“Aye, there is.” He stood. His long discussion with Them had yielded many disturbing things, but only two solutions. “I can give you two choices. Only one is certain tae keep ye safe from the death Judd has planned.”
“And that is?”
“I have less than three weeks left on this mountain. When that time is up I return to purgatory.” He shifted his weight, still disturbed by this next bit. “They will allow you to ascend with me.”
Her mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
Duncan straightened further. Trust a Claren to make a difficult situation even more so. “I said, ye can join me in the afterlife. Ye’ll be safe there.”
Maggie tucked the sheet under her arms and scooted into a cross-legged position, a look of disbelief on her face. “Let me get this straight,” she said. “In order to keep Judd from killing me, I’m to kill myself now.”
He scowled. He should have known better. Why had he felt compelled to intervene on her behalf? Her lips were indescribably sweet, but her tongue certainly wasn’t. “Ye would be wise tae heed this offer.”
He watched her struggle to regain her composure, but there was very real fear behind those blue eyes. Still, she would not give into it. His irritation lessened somewhat. A MacKinnon recognized and admired bravery when he saw it. Even, he supposed, in a Claren.
“There is another way.”
She brightened immediately.
He silently cursed the responsive chord that struck in him. He tried to tell himself that he was only doing this as a means to hopefully be reunited with his clan. With his brothers. They had presented him with an opportunity and he had been wise enough to avail himself of it. He had not offered to save her life to make her happy, nor to settle any debt he had to Mairi or the Clarens.
Liar.
He swallowed the truth and it went down hard. “I could try and see to yer safety here on earth before I go. Because I’ve offered tae do that for ye, They are willin’ tae allow me to have my leave o’ this place to see it done.”
She took a moment to assimilate his words. “You mean, they’ll let you leave the mountain?”
“Aye. I can go where I wish, do wha’ I wish.”
Her eyes all but sparkled with the possibilities. “And you get to keep your … ghostly powers?”
Duncan frowned at her description. “Nothing else changes.”
Maggie clapped her hands together, then made a wild grab for the slipping covers. “That’s wonderful, that’s—” She broke off as suddenly as she’d started, a frown creasing her forehead. “Wait a minute. Why?”
“I told you why, so I could help ye—”
“I know that part. Why would you do this? I can understand dragging me along to the afterlife when your three weeks are up. All you’d have to do is sit here until we’re called. But this … This way you’ll have to physically do something. You’ll actively have to help me.”
“And I warned you there were no guarantees this way. I’ll do wha’ I can, but it may no’ be enough.”
“That still doesn’t answer my question. Why would you do this for me? Just to get off the mountain?” Her eyes widened. “If I don’t agree to just go with you and ask you to help me instead, what happens if you—if we—fail?”
“I am free to spend my time here where I wish no matter. When my time is done, I return to purgatory.”
“So why do it? Why put yourself out for me if offering alone was enough?”
Duncan stared at her sitting there in her downy nest, hair tangled, skin glowing in the firelight from below. There were a hundred answers to her question and not one had anything to do with being reunited with his brothers. “Does it matter as long as I’m willing?” he asked quietly.
She assessed him in silence, her gaze so intent it was as if she thought she could intuit his thoughts, ferret out his secrets, if she but looked long enough and deep enough.
“Yes. Yes, it does,” she said, just as quietly. “If you succeed, do you get out of purgatory?”
“I have no way of knowing that.” He stilled her question with a raised hand. “If I’ve passed some test with Them by doing this, so be it. It was not why I offered.”
She straightened, her gaze turning more challenger than inquisitor. “I swore when I left Judd I’d never let myself get into a situation where I had to rely on someone else ever again. I’d have to be sure I was in control, at least of my own share. Well, I’m still not in control, of anything. I’m still having to rely on someone else to help me. That’s hard enough to deal with. Maybe I should just be grateful for your offer and not care about the motivation behind it. But I’m already trapped by one person’s agenda. I can’t risk getting trapped by yours, too.” She commanded his full attention and a great deal of his respect with nothing more than a look. “Tell me the truth, Duncan MacKinnon. Why do you really want to help me?”
