by Nora Roberts
"About the ghosts."
"Oh." She smiled a little, running a finger down her wineglass. "Well, years ago, as it happened, there were lovers. She was betrothed to another, so they met in secret. He was a poor man, a simple farmer so they say, and she the daughter of the English landlord. But they loved, and made desperate plans to run off and be together. This night, they met at the stone circle. There, they thought, at that holy place, that magic place, they would ask the gods to bless them. She carried his child now, you see, and they had no time to lose. They knelt there, at the center, and she told him she was with child. It's said they wept together, with joy and with fear as the wind whispered cold and the old stones sheltered them. And there they loved each other a last time. He would go, he told her, and take his horse from his plow, gather whatever he could, and come back for her. They would leave that very night."
Brianna sighed a little, her eyes dreamy. "So he left her there, in the center of the circle of stones. But when he reached his farm, they were waiting for him. The men of the English landlord. They cut him down so that his blood stained the land, and they burned his house, his crops. His only thought as he lay dying was of his love."
She paused, with the innate timing of one who knows and spins tales. The harpist in the far corner plucked softly at a ballad of ill-fated love. "And she waited there, in the center of the circle of stones. While she waited, she grew cold, so cold she began to tremble. Her lover's voice came across the fields to her, like tears in the air. She knew he was dead. And knowing, she laid down, closed her eyes, and sent herself to him. When they found her the next morning, she was smiling. But she was cold, very cold, and her heart was not beating. There are nights, if you stand in the center of the circle of stones, you can hear them whisper their promises to each other and the grass grows damp with their tears."
Letting out a long breath, Gray sat back and sipped at his wine. "You have talent, Brianna, for storytelling."
"I tell you only as it was told to me. Love survives, you see. Through fear, through heartache, even through death."
"Have you heard them whispering?"
"I have. And I've wept for them. And I've envied them." She sat back, shook off the mood. "And what ghosts do you know?"
"Well, I'll tell you a story. In the hills not far from the field of Cullodon a one-armed Highlander roams."
Her lips curved. "Is this truth, Grayson, or made up?"
He took her hand, kissed it. "You tell me."
Chapter Five
She'd never had an evening quite like it. All the elements added up to one wonderful memory-the gorgeous man who seemed fascinated by her every word, the romantic trappings of a castle, without the medieval inconveniences, glorious French food, delicate wine.
She wasn't sure how she would ever pay him back for it -particularly for the menu Gray had charmed out of the maitre d'.
She began the only way she knew, by planning a special breakfast.
When Maggie came in, the kitchen was filled with sizzling scents, and Brianna was singing.
"Well, you're having a fine morning, I see."
"I am, yes." Brianna flipped over a thick slab of spiced toast. "Will you have some breakfast, Maggie? There's more than enough."
"I've eaten already." It was said with some regret. "Is Gray about?"
"He isn't down yet. Usually he's sniffing at the skillets by this time of day."
"Then we're alone for the moment."
"Yes." Her light mood plummeted. Carefully Brianna set the last piece of bread on the platter and put the meal into the oven to keep warm. "You've come to talk about the letters."
"I've kept you worrying over it long enough, haven't I? I'm sorry for that."
"We both needed to think." Brianna folded her hands over her apron, faced her sister. "What do you want to do, Maggie?"
"What I want to do is nothing, to pretend I've never read them, that they don't exist."
"Maggie-"
"Let me finish," she snapped out and began to roam the kitchen like an ill-tempered cat. "I want to go on as we are, and to keep my memories of Da my own. I don't want to wonder or worry about a woman he knew and bedded a lifetime ago. I don't want to think about a grown brother or sister somewhere. You're my sister," she said passionately. "You're my family. I tell myself this Amanda made a life for herself and her child somewhere, somehow, and they wouldn't thank us for poking into it now. I want to forget it, I want it to go away. That's what I want, Brianna."
She stopped, leaning back on the counter and sighing. "That's what I want," she repeated, "but it's not what must be done. He said her name-almost the last thing he said in life was her name. She has the right to know that. I have the right to curse her for it."
"Sit down, Maggie. It can't be good for you to be so upset."
"Of course I'm upset. We're both upset. We have different ways of dealing with it." With a shake of her head she waved Brianna off. "I don't need to sit. If the baby isn't used to my temper by now, he'll have to learn." Still she made an effort, taking a couple of calming breaths. "We'll need to hire an investigator, a detective, in New York. That's what you want, isn't it?"
"I think it's what we have to do," Brianna said carefully. "For ourselves. For Da. How will we go about it?"
"Rogan knows people. He'll make calls. He's wonderful at making calls." Because she could see Brianna needed it, she managed a smile. "That'll be the easy part. As to finding them, I don't know how long that might take. And God only knows what we'll do if and when we're faced with them. She might have married, this Amanda, and have a dozen children and a happy life."
"I've thought of that. But we have to find out, don't we?"
"We do." Stepping forward, Maggie laid her hands gently on Brianna's cheeks. "Don't worry so, Brie."
"I won't if you won't."
"It's a pact," Maggie kissed her lightly to seal it. "Now go feed your lazy Yank. I've fired my furnace and have work to do."
"Nothing heavy."
Maggie tossed back a grin as she turned for the door. "I know my limits."
"No, you don't, Margaret Mary," Brianna called out as the door slammed shut. She stood for a moment, lost in thought until Con's steady tail thumping roused her. "Want out, do you? Fine, then. Go see what Murphy's up to."
The minute she opened the door, Con streaked out. After one satisfied bark, he was loping toward the fields. She closed the door on the damp air and debated. It was after ten, and she had chores. If Gray wasn't coming down to breakfast, she'd take it up to him.
