Luck of the Irish (6 page)

“As ya wish,” he said firmly. “But I’ll not be responsible for ya. Are we clear, lass? You’ll have to handle yourself and whatever may come our way. And if we do get into a dodgy situation I’ll be sendin’ ya back to this dimension so fast it’ll make your pretty head spin.”

“
This
dimension?” She asked with a healthy amount of fear. “There are other dimensions? Where are we going?”

Good. Declan thought. If she had enough sense to be a tad fearful then maybe she’d keep herself out of harm’s way. With any luck she’d rescind her wish, and even though he was eager to leave he thought it best to take his time on the chance the lass would change her mind. The fae dimension was no place for a mortal.

He was about to tell her exactly where they’d be going when a rumble in his belly stopped him from speaking. Hunger, stark and sharp, rang through him painfully. He groaned and instinctively laid a hand over his gut when the long forgotten sensation robbed him of speech.

“Hungry?” Maggie said with a laugh.

“Would seem so,” Declan groused. “We have to be goin’ but my stomach is demanding food.”

“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes and snatched the amulet from the mirror, immediately holding it against her breast. “All you have to do is ask. I’ll make you something to eat and you can tell me more about where on Earth we’re going.”

Before he could stop her, she slipped the chain around her neck and placed the gold disc beneath her sweater. Declan growled in protest when she took his amulet, but the woman was undeterred and swept past him.

“I’ll be takin’ that now.” He leveled a serious glare in her direction. “That belongs to me.”

“Actually, it belongs to me, At least it did for the past year or so. Relax, dude. I’ll give you back the amulet after you tell me more about your world, and then we can go.” She stopped in the doorway and nodded toward the hall. “Come on. The food is this way.”

Speechless and ravenous, Declan stood there for a moment and stared at the empty doorway. He could force her to give him the amulet, but opted against it. If he was going to try and convince Maggie to stay here and out of the fae dimension, she damn well had to trust him. Besides, he rather liked her spirit. The women of his time were not as outspoken, save for Anastasia. Her direct nature and feisty spirit were what drew him to her, in spite of the disapproval he knew their pairing would receive.

But this woman wasn’t Anastasia. She’s neither witch nor a fae. She was a mortal and not of his world. She, like Anastasia, was not meant for him.

***

D
eclan scarfed down his third plate of eggs and bacon in record time and polished off an entire loaf of bread. Maggie didn’t know whether to be grossed out or impressed, but she was leaning toward impressed. Declan made sounds of appreciation as he shoveled the last bite of food into his mouth. His fork clattered onto the empty plate before he leaned back in the small, wooden chair in her kitchen that seemed suddenly much smaller, and let out the loudest belch Maggie had ever heard.

Then he looked at her like he’d given her a bouquet of flowers.

“That ’twas delightful, darlin’!” He swiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and grinned broadly. “Best meal I’ve had in years.”

“Very funny.”

Maggie shook her head and chuckled. She found herself hopelessly charmed by his brutish ways. If a regular guy acted like this she’d kick him to the curb. She glanced at his bare legs and her face heated.

It must be the kilt.

“I will say, Declan, no one has ever gobbled up my cooking like that before. So thanks for that. Actually, I can’t even think of the last time I cooked for anyone other than myself”

She went to pick up his empty plate, but his large hand grabbed her wrist halting her in her place. Maggie gasped and flicked her gaze to his steely stare. He ran his thumb slowly over the underside of her wrist, and she shivered when her skin broke out in gooseflesh from the tiny movement.

“Why do ya want to come with me?” He asked in a low, sexy whisper. “Ya have a life here in this dimension and I can promise ya that nothin’ but trouble will await where we’re goin’.”

“I may have a life, but I haven’t done very much living,” Maggie murmured.

“The fae, leprechaun and otherwise, don’t take kindly to mortals who invade their dimension.” He squeezed her wrist briefly before releasing it. “Ya won’t be welcome there.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m going there with a six foot four inch wall of muscle who carries a sword and can perform magic.”

Declan let out a scoffing sound. “You’re an impossible woman.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Maggie said with a smile. “I’ll stay out of the way, and after you find your daughter you can send me right back here to my boring, normal human life.”