ELEVEN
Maggie watched him intently, yet his eyes betrayed nothing of what he felt. A part of her was still reeling from his kiss.
“There is nothing sinister in my motives, Maggie.”
She reluctantly drew her gaze away from his mouth. “But you’re not going to tell me,” she stated.
His expression was as closed as it had ever been since she’d first met him. “I have the days to fill no matter what.” He didn’t shrug, but his words were the equivalent.
“So I’m supposed to put my trust—not to mention my life—in your hands because you have nothing better to do then help me hunt down a killer?”
“Have you got a better offer, Maggie?”
He hadn’t said it unkindly, but it didn’t matter. Her cheeks stung, but she didn’t look away. “If I refuse both of your generous offers, then what?”
His stony façade began to crumble, frustration and strain began to tighten the skin around his eyes and mouth. “I didna question Them at length about it, lass.” His voice was rising and his hands were clenched at his sides. “If I’d have known how stubborn ye’d be about acceptin’ my help, I’d have reconsidered. Now, will ye take my help or no’?”
Maggie’s first instinct was to tell him exactly what he could do with his offer, but it was one thing to be self-reliant and quite another to throw away what very well might be her only chance to save her life.
“Well, I suppose you are the perfect man for the job.” She’d said it less than graciously, but his anger seemed to curb a bit at her admission.
His hands relaxed and his expression smoothed. “And why would that be, lass?”
She tried on a smile, surprised when it fit more easily than she’d expected. “You’re already dead. Judd isn’t exactly a threat to you, now is he?”
When Duncan returned the smile, she was more relieved than she’d thought possible. A warning if there ever was one. She hadn’t realized how badly she’d wanted to take the solution he was offering her. She determined right then and there not to let him have any more control over the situation than was absolutely necessary.
“True.” His expression grew serious once again. “But remember, I canna promise you I’ll be able to stop yer fate from claiming you this way.”
A cold chill snaked down her spine. She knew that, had understood it before she’d accepted his offer, but hearing him say it now stilled something inside her. “I know.” She looked up at him. “I haven’t been very gracious. I’ve been suspicious and difficult and, while that probably won’t change, I’m sorry for seeming so unappreciative. Thank you for doing this, Duncan. Whatever your reasons might be.”
He didn’t respond, but merely studied her in silence, a silence that grew steadily more uncomfortable. His gaze roamed over her in the lazy manner of someone in no rush to move on to other things. Maggie grew almost excruciatingly aware of her nakedness, could feel every inch of the fabric that touched her skin, his gaze making the linen feel as intimate as the touch of his hand. And yet she had no idea what was going on behind those gray eyes of his. There was heat there to be sure, but he seemed
to keep it easily under his command … while merely being the object of his considered attention was slowly unraveling every last thread of her control.
Her pulse thrummed, hot and heavy beneath skin growing flushed with awareness, damp with excitement. “Maybe you’d better leave,” she managed. “So I can get dressed.” Had the heat in his eyes flared? Her body certainly reacted as if it had. “I’ll … uh … meet you downstairs.” As long as he kept staring at her like that, she would be incapable of regaining a toehold on her composure. “Please.”
Duncan held her gaze for another moment, then walked slowly, purposefully, toward her side of the bed. Her breathing grew shallow, her pulse raced wildly. Thoughts of what he’d done the last time he’d gotten close invaded her mind, diminishing any further resistance she might have. Resistance? Yeah, right.
He stood less than two inches away from her, the sheer force of his presence drew her gaze along the lean lines of his body until it collided with those implacable gray eyes.
