Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke (22 page)

“I luv you, Mum,” he
whispered, surprised by the burning in his eyes as he blinked, but
then his attention was drawn by the soft sound from the
bed.

When Roarke went back to sit on the bedside
he watched as Jessica’s eyelashes blinked a few times before slowly
opening to meet his eyes.

“Welcome back,
a gra
,” he murmured,
letting his hand rest on her face since he knew she’d be
disoriented when just waking up. “Just rest now.”

It was his soothing voice and touch that
assured the young British woman that she was safe since the last
thing she remembered was a large black creature.

Slowly Jessica was able to
bring her eyes to clear on Roarke’s concerned face, noticing right
off how tired he looked, but wasn’t picking up the same unease as
she had been.

“Big ugly doggies gone?” she asked, trying
to sit up but only his arm supporting her allowed her to partially
sit up, leaning against pillows as she saw her arm.

Laying a hand over the
bandage, Roarke found it easy to ease any minor pain his friend had
left over. “Aye, they are,” he wasn’t aware that his accent was
coming back more as it did when it was just the two of them. “Kerry
and the others dealt with ‘em.”

Roarke didn’t want her
knowing about the injuries he had suffered so he tried to get her
off the subject. “I’m sorry you were hurt, luv.”

“I’m fine,” she yawned,
still feeling tired but wanting to stay awake. “Are you
okay?”

Considering that for a long
moment, Roarke finally smiled and nodded. “Yeah,
a stor
, I’m better than I
have been in a long while,” he admitted, holding her hand loosely
in his as he gently leaned over to kiss her cheek.

“Roarke, can I ask you something?” she asked
quietly, looking down at their meshed fingers.

Feeling her nervousness, he
nodded but kept her hand in his. “What, luv?” he asked, suspecting
what it was.

“Did I dream it?” she
avoided his eyes at this question, afraid that her previous
injuries had caused the hallucination before the attack.

Knowing what that meant,
Roarke smiled and gently cupped her chin so their eyes met. “Did
you dream the attack or did you dream when I told you that I loved
you?” seeing her eyes start and feeling her pulse jump in his hand.
“You didn’t dream the beasts I’m afraid, but more importantly you
didn’t dream the other either.”

Being careful of her arm and head, he leaned
in closer and this time his gentle kiss met her lips, deepening it
carefully only when he felt it was safe to take her fully in his
arms.

The candles in the room
flickered with sparks as more sparks shimmered from the couple in
the room as desire flamed, but Roarke knew to use caution since,
while he had his own issues, his friend was even more uneasy at
times with physical contact.

“I love you, Jessica,” he
whispered against her mouth, shifting so he was sitting beside her
on the bed and bringing her against his chest. “I may not show it
as much as I should at times but I never want you to doubt that,
luv.”

Jessica stayed quiet as she
let her head lay on his chest. “I love you too, Roarke,” she
murmured, feeling her eyes close. “Stay, please.”

“I’ll be with you,
a gra
,” he promised,
listening to her breathing even off as she fell back to sleep.
“You’ll be safe.”

A soft knock made him move
a hand slightly on instinct to protect but stopped at the mental
sound from the other side. “Come in.”

“Is she back to sleep?”
Kerry asked upon entering, not saying how he knew their friend had
been awake, and his brother didn’t ask. It was one thing Kerry
would know.

“Yeah, she’s relaxed.”
Roarke looked down with a small grin as he let his fingers slide
through her hair. “Once she gets some sleep, she’ll be
fine.”

Kerry brought a chair
closer to the bed so he could watch his brother, seeing how tired
his face was. “I know you’re tired, Roarke but if we want to get
this sorted out, it’s time to finally settle some
things.”

“I don’t remember
everything from that day, Kerry,” his brother was quiet and clearly
hesitant.

“We’ll deal with that,”
Kerry assured him, pausing as he took something from his pocket.
“This belongs to you.”

Looking up in sudden
surprise, Roarke’s eyes landed on the black obsidian stone that had
been cleansed and also cleaned until it shined, and even the chain
it was on had been replaced.

