by Lynsay Sands
"Rogues do not usually come quietly, so I had my van hopped up just for chases like this," Mortimer explained, apparently noting his surprise. "One of the boys is a car enthusiast and switched out the engine for a Porsche turbo something or other. Fortunately, I only had my van and the SUVs tricked out like this and not the cleanup vans like the one Odilia is driving."
Scotty merely nodded, and concentrated on what he was doing as he steered their van up beside the one Odilia was driving. He slowed once he was beside her, and gestured for her to pull over, but she refused to even look in their direction.
"What now?" Mortimer asked.
Scotty was silent for a moment, considering all the alternatives.
"Odilia must know we've figured out she's behind everything now," Mortimer pointed out.
Scotty nodded. That meant she knew her fate if she stopped. Odilia was rogue. She'd killed one of Kira's bodyguards, injured and nearly killed Magnus and Rickart, and repeatedly tried to kill Beth. She'd be sentenced to beheading by the Council.
"She will not stop willingly," Mortimer pointed out. "She has nothing to lose."
"And she won't hesitate to take Beth with her rather than allow herself to be caught," Scotty growled. "And Donny too, if he's in the van."
Mortimer reached for his seat belt, and calmly did it up. Scotty didn't. He needed to be able to get out quickly once he got the vehicles stopped.
"Sorry about yer van," Scotty said with regret.
"The Council will replace it," Mortimer said with a shrug.
Nodding, Scotty dropped back a bit and steered into the van, bumping it gently at first, but continuing to steer to the right and forcing the van Odilia was driving toward the ditch on the side of the road. She caught him by surprise when she suddenly swerved to the left, steering into him now. Scotty held steady, but quickly realized she'd just been trying to distract him when he saw the tree ahead on the side of the road. He swallowed a sudden ball in his throat, fearing he knew exactly what she would do, and knowing for certain it was too late to prevent it from happening. Even now Odilia was turning sharply toward that large old oak tree.
Scotty slammed on the brakes at once, practically standing on them in his determination to stop the damned van as Odilia sent hers crashing into the tree. Even so, he overshot the accident, rushing past as the van crumpled against the tree, the engine in the front exploding on impact.
Cursing, Scotty jerked the steering wheel to spin the van again, just as he'd done on the tarmac of the airstrip, and drove back to pause behind the now burning van. Praying under his breath, he threw open his door and ran to the back of the other vehicle, nearly ripping the doors off in his desperation. Smoke immediately billowed out, but he spotted a pair of chain-wrapped feet, and grabbed one foot to drag the unmoving body toward him.
"It's Donny!" Mortimer said. "I have him. Get Beth."
Leaving the young immortal to Mortimer, Scotty crawled into the van and felt around until his hand found hair. Crawling further forward, he followed the hair to a head, and then a neck and finally a shoulder and arm as the smoke thickened and the heat increased, suggesting the flames were getting closer. Catching the body by one wrist, Scotty crawled quickly backward, pulling whoever it was along with him. It wasn't until he had climbed out of the back and pulled the upper body clear of the smoke that he was able to see and knew for certain it was Beth.
"Thank God," he breathed, scooping her up and turning to carry her quickly to the back of Mortimer's van. He gently laid her down next to Donny in the back, and then turned toward the burning vehicle, but Mortimer caught his arm.
"There's nothing you can do for her," he said quietly.
Scotty stared at the burning vehicle. The front was completely engulfed in flames that were slowly moving their way backward, eating up the interior of the van. There was no way Odilia could still be alive.
Swallowing, he turned back to Beth to look her over. From what he could see she had multiple bruises, gashes, and a couple of broken bones. But they would heal quickly enough. She was alive, and that was what mattered.
"I will drive," Mortimer offered.
Nodding, Scotty climbed into the back of the van and lifted Beth into his lap to cradle her on the ride back.
Mortimer closed the doors.
Nineteen
Beth turned onto her side with a little sigh, and then opened her eyes sleepily, only to scowl when she found herself staring at a pale yellow wall.
"Not again," she muttered. "I think I hate this room."