She trembled. He missed nothing, not even the tiniest movement. Do it, dammit! she wanted to scream as he continued to look at her. Take me, ravish me. Even as the truth of that struck her she didn’t—couldn’t—back away.
“Don’t worry, Maggie. I’ll not take your mouth again.”
What? She couldn’t hear him for the pounding of her heart echoing in her ears. She must have misunderstood.
“Ye need no’ look so fearful. I’ll no’ be touchin’ you again. My offer of help was not a trick, nor an attempt to get ye to trade anything. I willna compromise yer pride more than I have. I know it is important to ye to do this as much on yer own as ye can.”
Fearful! If she could have uncurled her fingers from the death grip they had on her blankets she would have flung them away and lunged at him. She’d show him self-reliance!
“I never thought I’d be saying this to a Claren, but yer a proud woman, Maggie, with strong principals and a fierce determination to see your own way. I suspect you need that to survive in the world you live in.” He stepped back then. “I’ll leave you to yer dressin’.”
In the next instant, he was gone. It was only after she’d blinked several times, that Maggie saw in her mind’s eye the way he’d held his hands tightly clenched just before he’d disappeared.
Maggie went from the dazed confusion of hyper-libido drive to the smile of a woman who knew crumbling restraint when she saw it. “Your control is not what you think it is, Duncan MacKinnon,” she whispered beneath her breath.
The question was, did she want to test that control? Well, naturally she wanted to. But how foolish would it be to give into that dangerous, yet sublime temptation?
Maggie defiantly tossed the covers aside and stood. The cold air made her skin prickle, but she welcomed the shock of it. She salved her ego by contemplating boldly descending the ladder with nothing more than a sheet wrapped around her or perhaps wrapped in nothing more than her own skin. Let’s see how long you last then, granite man.
But she quickly gave up on that idea. She didn’t need the humiliation of him refusing her twice. He couldn’t have missed the bald desire she’d made no attempt to mask. She yanked on her clothes. So what had just happened between them? And it had been between them, almost palpably so. Hadn’t it? Maggie sat heavily on the side of the bed and pulled on thick socks. There was no way she could be the only one affected by their kiss.
He had to have been fighting it too or why bring it up? Why had he purposely misread her trembling with need for trembling in fear? He had to know she wanted him to touch her again, kiss her again. Dear God. She shuddered with remembered pleasure. The man knew how to kiss.
She tied her boots, yanking the knots tightly. And what if he does want you, Maggie? He’s a ghost. A spirit who will disappear in less than three weeks. Forever.
She shook her head then rubbed her temples, the beginnings of a vicious headache beginning to settle in behind her eyes. The whole thing was insane. For a ghost he sure felt, touched, and tasted like a real live, warm-blooded male. As for the short-lived time frame … well, he had a point there.
What would she gain from pushing him or herself into an intimate relationship, knowing full well she would only suffer for it when it was done?
She sighed deeply. Maybe Duncan had thought of exactly that and that was why he’d made his little speech, even as he’d been staring at her like he wanted to consume her whole. She made herself stand. He’d done the right thing, setting the boundaries right from the start. She hated to admit it, even if it did somewhat assuage her ego.
Maggie walked over to the ladder. It didn’t matter if they talked right now, or two days from now, it would still be there between them, waiting to be confronted. Perhaps it would always be there.
Another thought struck her as she climbed down. What if they weren’t successful and Judd managed to kill her after all? If she were going to die anyway, wouldn’t it be foolish to pass up what little time she and Duncan could have together?
An even more provocative thought crossed her mind. If Judd killed her, would she still get eternity with Duncan as a consolation prize?
Maggie took a seat on the couch, her brain cramping under the pressure of too many thoughts, too many decisions to make. Duncan had the fire going once again and stood before it. He hadn’t turned from it once.
The heat began to seep through her socks and sweater. “Are you hungry?” she said. She suddenly realized she was famished.
