Highland Shift (Highland Destiny: 1) (6 page)

The mirror was tarnished silver, and she turned it over, admiring the ornate design. The glass was dirty, so she rubbed the surface with the tail of her flannel shirt. Something appeared in the smooth, dark surface and it wasn’t Elena’s reflection. She gasped as Faolan’s unmistakable image appeared in the swirling mist. The distorted figure began to fade and subtly shift until she was watching a wolf stalking through the shadowy glass just before the surface went completely dark.

The sound of her breathing was harsh in the silence of the tomb-like chamber.
What was this place?
Thousands of butterflies took flight in her stomach and she was suddenly frantic to be out, to see the light of the day. She needed reassurance that, despite what she’d seen in this room, the real world still existed.

Tucking the mirror under her shirt, Elena took a final glance around
, and then climbed from the chamber. She didn’t know the purpose of the room, but she suspected it had remained hidden for a long time behind all that junk. There were deep secrets here, not to mention some kind of magical woo-woo. She would keep these discoveries to herself until she knew more about them. She had to admit, finding the underground chamber pleased her greatly. Her farm held secrets.

Educated as a lawyer, Elena knew how to examine, organize, catalog the facts of a case, and
assemble them to tell a story the way she wanted it heard by the jury. She also knew the opposing counsel had the same facts, yet arranged them to tell a different story. The proper interpretation of facts could mean the difference between guilty or innocent, jail or freedom, life or death.

Faolan told her someone had been following her, someone who attacked when questioned. A week later, she was
jumped outside a pub, and then again outside her home. These weren’t local punks looking for harmless fun. They were serious, they knew where she lived, and had it not been for an inexplicable interference, they would have raped and possibly killed her.

She supposed there was a remote possibility that these were random acts of violence.
Just as likely as winning the lottery. It seemed far more likely that they were aimed at her. If so, someone wanted her dead, or at the very least, scared away.

It always comes down to the same old question.
Cui bono? Who would benefit by my death?
That was an easy question, for sure. Martin Worthington, III. As a provision of the sale, the house reverted to his ownership if she died in the next six months.
What about Faolan? What did he have to gain? Was seeing him in the mirror just the wishful thinking of an overtaxed and over-imaginative brain?

She stopped suddenly in the middle of the yard.  Something was…
.missing.  She pivoted, looking for Faolan’s vehicle. There was no sign of how he’d arrived in time to rescue her the night before. She blew out a frustrated breath; she didn’t have enough information. She hurried inside to put away the mirror.

When Elena had been scrubbing the fireplace in her room on her first afternoon at the farm, she’d been startled when one of the stones sprang open to reveal a secret hiding space. She’d been
preoccupied at the time, and merely closed the door again, so she could finish cleaning the hearth. It made a perfect hiding place for the mirror. Pushing open the stone once more, Elena added the mirror, closed the stone front, and went in search of Faolan.

Earlier this morning
, she’d intended to tell Faolan over lunch that he couldn’t stay. It was just wrong, in so many ways. Now, she was about to make sure he stuck around for a while. She didn’t think she was in physical danger from him; he easily could have killed her while she was sleeping last night. However, believing he wasn’t trying to kill her wasn’t the same thing as trusting him. Although she had theories, she needed to know what he wanted.

Her most
elaborate
theory involved Faolan hiring the punks to scare her, so she would believe he saved her and come to trust him. Then he could take advantage of her and… She shook her head at the foolishness of that theory. She didn’t own anything worth stealing.

Her
favorite
fantasy theory was that after their kiss in Inverness, Faolan realized he couldn’t live without her, and was protecting her because he—

She grinned at the image of Faolan charging in on his white steed before she mentally kicked herself for nearly slipping back into her Cinderella syndrome. She’d once believed Marty was a prince, and she’d discovered he’d had more warts than she cared to count. Thinking of Faolan as her Prince Charming wasn’t going to work, either.

All her life, Elena had followed the rules and always tried to do what she believed other’s expected. She could have died last night. Maybe it was time to live a little. Last night’s attack had knocked something lose inside her, and there was no going back. Elena was starting over, free of emotional entanglements, free to experience life on her terms.

It’s way past time to stop believing in fairy tales.

Elena found Faolan in the library, unpacking boxes and putting books on the shelves. There was a roaring fire in the hearth, and the kittens were snuggled together in their basket. He looked for
all the world as though he was the lord of the manor, and that made her more than a little cranky.

“What do you think you’re doing?”
she asked, sharply.

He smiled and said, “It looked like you could use a bit of help here. I was just putting the books on the shelf so you could arrange them where it suited. How are you feeling?”

He stood and closed the gap between them with his question. Putting his hand under Elena’s chin, he tilted her face so he could examine the bruises. Elena tried to pull her head back and step away, but Faolan used size to his advantage and crowded her against the doorframe. She had to tip her head nearly straight back to look up at him; he was a full foot taller than she was. It was a show of pure male dominance, and it pissed her off.

“Tell me, Faolan, just exactly why would that be of any concern to you?”

“Still feisty, lass, even after I twice saved your life? In Scotia, if you save a man’s life, he owes you his. Will you be paying me with your life twice over, Elena?”

Elena’s breath caught in her throat. Faolan’s beautiful mouth curved in a soft smile, his tone lightly teasing. He was standing so close, too close. She wanted to look away but his tawny gaze held her captive. She could feel the electricity as his body tensed and became aware of hers. The heat between them blazed became a white-hot fire that threatened to steal all the oxygen from the room. Elena grew embarrassingly wet with desire, and Faolan’s nostrils flared, as though
he was a predator scenting his prey. His gaze turned dark and went from teasing to hungry in an instant.

