T is for Temptation

by Jianne Carlo

  “Who the hell are you?” Jake demanded.

  “Your brother.”

  “Don’t touch me. Get back,” Jake growled as he jumped out of range. “I have no brother.”

  “I’m your elder brother.” The man snorted. “The heir. By four hours, according to our mother.” He poked a finger into Jake’s chest.

  “I have no brother. And don’t touch me again if you value your life.”

  Alex’s piercing whistle punctuated the air.

  “What?” Jake’s question resonated in the narrow hallway, but his eyes never wavered from the other man.

  “I think you’d better listen to him. Unless I miss my guess, you guys are identical twins.”Alex studied the fingernails of one hand, his lips twitching.

  “Don’t be a jackass. You and I grew up together in an orphanage. You know very well I have no brother.”

  “I am Stephen Kieran Ferguson, your brother, elder by four hours.”

  “What in the blasted hell do you keep repeating that? Like four hours makes a difference? I need a drink.”

  “A magical chest brought you home.”

  Jake felt as if he’d moved inside a glacier, the blood drained from his head to his pink toes. It hurt to breathe. He met the man’s sable eyes, which darkened as his mouth curved into a rueful smile.

  “You know about the trunk? Then you must know where it is.” Alex said in his clipped interrogator tone. He straightened.

  “Stop it, Alex. Shut up for a blasted minute,” Jake barked. He stepped backwards, edging into the attic room. “Not only did I grow up in an orphanage, I live in the year 2007.”

  “Where you met our mother’s brother, Douglas Graham, and he gave you a magical chest. When you opened it, you came to our time, and Tiny Graham guided you here.”

  Jake strained to get air into his lungs.

  “You have a mother, Elaine, a father, Kieran, and a sister, Helen.”

  The man’s quiet, even tone froze Jake’s movements.

  “I think you’d better listen to him.” Alex insinuated himself between the two men and glanced from one face to the other. “You’re identical twins.”

  “Alex, don’t.”

  “You even have the same scar.” Alex touched one finger to Jake’s eyebrow, and another to Stephen’s, at a spot where a scar slashed the dark hairs.

  “It can’t be.”

  “It makes sense. Think about it. It explains everything, all the coincidences, the trunk, the Grahams. Everything that’s happened over the past few days.” Alex paused. “At least give him a chance to explain.”

  “Thank you.” The man inclined his head towards Alex. He waved towards a new room at the end of the hallway. “Come, I will tell you the tale.”

  “Where did that room come from?” Alex asked.

  “That mystifies you, but not an identical twin? No, that one’s a piece of cake,” Jake snapped, fighting to regain control of his blasted life, of this reeling situation, and damned angry with Alex’s blasé acceptance of an impossible twin brother.

  “I believe Tiny explained this is the fairy addition to Brodick. It changes to accommodate us. These are my quarters. They appear while I’m in residence.”

  “Fascinating. What happens when you leave?” Relaxed curiosity tinkered Alex’s blue gaze, and Jake glared at him.

  “They vanish. ’Tis a means of protection.”

  Gesturing to a small square table in the center of the room, Stephen smiled and said, “Sit. Whisky?”

  Jake slumped into a chair and surveyed the room. Leather and wood furniture, dark and oversized, but oozing comfort and hinting of a luxury beyond the current century’s capabilities, dominated the large space. Flames blazed and crackled in a marble fireplace with ornate carvings.

  After delivering a glass of whisky to each man, Stephen sat opposite them and stretched out, long legs crossing at the ankles. “Welcome home, Brother. Our mother will be overjoyed.”

  Jake swigged his liquor and gritted his teeth at the fierce burn.

  “Our mother, Elaine, is an Elfish princess.”

  “I’m not staying here to listen to a blasted fairy tale.” Jake blew out an exasperated breath.

  Undeterred Stephen Ferguson continued, “She married a mortal, the Scottish Laird Kieran Ferguson, against her family’s wishes. The Elfish ring of elders banished her from their realm. You and I are her firstborn children. She didn’t expect twins. I came first, and the midwife left the birthing room to attend to me.”

  Bells pealed.

