Deep is the Night: Dark Fire

by Denise A. Agnew

  Her face flamed as she remembered the sexual heat that flared between them last night as he’d seduced her with the steady, intoxicating touch of his hands and mouth. She shuddered and her nipples peaked against her bra, almost as if in protest of the confinement.

  Seduced, my ass.

  She would be fooling herself if she didn’t admit she’d wanted him every bit as much as he’d wanted her. Yet something still held her back.

  The eerie voice that spilled into her head at weird moments? The dark influence seemed tinged with peculiar nuances, scary and unreal. Yet that voice didn’t sound like Lachlan’s. Or did it? Confusion made her frown. She couldn’t separate the loving, calming sound of Lachlan’s voice from the slithering, unusual voice she heard at other times. Could they be one in the same?

  No. It didn’t make sense.

  Still, one last little piece of her didn’t trust him.

  Erin, you are freaking loosing it.

  A soft touch on her shoulder made her jump. Gilda stood there, concern in her eyes. “Something wrong?”

  Erin smiled and gave a laugh to cover her state of mind. “I’m a little tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  Gilda nodded. “Me either. It’s just starting to get too spooky for words around here.”

  A few minutes later the lethargy hadn’t left, so Erin headed for the water cooler. After she took a long, cool drink of water, she went into the bathroom. Florescent lights flickered, their buzzing becoming a sputtering before one blew out. She stopped cold, a bit startled.

  Well, with ghostly goings on, why should that surprise me?

  Another voice slipped into her mind, this one cloaked with a dark side she couldn’t deny. Erin, my sweet. It shouldn’t.

  She jerked, startled. Pain filled her temples and she reached up to clasp her head. She gasped as pain spiked once again.

  When the pain subsided, she glanced around, almost as if the voice had come from a verbalization rather than an intrusion into her mind. “Who’s there?”

  She glanced under the stalls. No one appeared to be there. Then she remembered a scene from the movie Scream when the young heroine realized someone did lurk in the bathroom with her.

  Erin’s breathing accelerated, her heart pounding with new alarm. She stared at the bathroom stalls. Heaviness settled over her, bleak and draining. Her knees weakened and her stomach rolled. Putting her hand on her stomach, Erin fought nausea. When that didn’t work, she gritted her teeth. She didn’t understand the origin of the sudden fear and sense of evil or why it assailed her now.

  Panic attack?

  She’d never had one in her life, though she’d heard of the symptoms. Unless something else had gone desperately wrong with her, a panic attack might explain why she felt so disoriented.

  A cold wind passed over her and ruffled her hair.

  Her eyes snapped open. She saw a dark shape forming in one corner, opaque but almost obscuring the dull gray wall. As it grew denser, the blackness also came closer. Closer.

  Dread.

  Sickness.

  Darkness.

  Fear.

  New throbbing started in her sore temples.

  Erin whimpered as the ache took her off guard. She reached up and tried to rub the pain out of her head. Not again. No more. Please.

  She knew only one person could assist her. Lachlan.

  Lachlan, please help.

  She ran. When she pushed against the door it swung open so fast she almost bumped into a woman stepping inside. She apologized, half worried about the other woman as the lady smiled and went into the bathroom. Erin stood near the door, tempted to grab the lady and drag her out of the abysmal place.

  As fear continued to send waves of tremors through her body, Erin knew she could no longer deny that something dark haunted her.

  * * * * *

  Erin noticed that few patrons utilized the library that morning. Those that did seemed more inclined to chat about Mrs. Pickles and Jessie. The talked about the criminal that lurked somewhere out there, more than they checked out books. Erin saw real trepidation in some of their eyes, and ghoulish inquisitiveness in others. Rumor upon rumor flew. El Chupacabra continued to be the main culprit.

  No one said a thing about ghosts for a change, now that a new monster invaded town.

  Despite the creepy conversations going on all around her, she managed to keep her strange experience in the rest room from obsessing her thoughts. She’d decided that she must have suffered a small panic attack and nothing more.

