It probably had to do with the entire family. Granted, it was a massive mansion, and she could spend days easily avoiding her fellow inhabitants. It should be easy enough for her to do, except that whenever she tried, she ended up failing. One of the McLennans always seemed to find her.
As if on cue, Anice hurried out of the mansion. Her trademark smile was not in appearance. Instead, she seemed to be in a world of her own making, her head down and a frown marring her usually sunny disposition. Normally, Serena would avoid the situation. Emotions were hard for her since she was empathetic. People’s feelings became her own. She’d learned long ago that being friends wasn’t something she could be good at. But then she’d met Maggie and Meghan, who had come into her life and changed that opinion. She would do anything for either woman and their families. That now extended to the McLennans, since they both had fallen for one of the immortals.
“Anice?”
She stopped and looked up, blinking. Serena had been correct. The solitary female cousin had been deep in thought.
“Oh, Rena, hullo. I didna see you there.”
She smiled. “No worries. You look upset.”
Anice shrugged. “Fletcher knows just how to be an arse when he wants.”
Serena snorted, which brought a small smile to Anice’s lips. “What did he do now?”
She waved her hands as if it were nothing. “We get on each other’s nerves. Not hard to do after a couple of centuries of irritating each other.”
“Still, this one was hard, yes?”
Anice sighed and sat on the bench beside Serena. “Yes.”
They sat next to each other for a few seconds. Anice didn’t continue with her thoughts, which was odd for her. She liked to chatter on about nothing that important. Serena knew it had to be hard being the only girl cousin. Until they had found the diary, Anice had been by herself in the mansion of men. Granted, she had friends at work, Serena thought. Still, Anice wouldn’t have been able to share any of her secrets.
“Anice?”
She looked at Serena. “What?”
“Tell me.”
She sighed, as if trying to collect herself. That was enough to tell Serena that this was not an easy memory for Anice.
“I was fooled a while ago by a bastard.”
“In truth or deed?”
“Deed. He was using me to get to the Clan. I pricked Fletcher’s temper and...” she sighed but did not continue.
“Fletcher brought it up again?”
She nodded and looked out over the expansive land the McLennans owned. Many people would look at Anice on any given day and see a happy woman. She often smiled and often joked about their predicament. Serena had always sensed a melancholy behind the smile.
“Is this why you have no man?”
“There is one man. I just…” She looked over her shoulder at the house.
“What?”
“He works for the company, and the boys wouldn’t be happy about that.”
“Boys?” Then it hit Serena who she was talking about. “Your brother and your cousins?” Serena sniffed. “It is no business of theirs. Didna Callum seduce Phoebe when she was working for him?”
“Yes.”
“It can also be said of Maggie and Meghan, to a point. These men.” She shook her head.
“I also seem to have a problem knowing who is a good man. Remember that man we met at the pub?”
“The McWalton?”
Anice nodded. “I found him attractive.”
“He is attractive.”
“Should I be attracted to a man whose entire family had us cursed?”
Serena shrugged. “I find him attractive although I sense there is something wrong with his soul.”
“You do?”
Again she shrugged. It was hard to explain. “He’s not evil yet, or wasn’t when I met him. He has the ability to become evil though.”
Anice sighed. “Of course.”
“It should not stop you from getting to know this other man.”
“So, you don’t think it’s a problem?”
“No. Although, I would tell you to tread carefully. Your family holds a precious secret. Who knows what the ramifications would be if you were to reveal your situation?”
Anice nodded and looked out over the grounds again. In that one moment, Serena felt her loneliness. It vibrated through her soul and left her almost breathless, although Serena did not utter a word. This is why she didn’t make friends. Their pain became hers and it grew as their friendship deepened.
When Serena could speak, she asked, “Have you talked to Phoebe about this?”
“No.”
“Is there a reason you would not talk to your cousin about this?”
Anice looked at her, those deep blue eyes resembled the North Sea. A hint of gray, and tumultuous. Serena knew there were secrets lurking there—many of them painful.
“She has so much on her plate, and since she found that passage about the children of the McLennans being in danger, she’s been possessed about finding out more.”
For good reason. Phoebe, Callum’s wife, was expecting the first child born to one of the immortals. The passage had warned of a dire fate for children sired by the cousins.
“The diary is written to make it difficult.”
Anice nodded. “I understand though. They were trying their best to leave us a trail, but they had to worry about the McWaltons coming after them. That is one Clan I would be happy not to have any more contact with.”
Anice shivered, but Serena was convinced it had to do with a memory and not the light breeze. Serena was certain that it had more to do with the bastard Anice had mentioned.
“I think that something like this might take her mind off of her worries though.”
Anice’s expression eased a bit. “Do you think it would help?”
“Yes. If you have a worry, sometimes it is best to forget about your own and focus on someone else’s.”
“Does that advice come from your experience?”
Serena smiled. “Yes.”
“I guess I’ll go hunt up Phoebe and talk to her.”
“Good. And, in my opinion, you should take a chance. You’ll never know otherwise.”
“Know what?”
“Know if he is the one for you.”
“I’d settle for a date.”
Anice started to rise from the bench, but Serena grabbed her hand. Anice’s eyes widened. Her feelings tumbled through Serena, leaving her almost gasping for breath. Loneliness, fear, anger filtered through Serena. She wanted to cry, shout, do something, but she did not. She controlled it by doing her breathing exercises.
When she finally had herself under control, she said, “Don’t sell yourself short, Anice. Having a partner, one who can support you and love you is precious.”
“Speaking from experience again?”
She let go of the other woman’s hand. “Not my personal experience, but my parents had a love like that. My father turned his back on his family for my mother. Your cousins and my friends have already proven they would give their lives for each other. You deserve that.”
She offered Serena a sad smile. “We all deserve that, Rena, but sometimes fate doesna want to play along.”
She rose, and Serena let her go.
“She’s in the library,” she called out.
“It’s weird when you do things like that, Rena.”
She smiled. “You’re several centuries old. That’s weirder.”
When Anice’s laughter reached her, Serena smiled. But it soon faded. The McLennans may have their curse to break, but Serena had her own quest to finish. She’d spent the last few months tangled up with the family. Now, though, she was awaiting confirmation of one last thing and then she could complete it.
She would finally be able to keep her promise to her family and nothing would stand in her way.
Chapter Two
“Bloody hell,” Fletcher said as he dropped his house keys a second ti
me. He bent over to pick them up and almost lost his balance and fell into the herb garden Cook kept. He righted himself, then unlocked the door.
He snuck in and realized it was after midnight. Thankful, the house was quiet…meaning everyone had gone off to bed. He didn’t want to explain where he had been or how disgusted he was with himself. He hadn’t even tried to get Simone back to her place, even though she had been game for it. Instead, he was slipping back in to the house after a few too many pints and definitely too much food.
“Your sister was worried about you,” Rena said.
Of course, she was there. That was the way his luck was running tonight. He turned around and found her sitting on the counter in the corner. The kitchen was dark, but she seemed to be sitting in a spotlight. The air sparkled around her, telling him the light was magickal. Her hair was down, curling over her shoulders.
“Bloody hell, Rena.”
“What?”
“Do you have to do that all the time? It’s a bit creepy.”
She gave him a smile, one of the genuine ones that reached her eyes. He could feel happiness dancing over the air to him. Before he could do anything about it, it slipped beneath his flesh. When this happened to him, it always struck him as more intimate than sex. It was a part of her shared with him.
“Thank you.”
He shook his head. “You’re strange.”
“Thank you again. I would hate to be normal.”
He blinked, then threw his head back and laughed. It took him a few seconds to recover. When he did, she was smiling at him, completely unoffended.
“No one would ever accuse you of that.”
She continued to smile as she slipped off the counter, and he realized she was wearing the red silk robe he had seen her in previously. It draped her curves and showed the barest hint of flesh. He often wondered if she wore anything beneath it. When she neared him, he had to fight the urge to reach out and run his fingers over the soft fabric, or tug on the sash. He really wanted to see what was beneath. Clothes? Lingerie? Skin? She was close enough that he caught a bit of her scent. He drew it in and his head started to spin.
“You had a date tonight,” she said. Was that a hint of disapproval he heard in her voice? He glanced at her expression. There was no smile.
“Yes, well, I just had dinner with an old friend.”
She nodded.
“What are you doing in here? Were you waiting for me?”
She sniffed. “Definitely not, but I wanted a bite to eat. I missed dinner tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because I was hungry. I thought I explained that.”
For a woman who had such amazing abilities, she often took things a little too literally.
“I meant, why did you miss dinner?”
“Oh. I was working.”
And there would be no further explanation. Fletcher had learned a long time ago not to push. Rena shut all of them out, except Maggie and Meghan. The rest of them were left in the dark to the goings on in her world. Was that why he was so intrigued? Was it the fact that no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to discover her secrets?
No. It was the whole package.
“Can’t you just wish for food to appear?”
She snorted. “No. At least, not food. I’ve done it in the past, but the food was always disgusting.”
“So, what can you do?”
“I can travel without a plane; although, Maggie says I should be smarter about that.”
“How so?” he asked, walking to the table and sitting down. Serena had opened the fridge and started to rummage around for food. As usual, she had a collection of items, enough to feed a man twice her size and weight, when she turned around. And there was cheese…always, there was cheese.
She retrieved a plate from the cupboard and started to cut up the cheese and fruit. “Maggie is worried that others will become suspicious of my travels. Just appearing in another country without my passport being stamped is a bad thing, according to her.” She shrugged, dismissing her friend’s comments.
She joined him at the table, sitting on the opposite side.
“You’ve done that for years with no problem.”
She looked up at him. Again, there was a sparkle of light around her. Her eyes were definitely green now and just as mesmerizing. He was positive she could see into his soul.
“I’m connected to your family.”
“And?”
“For a family that has tried to avoid scrutiny, you do garner a bit of notoriety. You have a lot of fingers in the pot. Companies in multiple countries and links to even more. Maggie is afraid questions will be raised now that she and Meghan are married into your family. We have a long history, so it might cause the press to start questioning where I am going.”
“I doona think you will have an issue with that.”
She nodded. “Besides, my next destination is here in Scotland, so teleporting is not an issue.”
Serena threw that out to entice him, he knew it. She did that often. He wanted a feast, but all she ever offered were nibbles. And even understanding that, he rose to the bait.
“Where are you going?”
She shrugged. “Up north. I doona have a final destination, but I know I have to go north.”
He nodded. More secrets. It wasn’t something he liked from a woman. In his youth, enigmatic women were a mystery he liked to unravel. He loved digging beneath the surface and discovering things no one else could see. These days, he knew to avoid women who held too many secrets. Having so many of his own gave him an understanding of their behavior. Most people did, and he normally left those alone. McLennans held onto so many of their own, he was hypocritical to expect answers from others. But he wanted to know more.
“I cannae tell you what I am doing.”
“Did you read my mind?”
She shook her head. “Not on purpose, but this has more to do with your feelings. You emit so many emotions, Fletcher. You all do to an extent.”
Her Scottish accent was strong, but there was a hint of something else there. He thought it might have come from her Indian mother.
“I don’t mean to.”
“I know. I think that is why I feel them. You spend so much time suppressing your feelings that they are very shouty around me, and they are always tied to your thoughts. It leaves me drained at times.”
Bloody hell did that mean she knew…
“Yes, I know that you find me attractive.” She shrugged. “I find you attractive too, but that’s because you are attractive.”
Good, then she didn’t know about the…dammit.
She smiled. “I willna try to read your thoughts, but it is only the two of us and you are slightly pissed, are you not?”
“Can you feel that?”
She shook her head. “Lately you’ve avoided me, so the fact that you are sitting here talking to me tells me you might have had a few pints tonight.”
“I was thinking earlier that I didn’t know much about you.”
She frowned. “And you want to? There isna much to tell.”
“You’re a fae who can disappear and read thoughts. That makes you very interesting.”
She smiled. “First, I’m half fae. My father was but my mother wasn’t. Okay, what do you want to know?”
He could ask her about her family and why she was alone, but he knew she wouldn’t tell him everything.
“Tell me your favorite story about Meghan and Maggie.”
Her eyebrows shot up. He sensed that he surprised her with the question. Good. At least he wasn’t the only one being continually flabbergasted. “The M and M’s?”
He laughed. “You call them that?”
“Yes. They do not particularly like it because it reminds them of their insane thoughts about faeries.”
“What thoughts?”
“It wasna tae long after I met them that I found out they thought that faeries ate humans as revenge. I don’t know where they read or heard that
, they never told me. After pretending they had angered me and I would eat them, which they figured out was just a joke, but it took a full five minutes, I started calling them my M and M’s.”
She was laughing the entire time she was telling the story. He had never seen her quite this happy. Her joy shimmered around her and reached out to him, slipping beneath his flesh and stirring his blood. It was like before, but stronger as if she couldn’t help but share her pleasure. He had never had this kind of connection with a woman. Maybe that was why he seemed helpless against the need to rise from the table and walk to her side. Without hesitation, he bent and pressed his mouth against hers.
She stopped laughing. He thought it would be a simple kiss, just a brush of mouths and then he would sit back down. Instead, need exploded inside of him, then rushed over his flesh. Electricity seemed to spark in the air around them. He wanted to surrender to the desire he’d resisted but knew better than to push. She responded, but it was tentative, not full force. Then a blast of heat swept over them, the kitchen seemingly caught fire. He wanted this, needed her on some level that he had never experienced. Fletcher reached down to draw her closer, to feel her body against his. All thoughts of controlling himself seemed to dissolve into a puddle of lust that left his entire body craving relief.
“Fletcher!” she yelled. He blinked and found Serena looking at him as if he had grown another head.
He looked around the kitchen, then finally at her. They were both still at the table, as they were before his fantasy took over. The air was normal, no sparks, no heat.
“What?”
“Where were you? I kept calling your name and you just didna respond.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I must be more pissed than I thought I was. I should take myself off to bed.”
But he didn’t want to. Not without her at least. Need crawled through Fletcher, urging him to invite her. He pushed back that thought, barely. As the silence stretched, her gaze became more worried.
“Do you need help? I can move you…”
“No,” he said with a little more force than he had expected. He couldn’t help it. Feeling her magic would probably push him over the edge. He knew it would be too seductive.
Fletcher: The Cursed Clan: Book 4 Page 2
