“Some guy keeps calling security and wants you to call him back on your next break. Says it’s real important that he get in touch with you.”
From the background sounds, Joel was out in security right now and chances are he had answered the phone and actually talked to whoever had called.
Keying the mike, Rachel shook her head in aggravation. “If they get a number, I promise I’ll call him back. I come down in about fifteen minutes and I’ll put an end to the calls I promise.”
“Thanks Hawk!”
Rachel recognized the female voice across the radio as belonging to Mercy, the good-natured security guard that was everyone’s favorite at the mill.
“Hey Charlie! Can you cover me while I go get rid of a man?”
Rachel leaned forward in her seat to spot the man walking along the ground to the west of her crane.
An older man in a hard hat looked up at the cab of the crane with a grin on his face as he put the radio mike to his mouth.
“As long as you don’t make me an accessory. Take’er to the landing and I’ll run’er while you take a break.”
“Thanks Charlie!”
Rachel quickly parked the crane at the landing and made her way down the several flights of steps. She patted Charlie on the back as she walked past him and headed out the doorway of the mill to the security building.
Joel was still standing in security as she pushed her way through the door. He was nervously fidgeting through several handfuls of paperwork as he kept glancing out the window at the number of trucks waiting to be loaded.
“Here’s the number, Hawk. He sounds sexy!”
Mercy gave her a wink and a grin as she pressed a yellow sticky note into the palm of Rachel’s hand. Rachel frowned as she read the number on the note, not recognizing it as any of the numbers Caelan had used when calling her cell phone.
“Hey Mercy. Can I make the call in First Aid so I can have some privacy?”
Rachel fished her cell phone out of the pocket of her coveralls and patiently waited while Mercy neatly calmed Joel down by deciphering his paperwork for him, gave directions to three drivers and printed load sheets for two other drivers all at the same time.
“Sure just promise me that I can have him whenever you’re done with him!”
Mercy shoved Joel out the door just as he was about to sputter an angry retort about fifteen minute breaks and quickly flipped the bolt on the door so he couldn’t get back into the room.
“Hurry!”
Punching in the number, Rachel listened to the ringing on the other end, wondering who was going to answer the phone. As soon as she heard the voice, she rolled her eyes and glanced at her phone to make sure it wasn’t roaming.
“Don’t hang up, Rachel and no, you’re not roaming this is a number you can call from your area. I already checked.” Jayden’s voice was crystal clear on the line as though he were standing in the room beside her.
“What do you want?” She clipped her words and couldn’t believe she was wasting one of her fifteen minute breaks on one of the idiot males she’d had to souse down in her yard last night.
“I wanted to apologize for my behavior and ask you to give me another chance.”
Jayden’s voice lowered to a purr she could almost picture a huge jungle cat with eyes half closed hanging on a tree limb.
“Another chance at what?”
She glanced at her watch. Five more minutes and she still needed to pee before she climbed those stairs back up into the crane.
“Another chance for you to find out that I’m not the Neanderthal that I appeared to be last night and I really wish you’d speak to me in more than four word sentences.”
Jayden’s voice was beginning to take on a bit of a strain. She could tell he was probably a bit of a spoiled brat who was used to getting his own way.
“Sorry gotta go and don’t call here again. I’m not in the market for complications of any sort right now and that includes relationships of any kind be they friend or be they foe. I’ll give your number to my friend Mercy. You’ll really like her. Bye.” Clicking off her cell phone, she powered it down and pushed open the door to security.
Tossing the balled up note with the number to Mercy, she shouted over her shoulder as she headed to the restroom. “He looks like he’d be good in bed but other than that I bet he’s a real jackass.”
Grinning, Mercy smoothed out the note on the security desk and began punching the number into the phone. “Hmm…I’m up for a ride on a mule.”
)O(
“Emrys!”
Caelan bellowed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the newly leafed trees in the woods. Sam stood patiently by his side, his tiny head cocked as though also listening for Emrys response to Caelan’s summons.
Working his way deeper into the woods, Caelan finally came upon Emrys’ pond. He was disappointed as he circled it and discovered it was totally deserted. Emrys’ usual spot didn’t appear as though it had been occupied for quite awhile.
“If that bastard went back in time without me I’ll wring his ancient neck.”
Caelan had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as his searching continued to be unsuccessful.
“Maizy!” Caelan decided to try a different tactic and called the golden lab that never left the old druid’s side. If Rachel was indeed Caelan’s soul mate for all time than Maizy was definitely Emrys’ true match.
“Why do ye feel ye must always bellow?”
Emrys was sitting on an outcropping of limestone just off the path beyond the pond. True to her nature, Maizy sat beside him, faithfully leaning into his side.
“Why do ye never feel the need to answer me when I summon ye?”
Caelan dropped to sit beside the seer, his voice softening as he stared off into the woods.
“Did I not tell ye that ye’d have to go carefully in this time that ye couldna handle things in the way ye would handle them in the past?” Emrys sighed as he rubbed his hand across his face the imbalance in the energies taking their toll upon his senses.