"Well, ye ha'e spent a powerful amount o' time in it, and no' at all fer the reason it was intended."
Rolling quickly onto her back, Beth swung her head around and stared at Scotty, her eyes quickly narrowing. "You."
His brow furrowed with concern. "Did I do something wrong, me love?"
"You slept with Odilia!" Beth accused. "Why the devil would you do that?"
Scotty lowered his head on a sigh, and muttered, "I thought she was me life mate at the time."
"I know that," she snapped. "And I even understand that first time. But once you'd actually bedded her, surely you sensed it wasn't quite right? She described it as gentle, caring and sweet, for God's sake," Beth said with disgust. "That is not life mate sex, Scotty."
"Nay, it's not," he agreed with a crooked smile, and then pointed out, "But I had nothing to compare it to at the time."
"Well, did you faint?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "That might have been a good tip-off."
Scotty grimaced. "I have heard o' cases where life mates do no' faint at first. No' until they learn to trust each other and are ready to let go emotionally."
When Beth merely glared at him, he said, "Truly, lass, I felt something was missing, but thought mayhap she just did no' trust me enough yet or something. It was no' until I experienced shared dreams with ye on me trip to Spain that I knew the mistake I'd made. When that dream sex was so hot and passionate and a million times better than real sex with Odilia, I knew I'd made an error."
"Uh-huh," Beth said grimly. "And apparently it completely slipped your notice that she was crazy as a loon?"
"Aye, it did," Scotty said seriously.
"You couldn't read her, Scotty," she pointed out quietly.
"I know, but I didn't try to read her again after that first night until I returned from me trip to Spain having realized she was no' me life mate. And I was able to read her then."
"Really?" Beth asked with surprise.
Scotty nodded. "She must have read me the minute I entered and realized what was coming. If she was mad even then, she must have fed me her thoughts rather than me reading them. Whatever the case, when I could read her then, I decided my inability to read her before must have been because she was temporarily scattered by what she'd seen in the house we rescued ye from. I thought mayhap it had reminded her o' the horrors o' her childhood and she was in shock that night, or some such thing."
"Temporary insanity?" she suggested.
"Aye," he agreed. "And she seemed to accept it easily enough when I told her that I'd made a mistake and we were no' life mates, so . . ." He shrugged helplessly.
"Oh." Beth let her breath out on a small sigh, her irritation going with it. After a moment, she said, "So, the last thing I remember, I was on the floor in one of the kennels, and then Odilia shot me with her damned dart gun . . . again," she added dryly. Raising her eyebrows, she asked, "What happened after that?"
Scotty quickly and solemnly told her what she'd missed, and they both fell silent for a moment. Then Beth said simply, "I'm sorry about Odilia, Scotty."
He shook his head. "I think mayhap she was too traumatized by what happened to her and her family when she was so young. I fear I made a lot o' mistakes when it comes to you and Odilia. First I thought her my life mate when it was you, and then I thought you needed the mind wipe when ye did no', and now I think mayhap she is the one I should ha'e insisted on having a mind wipe. Mayhap had I done so, she could have foun
d some happiness in this life."
"She found some happiness," Beth assured him solemnly. "That period when you thought her your life mate, she was happy. It wouldn't have lasted even if you hadn't sorted it out, but she was happy for a time."
Scotty looked down, and she wasn't sure if telling him that was good or just made him feel worse, but then he sighed and straightened to say, "We still have to finish our earlier conversation."
Beth stilled, recalling the conversation in question. When Donny had interrupted them earlier, Scotty had just vowed to spend his life making up for hurting her if she'd give him the chance and agree to be his life mate.
"But first," Scotty added before she could speak, "do ye need anything? More blood, mayhap? Or are ye hungry?"
Beth was going to lie and say no so that they could finish that conversation, but her stomach spoke up for her with a loud growl.
Chuckling softly, Scotty stood at once. "I'll go down and fetch ye something to eat."
Beth hesitated, but when he started toward the door, she quickly said, "I'll go with you."
Scotty swung back with surprise. "There's no need, lass. I'm happy to fetch something fer ye."
