“Not even yer da if he were alive?”
She smiled. “Papa would have loved you.”
“But if he didnae?”
“I would hope he would want me to be happy, but if he refused, I would have to see to my own happiness, and that happiness would be you. I would still marry you.”
I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head. “Oh, Jinny. How ye’ve captured my heart.”
“Douglass, let’s not take any chances on Uncle saying no. Let’s just do it. Right away. We could spend the rest of this day together—make it a spectacular final day with an evening in town—and tonight when I go home, I’ll pack my things and you can come for me early tomorrow morning, right after Uncle leaves. He leaves a half an hour before sunrise. Aunt Fia will still be sleeping—she’s not risen earlier than noon the entire time Lachlan has been out of town. I’ll leave my uncle a note, telling him you and I have married. And I’ll stay with you in your castle, hidden away from the world.”
Would she really do that? And would she be happy if she did? If we carried out such a plan, I’d never have to worry over her safety again.
“Are ye sure that’s what ye want, Jinny—to be isolated from the world?”
“I’m sure I want you, and am willing to make that sacrifice. I want to make your home my home, and your clan my clan. I’ll accept your ways as my own—although I cannot adopt your eating habits.” She gave a flat smile.
I chuckled. “No, I would no’ think so. But I might be willing to try and adopt yours if my ways bother ye.”
Her eyes roamed about my face. “Douglass, I’m moved by your willingness to surrender and to do without for me, but I cannot ask you to change who and what you are; although, I wouldn’t contest you being a bit more selective. There are plenty of bad people in this world that might deserve such a fate. You could start with those heartless predators who find their pleasure by misusing children, or those cold-blooded monsters who find pleasure in torturing other living things.” She lifted her brow and gave me a grand smile.
My lips twitched with amusement. “I love ye, Jinny. Ye make me feel so good, about everything—life, and being with ye, and the future. We were written in the stars, my love, as the fates were set on me having ye.”
“And me having you, Douglass. I think we will owe them a thank you.”
I chuckled and wrapped my arms around her soft, naked body. “I think ye’re right. In the meantime, hold yer breath.”
Chapter fifteen
Jinny Fairchild
Douglass scooped me up and I realized what he intended. I filled my lungs just as he plunged us into the water, and he released me as soon as we were immersed.
Time slowed.
We hovered in quiet, placid motion, just staring at one another for many seconds. He was extraordinary to look at, his large, sculpted body—every part of it godly, and his inky hair floating out around his head.
He was mesmerizing.
This was his natural world and he was willing to share it with me. His heavy gaze stirred my soul as it dawned on me he’d never been in his habitat with someone he felt passion for.
When my lungs begged for oxygen, I kicked my way toward the surface and he followed, giving me a boost. My mouth popped out of the water with a gulp of air, and I found myself facing Douglass.
My goodness, he was beautiful in this state—hair weighted and shining with the essence of the sea. His face and shoulders glistened with droplets of blue-green amid the dancing reflections of the grotto, making his skin appear aquamarine. I realized I must appear the same to him.
He pulled me close, his gaze skimming the lines of my face. “Jinny,” he said softly. “Upon my word, lass, ye’re the most beautiful thing in this world. I thought so that first day on the beach when your bonnie self was hanging out the window of that coach. And I know it now.” His sincere expression took my breath.
I swallowed. “Are you going to make love to me here in the water?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Na, lassie. And it’s a damn shame since ye look like this. Ye need making love to, and badly. But I’m going to make love to ye the right way—in our bed, on our wedding day. Lucky for me, that is tomorrow.”
That answer brought mixed emotions. I wanted him terribly, and knew he wanted me by the feel of him pressed against my stomach, yet how could one not feel treasured by such an answer?
He kissed my nose. “Can ye swim well under water?”
I bobbed my head. “Quite well.”
A white smile spread across his face. “Follow me.”
I did, and we spent the next half hour exploring the pool with its incredible rock formations, fish, and vegetation. Though the enjoyment of the experience was diminished by my having to come up for air over and over, the water was divinely warm, and felt almost healing. I loved seeing Douglass in that state—his environment—and longed to follow him to the depths of the sea. But that was a part of his life I would never get to share with him. Would he grow bothered by that? If he chose a female of his own kind he could share himself fully with her.
The thought would not go away.
***
I lay stretched out on the flat stone of the cave floor near the water, letting the warm air dry my body. Propped on one elbow, I studied Douglass, treading water beside me. He watched me, too.
“Ye look like a goddess lying there—yer beautiful body exposed to me as it is.”
“Not quite a goddess, my love.”
“Ye are to me.”
“Have you ever actually seen a goddess?”
“Well, no, no’ exactly, but I’ve seen ocean queens and rulers and the like.”
“Really? What do they rule? Are there actually underwater cities?”
“Aye. The merpeople ye saved would live in a city. No’ like the cities above ground exactly, as they would become corroded by the elements. But more like cave formations in mass number that have become inhabited with huge colonies and altered to suit their needs.”
“Have you ever been to one?”
“Many. A few of our kind work in those cities in exchange for the gold of the merpeople.”
“Gold?”
