by Willa Blair
Nessa’s voice cracked with her rising sense of panic, her mouth dried up as though filled with cotton. “No! My parents were so lousy. I didn’t want to become like them. Why would I want to take the chance of warping some innocent child the way they screwed me up?”
Latharn exhaled explosively. “Now I understand. I promise ye, Nessa. You’re nothing like your parents. I watched what they did to ye with their cruel, spiteful words. Our bairns will be happy and they will love ye deeply. Maybe as much as I do.”
Nessa’s lower lip trembled as a tiny tendril of hope sprouted deep within her heart. The churning in her stomach lessened as she searched Latharn’s face. Knotting her napkin between her damp palms, she heaved a shaking breath. “So, you promise you’ll help me when it comes time for us to start a family? You’ll make sure I don’t turn into some kind of wicked beast and end up scarring our babies for life?”
Leaning forward, Latharn planted a kiss on her forehead and placed a loving hand across her womb. “Ye won’t need my help when it comes to kindness. Ye’ve not got a cruel shadow in your soul.”
Nessa hugged his arm close and ducked her head with an embarrassed glance around the table. Her cheeks warmed when she realized she’d dampened the mood by bringing up her troubled past. “Please forgive me, Brodie and Fiona. I didn’t mean to spoil your news.”
Fiona waved her words away and reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “There’s nothing to forgive. But there’s a great deal to be done if we’re to have a handfasting upon the next full moon. Since Latharn appears to be all-knowing, exactly how much time do we have to prepare?”
A rich chuckle rumbled from deep within his chest as Latharn hugged Nessa close to his side. “We’ve got but two weeks before the moon is fully waxed. Our ritual shall be at midnight on that night.”
Fiona propped her arms on the edge of the cluttered table, tracing a finger across the top of an empty glass. “Midnight? Are ye sure Latharn? This time of year ’twill be quite cold standing beneath the stars.”
With a mysterious smile, Latharn raised his glass to his lips. “Midnight upon the night of the autumnal equinox, the full moon shining in the sky. ’Twill allow all of our guests as well as the Auld One to gather with us to witness the joining of our souls.”
“Wouldn’t ye have more guests during the early evening, before the midnight hour?” Brodie motioned for the waitress to return to the table and refill their empty glasses.
Latharn drained his glass and settled it in the midst of the rest of the empties before fixing Brodie with a reproving look. “Before that night, we must start your training, Brodie. Ye must stop thinking as though nothing else exists other then the physical aspect of this world.”
Remaining silent, Nessa eased back in her chair, too much wine and too much news taking its toll on her mind and body. Her head pounded and her stomach rolled. She thought she understood what Latharn meant but decided to wait until another time to find out for sure. She’d had enough surprises sprung on her during dinner. Swallowing uneasily, she still grappled with the news of her possible future as the matriarch of the next MacKay herd.
Gnawing nervously on her lower lip, Nessa groaned as another problem sprouted to mind. “Who are we going to ask to perform the ceremony? Illegal handfasting isn’t exactly a job for the local priest.” With a worried look into Latharn’s green-eyed gaze, Nessa fidgeted in her seat. She didn’t feel well at all.
Raising her hand to his lips, Latharn winked as he kissed her palm. “Brodie and I have found a practicing druid who also happens to be a MacKay. In fact, he’s a very special MacKay.”
Brodie piped up in agreement. “And one of our more, shall we say, infamous relatives is providing identification documents to ensure that once the year and a day have passed everything can be legally registered and filed for the official ceremony.”
Leaning back in his chair, Brodie waggled a mischievous brow. “Lucky for us, he was paroled just last week and will be in town tomorrow.”
“Excuse me.” Standing, Trish rummaged through the silverware scattered on the table, found a spoon and ting-tinked the edge of several glasses. “Since apparently you can’t swing a cat around here without hitting a member of the MacKay clan. I think it’s high time somebody introduced me to the one who finds redheads irresistible.”
Amidst the erupting laughter from everyone at the table, Latharn raised his glass high in the air. His rumbling chuckles drowned out them all as he toasted Trish’s health. “To irresistible redheads and their loyalty to their friends! If not for Trish’s persistence, I might still be trapped in that crystal hell.”