  Before noon, clouds puffed up in the west and came up over the mountains with a vengeance, chilling the air with snow flurries. As a bizarre afterthought, thunder rumbled. Odd weather, to be sure, but not unheard of. Once in a long while, thunder would mix with snow in this high altitude climate.

  Thunder sounded again as the door opened and Lachlan walked inside.

  His gaze immediately landed on Erin, and her breath caught. His expression flickered from pleasure at seeing her, to a frown of deep concern. As it always did, his presence seemed to take in the whole room, as if no one and nothing else mattered. Suspended in his thrall, she allowed her gaze to tangle with his as he walked toward her. Golden fire lit his eyes for a second, then flickered out so fast she thought sure she’d imagined it.

  Two women sitting at nearby tables gawked at him. When he passed by, they smiled and whispered. They looked enthralled, just as she, by the mere sight of gut-wrenching good looks and staggering masculinity.

  Movie star gorgeous, he gave the gossiping women a genuine smile before turning his full attention back to Erin. A strange, almost possessive feeling came over her, and she didn’t like it one bit. She couldn’t blame the other women for going gaga over the man. Lachlan’s leather jacket hung open in the front. Underneath he wore a cobalt blue sweater and expensive black wool slacks. He possessed the refined air of cosmopolitan European male, with all the athletic rawness of the American man. She allowed an admiring sigh to leave her lungs.

  Yep, hunk didn’t begin to describe his sheer magnetism. Testosterone rolled off of him in waves, and any female within sight could see it.

  Face it. The man is walking, breathing, absolute sex.

  “Erin.” His voice rumbled deep as he leaned on the counter. His gaze moved over her with an enduring assessment filled with heat and genuine longing. “Your jealousy is showing.”

  “What?” she gasped, mortified.

  “You’re a mite jealous.” His deep voice came so softly, no one else could hear. “There’s no reason for you to be worried. I dinna’ want any other woman but you.”

  “Damn it, Lachlan, are you reading my—?”

  He placed one finger over her mouth for a second. “Shhh…you wouldn’t want anyone to think we were having a fight, would you?”

  One of his brows lifted as he grinned and gazed at the other patrons. Thank goodness no one appeared to be paying any attention to them.

  Exasperation mingled with sheer heat as his finger brushed her lower lip. “I wouldn’t think you would care what anyone thought.”

  He nodded. “I don’t. But you do.” As his gaze swept downward and paused for a moment on her breasts, she felt the combustibility factor launch into force ten magnitudes. “You’d love to be free of what other’s think, wouldn’t you?”

  How true. “Yes.”

  “Then let it go. Just let it go. You’re a beautiful, wonderful woman who has everything and every opportunity open to her.”

  His ability to see not only into her heart, but her mind, disturbed her deep down at the same time it comforted her. “What about you? What if I’m worried what you’ll think?”

  His smile held a stunning gentleness. “Are you?”

  She couldn’t speak, astounded by the strange conversation. How did he do this? How did he bring her into these exceedingly intimate conversations with so little effort?

  You know I think you are the most exciting woman I’ve ever met.

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  His gaze held hers, relentless and filled with hot desire. Yes, lass. By all the saints, yes.

  She shivered with fine awareness and inhaled his heady, warm scent. Heaven help me, we’re speaking entirely in our minds.

  Yes, and just remember, no matter what happens, you’re the only woman I want. His potent voice filled her head. There’s no one else for me but you.

  Once again her senses homed into his frequency, thrumming with a strange, continuing yearning deep inside her. She decided to ignore all talk of jealousy and concern about other people’s perceptions of her.

  Shaken, she finally spoke. “I didn’t think I’d see you until dinner tonight.”

  “I couldn’t wait to see you.”

  Erin’s heart almost triple timed. “You’re irrepressible, Lachlan.”

  He placed one hand over his chest. “She wounds me deeply. “ His frown came back, his gaze narrowing. “I also felt something was wrong. I almost stopped by earlier.”