“From shipwrecks. Merpeople make up the greatest number of sea creatures and are always first on the scene when a ship goes down. For that reason, they are the wealthiest inhabitants of the ocean. They go for the feast, but claim the gold as well.”
My stomach turned at the image that put in my mind. I wanted to change the subject. “So, your people work for them? Doing what?”
“Quarrying stone out of the caves.”
“Why?”
“To enlarge the caves for bigger families, or for the higher classes. Some of my kind work as sculptors and carve out furnishings for those homes—beds, chairs, tables and so forth. Just because the merpeople don’t live with the same materials we do, does no’ mean they don’t like having a similar lifestyle.”
“That’s nice.” I couldn’t hide my frown; more concerned than ever that Douglass would be strapped if he married me. “Douglass, if you had your choice to live there rather that on land, would you?”
He quirked a brow and gave me a stern look. “I do have my choice, Jinny, and I like where I live just fine. I always have. Don’t go getting all guilt-ridden on me, lass. I see that worry on yer face. I’m no having to give up anything to be with ye. I’m gaining everything I find good and important. Ye’re an answered prayer for me, as well as for my clan. I’ve wanted to keep ye from that first moment, and now I get to.”
“I just wish I could share every part of your life with you, Douglass. What if you tire of me and my human limitations and go off to find someone you can truly share yourself with?”
Douglass shoved up out of the pool to stand beside me, a bounty of water falling all around his magnificent form, splashing onto my body. “Jinny, I choose ye, and I’ve shown ye I choose ye by being honest about who I am, and by bringing ye here to this secret cavern bene
ath the castle. I trust ye enough to let ye know these things. I’d no’ do that with someone I didnae love and want to spend the rest of my life with. I want ye to believe that. Do ye?”
He was speaking the truth. He had shared those things with me, and only me.
“I do believe that, Douglass.”
“Then I don’t have to worry ye’ll conjure up anymore of this nonsense?”
I smiled. “No. I guess I just needed you to assure me.”
“Then feel assured, lass, because ye are my chosen, and I’ll share every part of me I can with ye. But I am ech-ooshkya, Jinny. I’m no’ merely the man ye see before ye. And no’ every part of me is pleasant. It’s no’ something I’ve enjoyed ye knowing about me, but I’m willing to put myself on the line and open to ye completely.”
My heart beat against the walls of my chest as I stared at Douglass, standing wet and unclothed above me. It beat not from alarm, but from awareness—awareness of his body, and awareness of my wanting him so desperately. He was so beautiful, yet so male. I knew what he was—I’d seen his taste for blood more than once, and I accepted this, as he was not cruel-hearted.
He said, “I ken ye trust me, too. Ye wouldn’t have come here alone with me and let me take ye into the water. But I need to know ye trust me completely—enough to never fear me?”
“Yes, I trust you enough to never fear you.” I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Then I want to share another part of me with ye.”
I watched his face, waiting for him to explain, but he backed away from me, his gaze remaining fixed on mine.
I sat upright and noticed his eyelids darkening in color until they were black. The fringe that framed them lost its slight upward curl to grow downward—long, thick, and straight. Cerulean irises—though they remained the same color—grew bigger. His eyes began to widen upon his face, rounding drastically and bowing outward toward his ears that were now pushing high onto his head to stand in points.
I swallowed, and my chest rose and fell in heavy repetition. My heart, I realized, was now truly pummeling the walls within. I instinctively backed away, awe forcing my eyes wide as I watched.
Coarse, black hair extended from the pores of his face and body, and his black locks grew into a long mane, thick, and bristly, one thick sheaf winding down his forehead. It appeared to push his nose flat, stretching it toward me, driving his mouth downward to become tucked beneath wide flaring nostrils.
I was spellbound.
My gaze then followed wide shoulders as they broadened, while masculine arms stretched long. A dense layer of jetty hair sprayed out suddenly from thick wrists and ankles above manly hands and feet that turned to massive, hirsute hooves. The front ones slammed to the ground with spirited clattering against stone at the same time muscled legs had backed away, allowing the body to elongate as it thickened, until before me stood the ech-ooshkya stallion—the glorious creature that had captured my heart those months ago.
He came to me and nudged his nose to my cheek. I kissed its soft plane and scrubbed my fingernails into his big jaw. He tossed his head and went to a boulder—his hooves clopping against the stone and echoing throughout the cavern.
Realizing he wanted me to use the boulder to mount him, I scrambled to my feet and did, straddling him with a twist of his mane in my hand and with total faith in him as he took me into the pool.
His back legs became a long dragon-like tail with a wide fin at the end once we were in the water. His broad back beneath me felt remarkable, though very strange—my thighs were truly glued in place.
The power of such a being was enough to boggle the mind. He stayed in the confines of the large grotto, but I could tell by the feel of him that in the open sea, he would be quite fast.
I loved him for that—for sharing that part of himself with me, and I allowed myself to hope for a happy life with him in his world.
Chapter sixteen
Douglass McGrail
The day had slipped away from us and it was early evening when Jinny and I rode back into town with plans to enjoy our last night among the townsfolk. I would park the buggy and take her for a pleasant stroll along High Street, followed by a fine supper. And then I would go for her in the morning and we would disappear from this place forever.
