Glancing at her watch, Rachel trollied the crane to the landing and began filling out the end of shift check sheet so the next operator would know if she’d had any problems with the crane during her time at the stick. Gathering her things, she stretched as she stepped out of the crane, looking forward to getting home to Caelan.
After that first unbelievable night, when she’d finally given in to her emotions, she’d discovered Caelan capable of a depth of caring and love that she only thought existed in fairy tales.
Physically, he’d taken her body to ecstasies she’d never imagined possible she didn’t know some body parts could have so many nerve endings! Emotionally, he was actually healing her soul helping her to become whole again.
“You gotta taste this one it’s fantastic even if it is from Mr. Jackass.” Mercy interrupted Rachel’s inner chatter by stuffing a half eaten piece of chocolate candy in her face.
“Mercy I told you I don’t want anything from him and that anything he sends is to be distributed as you see fit. As a matter of fact since you love to aggravate people so much why don’t you call him and tell him how much you love all of his gifts and that you prefer he just limit them to candy only?”
Rachel gently wheedled the still chewing security guard as she tucked a few errant curls of hair up into the ball cap she’d popped on her head for the drive home.
Licking her fingers as she tried to pry the caramel from between her teeth with her tongue, Mercy nodded toward the gate. “Why don’t you tell him for me. He’s waitin’ for you in the parking lot.”
“What?” Rachel spun on her heel toward the direction of Mercy’s nod. True to her informant, leaning against the side of his immaculately clean BMW was a patiently waiting Jayden Smith.
As soon as he noticed Rachel’s gaze, he removed his sunglasses and waved in her direction. Nonchalantly crossing his arms over his chest, he smiled and winked in response to her glare.
Tucking her hard hat under her arm, Rachel started toward the gate with jaws clenched.
“Wait ‘til you get off company property before you belt him or they’ll make me call the cops!” Mercy quickly closed the door behind her and pulled the shade in an attempt to block her view of Rachel’s progress across the lot.
“What are you doing here?” Rachel spat the words at Jayden before she’d even walked halfway through the gate. It was taking all of her self-control to keep from slinging her hardhat across the parking lot at his smug overly confident face.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days I’ve been sending you gifts been leaving messages and nothing seemed to be getting through. So, I thought the best thing I could do was show up in person and tender my apology personally so that you would finally see reason and give me another chance.”
Jayden nodded and smiled at the other workers slowly filing out through the gate as they made their way to their cars.
“I accept your apology. We all had a bad night and what’s done is done. There happy now? Now get in your Beamer, point it toward Chicago, and don’t stop until you see Lake Michigan.”
Feet spread apart, Rachel swung her hardhat back and forth between her hands still trying to resist the urge to smack Jayden’s smile off his face.
“Have dinner with me and then I’ll leave you alone.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he took one step closer, trying to ignore the stripe of sweat and dirt running across Rachel’s forehead.
“Sorry already got plans I suggest you start driving now and I hear that the Stop and Rob on the corner is running a special on coffee if you buy one of their mugs.”
Spinning on her heel, Rachel started toward her truck, her chin jutting stubbornly in the air.
“Come to dinner with me and I can show you a way out of this financial mess your ex has left you in. Then you and your throwback Highlander can raise all the backwoods babies you want.” Cocking his head to one side, Jayden’s eye’s narrowed to their usual predatory glare and his smile returned to its standard cynical sneer.
If the stupid little hick didn’t have enough sense to come running when he snapped his fingers, then he’d toy with her until he grew bored with her and moved on to destroy something else.
Either way, he’d still end up with her land having her in his bed would have been an added bonus but would’ve probably been more high maintenance than he would’ve wanted to deal with in the long run. Relationships were usually a pain in the ass.
Nodding to himself, he made his decision this was definitely the right way to deal with the situation after all.
Going completely still, Rachel slowly turned, her mouth slightly opened as she frowned at Jayden. “What did you just say to me?”
“You heard me or is there so much of that grit in your ears that you can’t hear anything until you get home and dig it out?” Taking his handkerchief out of his pocket, Jayden sniffed as he made a production of wiping his hands clean of imagined dirt.
“I think you just better stay the hell away from me stay the hell off my land and I’ll be talking to the sheriff about a restraining order to prevent you from showing up here as well.”
Rachel could never remember being so angry before in her life not at her parents not at David not at anyone who had ever crossed her in any way. But this man who thought he was so much better than she was thought he was so much better than Caelan he had succeeded in bringing out a rage in her that had her shaking where she stood.
“You might want to rethink that just a bit, sweetie. Because around here the sheriff pretty much does what I tell him to do. You see I introduced myself to you as Jayden Smith but perhaps you’re more familiar with my business name that you see on all of these subdivisions in this area. Does the name Christopher Larkin ring any bells in that grubby little head of yours?”
Placing his sunglasses back on his perfectly tanned face, Jayden nodded at Rachel’s open-mouthed stare. Sliding into the seat of the BMW, before he closed the door, he smiled as he started the engine and lowered the window. “And by the way I’ve had my P.I.’s do quite a bit of legwork on you so, I’m predicting that things should start picking up quickly and we’ll be finalizing matters in a few weeks.”