  “Ah, the feasting begins. I will hasten my explanation.” Stephen swallowed a generous portion of whisky. “Mother was alone in the room when you came into the world. She was weak, dazed, and thought she gave you to another midwife to care for, but it was a sea kelpie sent by the elders to steal you away.”

  “Why? Why would they do that?”

  “To punish her for marrying a mortal. The ultimate pain for a mother, to be separated from her child,” Stephen explained.

  Jake’s head throbbed, the dull headache becoming sharper with each word Stephen spoke, and his mind verged on the brink of implosion. “Then this whole thing isn’t just a series of wild coincidences?”

  “No. The Grahams have served the Fergusons throughout time. They are a family of warlocks. The chest is Douglas’s creation, but designed by our mother to return you to her side,” Stephen said and elbowed out of the plush chair.

  Bells pealed in an insistent clamor.

  “We must go. The feasting is about to start.” Stephen strode towards the doorway.

  “Feasting?”

  Stephen grinned at them over his shoulder. “For my handfasting.”

  “You’re the one handfasting. Thank God. Tee will be so relieved.” Jake shot to his feet. “Tee. Damn. How could I forget, even for a minute?”

  “We cannot tarry. Already the Ramsays are displeased because I refused to consummate the ceremony. Come, Mother and Da await us for a few private words.”

  “They know we’re here?”

  “She is an Elfish princess with a knowing touch. We cut our journey short when the trunk returned to her. She knew then.”

  “Pinch me, Alex,” Jake ordered. “I’m so tired of being confused.”

  “I know the feeling,” Alex muttered. “And I’m not at the center of everything. I am so grateful I’m not you.”

  “Thanks a lot, buddy.”

  “Anytime.”

  As they trudged down the staircase, following Stephen’s impatient bouncing steps, he asked, “Alex, are we insane?”

  “I don’t think so. Although the circumstances definitely warrant a plea of insanity.” Alex cuffed his shoulder. “Cheer up. It can’t get much worse.”

  “Oh God. Yes, it can.” He straightened. “Where the hell is Tee? We can’t go to this feast. I have to find her.”

  “I believe our mother can tell you where to find the woman you seek.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Aye.”

  Stephen halted before the doorway. “I should warn you. Mother is weepy.”

  “Huh?”

  “She sheds tears easily.” Stephen tapped his finger against the dimple on his chin. “She’s also very affectionate. Indulge her, or I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

  Jake stumbled through a doorway and bumped into a petite feminine form. Slender arms encircled his waist.

  “Let me look at you.” Tears streamed down the woman’s high cheekbones. Her tiny hand rose and stroked his cheek. She buried her head against Jake’s chest. “I’ve waited so long for this day.”

  His hands fisted, and his spine stiffened even as the velocity of his erratic heartbeat jumped and stuttered, fear and something close to joy swathing a furious path like a riptide current in a bay. He suspended thought, afraid of being swept into unmanageable depths, unknown territory.

  Stephen’s eyes met his over the top of his mother’s head. Jake swallowed. He looked down.

  His mother.

 
Large sable eyes the exact shape of his threatened to consume her face. They glistened with moisture. Everything registered at a distance, snippets worming their way into his consciousness.

  “Jamie, you’re home.”

  Her fingers felt like butterfly’s wings on his skin.

  “My name is Jake.”

  “I named you James Michael Ferguson.”

  “Elaine, give the boy some time to digest everything.” The clipped order came from a strapping man standing behind his mother. He reached around, detached the woman’s arms from Jake’s waist, and drew her to his side. “I’m Kieran Ferguson, your father.”

  Alex cleared his throat and coughed. “I’m Alex Mayfield, a friend of Jake’s, Jamie’s.” He stepped into the room and stretched out his hand.

  Kieran Ferguson shook it. “Welcome to BrodickCastle, Alex Mayfield.”

  Tiny appeared in the doorway. His mouth dropped open. He stared first at Jake and then at Stephen.

  “Laird,” he said and looked from one to the other. “Who’s the laird?”

  “He is.” Jake pointed to his brother.

  “Aye.” Tiny scratched his ear. “Who does the witch belong to then?”

  “Me.” Jake flinched. “Tee. Where is she?”