"Thank you, but I'd be happy to get out of this room. I'm thoroughly sick of it," she admitted, tossing her bedding aside. She then paused as she saw that she was wearing an overlarge T-shirt rather than the hated hospital gown. Beth peered at it blankly, not recognizing the top.
"Rachel put ye in a hospital gown, but I brought one o' me T-shirts in and had her change ye into it. I ken ye do no' like the hospital gowns, and while I ken ye prefer sleeping in the nude, I did no' want ye to think I was takin' liberties," Scotty explained as he moved back and offered her his hand to help her up from the bed.
Beth peered from the T-shirt to his hand, taking in his thoughtfulness with both actions. She then shifted her gaze to his face, stared at him solemnly for a minute and simply said, "Yes."
Scotty stilled, and for a moment she felt sure she'd have to explain what she was saying yes to, but then he asked hopefully, "Yes, ye will be me life mate?"
Biting her lip, Beth nodded.
"Thank God," he breathed and bent to scoop her out of the bed. Crushing her to his chest, he said, "Thank ye, Beth. I promise ye'll never regret it. I ken I've been an ass, but I'll spend the rest o' our lives making it up to ye."
"I'll hold you to that," she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him back.
The threat made him chuckle, but he drew back to peer at her, his expression growing serious before he said, "Ye'll no' have to, lass. 'Twill be me pleasure to treat ye as ye always should ha'e been treated."
"And how is that?" Beth asked with curiosity as he started toward the door.
"Like a queen," he answered promptly. Pausing for her to open the door, he added, "Or better yet, as the goddess ye are."
"Goddess, eh?" she asked with amusement as he carried her out of the room she was coming to hate.
"Aye," he assured her as he started down the hall. "Ye're everything to me, lass. All I could have ever wanted, and all I'll ever need."
"I guess that's why we're life mates," Beth said, wondering how the nanos knew such things.
"Ye're more than me life mate, Beth." Pausing suddenly, Scotty met her gaze and said seriously, "I love ye, Elizabeth Sheppard Argenis. I love ye, and everything about ye, and I'll thank God and the nanos and the universe itself every day o' me life fer gifting me with ye fer a mate."
"Oh," Beth breathed, blinking back the tears suddenly crowding her eyes. But then she said, "I love you too, Scotty."
"Ye do no' have to say that if it's no' true, lass," he said gently. "I hope someday it will be true, but I ken I've been an ass, and--"
"You have been an ass," Beth interrupted. "You've been stubborn, and bossy, and just plain stupid at times."
"Aye, I have," he admitted wryly.
"And if you hadn't been, we'd have reached this point long ago," she pointed out.
"True," he agreed solemnly.
"But you're also smart, and you have a wicked sense of humor, and you're strong and dependable and patient, and I can't imagine my life without you in it," she continued. Then she raised a hand, caressed his cheek and added, "And I don't want to. I do love you, Cullen MacDonald."
"Thank God fer that," Scotty breathed and bent to press a gentle kiss to her lips. At least, it started gentle, a heartbreakingly sweet caress that seemed almost a vow on its own. Beth felt that kiss to the bottom of her soul, and tears immediately pricked her eyes as her heart melted. But she wasn't Odilia. Beth was Scotty's life mate, and the sweet and gentle soon led to heat and passion. She wasn't even sure when it changed--perhaps when she sighed against his lips--but suddenly Scotty was urging her lips apart to allow him in.
Beth opened to him at once, her hands clutching at his shoulders as his tongue thrust forward to stake a claim. Her own tongue met his, welcoming and eager, and her body shifted restlessly in his arms, her back trying to arch as desire rushed through her.
Groaning, Scotty released her legs and let her dangle flush against him. He then pressed her against the wall and caught the backs of her thighs, urging her legs up.
Beth immediately wrapped them around him, and then moaned into his mouth as he shifted and ground against her. Pinning her there against the wall with his hips, Scotty removed one hand from her legs so that he could find and squeeze one breast through the loose T-shirt she wore.