“The man was trying to seduce her in front of m’very eyes! Was I expected to stand there and watch while he devoured her?” Running both hands through his already wild blonde hair, Caelan knotted his fists in frustration.
“He was tryin’ to get a reaction from ye and ye played right into his hands. He wasn’t after her until ye were unwise enough into goading her into revealing her true inner fire to him. He wasna interested in the lass until he saw the level of anger she was capable of reaching.
The man is truly wise. He knows that any woman capable of becoming that angry and acting upon it is also capable of acting upon unbelievable levels of passion which also explains why the Goddess has watched o’er the lass so closely. There are few like her left in this time.”
The shaggy white brows of the wizard knotted together as he scratched his beard in his musing.
“The only thing ye currently have left in your favor at this time is the fact that the lass isna interested in any kind of relationship from anyone at all. Therefore, she will more than likely spurn any advances he makes.”
Rolling his staff between his stiffening fingers, Emrys studied the knots and whorls of the wood as they danced before his eyes. “However, a man like that’s appetite will only increase when he’s rejected wanting even more that which he canna have.”
“It’s been almost two months and I’m no closer to bringing her back through time of her own free will than I was when we first began. What would happen if I stole her back to our time? Stealing wives is a time-honored tradition in the Highlands.”
Wistfully, Caelan glanced at Emrys’ face, his eyes searching for a glimmer of hope from the old druid.
“The Fate’s are no’ so fond of that habit and neither is the Goddess.” Shifting uncomfortably on the rock, Emrys glanced at the storm clouds gathering in the sky.
“Then ye’re going to have to tell me how I can win her because it seems everything I atte
mpt is wrong.”
Caelan dropped his head to his hands in frustration running an entire clan wasn’t as complicated as winning the heart of this one tiny woman!
Scratching the side of his head with the knot on the end of his cane, Emrys frowned as his eyes narrowed in concentration.
“I’m thinking this Jayden will reveal himself for what he truly is I dinna believe we’ve been allowed to come this far to watch the lass be handed over into the hands of a ruthless scoundrel. Take a step back from the lass become her watcher without her knowledge. Only step in if ye truly see that she’s in need of your protection and she actually cries out and is unable to help herself. She’s a strong woman and ye drive a wedge even deeper between the two of ye every time ye deny that strength.”
Placing his gnarled hand on the shoulder of the beaten warrior, Emrys tightened his grip as he waited for a response.
“Caelan can ye do as I’ve said?”
Rubbing his face with one hand, Caelan sighed with weariness as he slowly rose from the rock. “It appears I have no choice, old man.”
)O(
“If you let that woman through one more time you’re fired!”
Releasing the intercom button, Jayden spun in his chair to stare out the glass walls of his office to the city beyond.
How dare Rachel give out his private number to some sex-crazed woman who said she was some kind of security guard! The woman sounded absolutely deranged!
And how dare that little backwoods Kentucky hick turn him down when he could show her a better time than she’d obviously ever seen by the looks of the house she lived in.
With her looks, he could turn her into an absolute queen a mesmerizing beauty that would demand the attention of every person in the room as soon as she walked through the door. But no she was too busy floundering in financial ruin and trying to hang onto land that had been left to her by parents who’d never wanted her.
Background checks on insignificant individuals were so simple they were almost laughable. Especially, when the private investigator had been persistent enough to find Rachel’s ex trying to eke out a living off the worst streets in Vegas and willing to spill his guts for enough money to get good and high one last time.
Jayden’s interest in Rachel had started out simple enough. He’d merely wanted her land. But now that he’d met the woman and the challenge of never winning her she’d become an obsession and a personal quest and he always got what he wanted.
The office door opened quietly and his assistant padded silently across the plush carpet around to his side of the desk. “These are ready for your signature, sir.”
“Thank you.” Grabbing a five hundred dollar pen from the stand on his massive desk, Jayden lined up the forms and signed them with his legally given name, “Christopher Jayden Smith Larkin”.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Pulling up into the driveway, Rachel sighed with relief as she noticed that Caelan and Emrys’ rusted out old truck wasn’t in its spot beside the garage. She just wasn’t ready for another confrontation this evening. She was tired after her first day back to work and her stiff back was reminding her it hadn’t been that long since she’d been so injured she couldn’t even move. She smiled as both dogs rounded the corner of the barn, tails wagging excitedly as they barked their enthusiasm at her arrival.
Stuffing the pile of bills she’d pulled out of the mailbox into her upturned hardhat, she tucked it under one arm as she slowly slid out of her truck.
“Hey babies! I’m glad to be home too! I love you too!” Rachel crooned and patted both the dogs as she squatted down to get her share of their adoring kisses.
Stiffly rising, she made her way into the house, dumping her stuff on the kitchen table and plopping down into one of the chairs to unlace her boots. The hard toed boots with the metatarsal protectors probably weighed close to three pounds each and they were always the first thing Rachel shed at the end of her day.
