The Ghosts of Cragera Bay (13 page)

No, she wasn’t. She wouldn’t make a promise she had no intention of keeping. Whatever was happening between her and Declan, she wanted to see it through.

“I’m going then,” Andy said, and started to leave.

“Andy, don’t go. All the cases for the equipment are in your van.”

“Give me your keys, then. We’ll switch back whenever you find your way to the inn.”

“Are you really leaving the investigation because of this?”

He snorted. “After everything we’ve seen, of course not. But I’m not spending the night watching you two mooning over each other. I hope to hell you know what you’re doing.”

So did she.

She gave him her keys and he left his for the van. Once he’d gone, she found a bin bag in the kitchen and brought it back to the parlor to finish tidying the mess. Declan was back, setting the table right side up in front of the settee.

“Is the butler all right?” she asked.

Declan nodded. “He seemed fine, said he didn’t hear a thing.”

“Do you believe him?”

“I have no idea,” he said, with a shrug. “The destruction appears to be confined to my room, the hall upstairs and this room. Warlow’s room is on the far side of the house, so maybe he didn’t hear anything.”

“All that banging, though. The whole house shook.”

He shrugged again. “If he is lying, it wouldn’t be the first time. Where did Andy go?”

“Back to the inn.” She focused on brushing the bits of plastic she’d piled on the end table into the bag. “He’s pretty mad at me right now. He saw us kissing upstairs.”

Declan didn’t respond and when she looked up his dark gaze was fixed on her.

“Were you two together or something?”

She snorted. “No, nothing like that. Andy and I have never had any interest in each other besides professionally. But he’s afraid if something happens between us, it could damage the credibility of our investigation.”

Declan lifted a single brow and smirked. “Is something going to happen between us?”

She tried to swallow, her mouth having suddenly gone dry. “I think so.”

“Thank God.” He closed the distance between them, cupped her face with both hands and caught her mouth in a brain-scrambling kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing against the solid length of his frame. Heat throbbed at her core. She wanted more.

“We need…to find another…room,” he said, trailing kisses along her jaw, down her neck. She shivered. “There’s too much debris here.”

They found an empty bedroom, lights and furniture still intact. The minute the door closed, Declan was back kissing her, touching her, sending her mind and body reeling. And she met his kiss as greedily.

His hands grasped her hips, and he pulled her tight against his frame. The hard evidence of his want pressed into her belly. Her nipples tightened, her breasts heavy, crushed against his chest. Need pulsed inside her like a slow building crescendo, driven higher by his mouth and those wonderful hands slipping over her backside and crushing her tighter against him.

She more wanted of him, all of him. Naked flesh against flesh. She wanted to explore every contour of his hard muscled body, taste his skin.

Mindlessly, she tugged at his shirt, pulling it up to his shoulder. She caught his soft chuckle with her mouth, before he broke the kiss and eased back, letting her tug the thin cotton over his head and drop it to the floor. Her breath lodged in her throat while her gaze took in the sight of his sculpted chest and abs. He was absolute male perfection.

She reached up, ran her hands over the hard ridge of his pectorals. The smattering of crisp black hair tickled her palm. She trailed her fingers lower, down the contour between his hard abs. When her exploration reached the fly of his jeans, he sucked in his breath. His stomach jerked back from her touch.

She lifted her gaze to his. The dark anticipation glinting in his eyes shot hot need directly to her core.

“You next,” he murmured, grasping the hem of her shirt. He dragged the fitted material up her body with exquisite slowness. His knuckles traced her sides and sent shivery trills scurrying over her skin. He lifted her shirt over her head, dropped it to the floor beside his then deftly unhooked her bra. She let the thin lacy material join the growing pile of clothes at her feet.

Dark eyes fixed on her face, before dropping lower, taking in her nearly naked body. Her skin warmed, tingled beneath his scrutiny. Her nipples puckered, aching for his touch, but he didn’t move. Instead, he stood where he was and let his gaze greedily roam her. He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.