A long, low groan immediately slid from Beth's lips and she arched into the caress, her kiss becoming almost frantic. But when her legs tightened around his hips, and she shifted against the hardness pressing against her, Scotty broke their kiss on a curse and leaned his forehead against hers.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, he asked, "Lass, how hungry are ye?"
"Very, very hungry," Beth said breathlessly, and when he slumped against her, added, "For you."
"Thank God," he growled, and reached to the side.
Beth noted the door next to them with surprise as he turned the knob and thrust it open. She then gasped as he caught her against him and carried her into the room. Her gaze slid around the blue room as he paused to kick the door closed, and then she met his gaze. "Your room?"
"Our room," he corrected her as he walked to the bed, with her wrapped around him and clinging like a monkey. "Ye said ye were sick o' yer room, so we'll stay here. For now," he added, pausing next to the bed. He released the hold he had on her legs so that they dropped and she was flush against him again, and then set her gently on her feet.
"And then?" she asked, tilting her head to eye him with interest. She had just moved here to Canada, but he was the head of the UK hunters and would have to live there.
"And then, after we marry, we'll live wherever ye want," he said solemnly. "Here in Toronto, or that little town ye mentioned where Dree lives. Wherever ye want," he repeated.
"You'd give up your position as head of the UK hunters for me?" she asked with surprise.
"I'd give up everything fer ye, lass," he said solemnly. "Ye're me life mate, me love, and me whole world now."
Beth stared at him wide-eyed, touched beyond words.
Shifting under her gaze, he glanced toward the door and frowned. "Mayhap I should fetch ye some blood or--"
Beth covered his mouth with one hand and shook her head. "I don't want blood. All I want in this moment is you."
"Thank God," he growled, and was on her at once, his arms catching her up and bearing her down onto the bed beside them.
Beth went willingly with a laugh that was cut off when his mouth covered hers. But she could still hear that "thank God" in her head as his hands began to rove over her, and silently echoed it herself. Her life had been a long hard road at times, but it had brought her to this place and this man, and she thanked God for every trial that had led her here. If this was the prize, then it had been worth every moment.
An Excerpt from Surrender to the Hig
hlander
Read on for a sneak peek at the next book
in Lynsay Sands's Highlander series
SURRENDER TO THE HIGHLANDER
Coming February 2018!
Surrender to the Highlander
The sound of a terrible explosion woke Edith. Blinking her eyes open, she glanced frantically around the room, and then jerked her gaze to her right as the sound came again. She gaped at the man slumped in the seat next to the bed. He was the source of the sound. Not an explosion at all, but a loud snuffling snort as the fellow snored in his sleep. Dear God, she'd never heard such a horrendous racket.
Edith stared at the man blankly, wondering who the devil he was and why he was in her room, and then she noticed the woman in bed next to her and peered at her with mingled confusion and concern. She recognized her at once as Victoria's maid, Effie. But finding her in her bed was somewhat surprising. The fact that the woman looked terribly ill just added to her bewilderment. The old woman was extremely pale, not an ounce of color in her thin, wrinkled skin, and she was completely unmoving too. Effie was so still, Edith wasn't even sure she was breathing at first. She was beginning to worry the woman was dead when she noted that her chest was rising and lowering the faintest bit with slow, shallow breaths.
Relieved, Edith relaxed and then glanced around her chamber again. Her room was generally neat and tidy, but at present it looked like there really had been an explosion. An empty mug lay on its side on the bedside table, next to one standing up and two empty bowls. A bread crust and another cup and bowl were on the bedside table on the other side, and then a cask sat on the table at the far end of the room with several more metal cups and bowls between it and a small pile of browning vegetable peels. There was also what appeared to be a rabbit pelt, freshly skinned.
Wondering who had held the party in her room while she was sleeping, Edith glanced over the floor now, noting the sacks lined up against the wall. There were four in all with various items spilling out of them--cloth, vegetables, and weapons. And the rush mats on the floor were both crushed and kicked aside, showing a lot of use and definite trails from the door to both the bed and table, and then from both the table and bed to the fireplace, where a pot of something was bubbling over the fire.