  “Wrong?”

  “Something dark and worrisome came over this place.” His attention wandered to the room, skimming and searching. Like a radar he seemed to home in on everything at once, glancing at the rafters high above, then back to her. “It felt…dangerous. I thought I heard you calling me, but I wasn’t sure.”

  She saw the question in his eyes and at first didn’t know whether to confirm or deny his belief. “Lachlan…”

  “I like that way may name sounds coming from your lips.” He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. “A sound from heaven.”

  She licked her lips and his gaze followed the movement. “Something weird happened in the ladies room earlier. I…you were the one I thought could help me.”

  He nodded, his gaze holding a mixture of worry and satisfaction. “So, I did hear you call out for me. Does your head hurt again?”

  “No. It went away.” She looked around, again aware they spoke of strange things and anyone might hear them. She lowered her voice. “I’ve had a headache every time something strange happened. The first time being the night we met. So I’m thinking these headaches either mean there is something medically wrong and I’d better see a doctor, or they have something to do with you.”

  “No, lass. They don’t have anything to do with me. And physically you’re all right. You remember when I mentioned that you are picking up vibrations from the library?”

  “I remember, but I didn’t believe it.”

  “You believe it now?”

  “I’m not sure. Too many bizarre things have happened.”

  “Well, it’s not all from the library, but from something else.”

  “What?”

  As if waiting for a drum roll, he hesitated before he said, “An evil force.”

  She opened her mouth to tell Lachlan he must have stopped at the Blarney stone on the way to the United States, but Danny abruptly stomped toward the counter.

  Absorbed in Lachlan, she hadn’t seen Danny arrive. Lachlan’s magnetism and his superior physical power showed up in his broader shoulders and more muscular arms. Although Danny stood quite a bit taller than Lachlan, when it came to sheer good looks, Lachlan would win the prize. Chagrinned that she even bothered comparing the men, she smiled at them both.

  Lachlan turned toward Danny. “Good afternoon.”

  Danny’s gaze appraised Lachlan with a standard-issue police overview. Mistrust came over Danny’s face. “Afternoon.” Danny’s shoulders went back. “You spend a lot of time in the library?”

  At Danny’s strange question, Lachlan didn’t blink an eye. “I’m afraid so. Erin’s caught my attention.”

  His blatant statement caught Erin off guard, and heat filled her face.

  “Attention, how?” Danny asked, his face hardening into undeniable challenge.

  Oh, oh. Now, boys…

  Lachlan winked at her, and that slow, sultry blink held her as his husky voice flowed on the air. “She’s beautiful, of course. That’s enough to keep any man coming back for more.”

  Danny’s lips twisted in apparent displeasure, but he didn’t speak. Erin noticed that his fists clenched at his sides, as if he wanted to punch Lachlan or maybe throttle him. Fine tension stretched between the men, and Erin almost believed they might be green-eyed. Surely not. That would be incredible if two men showed interest in me at the same time. She gave Lachlan points for being blunt rather than rising to Danny’s challenge with a show of machismo.

  “So you’re Scotch?” Danny said, an edge in his voice that kept his question a hair short of friendliness.

  Lachlan’s mild grin showed no malice. “Scot. Yes.”

  “Visiting a short time?” Danny’s question sounded almost hopeful.

  Lachlan jammed his hands in his coat pocket, and his gaze swung to Erin. “Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Here on business?”

  “Business and…” Lachlan’s gaze drifted to Erin a second time, and he gave her a slow smile. “And pleasure.”

  Erin felt rather than saw Danny bristle.

  Danny and Lachlan stared at each other for so long, like two rams ready to fight, that she cleared her throat. “Ready to go, Danny?”

  His gaze snapped back to her. “Ready.”

  “I’ll see you tonight, lass,” Lachlan said.

  Erin could feel Lachlan’s gaze on her all the way out the door.