A glance at the menu on the table had her smiling again. She was humming as she arranged the breakfast tray. Hefting it, she carried it upstairs. His door was closed and made her hesitate. She knocked softly, got no response, and began to gnaw her lip. Perhaps he was ill. Concerned, she knocked again, more loudly, and called his name.
She thought she heard a grunt, and shifting the tray, eased the door open.
The bed looked as though it had been the scene of a small war. The sheets and blankets were tangled into knots, the quilt trailing over the footboard onto the floor. And the room was stone cold.
Stepping over the threshold, she saw him, and stared.
He was at the desk, his hair wild, his feet bare. There was a heap of books piled beside him as his fingers raced over the keys of a small computer. At his elbow was an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. The air reeked of them.
"Excuse me." No response. The muscles in her arms were beginning to ache from the weight of the tray. "Gray-son."
"What?" The word shot out like a bullet, taking her back a step. His head whipped up.
It was the pirate again, she thought. He looked dangerous and inclined to violence. As his eyes focused on her, without any sign of recognition, she wondered if he might have gone mad during the night.
"Wait," he ordered and attacked the keyboard again. Brianna waited, baffled, for nearly five full minutes. He leaned back then, rubbed his hands hard over his face like a
man just waking from a dream. Or, she thought, a nightmare. Then he turned to her again, with that quick, familiar smile. "Is that breakfast?"
"Yes, I ... It's half past ten, and when you didn't come down..."
"Sorry." He rose, took the tray from her, and set it on the bed. He picked up a piece of English bacon with his fingers. "I got it in the middle of the night. It was the ghost story that clicked it, I think. Christ, it's cold in here."
"Well, 'tis no wonder. You're after catching your death with nothing on your feet and the fire out."
He only smiled as she knelt at the hearth and began to arrange new turf. She'd sounded like a mother scolding a foolish child. "I got caught up."
"That's all fine and good, but it's not healthy for you to be sitting here in the cold, smoking cigarettes instead of eating a decent meal."
"Smells better than decent." Patient, he crouched down beside her, ran a carelessly friendly hand down her back. "Brianna, will you do me a favor?"
"If I can, yes."
"Go away."
Stunned, she turned her head. Even as she gaped at him, he was laughing and taking her hands in his.
"No offence, honey. It's just that I tend to bite if my work's interrupted, and it's cooking for me right now."
"I certainly don't mean to be in your way."
He winced, bit back on annoyance. He was trying to be diplomatic, wasn't he? "I need to hang with it while it's moving, okay? So just forget I'm up here."
"But your room. You need the linens changed, and the bath-"
"Don't worry about it." The fire was glowing now, and so was the impatience inside him. He raised her to her feet. "You can shovel it out when I hit a dry spell. I'd appreciate it if you'd drop some food off outside the door now and again, but that's all I'll need."
"All right, but-" He was already guiding her to the door. She huffed. "You don't have to be booting me out, I'm going."
"Thanks for breakfast."
"You're-" He shut the door in her face. "Welcome," she said between her teeth.
For the rest of that day and two more she didn't hear a peep out of him. She tried not to think of the state of the room, if he'd remembered to keep the fire going or if he bothered to sleep. She knew he was eating. Each time she brought up a fresh tray, the old one was outside the door. He rarely left so much as a crumb on a plate.
She might have been alone in the house-if she hadn't been so aware of him. She doubted very much that he gave her a moment's thought.
She'd have been right. He did sleep now and again, catnaps that were ripe with dreams and visions. He ate, fueling his body as the story fueled his mind. It was storming through him. In three days he had more than a hundred pages. They were rough, sometimes static, but he had the core of it.
He had murder, gleeful and sly. He had hopelessness and pain, desperation and lies.
He was in heaven.
When it finally ground to a halt, he crawled into bed, pulled the covers over his head, and slept like the dead.
When he woke, he took a long look at the room and decided a woman as strong as Brianna was unlikely to faint at the sight of it. The sight of him, however, as he studied himself in the bathroom mirror, was another matter. He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. He looked, he decided, like something that had crawled out of a bog.
He peeled off his shirt, winced at the smell of it, and himself, and stepped into the shower. Thirty minutes later he was pulling on fresh clothes. He felt a little lightheaded, more than a little stiff from lack of exercise. But the excitement was still on him. He pushed open the bedroom window and took a deep gulp of the rainy morning.
A perfect day, he thought. In the perfect place.
His breakfast tray was outside the door, the food gone cold. He'd slept through that, he realized, and lifting it, hoped he could charm Brianna into heating it up for him again.
And maybe she'd go for a walk with him. He could use some company. Maybe he could talk her into driving into Galway, spending the day with him in crowds. They could always-
He stopped in the kitchen doorway, and his grin spread from ear to ear. There she was, up to her wrists in bread dough, her hair scooped up, her nose dusted with flour.
It was such a wonderful picture, and his mood was high. He set the tray down with a rattle that had her jolting and looking up. She had just begun to smile when he strode to her, framed her face firmly in his hands, and kissed her hard on the mouth.
Her hands fisted in the dough. Her head spun. Before she could react, he'd pulled away. "Hi. Great day, isn't it? I feel incredible. You can't count on it coming like that, you know. And when it does, it's like this train highballing right through your head. You can't stop it." He picked up a piece of cold toast from his tray, started to bite in. It was halfway to his mouth before it hit him. His eyes locked on hers again. He let the toast fall back to the plate.
The kiss had merely been a reflection of his mood, light, exuberant. Now, some sort of delayed reaction was setting in, tightening his muscles, skimming up his spine.