“Sláinte!”
Laughing as she raised her glass, Nessa happened to glance toward the window across the room. There was a face reflected through the dimpled panes.
Was that Gabriel standing outside the restaurant?
Downing her drink, Nessa looked again once she’d lowered her glass but the scowling face was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nessa gnawed at her lower lip as she gripped the edges of the seat. She had her fingers clenched so deep in the cushions she knew her nails were going to shred the upholstery.
“Latharn, don’t you think it would be better if Brodie taught you how to drive?”
“’Tis no’ a matter of being taught, Nessa. I but need ye to tell me the basic functions of the gadgets and knobs. I assure ye, I am not some foolish young pup who has to practice until he gets it right.” Latharn sat in the driver’s seat of the car, his brow creased with a frown as he examined the gauges and knobs. He twisted to peer down around the wheel, studying the pedals she’d pointed out at his feet.
Nessa inhaled a deep, nerve calming breath, attempting to swallow her rising anxiety. She closed her eyes and searched for something positive about Latharn trying to learn to drive. At least this thing is an automatic. I’d end up with whiplash trying to teach him to use a clutch.
Latharn sat bolt upright in the seat and swiveled to fix her with an icy glare. “My love, I’d like to remind ye I have been reading your mind since ye were but a lass of eighteen years of age. I am now trying to withdraw and give ye your privacy. But when ye find yourself feeling particularly sarcastic, your thoughts are much louder than your words.”
Nessa’s cheeks heated up with this latest revelation. She narrowed her eyes and returned his glare. Her temper flared as she arched one brow and boldly spoke her mind. “Can you hear what I am thinking now, my love?”
His eyes widened. Latharn cocked his head and smirked. “Now why would I want to do that to myself when it’s much more satisfying to do it with you?”
Her teeth clenched, Nessa pointed to the keys. “Just start the car.”
Latharn stomped the gas pedal to the floor, turned the keys as far as the ignition would allow—and held them there. His face locked into a mask of concentration, he stared at the road ahead. The starter whined in painful protest as the engine roared with the fury of the wide-open gas.
“Now let them go! As soon as you hear the engine start, you’re supposed to let go of the keys.” Nessa slapped at his hand and tapped at his right knee currently locked in the straight position, the gas pedal pushed to the floorboard. “Let up on the pedal! You’re giving it too much gas. You’re going to burn up all the fuel before you even put it into gear.”
“Stop scolding me as though I’m an empty-headed bairn! Ye didna tell me that part when ye went through what each of these damn things do.” Latharn white-knuckled the steering wheel until it almost bent between his hands as he shifted in the seat.
Flattening her hands on the dashboard, Nessa tried to swallow her frustration. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to yell. I told you it would be better if Brodie did this. Now put your foot on the brake and ease the gearshift into drive. Right, the one with the D.” Scrubbing her face with her hands, Nessa glanced at the street, thankful that it appeared to be deserted. “Now before you pull out…”
The c
ar squealed out of the parking lot. He kept his right leg locked at the knee. His massive hands swallowed the tiny tubing of the steering wheel, sawing it back and forth. Thanks to Nessa’s adamant refusal to teach him unless they were on a deserted stretch of road, all he had to do was keep the car between the ditches as he barreled down the lane.
“Latharn, slow down!” Nessa squeezed his right leg to get him to relax off the gas pedal at least a notch or two. Latharn appeared to have only two speeds: dead stop or screaming wide-ass open.
Latharn glared at the road and his leg began to relax. As the car slowed down from its breakneck speed, his hands unclenched from the wheel. “Ye see, Nessa? I told ye ’twould be no chore at all. Ye must learn to trust in what I say.”
“Just because you’re able to drive down a deserted stretch of road doesn’t mean you’ve mastered this thing just yet.” As she snugged her seat belt across her body, Nessa pointed up the roadway a bit. “Why don’t you turn here and take us back to Brodie’s and we’ll see if you can park this thing.”