Startled, he stared at it then up at his
brother; the questions whirling unasked in his eyes and mind.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kerry
replied, seeing those questions as he placed the lucky stone on the
nightstand and stopped at the door. “When you think she’ll sleep
alright, come to the living room, please?”

After his brother left the
bedroom, Roarke looked at the stone for the longest time before
reaching for it.

He recalled his father
giving him the stone for his sixth birthday, and that had been so
special since Toryn had always been careful not to show more
attention to one son than another yet on that day he
did.

There was a brief stab of pain as he
remembered this and as he recalled the day this stone was taken
from him.

Hesitant to touch it because of what it
could bring back, Roarke finally lifted the smooth stone into his
hand but only felt his father in it and also felt the immense power
of his baby brother who had cleansed it.

Placing the chain back
around his neck, he felt it warm against his skin as he actually
felt his father close. “I won’t let you down again, Da,” he
whispered, easing Jessica down on the pillows and reached for the
quilt before laying a soft kiss over her cheek. “Sleep now, my
love. I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t you sleep more than an hour?” Maggie
Cavanaugh was demanding after she went to check on Patrick ‘Mac’
Fitzgerald.

Mac was just finishing
dressing when the little red headed whirlwind entered his room.
“Don’t you knock?” he countered, trying to sense out to see what
was going on, but all he was picking up was Maggie’s
irritation.

“I spent the past few hours
wondering if you were comatose and learning that your innocent baby
brother has a wicked weak spot for junk food of any kind. Ryan’s
been the even minded one because your big brother took himself off
somewhere and all I could get out of Ian was that at least he
didn’t fry the woman,” she rambled while pacing his room. Taking
the time to figure that out, Mac finally picked out the important
parts as he put his watch back on and ran a careless hand through
his short hair.

“Each of us has different
ways to recharge after using our powers for extended periods or at
certain levels,” he told her, leaning on his dresser to watch the
woman. “Kerry usually broods or meditates, Ryan always, even as a
lad, played cards or something, Roarke will sleep or withdraw into
himself and I sleep. Ian clearly goes for food.”

“Don’t you guys have
anything in common?” Maggie asked, still pacing when suddenly a
hand snagged her arm and she found herself off balance and then in
Mac’s arms. “Well hello to you too, Doc.”

Figuring he could blame
still being tired and weak on this move, Mac laughed that nothing
seemed to faze this woman, as she seemed to fit in his arms
perfectly. “Y’ know, any smart woman would have run screaming from
this mess, Mary Margaret.”

Usually having anyone call
her by her given name made her mad but when Mac used it, she really
didn’t seem to mind. Nor did she mind when he held her.

“Let’s just say I’m not one
to leave an assignment unfinished, and you still owe me an
interview,” she countered, loosely wrapping her arms around his
neck and looking up at him with sparkling green eyes. “Ian’s about
to knock, you know.”

“I know,” Mac muttered but
instead of letting go he moved quickly to kiss her, but was
surprised when Maggie met his kiss fully and deeply before the
knock was heard.

Maggie broke this kiss,
muttering about little brothers and frogs. “Come in,
Ian.”

“How’d you know it was…?”
Ian started to ask but something about the mood in the room made
him stop and look. “Ah, yeah, Kerry wants you in the living room,
Mac,” he explained, backing out of the room. “I need to go pay Ryan
twenty-five pounds since he bet me Miss Cavanaugh would be in
here.”

“Get yourself out of here,
boyo!” Maggie snapped, swearing she was going to hurt that black
haired devil the minute she got the chance. “I hate your
brother.”

Smiling down at her, Mac
was surprised at what he was feeling as he gently pushed a stray
strand of unruly red hair behind her ear. “I’ve had those feelings
since our Mum had him,” he admitted, opening the door for her.
“Let’s go down.”

“I’m sure this is just for
you and your brothers,” Maggie told him, not reacting when he
reached for her hand.