  Chapter 12

  Danny and Erin traveled in separate cars, and on the short distance to the café she wondered if her imagination worked overtime. Did Danny and Lachlan see each other as rivals for her affection? In a secret, forbidden way, she liked the idea of them fighting over her. Such wishes might be childish, but the primal feelings existed nevertheless.

  Absolutely incredible. I’ve gone cave woman.

  And she knew exactly who would win the fight for her if it came down to the two of them.

  Lachlan.

  She sighed. Damn it. This situation became more alien by the minute. Somehow she must maintain control and not allow her feral sexual feelings for Lachlan overrule common sense. She’d already ventured beyond reasonable limits with him. Between now and her date with him at Ricardo’s, she would think of a way to keep him at arm’s length. She contented herself with a reminder that everyone made relationship mistakes, and she was allowed her fair share of bloopers.

  Lachlan was one gigantic blooper waiting to happen. She wouldn’t and couldn’t allow herself to fall in love with him and be hurt.

  Fall in love?

  No. No. A hundred times no. I will not fall in love with him.

  Once inside the café nestled with a cup of coffee and a steaming bowl of chili, she noticed the subdued nature of the crowd. About six people occupied the restaurant besides her and Danny, a low turnout considering the lunch hour.

  To her surprise, Danny stayed quiet through the first part of lunch. A disgruntled expression remained on his face. “How long have you known that Tavish fellow?”

  She forgot her chili. “We’ve gone over this ground before. I’ve known him about a week.”

  His expression turned a smidgen sour. “He’s kind of out of place in a town like this, don’t you think?”

  A little irritated, she said, “Well, you’re from Texas, Danny. Some people in Colorado think that’s foreign. You know how playful Texans and Coloradoans are about each other.” She grinned to take some of the frustration out of her voice. “He’s not American, he’s Scottish. He dresses a bit differently.”

  “Kind of fancy.”

  Rather than go for an acerbic reply, Erin kept her tone even. “Apparently he likes more formal clothes. He was wearing black jeans the night I met him, though.”

  “When did you say you first met him?”

  She’d mentioned this before, but Danny had switched into high-gear police mode.

  “Story night at the library.” She put down her spoon. “Lachlan told me you went to the bed and breakfast where he was staying and questioned him.”

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nbsp; “I’m surprised he told you.” Danny sipped his steaming black coffee, then winced and put the cream ceramic cup back on the table. He spooned a couple of cubes of ice from his water glass into his cup. “Did he also tell you I caught him in a lie?”

  A little taken aback, she took a moment to answer. “No. What lie?”

  “He said he wasn’t anywhere near the area where Mrs. Pickles was attacked.” He grinned sarcastically. “But then he did admit that he was watching you that night.”

  Erin remembered that Lachlan had admitted the same to her. “How is that a lie?”

  “In order for him to be near you, he had to be within the vicinity of Mrs. Pickles.”

  She stared at her coffee cup and frowned as she thought. When she looked up at him she said, “So you think he does have something to do with the attacks? But I was in the area, too. I could have been the one, in that case, to have attacked the women.”

  With a huffing noise he leaned back in the booth. “No way. You couldn’t have overpowered those women. Besides, I know you. You wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “You haven’t known me that long. How can you be sure?”

  He paused, and she knew she’d made him think about the flaws in his logic. “Why are you defending him? You were the one who told me you were suspicious of him.”

  “Because I’ve revised my thinking a little. Maybe he was watching me that night because he was worried about my safety.”

  The thrill of that possibility wasn’t lost on her. She liked the idea that Lachlan cared about her. Just the possibility of Lachlan having feelings for her sent her stomach into cartwheels of exhilaration.

  Danny grunted softly, as if not wanting to refute her statement in full. He rolled his shoulders as if to release tight muscles. “Things are crazy around here lately. I’m lucky I can have lunch with you, darlin’. The chief wants us patrolling extra hours.”

  His endearment didn’t get passed her. She supposed he called every woman he knew darling. Erin smiled to ease his apprehension. “This El Chupacabra nonsense has people nervous right now.” She glanced out the window to her left. “There are less people on the street.”