Maggie grabbed the dishes and quickly deposited them in the sink, needing to put a little space between her and Declan. She turned on the hot water and started scrubbing away at the pot hoping it would wipe away some of her own fears, to say nothing of her growing attraction to, of all things, a leprechaun. Maggie let out a slightly hysterical giggle and swallowed the bucket of crazy that threatened to erupt.

What the fuck was she doing drooling over Declan and fantasizing about sex? She didn’t even like sex—at least until now. She’d had more carnal thoughts in the past few hours than she had in the last several years.

Declan rose from the chair, the sound of it scraping along the linoleum floor echoed through the narrow, galley style kitchen. She could feel the heat of his body as he moved in next to her, but Maggie kept her eyes on the dishes.

“Why is findin’ me girl of importance to ya?”

“A girl needs her father,” Maggie whispered, memories of her own parents rippling through her mind. “Unfortunately, she can’t have her mother,
but
she can have you. Even if she is all grown up by now, she needs you. I know what it’s like to be alone... without anyone to love or to love you back.”

She stilled and shut off the water before turning to face him. Maggie leaned one hip on the counter and dried her hands while trying to do the math in her head.

“You said you were in that mirror for like two centuries.” She tossed the towel on the counter. “Not to be rude, but she’ll be really old if she’s even still alive. Have you thought about that?”

“You’re thinkin’ like a mortal.”

“I am a mortal. That’s the only way I know how to think.”

“I disagree.” He grabbed his sword, which was leaning against the doorjamb, and quickly slipped the harness back over his chest. “Ya did let me out of a magical prison, did ya not?”

“Touché.”

Maggie rolled her eyes and tried not to stare at him while he adjusted the sword’s position. Even with that loose shirt she could see the muscles working beneath. Sweet Mary. Focus, Maggie. Jeez.

“Do fairies or witches, or whatever, not age like mortals? I mean, I know you’re old, but you were trapped in a prison. So... ”

“In my prison it was like being frozen in that moment. No hunger. No passion. No life or magic. In the fae dimension time passes far slower. A hundred years here is only about a year in the fae dimension. So my girl will only be two or three years.” His mouth set in a firm line. “
If
she was taken there as I requested, but if she remained in this realm... I fear she may no longer live. Witches and fae are cousins of sorts. Witches live in the human realm. Though most of them live far longer than humans, they are not immortal. The fae remain in their dimension and hardly age at all. My girl, she was born of a leprechaun fae
and
a witch, and if no one was there to show her the ways of magic or how to use her amulet... ”

The pained expression etched into Declan’s features tugged at Maggie’s heart. She knew what torture it was to lose everyone she ever loved. She knew raw, soul searing grief. In that moment, her desire to go with Declan was no longer driven by a need for adventure. It was about helping him avoid that same wretched sense of loneliness she suffered on a daily basis.

Before she thought about what she was doing Maggie grabbed his hand and tangled her fingers in his. The warmth of his flesh surrounded hers with comforting ease, and as his eyes searched hers Maggie’s stomach summersaulted.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Maggie whispered. “And I’ll help you find her. You don’t have to do this alone... okay?”

She went to pull her hand from his, but Declan held on tightly. He opened his fingers tangling hers deeply in his as though sealing their connection. Maggie swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and fought to keep her breathing steady. Her heart pounded against her ribcage as he inched his towering frame closer blocking out everything else around them. In that instant, Maggie could have been standing on Mars and she wouldn’t have noticed.

“Maggie O’Malley,” he murmured. Declan tugged her closer still and brushed a lock of hair from her forehead gently, almost reverently, before running his thumb along the curve of her jaw. “I’ve been alone so long I can hardly recall anythin’ else.”

“Me, too,” she whispered shakily.

“Are ya sure ya want to go with me, lass?” Declan cupped her cheek as he pulled their tangled hands between them and cradled them against his chest. “Ya have no reservations?”

Maggie shook her head unable to utter a single word. Her body hummed with anticipation. She noted every delicious spot where their flesh connected. She fit against him perfectly as though her body had been made only for his, but that was crazy wasn’t it?

Almost as crazy as the fact that he was going to kiss her.

It happened so fast that Maggie couldn’t stop it. Not that she wanted to.

Declan’s mouth, firm and warm, covered hers on a groan as he cradled her face. Maggie sighed and opened to him, his tongue demanding entrance. His beard scruff rasped around her mouth in a surprisingly erotic way. The roughness of it only served to heighten her desire and the frenzy between them.

She tilted her head and tugged her hand from his, linking her arms around his neck. Holy cow.
This
was a kiss. A deep, penetrating, all consuming kiss. Standing on her tiptoes she clung to him and met his hungry desire with aggressive, demanding strokes of her own. Need, stark and raw, fired through her as she allowed him to devour her.

Hell, she welcomed it.

Declan kissed her, licked and suckled her lips, like a man getting water after a drought. He had a drought of sorts didn’t he? So had she. A life void of passion and desire. She may not have been trapped in a mirror, but Maggie had put herself in her own kind of prison.

Not anymore.

His hand drifted down to her shoulders and she moaned into his mouth as his talented fingers fluttered over the sensitive skin of her throat. Maggie tangled her fingers in his hair and let out a moan of discontent when Declan broke the kiss. Breathing rapidly and struggling to find her voice, Maggie licked her swollen lips. The ones he’d kissed raw. She was about to ask him why he stopped when Declan pulled the chain off over her head and swiftly deposited it around his own neck.

Her face heated with a mixture of anger and embarrassment as Declan winked at her and strode out of the kitchen.

“You son of a bitch,” she seethed.

Maggie stormed after him, but he didn’t turn around. The arrogant guy kept right on walking to her bedroom. Fine. She could yell at him with or without him looking at her.

“You kissed me so you could steal back the necklace?” Pure outrage edged her words. “I’ve heard of sleazy moves but that one takes the cake. Well, that is the last time you’ll be doing that with me, mister.”

What a lie, she thought.

Declan stopped in front of the mirror and stared into it.

“Ya have me wrong, Maggie.” Declan caught her gaze with his reflection and winked. “I kissed ya ’cause I wanted to, but I took the amulet ’cause I needed to. It’s the source of my power in the mortal realm, and like I told ya I’ll be needin’ it to go to the fae dimension.”

“You could have asked me for it,” Maggie said firmly. “You didn’t have to
pretend
to want me and make me think you... ”

“I do want ya, lass. There was no pretendin’.” His voice was low and gruff and it sent a zing of desire straight to her core. “I’ve not had a woman in more years than a man can count. Aye, I kissed that lovely mouth to distract ya, but also ’cause it’s all I’ve been able to think of since I set eyes on ya. And lord help me it will not be the last. Me father always said if ya can find a lass who’s brilliant in the kitchen and in the bed ya best not let her go.”

Maggie’s mouth opened and closed as she stormed over to him and stammered like a babbling idiot while trying to formulate a response. No one had ever spoken to her about sex with such outright, brazen directness, and she didn’t know if she was offended or turned on.

Nope. That was a lie. Maggie was totally turned on.

She stopped next to him and put her hands on her hips while giving him a furious look. Before she could utter a word Declan linked one strong arm around her waist and yanked her against him as he planted a firm, hot kiss on her mouth. Maggie gasped and her hands clung to his shoulders.

“Time to fulfill that second wish,” Declan murmured softly.

Panic raced through Maggie’s mind. She wanted to go with him, but she wasn’t ready. What she really desired more than anything else was time alone with Declan. Time to find out if that kiss, the one she still felt on her lips, and all those words he uttered, were for real.

“Wait,” she shouted. “I wish I had the amulet back, and that you can’t have it until I give it to you.”

Declan stilled, his arms tightened around her and a deadly expression covered his face. Holy crap. She could not believe she said that. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

His silvery, gray eyes narrowed as he swore under his breath as the amulet around his neck glowed green. In a blinding flash of light it vanished briefly before the chain materialized once again around Maggie’s neck. The cool, gold disc settled in the valley of her breasts as though it had never left.