“You’re incredible,” he murmured, and before the warmth of his words faded, he was kissing her again, hard and frantic. His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs teasing her puckered flesh. She groaned, tilting her head back, arching into his touch, letting his mouth trail hot, wet kisses down her throat. Her fingers tangled in his thick hair while his lips trailed lower along the curve of her breast. A shudder rippled through her just as his mouth closed around her nipple.

White-hot need speared low inside her. She groaned, arching her back and silently offering his mouth more, which he greedily accepted. He sucked and nipped at her tight nipple, tongue laving, sending trills of pleasure and pain spinning through her system. So caught up in the whirlwind of sensation she barely noticed his hand pulling at the fly of her jeans, slipping beneath her underwear.

Only when deft fingers parted her sensitive folds, did she stiffen with eager anticipation. His finger pushed inside her. She gasped, hands flying to his shoulders, fingers digging into his solid flesh.

“Mmm,” he murmured against her throat. “So tight. Open wider.”

She gave in to his request, parting her legs for him. No easy feat. Her muscles had turned to jelly, her thighs trembling on the brink of giving out altogether. He slipped a second finger inside her, stretching her. The sweetest invasion. A steady pulse beat at her core. His hand started to move back and forth, and she couldn’t hold back the whimper that slipped past her lips.

His mouth caught hers, tongue sweeping inside. She met his kiss with the same desperate abandon.

She was lost in him. Only vaguely aware of anything beyond Declan’s mouth on hers, his bare chest crushed against her breasts, his fingers moving inside her, his thumb circling her clitoris and the tight thrum pushing her to the very brink.

Still she wanted more. All of him, against her, inside her…

“Declan.” She exploded around his fingers in a hot rush, everything squeezing tight. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, while sweet rippling shudders rolled through her.

“Shit,” he whispered against her lips, easing his hand from her underwear. “I have to get inside you.”

Despite the lovely aftershocks of her orgasm still rolling through her body,
Yes! Yes! Yes!
flashed across her brain like a neon sign.

His mouth fed frantically from hers, but he lowered her onto the bed with surprising care. Once stretched across his mattress, he reached down and slid her jeans and underwear past her hips and down her legs, but shucked off his own clothes with much less grace. He started to crawl over her, and fresh heat rolled through her limbs. She wanted to feel his weight settle on top of her, his hips part her legs.

“Damn it,” he muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Unease chilled her heated skin like a cold breeze.

“Nothing,” he said turning away from her and snatching his jeans up from the floor. “I just almost forgot.”

He lifted his wallet and slipped out a square packet. Protection, of course. Thank God, he’d thought of it, and he’d had something with him. A sliver of doubt punctured the lovely fog she’d been wrapped in.

How often did he sleep with women he barely knew? Was she nothing more than a conquest?

Carly squashed the unsettling questions before they took root. After all, none of that mattered. He hadn’t filled her head with pretty promises and flowery lies. What was happening between them was based purely on physical attraction and would be done come morning.

It was what they both wanted.

He tore open the plastic package and she watched him sheath his thick erection jutting up from the thatch of trimmed black hair. The pulse at her core thrummed once more and all her doubts melted away.

* * *

Declan turned back to Carly stretched out on the bed, and the sight of her caught him like a kick to the stomach. She was gorgeous, so much more than he’d imagined. Every inch of her was soft, sweet skin, and he could have happily spent the rest of his days exploring her. Gentle waves of caramel-colored hair spread out beneath her over the rumpled bed, those dove-gray eyes were smoky and still fuzzy with the last remnants of her orgasm. If he dropped dead wrapped in those long, toned limbs, he’d die a happy man.

He knelt on the bed and parted her legs, letting him admire her gleaming core. His mouth practically watered, hungry for the taste of her, but he was already on the brink of exploding. He needed to get inside her, to sink into her tight, warm depths.

He covered her body with his own, caging her head between his elbows. His hips fit perfectly between her legs, the tip of his cock grazing her opening. She moaned softly, tipping her head back and undulated beneath him. Slick heat rubbed the length of his shaft. Everything inside him pulled tight and he had to squeeze his eyes closed to gain control.