Latharn took the corner so fast the car almost skidded on two wheels. He fixed Nessa with a chilling glare when she bellowed for him to slow the damn thing down.
He growled. “I’m not deaf, Nessa. Just because I can hear your thoughts doesn’t mean I can’t hear you speak.”
As they neared the graveled drive, Nessa pointed to a spot beneath an ancient oak. “Why don’t you just pull up to that tree? I think it best if we stay away from the building.”
Tearing his gaze away from the road, Latharn reprimanded her with a jerk of his head. “I will thank ye to keep the jests to yourself and might I also add I have never met a woman with such a broad knowledge of profanity in my life.” He wasn’t sure what some of those words meant, but there were others he sure did.
“I haven’t cursed you a single time,” Nessa retorted. “At least not out loud…much.”
“Aye. Well, ye have done a verra fine job of it in your head.” He returned his attention to the targeted spot in front of the tree. As he lifted his foot from the gas pedal, he stomped on the brake and threw them both forward into their locking seat belts.
“Ow! Didn’t I tell you not to stomp on the pedals? You’re supposed to lightly step on them...roll onto them with the ball of your foot.” Nessa twisted her body and rubbed her shoulder where the seat belt had tried to behead her.
Latharn threw the gearshift into park, shut off the engine, and yanked the keys from the ignition. He exploded from the vehicle and threw the keys to the ground. He didn’t even acknowledge Trish as she walked across the drive when he stormed off across the field.
Trish bent, peered into the car, and raised her brows at Nessa’s enraged face. “First driving lesson went well, I see.”
“The man is impossible! He won’t listen to a word I say. He acts like he’s so superior. He thinks he’s some kind of god!” Nessa slammed the car door and massaged her neck where the seat belt had rubbed the skin raw.
Trish leaned back against the side of the car, examining her manicure as she spoke in a reproving tone. “Do you think maybe you’re being a little hard on him? After all, he hasn’t walked among the living, so to speak, in nearly six hundred years.”
Nessa paced in a frustrated circle back and forth beside the car. “Hard on him? I’m trying to help him adapt. This is no longer the year 1410. He can’t ride around the countryside swinging his claymore, and expect everyone to bow and scrape to his mighty name.”
Trish pulled a file out of her back pocket, pursing her lips as she continued scowling at her nails. “So when you got your PhD in Archeology, I guess you didn’t review any of the history of the clans and what was expected of their lairds and their behavior?”
Nessa stopped halfway through her second lap around the car and whirled to shoot Trish with a fiery look. “Out with it, Trish. If you’ve got something to say then just say it. Leave the smartass remarks at the door.”
Trish raised her brows and clucked at Nessa. “Fine. I’ll tell you what you don’t want to hear but you already know what I’m going to say. I think you’re scared and you’re trying to find a way to keep Latharn at a safe distance without having to tell him to get lost. You’ve finally got the real thing and it’s scaring the living hell out of you.”
Trish flourished her nail file in the air as she continued. “Always before, you got rid of any guy you dated because there’s no way he compared to the Highlander of your dreams. Now you’re scared to death because you’ve got your benchmark right in your hands and you’re going to have to either commit or quit.”
“Bullshit!” Nessa snorted with a stomp of her foot in the gravel.
Trish gave her a wink and her smile widened as she moved closer. “Why else would you be having so much trouble understanding how hard it’s going to be for Latharn to adapt to the twenty-first century? You’re the expert in history around here. If anyone understands what he’s used to dealing with, it ought to be you. How do you think he feels finding himself in a world where he has even less control then he had in that witch’s ball?”
Nessa’s gaze shifted to the ground as she bit her bottom lip. “You know I hate you, right?”
“Don’t you mean you hate it when I’m right?” With a devilish grin, Trish pushed her in the direction Latharn had headed in his blind fury across the field. “Why don’t you go find him? Talk to him, Nessa. And stop being so damned afraid to start living the life you deserve.”
Nessa scooped the keys up off the ground and lobbed them at Trish’s head. “One of these days, you’re going to meet your match and I’m going to sit back and laugh.”
