Читать книгу Dark Seduction - Бренда Джойс, Brenda Joyce - Страница 10

FOR ONE MOMENT, Claire was in disbelief, and then she got the joke. Amy! Her cousin was her best friend. Amy knew she was on her way to Mull, where she would stay at Malcolm’s Arms, and she also knew that Claire had fantasized about meeting the laird of Dunroch. Her cousin had decided to play a prank on her by sending this wannabe actor to impersonate a medieval Highlander. And Claire laughed.

Normally, she would not be amused, but she was so relieved.

The man pretending to be Malcolm of Dunroch stopped smiling. He stared at her, first in suspicion, and then his expression hardened, becoming dark. “Be ye laughin’ at me, lass?” he asked too softly.

“Amy sent you!” Claire cried, still having one last chuckle. “God, you are good! You had me for a moment—I thought you were a loon. The truth is, I almost believed, just for a second, that you were the genuine article.” She grinned at him.

He scowled. “Ye be mad, lass. An’ you accuse me of bein’ the loon?”

His quick anger almost seemed real. “I know you’re not mad,” Claire said quickly, instinctively appeasing him. “Just one damn good entertainer.”

“I dinna ken ye, lass.” His regard was piercing.

His theatrics were no longer amusing. He was an actor, not a loon, not a burglar. Her cousin had hired the most gorgeous hunk she had ever seen as a joke. And not only was he gorgeous, he was clearly attracted to her, too. She became still. She hadn’t been with anyone in three years, not since her last relationship had ended. Claire began to think hard about the fact that he was not an insane burglar and that men like him were not a dime a dozen. But what was she going to do, exactly?

He was as still. “Lassie?”

Then she came to her senses. He was a stranger. In a city filled with vicious murdering criminals, only crazy or desperate women met men without a friend’s introduction. She wasn’t crazy and she wasn’t desperate. She should not be thinking about sex.

But she was.

Claire wet her lips, aware that her body was turned on, no matter her common sense. “Enough with the brogue. Cat’s out of the bag.” She turned away from him and as she did so, she was faced with the devastation in her store.

Her attention was instantly diverted. Claire stared at the precious books littering the floor. Her cousin would never condone such destruction.

That woman had not been a joke. He might be an actor, but Sibylla had been a burglar. She had ransacked Claire’s store and assaulted her, and Claire still didn’t know what she had taken. Suddenly, Amy’s joke wasn’t funny anymore. Malcolm had scared her, considering what had happened before he had appeared. And it didn’t even make sense. Sibylla had also asked about a page from the Cladich. What did that mean?

As she tried to make sense out of the events of that evening, he walked past her and began retrieving the books.

“What are you doing?” she asked tersely, riddled with tension all over again. This wasn’t right; everything was still wrong.

He faced her, a dozen books in his arms. The imitation leine had short sleeves, and his biceps bulged. “I will help ye, lass, but ye need to help me in return.” He sent her that engaging and alluring smile.

Claire steeled herself against his magnetism, jerking her gaze away. It was almost too late, as her body heat was climbing. She hugged herself defensively now. “That was improv, right? I told you about Sibylla and the page from the Cladich and you went with it. That’s what actors do.” That was the only possible explanation…except she wasn’t certain she had mentioned Sibylla before he had asked her about the page.

He slowly shook his head. “I dinna ken. But if ye be thinkin’ I be an actor, ye be wrong, lass. I be the Maclean of south Mull an’ Coll.”

Claire became angry. She folded her arms against her chest, then regretted it, as his gaze moved to her breasts. “Please stop,” she said harshly. “This has been a terrible night. I know Amy sent you as a joke, but Sibylla assaulted me and ransacked my store.”

“An’ that be why I wish to help ye now. Where do ye want me t’ put the books?”

Claire shook her head. “No. I appreciate the offer, but I’ll clean up by myself.” She wanted him gone. She needed to think and she needed to call the police.

But he ignored her, placing the books in a neat pile on the floor, as if he understood there was no point in putting anything back on the shelves. He glanced at her as he straightened.

Clearly he intended to stay and help. Did that make him decent, as well as gorgeous? Softly, she said, “The joke’s done. Really. You can go now.”

He muttered something in Gaelic and she froze. “You’re really a Scot.”

“Aye.” He held another armful of books.

Claire told herself not to panic. He could be a Scottish actor, just like Sean Connery, and some Scots continued to speak Gaelic. “Amy did send you, didn’t she?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he stacked the books next to the first pile.

She shook her head, her unease about to become full-blown panic again. If Amy hadn’t sent him, then who and what was he?

He bent to retrieve more books, and Claire was faced with the sight of the leine riding high up on his powerful, corded hamstrings. The fact that he was so masculine didn’t help alleviate her confusion. Her body continued to vibrate with all kinds of tension, but she wasn’t as frightened now as she had first been. If he wasn’t going to leave, what should she do?

She should call her cousin and find out the truth, but damn it, she was afraid of what Amy would say.

He straightened and caught her staring. “Ye be too hungry fer such a beauteous lass,” he said softly. “Where’s yer man?”

“There isn’t one.” She was flushing.

He stared blankly at her. “I dinna ken this world,” he finally said, shaking his head. “Ye live here alone?”

Claire nodded. “Yes, I do.” They were having a conversation that was almost normal. She debated how to innocently make that phone call without his becoming alarmed. There was no way to avoid it.

He was incredulous. “And who’s t’ protect ye in danger?”

“I protect myself.” She smiled weakly.

He made a sound. “With that weapon?” He nodded disparagingly toward the hall, where her Beretta lay on the floor.

“I also have Mace, pepper spray and a Taser.”

His eyes narrowed. “More weapons?”

Surely he knew what Mace and pepper spray were, at least. “I am hardly the only single woman in the city.”

“A woman needs a man to keep her safe, lass. ’Tis the way o’ the world, the way o’ men.” He was firm.

Claire was briefly speechless. This man spoke as if he were from a past century. “It’s not the way of my world,” she finally said. “And you’re scaring me. I admit it. I’m a wuss and you need to get out of character.” Her cheeks were hot.

“I dinna wish to frighten ye, lass,” he murmured. “But what man in his good mind would leave ye to yerself?”

She couldn’t help being flattered. And the way he was regarding her now, from beneath thick black lashes, left her in no doubt that he was oversexed. