Wow. Did I hit a nerve? Apparently, she wasn’t the only one in a shitty mood today. “Money’s definitely not everything.” She gave him a grin and, in an attempt to lighten the conversation, added, “Of course, the people who usually say that, are the ones who have all the money—right?”
Ramsey locked eyes with her, a wide range of emotions flashing in the blue-gray depths of his gaze. He leaned forward, almost baring his teeth as he spoke. “MacDaras have money. Aye. ’Tis true. But ye’ll find we ne’er let anyone in the town of Brady go to sleep at night without a shelter o’er their heads or food in their bellies.”
Katie sat back and raised both hands to fend away his words. Damn, did I hit a nerve. “Hold on now, that wasn’t a shot at you or any other MacDara. All of you have been nothing but kind and you particularly, are my permanent hero for pulling me out of that car. Damn, Ramsay—you’re even buying me lunch after I acted like an unreasonable bitch this morning. I promise it was just a general statement—definitely not directed at you or your family. Okay?”
Holy crap, this guy is hard to talk to without triggering a shitstorm of angst today. Trouble was—he seemed kind of worth it. She could spot a jerk a mile away and always followed her instincts about people. Her gut had never steered her wrong. Her detectors, as she fondly called them, had spotted Ramsay’s kind soul early on and she was drawn to him. She liked him. Shame they didn’t have more time to…Never mind. She shut down her rambling thoughts and held her tongue until Ramsay visibly relaxed.
On impulse, she rose from her seat, dragged her chair around the table and snugged it as close as she could get it to Ramsay. Before he could react, she plopped back down in the chair and leaned toward him until her shoulder brushed his. “You’re a great guy, Ramsay—from what I’ve seen so far, you’re downright awesome. If you can overlook all my crap, I can overlook yours, and we can be friends. Everybody’s got crap—right?” She nudged his shoulder again, coyly rested her head on it, then playfully batted her eyes up at him as she smiled. “Friends?” She extended her hand and waited. “Come on, shake on it—trust me—yes?” Snuggly puppy mode worked with all her friends, surely it would work with Ramsay. She playfully batted her eyes again. “Come on,” she wheedled as she thumped a knuckle against his chest, then held out her hand again. “Friends—yes?”
One dark brow ratcheted nearly to his hairline and an unreadable look—no, a smoldering look that just might be readable if she was brave enough—settled across his features. Ramsay studied her for a brief moment then firmly took hold of her hand. His soul-stripping stare locked with hers, he gently turned her hand, and brought her knuckles to within a hairsbreadth of his mouth.
“I dinna shake hands wi’ ladies,” he informed her in a dangerously quiet tone that made her shiver and swallow hard.
Damn…breathe. Suddenly, snuggly puppy mode had morphed into something a lot more…a lot more something.
He pressed a gentle kiss across each of her knuckles and then another on the back of her hand. “And aye, lass. I will e’er be yer friend…and hopefully, with time, much more.”
D-damn. Swallowing hard against the rise of an increased heartrate pounding up into her throat, Katie melted beneath his gaze and struggled to form a coherent sentence.
“More?” she finally whispered.
“Aye,” he said soft and low. “Much more.”
“Ramsay! Ye must come now—hurry!” Ross’s voice boomed through the café, obliterating the heart-stopping moment and replacing it with a sense of dire urgency.
Esme’s panicked shout echoed close behind. “Brother, it’s Da. He’s…unmanageable—I swear it!”
Chapter 8
What the hell has Athair gotten into his head this time?
Ramsay floored the Jeep through the painfully slow electronic gates as soon as the space was wide enough to allow the vehicle to pass. Flying gravel bounced off the stone columns and iron bars of the gates securing the MacDaras’ private courtyard at the back of the keep.
Unmanageable, Esme had said. How the hell had Athair become unmanageable? Ranting? Yes. Frequently, of late. Physically unmanageable? Only once before when a damn tourist had ignored the signs, trespassed onto private MacDara grounds, and Athair had caught the fool digging up a garden blessing stone for a souvenir.
Slamming the brakes, Ramsay brought the vehicle to a screeching stop, reached across Katie, and shoved open the passenger side door. “I’ll let ye out here, lass. I dinna ken what we’re up against and I willna expose ye to it. Forgive me.”
Without a word, Katie unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to get out of the Jeep. But then she paused, stared up at the keep for a long moment, then looked back at Ramsay, pure determination locked and loaded in her eyes.
“No.” She slid back into the seat, pulled the door closed, and fastened her seatbelt. “I might be able to help. He really responded to me this morning. Both your mother and sister commented on it. Dwyn did too. Maybe I can help.”
Ramsay was torn between physically removing Katie from the Jeep for her own safety or gladly accepting her offer to help. He wouldna have her harmed—not physically or emotionally—and he couldna guarantee what they would find when they located Athair. Concern for Katie easily won out.
“No, lass.” He made a shooing motion toward the door. “Out ye go. Ye must stay here. I’ll no’ allow ye to do this. ’Tis none of yer concern and I’ll no’ be havin’ it.”
“You’ll ‘no’ allow’ me to do this?” Katie cocked a brow to a thoroughly damning angle. “You’ve got a lot to learn about me, MacDara.” She crossed her arms tightly over the strap of the seatbelt as she continued, “Granted—this is a family matter. Private and all that. But I can help with your father. He was totally calm with me this morning and everyone else just pissed him off when they spoke to him.” She tossed a self-assured look in Ramsay’s direction and somehow amped up her go to hell posture without moving a muscle. “You and your family have pulled me from a wrecked car, fed me, and given me a place to sleep. Time for me to return the favor. I’m going to help with this whether you like it or not.”
“The devil take me t’hell and back—I dinna have time t’argue with ye about this, Katie!” A frustrated growl escaped him as he exited the Jeep, stomped around it, then yanked open the passenger door. He pointed to the ground beside him. “Out with ye. Now. Yer stayin’ here.”
With a defiant lift of her chin, Katie settled back more comfortably in the seat and stared straight ahead.
By Cerridwen’s cauldron and all that’s holy! What the hell did I do to deserve this woman t’nettle me?
“Fine. Ye leave me no choice, m’lady.” Ramsay reached around her, unlatched the seatbelt, then grabbed hold of her folded arms and pulled. Katie barely shifted in the seat. She’d planted her feet against the rise of the floorboard, straightened her legs, and locked her knees. With shoulders shoved up into the low headrest of the seat and her back arched, Katie was effectively wedged in the Jeep.
Ramsay stepped back, the futility of the situation pumping righteous fire through his veins. Sons a bitches! He’d pry her stubborn arse out of that Jeep if he had to rip the seat out along with her. He bent across her, worked his fingers around her arms, and yanked.
Katie darted her head forward and latched hold of his arm with a pinching bite. Hard.
“Damn ye, Katie!” Ramsay lurched sideways, banged the back of his head against the frame of the Jeep, and whacked his elbow against the dash.
“I’m going,” Katie said in a calm but threatening tone. “Don’t make me bite you harder.”
“Have yer way, ye stubborn woman.” Ramsay withdrew and slammed the door shut, Katie’s smiling face pissing him off even more. He stomped back around to the driver’s side and threw himself into the Jeep, put it in gear, and took off. “Ye’ll regret this, woman. Mark my words.”
Katie
didn’t respond, just clicked her seatbelt back in place, then stared straight ahead with a smile.
Stubborn, thick-headed lass. She’ll be the end a me for certain. Ramsay swerved around the building and headed the Jeep toward an even narrower dirt road that was little more than a path leading into the dense woods at the back of the MacDara property. If Athair was having one of his spells—apparently a severe one according to Ross and Esme—the old man would head up the mountain. He’d go straight to the summit, to the sacred altar. Ramsay would bet his life on it.
The sound of another vehicle rumbled behind them. A glance in the rearview mirror assured him that Ross and Esme had caught up with them after fetching his eldest brothers, Grant and Alec, and another glance told him that Dwyn was also in one of the seats of the battered park suburban. Good. We’ll all be needed. I feel it clear down to m’soul.