  “A slight mishap. Some of the men decided to have her make gold for them. A fierce temper, that one. Did you know she can make gnats rain? And only on certain persons?” Tiny chuckled, a low belly laugh erupting. “None of the lads are likely to touch her again.”

  “Blast it, where the hell is she?”

  “She was in the dungeon.”

  “And now?” he ground out.

  “Vanished.”

  “Sweetling, she’s returned to your time.”

  His mother’s voice, low and musical, rang in Jake’s ears. They reached the hall, and he followed the group of them to a rough set of benches and tables and took a seat next to Alex.

  Brodick Castle’s cavernous banquet room echoed with the murmur of men in conversation. Warriors bearing an assortment of weapons loitered around long benches and tables. The scent of meat roasting permeated the room. Jake supported his chin with his palms and stared into space, oblivious to his companions.

  “Do you think Tee’s at her nanna’s cottage?” Alex nudged his elbow, jerking it out from under his chin.

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t make a flying guess. I’m so blasted frustrated, and my mind can’t seem to get round all this.” Jake flicked a couple of fingers at the hall.

  Tiny dropped a pitcher of ale on the grooved wood and clambered onto the bench. He grabbed three mugs from the center of the table and shoved one each to the other two men.

  “Just what the doctor ordered.” Alex grinned at Tiny and gave him a high five. Tiny’s slap almost sent him off the bench. “Ouch. Not so hard.”

  Tiny poured ale into the three cups, spilling copious amounts in the process. “We have to toughen you up, pretty boy, make you into a real man. Have you noticed how clean he always is, Laird?”

  “I’m not the laird, my brother is.” Jake took a swallow of his beer.

  “Aye, he is, but so are you. Stephen is the heir, but you’re a laird too, of some smaller holding, on an island somewhere. Remember hearing of it once. I heard a wee tale of your witch in the kitchens. She witnessed the laird’s handfasting and fainted and vanished.”

  “Damn,” Jake groaned. “She doesn’t know about Stephen. She’ll think it was me. That’s the last straw. I give up.”

  “For Chrissake, stop moaning and groaning. The woman adores you. A simple explanation is all it’ll take, and you two will be cavorting in public again.” Alex threw a couple of logs onto the fire and prodded them with an iron poker.

  “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” His gut told him Tee’d keep him hanging. She’d never agree to move in. He’d made a mistake with the money and the house. The idea didn’t appeal to her. Why not?

  Marriage.

  She said she didn’t want it, but didn’t every woman?

  Every relationship he witnessed fell apart after the blasted ceremony, even hers. People stopped trying, took each other for granted from the minute the ink dried on the certificate.

  “I wonder if your brother has visions,” Alex mused and used the metal stick to rearrange the logs in the fireplace. Flames licked up the flue, and the wood snapped and sent orange sparks flying in a wide arc.

  “Best ask him yourself. ’Tis a well-kept secret whether Stephen inherited your mother’s magic or nay.”

  “The attic room would seem to confirm that, no?”

  “Ah, pretty boy, when the Fae are involved, nothing is as it seems.” Tiny chugged the rest of his ale. “You have the second sight?”

  “Maybe.” Admitting it didn’t come easy. He’d hidden the secret for so long, but if it saved Tee, he’d shout it to the world. “This is all well and good. It explains everything, but we have a life to get back to, issues to settle.”

  “He means Tee.”

  “Aye, I can see that. A powerful itch.”

  “Don’t you think you can spend a few minutes with your mother, Jake? She keeps looking this way with such sad eyes.”

  “Instant family doesn’t mean instant affection. It doesn’t even mean instant like, if that ass Stephen is anything to go by. It’s going to take a while to digest all this. I wouldn’t know what to say to her anyway.”

  “Now who’s being the ass? Christ, she’s your mother, and she hasn’t seen you since you were a newborn. Think of her. Make the damned effort.”

  “I can’t, okay? Not right now.”

  “Jamie, will you join us at the head table tonight?” Elaine Ferguson strode to her son. She stroked his bare forearm and his flesh warmed under her fingers.

  He went rigid, trying not to flinch. “Jake, my name is Jake.”

  “Jake, then. We will celebrate your homecoming. This eve, you will meet your clan and your people.”