Shit, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d reacted so strongly to a woman. He felt more for Carly than he wanted to, than he should, than was even logical.

He gave himself a mental shake, shoving the disconcerting thoughts to the back of his mind. He had his life waiting for him back in Seattle, the same as she had her life here. But for tonight, at least, they had this. They had now.

He caught her mouth with his, and thrust deep inside her. She closed hot and tight around him, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. He felt more than heard Carly’s soft gasp. Her fingers tangling his hair squeezed and sent a faint burn across his scalp that wasn’t wholly unpleasant.

Had he gone too fast? Hurt her? He held himself rigid, giving her a chance to adjust to the invasion, waiting for a sign he should continue. Not that he had to wait long.

She wriggled beneath him, legs wrapping around his waist, feet pressing against his ass to urge him on. And he was only too happy to comply.

He thrust slow and deep, reveling in the feel of her soft, damp skin against his, breath whispering against his neck. He pushed harder, faster, his control started to slip until he was lost in her.

She cried out, squeezed tight around him, pulling him over the edge with her.

Chapter Eleven

Declan woke slowly, gaze fixed on an unfamiliar ceiling. He started for a long moment, frowning as memory trickled over him. The shadow man’s appearance, the furious destruction that followed and then falling into bed wrapped in Carly’s soft, lithe body.

His frown deepened and he pushed up on his elbows, turning to the empty space on the bed next him. Where had she gone?

He rolled out of bed, dragged on his clothes from yesterday, then checked his phone on the night table. Just past nine-thirty. It was the latest he’d slept since he arrived.

Through the window, brilliant blue skies dotted with thready steel clouds stretched out over an indigo sea. Bad weather blowing in or out? Only time would tell. For now, sunshine spilled across the lawn. The wet grass shone as if encased in liquid gold. The deep blue waves shimmered. It was like a whole other world out there, beautiful and normal, without shadows and burned women.

The wind kicked up moaning through unseen cracks around the window, the sound ominous despite the sunshine outside.

He thought of those red eyes, looking into their fiery depths and knowing with absolute certainty that it wanted him. Not just the shadow, the house itself and something more, something darker.

He shuddered and pushed the thoughts away. He was making more out of it than there was. Besides, three days and he would be home. Back to his real life, Stonecliff and all the people a distant memory—even Carly. A faint pang stung his chest.

Though, maybe that was all she wanted to be. She’d been very clear on her feelings about marriage, not that he was leaning that way. Any commitment between them wasn’t a possibility. Still, he didn’t like that she slipped away before he woke up, as if he was her guilty mistake.

He stood and shoved on his shoes and made his way downstairs. Most of the glass had been cleared away, thought there were still shards glittering deep in the carpet fibers. He’d have to replace all those sconces. Coffee first.

Downstairs, he started past the study, but stopped. Carly sat at the desk, her equipment in various states of packed, while she studied something on the video camera’s screen.

“Good morning. Did you sleep at all?” he asked, leaning against the door frame between the study and hall.

She looked up and smiled, but the expression didn’t meet her eyes. Her gaze was clouded. Troubled. “I did, but I’m naturally an early riser.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, a sinking sensation gripping his insides. He slid his hands into his pockets and waited.

“Nothing’s wrong, but there’s something I want you to see.”

He held up a hand. “Let me get coffee first.” He frowned. The house was unusually quiet so late in the morning. “Where are Mrs. Voyle and Warlow?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen either of them.”

That was odd—especially no sign of Mrs. Voyle. Maybe she really hadn’t been well. Or whatever she’d seen had scared her so badly she wasn’t coming back.

He nodded in the kitchen’s direction. “Coffee?”

“Absolutely.” She stood and followed him down the hall. “I tidied up most of the mess from last night. I didn’t run the hoover, though. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Thanks. You didn’t have to, though.”

She shrugged. “I was restless this morning.”

He reached down and laced her fingers with his. “When I woke up and you were gone, I thought you’d sneaked out.”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t have done that.”