Returning his attention to the rough twisting trail, he drew Katie’s attention to the suburban behind them with a backward jerk of his thumb. “Esme will keep ye company. The two of ye can wait in the park truck, aye?”
If Athair was at the altar, Katie didna need to get involved. She’d see too much. Learn too much. A bleak feelin’ of despair hit him and knotted in his chest. If Athair was at the altar…performing whatever rite…calling down whatever power he’d decided to call…I’ll lose a chance with her for certain. He stole a quick glance over at Katie, a premonition of doom sinking like molten lead to burn in his gut. She’s lost t’me for sure. “Ye’ll stay with Esme—aye? Please Katie, I dinna ken what we’ll see when we find Athair. I fear for ye, lass.” He feared for the fragile new hopes of his heart even more.
Katie gave him a reassuring smile, reached over, and affectionately squeezed his arm. “It’s going to be all right. The best thing you can do is just go along with him, humor him, agree with whatever he says, and then work the conversation around to convince him to do what you want him to do. It’s my uncle all over again and I can handle this. Trust me.”
She didna understand and there were no words he could use to prepare her for whatever might lie ahead. Ramsay steered the Jeep through the rough terrain, damning himself and dreading the return to the cold loneliness he’d endured before Katie had dropped into his life.
He slowed the Jeep as he rounded the last bend that opened into the summit of the mountain. How the hell will I explain the altar? How the hell will I explain all…this?
“Wow,” Katie said in a tone filled with awe. “Is this authentic or just part of the park?”
Ramsay sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out as he parked the Jeep and killed the engine. Give me the words. There were none. It took a great deal more than words to explain all that was MacDara. It took heart. Courage. And in the end, the ability t’believe that which couldna be seen. It took the ability to accept an ancient truth, the ancient truth of the Heartstone.
He slowly turned and studied Katie. Just how much truth could the lass handle? Ramsay let out another deep hiss of air.
’Tis no use a fightin’ it. “Aye, well. I wished for the chance for us to get to know one another better. Apparently, I shouldha taken care for what I wished. Yes, lass. Authentic. Every last bit of it.” Ramsay unbuckled his seatbelt, shoved open the door, then paused with one boot on the ground and looked back at her. “Come with me, if ye dare.”
Katie dared. She exited the vehicle and rounded it before Ramsay had a chance to close the door and join her. “So, this was here when your family bought the land? Have you had a sample tested to date it? Have you notified anyone?” She hurried over to the altar stones, circling them like a vulture about to settle on a plump carcass.
Where the hell is Athair? Ramsay glanced around the clearing, ignoring Katie’s excited questions as she explored the bit of MacDara land that no outsiders had ever seen before. The area appeared empty except for the three towering stone obelisks hemmed around a fourth large sarsen stone, the altar table that stretched the diameter of the holy place if the sacred henge had been made into a full circle in the clearing.
“Should ye have brought her here, brother? Ye ken he may have called down the powers?”
Ramsay turned. All three of his brothers, Alec, Grant, and Ross, stood in a line behind him. Esme was there too, looking more worried than he’d e’er seen the lass look before.
And then he felt it in the air, in the subtle shifting energy of the place. Katie had been right to force him to bring her. She was welcomed here—summoned, in fact.
“Aye,” he answered, nodding at his eldest brother, Alec. “ ’Tis meant t’be.”
“This is incredible,” Katie called out from behind the tallest center stone. “There’re etchings! I think it’s ogham!”
“Ye dare desecrate this holy place in such garb?”
“And there he is,” said Grant, next to the eldest of the MacDara brothers. He motioned toward the point in the henge that snugged up to a rise in the summit of the mountain, a rise tall enough for a steel door etched with ancient Celtic symbols to be sunk in the mountain’s side.
Emrys stood in the entry of the tunnels, partially shielded by the door, as though ready at any moment to duck back inside. “Where are yer colors, boy? Ye dinna come to the altar dressed as ye are. Yer a protector and ye ken better than that.”
“I told you that you should’ve worn your kilt today,” Esme said in a loud whisper.