“I don’t know why, but I
think you should be there too,” he shrugged, not sure he wanted to
open himself up this way. “You have some connection to this, Maggie
and you need to hear it all.”

Remembering the woman in
her dreams as of late, Maggie slowly nodded. “Alright, we’ll see
what happens.”

CHAPTER TEN

Deirdre O’Connor sat a tray
with various drinks and snacks on the coffee table before going to
start dinner, knowing what was said in that room, a simple
housekeeper didn’t have a need to know.

“See, didn’t I tell you
that perky little reporter would be up with big brother Mac?” Ryan
was nudging Ian’s arm as the boy was counting out the wager. “You
need to pay more attention to me, lad.”

As Ian was muttering under
his breath, Roarke turned on the couch to watch. “House rule used
to say something about not conning younger brothers, Ry, and since
it’s pretty clear the sparks between Mac and the reporter, you
suckered Ian so he doesn’t have to pay up.”

“You’re still a
tattletale,” Ryan stuck his tongue out at his younger brother but
was glad to see him more at peace with himself and them.

“Never bet with Ryan, Ian,”
Roarke told his younger brother, smirking at the older man. “He
cheats.”

Kerry watched this scene
from the reflection in the French doors of the living room;
relaxing at the sounds of his brothers bickering as they had when
things had been normal.

“Ry, you better duck
because Maggie wants blood,” Mac announced as he entered the room a
brief step ahead of the redhead.

Maggie stepped in and
pinned the black haired security consultant with a blistering look.
“You just wait until this mess is over, Ryan Fitzgerald, and then
I’ll show you what a girl raised with nine brothers can do.” She
jabbed a finger into his chest.

“This should be fun,”
Roarke grinned at the dark look Ryan was giving him. “Hey, at least
she can’t order Cam to shoot you.”

“That is true, brat,” Ryan
agreed, eyes looking toward Kerry as he stepped away from the
doors. “I know, I know. Quit picking on females that can fry me
with a spell.”

Ryan had slumped down on
the sofa next to his still smirking younger brother while Ian went
to look at some photos on the mantelpiece, and Mac snickered as
Maggie sat down in a chair in the corner.

“You know not to torment
your brothers, Ryan,” Kerry spoke as he stopped behind the sofa but
let his hand rest on Roarke’s neck to squeeze lightly.

“You know how Ry is,”
Roarke grinned, turning to look and frowning.

“Listen to her and let go
of the guilt,” Kerry spoke but the tone was deeper as was the
amount of energy in the eyes. “There is no need for it, my
son.”

Ryan saw his younger
brother go pale and heard the change in Kerry’s voice but it wasn’t
until he looked up that he suddenly swore. “Mac!” he snapped,
rolling over the back of the couch to push his brother away from
Roarke and up against the wall, keeping an arm across his chest to
hold.

Checking on Roarke, Mac
went around the couch to look and saw what had caused Ryan’s
reaction. “Let him go,” he spoke quietly but firmly.

Smoky blue-gray eyes but
with a much deeper intensity stared back at them with a smile that
wasn’t their brother’s. “It’s time to face the past, for all of you
but especially for Roarke who blames himself. Face it, face him and
deal with her but one battle will not defeat this evil,” he
replied, “for the Five to form the Circle it will take all Five to
face their fears and battle the evils that you will
face.”

“What’s going on?” Ian couldn’t figure this
out but did know that Roarke was still pale and staring.

Ryan’s arm went harder
against Kerry’s chest. “We’ll figure it out, now let him go,” he
ordered, lowering his tone. “Da, leave Kerry alone because it’s
just going to upset Roarke more.”

“I know,” the tone was sad
but finally as he looked around the room, his eyes settled on Mac
with a silent message. “Blessed Be, my boys.”

With that, Ryan and Mac had
to be fast, as Kerry seemed to go limp quickly. “We need to cast
another protection spell on this house,” Ryan muttered as they got
their brother to a chair while Maggie poured a glass of
Scotch.