  “I don’t plan on staying here, so it doesn’t make any sense for me to meet anyone,” he snapped.

  “Jake, you could be nice. She’s your mother, for crying out loud.” Alex’s clipped voice silenced the room.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.” He lurched to his feet, stepped back, and his mother’s hand fell away. “I am not going to live here.”

  “And you don’t have to. However, you do owe your mother civility. What an insufferable boor you are, Brother.” Stephen growled. He picked Elaine off the floor, turned her in his arms, and hugged her. “Give him time, Mother. Is he always so angry and rude, Alex?” Stephen set Elaine on her feet.

  “Pretty much.” Alex shrugged. “We grew up in a boys’ home without the softness of women. We’re not used to lots of affection.”

  “Well.” Elaine fisted her hands on slender hips. “You both will have to get used to affection. Mountains of it. I kiss and embrace the people I love all the time. Pick me up, Jamie, kiss me on the cheek, and then embrace me.”

  “I, um,” Jake stammered.

  Elaine stamped her foot. “Now, Son.”

  “Better do it, Brother.”

  Jake did as ordered. When he brushed Elaine’s cheeks with his lips, he smelled roses, and immediately his thoughts turned to Tee.

  Elaine’s arms snuck around his waist. She laid her head on his chest. Jake felt wetness through his cotton shirt. “Don’t cry, please. I can’t stand to see a woman cry.” He stroked her back. “Please stop crying.”

  She sobbed into his chest.

  He gulped. “Please stop.”

  Her sobs grew louder, more frantic.

  “What should I do?” he asked Stephen.

  His brother grinned. “I warned you. She’s weepy, is our mother. Just hold her, and she’ll stop eventually.”

  Elaine’s crying subsided into muffled gasps. She reached across and smacked Stephen on the arm, turned her face sideways, and said, “Don’t mock your mother.”

  “Yes, Mother dearling. Father, can y
ou relieve poor Jamie? He looks as if he’ll turn purple soon.”

  “Jake,” he muttered, “My name is Jake.”

  Servants carrying platters of food trudged into the banquet hall. Glasses clinked. Metal clattered.

  “Elaine dearling.” Kieran tapped his wife’s shoulder. “Come, Wife. Give our son some breathing room.”

  She pushed off Jake’s chest and smiled up at him, tears still streaming down her pink cheeks. Elaine patted his jaw. “As usual, Husband, you’re right.” She wiped her eyes and dried her hands on her skirt. “Why don’t you want to stay here, Jamie?”

  “What?”

  Alex rolled his eyes.

  Elaine halted two maids holding large pitchers. “Take those over there.” She pointed to the head table. “Do you like red or white wine, Jamie?”

  “Jake. Both, either is fine.”

  “Which do you prefer, Jamie?”

  “Jake. Red, I prefer red.”

  “Alex, why does Jamie want to leave Brodick?”

  “Do you know where we came from Lady Ferguson?” Alex asked.

  “Call me Elaine, sweet boy. You have such a beautiful face, not that yours isn’t perfectly handsome, Jamie. Do you even have whiskers?” She tiptoed and rubbed her hand across Alex’s cheek.

  Tiny broke into loud guffaws.

  Alex glowered at him.

  “We came from the year 2007,” he offered.

  “Oh, how interesting. Jamie, you don’t want to stay because you prefer the future?” Elaine directed a manservant carrying a silver platter bearing a small suckling pig to the head table. Aromatic smells from cooked apples and succulent roasted pork permeated the air.

  “Yes, no. I don’t know.” Jake’s brain seemed stuck on rewind.

  “He wants to go back to find Tee.” Alex’s bald statement punctuated the noisy clanking of dishes and silverware.

  “Tee’s Jamie’s witch,” Stephen added.

  Elaine’s blur of activity stopped abruptly. She spun on her heels and stuck her chin out. “You own a witch?”

  Jake thought he saw smoke coming out of her ears. “Of course not. One human being can’t own another.” He looked to Stephen for guidance. His brother shrugged. He was on his own.

  “So, exactly who is this Tee?” Elaine tapped a slippered foot against the stone floor. “I’m waiting, Jamie.”