She would be my wife by the time the sun met the sea tomorrow. That was fitting, as she looked like the golden sun and I was the dark sea. Either way, our romping about the town would come to an end.
But I could no’ shake my guilty feeling for taking Jinny from her uncle. I kent they cared deeply for one another.
As we drove along High Street, we approached the Bank and Trade. I said, “Since this is yer last chance to do so, would ye like to go visit yer uncle at his mercantile?”
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea. I would love that, Douglass. Thank you.”
With an hour behind us, Jinny and I were browsing, waiting for her uncle to return. The clerk had told us that he’d run an errand, but should be back soon. Well, “soon” had come and gone and I was now feeling guilty that the last bit of sunlight for Jinny to enjoy the town was but a sliver and would be gone altogether in a handful of minutes.
I was an aisle over from Jinny, but mere steps away. She could no’ see me, but I could see her through an opening on the shelf. I was looking at a Mackintosh raincoat when I heard a man with a stiff English accent at the counter. I looked through the opening, as a drawl like that was no’ common in these parts.
I’d never seen the man—tall for human, brown hair, gray at his temples, and somewhere in his middle forties. I saw Jinny standing behind him looking at something in the glass of the counter. I went back to my business but my head snapped around when I heard the man say his name—Dr. Sinclair—the name the old woman had told me. He then relayed to the clerk a list of things he needed delivered to his home. The clerk jotted them down, and I took note of the address the doctor gave.
Jinny was still so close that when the man turned abruptly, he knocked into her, stepping on her foot.
She hopped. “Ouch!”
A brow lifted on the man’s forehead, and one side of his mouth tipped up. “I do beg your pardon. Did I hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” Jinny said.
“Maybe I should take a look—I am a doctor.” He squatted and reached for her foot.
She jerked back, “Don’t touch me! I told you I’m fine, sir!”
Though I wanted to watch them longer in hopes of discovering why Jinny was reacting so strongly, I was no’ going to allow the doctor to touch her against her will. I was there in three steps with my hand on her back, and glaring at the man.
“What in blazes are ye doing, man?”
Wide-eyed, he looked me over, and stood.
“I inadvertently bumped into the lady and stepped on her foot. I am a doctor, and merely meant to see if she was hurt.” He put out a hand. “Marcus Sinclair.”
“Douglass McGrail.” I ignored his hand and looked at Jinny. “Are ye hurt?”
She tried to appear unaffected, but I was close enough to read her bodily functions, and they were going wild.
“I’m fine and I told him so. I’d like to go now, please.” My gaze slid to the doctor and I didnae like the way he was looking at Jinny. I wondered what in Hades was going on between these two.
Aware of Jinny’s discomfort, I escorted her to the buggy parked outside and lifted her onto the seat. With no sun it had grown chilly, so I reached for the buggy blanket and pulled it over her lap.
We rode a ways before I spoke. “What’s wrong, Jinny? Why did ye have such an overreaction to that man?”
She didnae look at me, only licked her lips and stared straight ahead.
“Jinny?”
“I didn’t intend to act in such a manner, but he nearly crushed my foot.”
“He said he was a doctor—why’d ye no’ let him see to it then?”
“Because I did not appreciate the man feeling entitled to touch me simply because h
e is a doctor. I don’t like doctors. Not since one used a dirty knife to dig a simple shard of wood out of my father’s heel and it got infected and killed him.”
It was only then that I realized I didnae know until that moment how her da had died.
“I’m sorry, Jinny.”
Tears filled her eyes. “It was such a senseless death. What’s worse was I was the one who insisted Papa let the doctor see to it. It was my fault he died.” She buried her face in her hands, weeping.
Veering onto a dead street and off to the side of the road with a tugging of the reins, I pulled her quickly into my arms and held her to me.
“Jinny … there, there, my love. It was no’ yer fault. Ye were only seeing to yer da’s wellbeing. Anyone would have done the same. Ye could no’ have known. Ye acted out of love.”
I thought my heart would break for her.
After a long hard cry, she sat up and wiped her eyes, calmer now. “Well, even if it wasn’t my fault, I’m sure you now understand why I didn’t want some strange doctor touching my foot. Besides, I was fine; it just hurt is all.”
“Well, then would ye mind if I touched ye?”
This calmed her more and she looked at me with a shake of her head.
“Then turn here and let me see.” I eased her around on the seat and lifted her foot to my lap, squeezing gently through her boot here and there. “Does this hurt?”
“Only a bit, nothing too severe.”
“Well, there does no’ seem to be anything broken or too badly damaged.”
“I tried to tell you that. Now, can we continue on our way?”
“Na, Jinny, I don’t believe we can.” Knowing my hand was under her skirt, my appetite was on the rise. All I had to do was move it a bit higher.
I did, keeping my eyes on hers while brushing my fingers in light circles over her inner thigh. I touched her pulse where her leg met her body and felt it gaining force and speed. Her lips parted on a breath and she gave the slightest invitation—spreading no more than an inch.
Falling in Deep Collection Box Set Page 126