Most of the mill workers changed in the shower house and left their work clothes in their lockers at work. But Rachel had always preferred making a beeline for her vehicle no matter how grubby she might be by the end of her shift.
If she was covered in an excessive amount of the black mill dust, she’d hose her boots off before coming into the house. But being a crane operator, she was one of the lucky ones who managed to stay halfway clean.
Resting her head in her hand as she propped her elbow on the table, Rachel finally noticed the envelope taped to the outside glass of the kitchen door. Rising from her seat, she carefully peeled the envelope from the glass, peering into its interior as she leaned against the counter.
Frowning, she carefully reached inside the envelope and withdrew three crisp one hundred-dollar bills. Laying them on the kitchen table, she sank into the chair as she unfolded the letter she’d pulled out of the envelope along with them.
My Dearest Rachel:
Please accept my heartfelt apologies for my behavior last evening. I have no explanation for my actions. Enclosed you will find money to replace the screen door I destroyed.
I finally understand what you wish from me and I promise to you that from this day forward I will never be a problem to you again.
Your humble servant,
Caelan
Rachel swallowed hard as she reread the letter a strange feeling of loss and uneasiness rising in her breast. Catching her lower lip between her teeth, her brows knitted in frustration as she carefully folded the letter and placed it back into the envelope.
What did he mean he was never going to be a problem to her again? Were they heading back to Scotland? Or had he just decided she just wasn’t worth the effort? What about all those things he’d told her about he wasn’t going to leave here without her and that he was going to make her love him and that they were meant to be together?
Why was she even feeling this way? The last thing she wanted was to get involved with a man! All she wanted was a reliable tenant for the apartment. All she wanted was the rent on time. Now that it sounded as though that’s what was going to happen why did it feel so wrong?
“Dammit! Why is everything so freaking complicated!”
Slamming her fist down on the table, Rachel threw the letter across the room and stared at it as it fluttered to the floor. It wasn’t that she wanted him completely out of her life she just wanted him to slow things down a little. Her life was in such a jumbled mess right now, she just wanted to get a few things ironed out before she walked into any more complications.
She’d always been attracted to Caelan. The way he’d taken care of her when she’d been hurt had touched her heart more than she’d been ready to admit. But he was always acting as though she were such a helpless creature and after what she’d been through over the past couple of years, she’d be damned if she’d ever be called helpless by anyone ever again.
Rising from the table, she looked out the doorway to see if by chance Emrys and Caelan had shown up. Her heart sank as she saw her truck sitting all alone in the driveway. The windows in the apartment above the garage were still dark and vacant.
Turning from the doorway, she bent to pick up her boots just as her ears detected the faint crunch of tires on the graveled driveway. Craning her neck, she was relieved to see the rusted out paint job of the faded blue truck owned by the two Scotsmen.
Stuffing her feet back into her boots, Rachel stepped out on the porch without lacing them up. Her hands in her pockets, her hair falling down around her neck, she waited patiently as Caelan and Emrys emerged from the truck.
“Caelan!” Clumping to the outer edge of the porch, Rachel held her breath to see if Caelan would heed her call.
His head immediately rising, Caelan nodded politely in her direction as he started toward the apartment. Emrys waived slightly than said something quietly to Caelan before patting Maizy on the head as they headed toward the garage.
“Caelan if you’re not too busy could we please talk?”
Rachel chewed on her lo
wer lip, her words reminding her of the fact that Caelan had made the exact same request not two feet from where she was standing just last night and she’d told him to go away.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you last night I found your note and and it’s not what I want and could you please just come over here so that I don’t have to keep shouting across the yard?”
Swallowing hard, Caelan took a deep breath, relieved to hear the earnestness and frustration in Rachel’s voice. So apparently, she did have feelings for him and was finally ready to start acknowledging them but he’d be damned careful and heed Emrys’ advice this time. His time was growing short.
Walking slowly across the yard, Caelan avoided eye contact with Rachel. He knew the minute he looked into her eyes, she’d see all the love he felt for her pouring out of his soul.
He couldn’t believe how beautiful the woman could look dressed in baggy blue coveralls, a grubby white tee shirt, filthy unlaced boots and her hair falling down around her face. She couldn’t have looked more exquisite to him if she’d wrapped herself in silver shot silk.
Rachel fidgeted with the pockets on her coveralls, pulling at the unraveling edges of one of the pockets. What in the world was she going to say to him when he finally got over here? How could she explain to him what she needed him to know?
Caelan reached the side of the porch and stood patiently staring down at the ground. He forced himself to stand with his arms relaxed at his sides, consciously working at keeping his hands from closing into nervous fists.
“Caelan”
Rachel whispered his name as she inched closer to the edge of the porch. From where he was standing they were actually of even height and eye level if the infuriating man would just look up from the ground.
Seven Moons Back to the Highlands Page 9
