who doesna want me to reach Tara.”

  “Could it be Tara?”

  Declan chuckled at the absurdity of such a notion. “I’d bet my entire fortune she hasn’t learned to control her magic any more than when she was with me.”

  “Then who?”

  “That is the question, is it no’?”

  Robbie shrugged. “It doesna matter, cousin. We cannot go anywhere with the snow coming down so heavily.”

  “I doona have all this black magic for nothing.” Declan turned to his cousin and smiled. “I think it’s time we move onward. I’ve waited too long to have Tara back in my control.”

  “When do you want to start?”

  “Now. By tonight I expect to have Tara and be on my way back home.”

  Robbie smiled and rubbed his hands together. “I’ll start shoveling around the car.”

  * * *

  Tara couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so happy and almost carefree. Because of the weather, the guests had decided to spend some quiet time in their respective rooms, which suited Tara perfectly.

  She couldn’t stop daydreaming about Ramsey and their kiss. When she’d given him the light peck on the cheek, she hadn’t envisioned it turning into a kiss. But she was so glad it had.

  It had been just a little over an hour since she’d walked out of Ramsey’s cottage, but when he appeared in front of her, Tara’s stomach did a somersault.

  “I need to talk to you,” he said.

  Tara licked her lips nervously as she noted the seriousness of his expression. “Of course.”

  “Somewhere privately if you have time.”

  “Yes. All right. I’ve … I’ve caught up on everything for the moment, so do you want to talk now?”

  “I do.”

  Tara rose, but as she did he released a harsh sigh as his phone vibrated.

  He glanced at the phone and said, “Give me just a moment.”

  She nodded and he answered it in front of her.

  “Aye?” he said.

  Tara could hear the deep timbre of a male voice, but she couldn’t make out the words. Ramsey’s frown deepened the longer the conversation continued, however.

  “Are you certain? Is there anything Arran can do to stop whatever is interfering?”

  Tara had eavesdropped on conversations before when she thought Declan might have found her, and though she knew it was wrong to do it, she was too eager to learn what had upset Ramsey so drastically.

  “Shite. You know what this means?” he asked the caller.

  There was a one-word response that Tara took to mean the caller did understand.

  “I was about to talk to Tara.”

  The mention of her name had her lifting her gaze to Ramsey to find him watching her. Whatever he had to tell her wasn’t going to be pleasant.

  She swallowed the lump of dread in her throat and wished she could have enjoyed her day a bit longer, a day that had begun wondrously, but that she suspected was going to end badly.

  “I will,” Ramsey said, and ended the call.

  “I suppose that isn’t good news,” Tara said.

  Ramsey shook his head. “Nay.”

  “I’m not going to like this little talk of ours, am I?”

  Again he shook his head.

  “Can it wait?”

  Ramsey’s gaze briefly shifted to the floor before he said, “Nay.”

  “Then let’s get on with it. The back room behind Liz’s office should do well enough for privacy.”

  “Actually,” Ramsey said, halting her, “I was thinking my cottage.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  Tara watched Ramsey walk to the coat rack and lift hers. He wore faded jeans, thick black boots, and a dark green T-shirt with a silver Celtic trinity knot that covered his entire left shoulder and ran onto the sleeve.

  She allowed him to help her into her coat and then she walked through the door he held open for her. The path that had been cleared wasn’t wide enough for them to walk side by side, so she stayed behind him.

  Her gaze soaked up his nice bum and the way his hair, loose again, moved around his face and shoulders as snow tangled in its inky strands.

  Tara was excited to be alone with Ramsey again, but he’d warned her she wasn’t going to like what he had to say. As usual her mind ran the gambit of what it could be. Anything from her family to Declan, and even to the Warriors who had found her in Edinburgh.

  Though she tended to think of the worst possible outcome, she also liked to speculate on what she hoped would happen. Which had her thinking that maybe Ramsey wanted to apologize for the kiss and tell her they could never let it happen again.

  If that were the case, she’d be mortified, but the anxiety that twisted her stomach in knots would loosen and she could stay at Dunnoth a few more days at least.

  All too soon they reached the cottage. She stepped inside, quickly enveloped in warmth. Ramsey held out his hand for her coat, but if she had to make a quick exit she didn’t want to be caught out in the cold without it again.

  “I’ll keep it on,” she said.

  He nodded and then motioned to the couch. “Would you care to sit?”

  “I like to take my b
ad news standing.”

  She didn’t mean it to sound so harsh, but the longer she watched Ramsey the more that knot in her stomach tightened until she thought she was going to be sick.

  “Tara—”

  “Just tell me,” she interrupted him.

  He raked a hand through his hair, grim lines bracketing his mouth. “You asked me why I came to Dunnoth Tower. I told you I was looking for something.”

  Tara tried to swallow, but her throat wouldn’t work. She knew in that instant he had been looking for her. And she had felt safe with him, she had let him shelter her the night before.

  “You found it,” she said.

  He gave a quick nod. “I’m … Tara, I’m…”

  She rolled her eyes and slapped her hands on her legs. “Just spit it out.”

  Tara wasn’t sure why she hadn’t already run for the door. Maybe it was because she wanted to know who had hired Ramsey or why he hadn’t tied her up and locked her in his room until the snowstorm passed.

  Maybe she just wanted to know why he had kissed her.

  Instead of telling her what he’d been about to say, he held out his arm, palm out toward the hearth. A second later a blast of magic erupted from his hand and shattered the glass candleholder on the mantel.

  Tara stumbled backward until she collided with the wall behind her. Her eyes looked from the broken bits of glass to Ramsey.

  “I’ve wanted to tell you,” he said.

  She tried to calm her racing heart. Her only recourse was to lie, because she couldn’t admit the truth. Not to Ramsey. Not to anyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  The sadness on his face evaporated, replaced by cold rage. He stalked toward her, causing her to press against the wall.

  “Really? You want to lie?”

  She shrugged.

  Ramsey leaned close until his face was inches from hers and she could see the dark silver band around his irises. “I know you have magic, Tara. I know you’re a Druid.”

  And then he placed a finger atop her hand.

  Confused, she looked down and gasped as wisps of white smoke curled around Ramsey’s thick index finger to his hand, around his wrist, and up his arm.

  “This is what happens when I touch you,” he whispered.