“Hush’t, Esme.” Ramsay didna give a damn about clothing right now. His main concern was his father and what might happen if the old man noticed Katie watching him from behind one of the stones. He took a few steps closer, stopping when Emrys shifted back farther into the tunnel and nearly disappeared behind the door. “Forgive me, Athair. The summons was urgent, and I had no time t’change.”
“ ’Tis no’ my forgiveness ye should seek,” Emrys said while still standing behind the door. Only his grizzled head and the tips of his fingers holding the door could now be seen. “ ’Tis the goddesses ye offend. Strip off that garb now. ’Tis an abomination.” Emrys pointed a shaking finger toward the long stone table in the center of the circle. “Yer proper clothing awaits ye. It rests beside the altar.”
From where he stood, he could clearly see Katie behind the center obelisk, grinning at him like a truant schoolgirl. She winked, made an up-and-down motion with one finger toward his body, then gave him a thumbs-up.
So, she thought he should strip t’go along with Athair? Fine. At the moment, he didna ken if he was aroused or pissed. But if she wished him naked, then naked he would be.
Ramsay glanced back at his brothers. They shrugged in unison, then Ross grabbed hold of Esme by the shoulders and spun her about so her back was toward Ramsay.
“This is feckin’ ridiculous,” Ramsay muttered between clenched teeth as he peeled off his shirt, kicked off his boots, and shed his jeans. He wasna ashamed of his man parts but this was no’ the way he preferred to introduce them t’Katie. Bare as the day he was born, he threw back his shoulders and looked Katie in the eye as he strode to the altar stone and searched for whatever his addled father had put there for him t’wear.
Brows arched clear to her hairline and mouth slightly ajar, Katie’s eyes rounded wider than he’d e’er seen them. Each time she dipped her gaze downward, her cheeks burned a brighter shade of red. She finally gave him a quick nod, a sly smile, and two thumbs-up this time.
He took a deep breath, taking some small solace in the fact that Katie obviously liked what she saw. This solace triggered even more for her to admire. He fully faced her and jutted his chin to a daring angle. See what ye’ve done t’me, lass?
Katie’s brows rose even higher and she pressed one hand to her chest.
“Don yer clothes, boy, and bring yer lass forward.”
Ramsay’s hard-on immediately bowed its head.
Athair knew of Katie’s presence.
R
amsay turned to his father who was still shielding himself behind the door. He widened his stance, subtly nodding to his brothers to work their way closer as he kept Athair’s attention. Naked or not—he’d allow no harm t’come to Katie. He kept his voice pitched to a firm, controlled tone. “Time t’end this, Athair. This is North Carolina. The future. Fight yer way through the fog of yer mind, m’chieftain. Fight against the confusion.”
His father sidled out from behind the door and allowed it to ease shut. He remained at one side of it, close enough to yank the door back open and retreat into the safety of the tunnels if he so desired.
“I have no confusion, boy.” With gnarled hands, he whipped his black druid’s cloak off his shoulders and revealed his ancient robes topped with the battle-scarred chestplate of the High Druid Chieftain. Emrys nodded at Ramsay. “Now don yer armor, Protector.”
Armor? Ramsay shot a quick glance behind the altar stone and spotted the clothing. A kilt, the colors of an ancient protector, was neatly folded and waiting beside the black leather breastplate he’d carved with goddess knots and symbols long ago, long before they’d arrived in modern day North Carolina. Handcrafted boots were there too. He’d carefully worked the leather of the breastplate while training with Dwyn and Scota, preparing it for the day he’d sworn his fealty to the goddesses and received his spear.
What the hell is this? Ramsay looked to his brothers for a clue as to what might happen next and made the slightest get to him now motion toward Emrys. The looks all three gave as they edged closer were less than reassuring. Grudgingly, he scooped up the garb and donned it, discovering as he did so that his spear was also waiting behind the stone table.
As he crouched and strapped on the leather shin guard over his boot, he glanced at Katie. She stared back at him, mouth slightly agape as she snugged up against the obelisk.
Ramsay gritted his teeth and willed her to feel his remorse for entangling her in this web of insanity. She slowly closed her mouth and wet her lips. She watched him then motioned first toward herself and then toward his father in a do you want me to talk to him now? move.
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