Pulling up beside her as he steered out of the parking lot, he smiled as he looked up into her face. “Or as you’d probably put it in your own delightful backwoods way you better pack your shit and git!”
Raising the tinted window, he tapped the horn twice as he eased the sleek car out onto the road.
)O(
Rachel sat in the truck, gripping the steering wheel so hard her fingernails were digging into the palms of her hands. She’d rolled up the windows and locked the doors and totally ignored everyone who’d stopped by to peck on the window and ask if she was okay.
Several of her crewmembers had overheard her exchange with Larkin and quickly gone back to security to update Mercy. Mercy had insisted that everyone leave Rachel alone. Give Rachel some space but she’d been sitting alone in the parking lot for over two hours. Finally Mercy had decided that enough was enough and she’d called Rachel’s home and managed to get a hold of Caelan. Filling him in on enough of the details so he’d know what to expect when he arrived, Mercy was waiting at the edge of the parking lot watching for the faded blue pickup truck.
Parking at the very edge of the lot, Caelan thanked Mercy as he climbed from his truck and started across the lot toward Rachel’s vehicle.
“I shouldha killed that bastard when I had the chance.”
He flexed his hands as he imagined how good it would feel to have Larkin’s throat between his hands.
Finally reaching Rachel’s truck, his heart lurched as he saw her tear-stained face. “Rachel lass open the door and let me in let me hold ye.”
Catching her lower lip between her teeth, Rachel turned her face to the window to meet his gaze. Her huge purple eyes were so dark they were nearly black he could see the sorrow embedded deeply within her soul. Turning slightly, she finally unlo
cked the door and slid to the side as Caelan climbed into the truck. Without a word, she buried her face in his chest, her arms curled beneath her so that he could completely cocoon her in his protective embrace.
“I don’t know what to do.” Rachel’s voice was muffled as she burrowed deeper into his arms.
“Tell me what happened.”
Drawing her even closer, Caelan smoothed her hair with one hand, softly kissing the top of her head.
From the depths of his shirt, in slow hiccupping bursts of speech, Rachel gradually choked out the entire story of Jayden’s visit and his announcement of her impending ruin. Without raising her head, her voice fell a notch lower as she continued explaining the history of how her circumstances had come to be in such a mess.
Suddenly pushing away from his embrace, she pulled her knees to her chest turning away from him, she buried her face in her arms.
“You can leave now.” Her voice was bleak and hollow. All emotion having been completely wrung out of her soul. “You know why people die don’t you? It’s not because they’re sick or hurt or old. It’s because they lose hope and whenever there’s nothing left to hope for nothing for them to look forward to then there’s no more reason to live.”
Grabbing her shoulder, Caelan spun her back around and forced her to meet his gaze. “I’ll not have ye giving up just because that ill bred cur has threatened ye. Ye’ve beat the odds this long and now that I’m here to help ye ye’ll fare even better.”
“Why do you want to be with a loser? I just told you everything my parents David and now this if you’ve got any sense you’ll get the hell out of here as fast as you can.”
Rachel sobbed as she pushed against his chest, struggling to wriggle from his grasp.
“All I see before me is a strong woman that I love more than I can ever explain. I’ll have ye as my wife as the mother of my children as my lover ye are the very breath that keeps me alive. We will figure out a way to beat this bastard together. But I will not have ye talking as though all that ye have to hope for is lost.”
Letting go of one of her shoulders, Caelan shoved his hand deep into his shirt pocket, frowning as he searched for an elusive item.
“Give me your hand.”
Taking Rachel’s hand, he placed an intricately woven band of gold, silver and bronze upon her finger sliding it smoothly over her knuckle as though it had been made for her hand only.
“Promise me ye’ll be mine for all of eternity. Swear to me by the Goddess and by the moon above. Then place this ring upon my finger and I’ll swear my oath to ye as well.”
Rachel looked at the ring upon her finger then stared at the larger version Caelan still held in his hand. Both rings looked ancient, as though they’d been wrought at some forge ages ago but the craftsmanship was absolutely astounding. Swirls and knots of silver, gold and bronze came together as a fine artistic symbol of infinity.
Solemnly looking up into his eyes, Rachel sniffed as her lower lip trembled.
“I swear by the Goddess and the moon and by my very heart and soul that I will be yours throughout eternity.”
Her fingers trembling, she fumbled to pick up the ring in Caelan’s outstretched hand, sniffing and hiccupping as she slid his ring to the base of his finger. Looking up through her tear-laden lashes, her eyes grew wider as Caelan placed the palms of their ring bearing hands together.
Smiling as he looked down into Rachel’s face, he spoke softly in Gaelic, intertwining their fingers as he finished speaking. “Gra amois agus go deo.”
“What did you just say?” Rachel whispered as she stared in wonder at the rings that seemed to be melding their hands and sending through their bodies a warm tingling heat.
“Love, now and forever. I swear to ye that I’ll always love ye and I’ll always find ye through the centuries no matter how many times or places we are reincarnated. We’re truly joined throughout all time and space and will be able to find each other much easier than we did this time.” Caelan kissed the end of her nose as he smiled at the look of amazement on her face.