Step away, this is definitely a dangerous situation, and after last night…

Elena’s body ignored her brain, shutting it down before she could complete that thought. She arched her back and leaned into his chest. He was hot and hard, and everything about him spoke of desire. Her breasts felt swollen, her nipples tight little buds that burned for his touch. Elena instinctively molded her body closer to his and felt the press of his shaft, hard against her stomach. Faolan loosened her hair from its tie, and black curls spilled down her back as she turned her face up for the earth-shattering kiss she knew was coming.

Faolan groaned quietly, laid his cheek against the top of Elena’s head, and pulled his hips back slightly, putting an inch or two of space between their bodies. His ragged breath matched her own and her hormones screamed in protest at the separation. She wanted his kisses, she wanted his body next to hers, she wanted him to take her and make
her his.
No more thinking. For once, I just want to feel.

Faolan stepped away. He took a deep shuddering breath, turned to lean his forearms against the fireplace mantle, presenting her with a broad expanse of back. In a tight voice, he growled out, “Nay, lass.”

“Wh-what do you m-mean, nay?” Elena stammered, feeling chilled, bereft of his heat.

Faolan turned and looked at her then, and she was shocked to see something akin to real emotion in his eyes. He shook his head and said, “I am not the man for you, lass.”

Not the man for me? I thought he wanted me. Did I miss something? Oh God…

The thought hit her like a thunderbolt. “You’re married,” she practically shouted. 

He laughed. A genuine, throw your head back and roar kind of laugh that made his eyes sparkle with amusement. “If I was, would you care? No, ‘tis not married I am. There has never been a woman to claim this heart,” he said, thumping his fist against his chest.

Then in another quicksilver change of mood, Faolan looked at Elena, his face serious, and said, “Come here, lass.”

In a show of maturity mixed with stubbornness, Elena stood her ground; she was not going to throw herself at this man. Nor would she come running like his little pet just because he called. “Say whatever you have to say. I can hear you just fine from here.”

He walked over and swept her up as though she weighed nothing, instantly reminding Elena how vulnerable she would be if he really wanted to hurt her. She kept her arms crossed tightly across her chest. He carried her over to the chair near the fireplace. She saw the kittens still curled in a fuzzy little ball inside their basket, right where he’d put them.

The man was a walking contradiction, leaving Elena reeling, never knowing how she felt about him from one minute to the next. In a little over a week, he’d saved her life-twice, tucked her into bed, played nursemaid to kittens. He’d kissed her until she no longer knew who she was, then turned and walked away from her, just when she could have been convinced to go farther than she’d ever gone before. He pushed her away, only to draw her back in, and she didn’t like being so off-balance.

“
Och, Elena, I scarcely know where to start,” he said when he got her settled on his lap. She knew he must find her desirable, since he was still hard inside his jeans, but he shifted her carefully so his erection didn’t press against her bottom.

When he didn’t immediately continue, Elena spoke up, “I don’t understand you, Faolan. Are you trying to hurt me? If so, you’re doing a terrific job of it. I came to Scotland for a chance to start over. Instead, bad things are happening, and you seem to turn up at the strangest times, but you won’t explain anything to me.

“Sometimes, I’m grateful to you for saving my life, and other times, I’m half-convinced that you set this whole thing up. Please tell me what’s happening. Despite the fact that I’m sitting in your lap at the moment, I’m
not
some fragile little girl who needs to be sheltered. If there’s trouble, I can handle it,” Elena finished, hoping direct approach might work with him.

Faolan gave her a long look before finally speaking. “I am sorry, lass. I canna tell you everything you want to know. I am telling you the truth that someone was following you, and he cut me with a knife. I have been out here watching over you because I was worried. There are things about me you canna ever know but know this, Elena MacFarland, I will not let anything bad happen to you.” He caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

Elena sensed he was telling the truth, but it didn’t make her feel much better. She knew next to nothing of the man, and it was time to start getting answers to her questions. “Where do you come from, Faolan? And why haven’t I seen you, if you’ve been out here?”

“I come from right around these parts, lass. My family has been here for a thousand years. ‘Twas black hearted treachery that lost my family their land more than three hundred years ago, now. ‘Tis said the hills and rocks around this land hide the secrets known only to the generations of my clan.

“Your Mr. Worthington and his family have been trying to find these secrets for centuries. I believe he offered you this farm as a diversion, and planned to kill you before you could get here to claim it. He
never
would agree to just give it away.”

He thought for a moment before continuing, almost absently, “What I can’t figure out is why he is still trying to have you killed. Once his plan failed and you signed the papers, the land was yours. He’d lost his little gamble.”

“Worthington made me agree to have the ownership revert to his family should something happen to me in the first six months,” Elena said quietly, horrified that Worthington would try to kill her.

Not missing a beat, Faolan smiled, “
Och, lass, I guess you are stuck with me here for a while then.”

Elena blinked, the shock of someone trying to kill her temporarily leaving her brain while something in the pit of her stomach squirmed with pleasure at the thought of Faolan staying around her house for the next six months. She lost track of the conversation as her mind reviewed what it felt like mere moments before when he pressed up against her, and she was waiting for his kiss.

Giving herself a mental shake, Elena tried to understand what was happening between them. There was a constant push-pull, a feeling of safety, then danger; steamy hot, then cold as stone. She felt as shaky as a newborn foal. Turning her gaze to the fire, Elena hesitantly asked, “Why did you walk away after kissing me in Inverness and why turn your back on me just now?”