“It’ll never happen!” Trish replied with a laugh and headed for the doorway.
Nessa made her way through the tall, waving grass. She followed the path Latharn had pounded down in his fury. She didn’t know what she was going to say when she found him, but she had to find a way to make it right.
Trish was right. Damn her to hell. That redhead should’ve been a shrink. Since he’d become flesh and blood, Latharn’s presence in her life scared the living hell out of her. With his freedom from the crystal, he could be lost. What if he decided to leave her? What if he found that, after all this time of pining for her, she wasn’t what he wanted after at all? It was kind of like shopping. The biggest thrill is trying to find what you want. It’s kind of a letdown once the rush of adrenaline passes and you’ve gotten what you’ve searched for all along.
Nessa reached the top of a small knoll and paused to scan the area. The grass thinned out making Latharn’s path less apparent, the packed dirt hard and covered with scattered clumps of thistles and good-sized stones. Looking around, Nessa recognized the clustered trees up ahead as the copse of pines surrounding the goddess well.
Nessa hesitated, wondering if Latharn had gone to the spring. If his mother had chosen to appear to Nessa at the well, then what would prevent her from appearing to Latharn? Taking care to ease into the trees, Nessa thrilled as the murmur of voices met her ears. Peeping through the bushes, Nessa spotted Latharn with his mother beside the well.
Latharn sat upon a stone, his hands clenched in front of him, his head sagging as he scowled into the shimmering waters below. “Has love between a man and a woman changed so much, Mother? Has it become a mere diversion or a passing thought? I couldna even convince her to say she would marry me. We’re only to be handfasted with the next full moon. It’s as though the lass thinks we’ve just met. She thinks we need to get to know one another, when I know her better then she knows herself.” Latharn dropped his head into his hands, covering his face and heaved a dismal sigh. “She’s mine, Mother! I’ll always keep her safe. Why can she no’ trust that I’ll never leave her?”
Too busy eavesdropping to watch where she stepped, Nessa didn’t see the brittle stick lying like a guardian across her path. The snap echoed throughout the wood. The birds flushed from the trees to announce Nessa’s presence to all.
Both turned in unison;
Latharn and Rachel visibly relaxed when they saw it was Nessa in their wood. Rachel pressed her face to Latharn’s ear, then smiled at Nessa before she disappeared. Her image evaporated into a mist as though she’d been nothing more than a passing shadow.
Latharn rose from his seat upon the stone. He stood silent, watching as Nessa drew near. His gaze smoldered, smile gone, hands flexing at his sides.
Guilt weighed heavily on her mind. Nessa knew she had put the sorrow in his eyes. She swallowed hard against her storming emotions, struggled to slow the drumming of her heart. What a fool she had been, avoiding the truth, so afraid he’d slip out of her life. “I’m so sorry, Latharn. I didn’t mean to be such a...” She searched for the words, the words to make it right. She gave up, no words would ever do. Crying out, she rushed headlong into his arms.
She leapt on his chest, possessed his mouth, and poured her apologies into her kiss. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she buried her fingers into his hair and molded her body against his.
Latharn wrapped his arms around her, carrying her to the moss-covered bank beside the mouth of the spring. He lowered them both to the ground and leaned them back against a fallen log. Nessa straddled his body, fueling her kisses with her deepest emotions. He had to forgive her. He had to know how she truly felt.
Slipping his hand up the front of her shirt, Latharn pushed her bra aside. He let out a muffled groan of pleasure as she shivered beneath his touch. Cupping her breast, he circled her nipple with his thumb and slipped his other hand down the front of her pants.
Latharn teased his way into her folds, swirling his fingers deep inside her. “I ache for ye, Nessa,” he breathed into her mouth as she moaned against his lips.
Breathless, she raised her head from his mouth, slipped her shirt down her shoulders, and tossed her bra aside. Nessa writhed and moaned as his talented fingers danced inside her. Gripping his shoulders, she closed her eyes, her head thrown back in pure bliss. She ground her hips hard into his hand, taking full advantage of his expert touch. His teasing thumb tantalized her nub until she cried out and shuddered on his hand.