“You’re an astounding man, Caelan Foster MacKay.”
Rachel tilted her head to one side, a tear slipping down her cheek to the corner of her sad little smile.
“Aye and ye’re mine Rachel Hawkins MacKay although my clan will insist upon making it official in the Church once we’re back in Scotland.” Catching the teardrop on his fingertip, he brought it to his lips with a smile.
“Scotland? But I can’t. Not until…what about all this mess? Sam and Maizy? My job? Passport? What about…”
Rachel babbled until Caelan silenced her with a mind-numbing kiss and didn’t raise his head until he was certain she was completely breathless.
“I’ve a plan now let’s go home and have our pagan honeymoon tonight then we’ll have our second one when we’re back home in Scotland.”
Reaching over Rachel to buckle her securely in the seat, Caelan fastened his own seatbelt and started the truck. As he was pulling out of the parking lot, he shouted to the midnight guard on shift, “I’ll be back to get the other truck tomorrow!”
CHAPTER TEN
“Ye need to tell her everything first it might not even be necessary.”
Emrys shook an arthritic finger in Caelan’s face to emphasize his words. “Ye don’t have that much time left and we’ll have to waste one of the moons if we carry out this fool plan of yours.”
“This fool plan of mine as ye call it, old man will give my wife peace of mind will clear her name before she leaves and will also allow her the sweet taste of well played revenge.”
Caelan jotted a few more figures down on the ledger he was studying, as he sorted through yet another pile of Rachel’s debts.
“If ye tell her she’s travelin’ with ye to the past then she won’t have to worry about any of those fool things anymore!” Emrys waived his hand in frustration across the table at the neatly laid out piles of invoices, canceled checks, and receipts.
“I know Rachel.”
Caelan frowned as he tried to decipher the scrawl across a receipt and match it to an entry in the ledger. “She will not know peace if she knows that Christopher Larkin is standin’ on her land pissin’ on her trees to mark them as his own.”
With a deep sigh, Emrys shook his head as he slowly pulled a chair out to sit. In defeat, he propped his head in his hands. “So ye need me to bring back enough gold to clear her debt and buy her lands. Everything must be legally transferred into your name. Is that what ye wish?”
“Aye.”
Caelan pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and mentally reviewed his plan. “I’ve already spoken to a lawyer in the next town who is capable of taking care of all the paperwork for right now and the paperwork for after we’ve crossed over and Larkin finds out we’ve gone.”
“Ye’re sure there are no loopholes? Ye know a man as rich and conniving as Larkin didn’t get there by being honest.” Emrys ran his hands through his shaggy white hair until it stood on end.
“That my Grand and Mighty Druid to the Laird MacKay is where ye will also be quite helpful again. Ye will cast a binding spell upon the contracts, bequests and wills so that they can never be broken. If memory serves me that was your second most favorite magic next to time travel?” Sitting back in his chair, a smug grin on his face, Caelan crossed his arms over his chest with pride.
Eyes narrowing slyly, Emrys pursed his lips as he rose from the table. “I will do as you wish obtain the gold by tomorrow night’s full moon AFTER you have told Rachel how and more importantly WHEN we will be arriving in Scotland. I will do no magic until she knows the entire truth.”
“That’s blackmail!” Caelan slammed both fists on the table, shaking the neat piles of receipts back into a disorderly pile.
“No! That’s what ye should have done before ye even bedded the lass! By the Fates and Furies Man have ye no honor left in your bones?”
Rising quickly from his seat at the table; Emrys’ enti
re body shook with anger. “What happens now if ye tell her the truth and she’s unable to accept it unable to cross over and yet she might be carrying your child? Then what shall ye do when ye have to leave not only your soul mate here in the future but your son or daughter as well? What were ye thinkin’!”
Caelan sat back in his chair in shock, his mouth dropping open in surprise. As long as he’d lived and known the ancient seer, he could never remember seeing the old man so livid.
“The time it just hasn’t been the right time this age is not so accepting of our ways and beliefs. I thought if we just spent a little more time together then somehow it would all come together.”
“Hmmmpfff. Time is a luxury ye’re quickly running out of. Might I remind ye? Ye came to the year 2007 with only a set number of days to accomplish yer task?” Emrys shoved the kitchen chair under the table as he started toward the door to the back porch. “I’ll come here tomorrow at sunset to see if ye’ve done as I’ve said and then we’ll go from there.”
He paused at the door, his bent form framed in the doorway as he looked back into the kitchen at Caelan.
“Tell the lass the dogs may come. Kindred spirits are allowed to pass freely without harm.”
Shaking his head, he paused to mumble again, just as he was closing the door. “Mayhap that will somehow help yer case.”
)O(
The morning sun glistened upon their rings, the metal growing warmer as he stared at their hands lying together on his bare chest. He watched the energies spark a rainbow of colors all over the ceiling, as the cuttings and whirls in the metalwork molded and bent the shafts of light kissing the bands.
Seven Moons Back to the Highlands Page 11