The look Duncan flashed over his shoulder made her toes curl. He was hungry all right, starved even. But if she weren’t mistaken, it wasn’t for anything in the kitchen cupboards. So far, not so good on the resistance and control thing. If he looked at her like that again, she’d be lucky to last three minutes, much less three weeks.
Maggie scrambled off the couch, his promises not to touch her again echoing in her ears. She wondered who was kidding who. “Never mind,” she said quickly. “I’ll just make some coffee.” She glanced out the window before moving to the kitchen, only then realizing how overcast it was. She’d thought it close to dawn when she’d awoken upstairs, but now she wasn’t too sure how late in the morning it actually was.
She smiled at the matches she found next to the stove. Duncan said nothing while she put the coffee on to perk, but she swore she could feel his gaze along her back. How did a ghost make her feel so incredibly alive? Only a dead woman wouldn’t wonder what it would feel like to make love with a man who kissed like that.
Only a dead woman. Prophetic thoughts? She swallowed hard as the rest of their unbelievable conversation ran through her mind. She grabbed a bagel from the bag on the counter and chewed thoughtfully as she crossed back to the living room area. Duncan’s attention was firmly on the fire and Maggie decided it might be wiser to keep some space between them. She detoured to the couch with her breakfast. “So, where do we start?”
“You can contact this Judd?” he asked, his back to her.
“Why would I want to?” She paused, the bagel halfway to her mouth. “You mean lure him here? Then what?”
Duncan turned, the poker gripped in his hand. She had a sudden vision of what he must have looked like in full battle armor.
“I kill him.”
She dropped the bagel. “Excuse me? Ghost or not, you can’t just go around killing people.”
“Why not? He is trying to kill you, aye? You canno’ bring yerself tae end his life. I dinna have that problem.”
“Well, I don’t care. It’s not right.”
Duncan took a step toward her, looking alarmingly fierce. “Just how di’ ye think this was going tae end, lass? Wi’ a slap on his wrist? Ye said yerself he would hunt you down until you were dead.”
Maggie knew he spoke the truth. “I … maybe in self-defense I could—” She shuddered. “No. This is insane.”
“What is this if no’ self-defense?”
“It’s setting a trap, that’s what it is. It’s calling him up here and then murdering h
im.”
“I already told you I’d take care of it. Ye’ll have no blood on yer hands.”
“If I’m part of it in any way, then my hands are as bloody as if I drove that poker through him myself!”
Duncan swore and spun back to the fire.
“What if we call the police and have them waiting here for him?” she suggested. “They could hide and we could get him to admit he wants me dead. They could witness him threatening me. With everything else he’s done to me, surely that would have to help get him a prison sentence.”
He turned on her once again. “Maybe. Even then, he’ll likely get out.”
Maggie propped her forehead on her hands. “I know you don’t understand why I’m opposed to this. But things are different now. You don’t take the law into your own hands.”
“He seems to have no such morals.”
“As much as I want this to end, and as much as I want Judd punished, unless he was actually coming at me with a knife or a gun, I could not cut him down in cold blood. No matter who pulls the trigger.” She put the bagel aside and stood. “If I were to do it your way, I would have to set aside my own principals. Then I would be no better than he is. Can you understand that?”
Duncan stared into her eyes, his expression unreadable. “And these are principals yer willin’ tae die for?”
Maggie shrugged helplessly. “Yes, I guess that’s what I’m saying.” She turned away and paced the length of the couch. “There has to be another way.”
It was silent for several long moments. “Ye say you would agree to this if he were actually tryin’ to kill ye?”
Maggie spun around, eyes narrowing. “I think I know where you’re going with this and you can just stop right there. If I thought I could protect myself against him by using deadly force if he came after me then I wouldn’t be hiding in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, would I?”
“Perhaps I could simply persuade him to leave you alone.”
Maggie paused at the icy steel tone that had entered Duncan’s tone. “Persuade?”
The Legend Mackinnon Page 10
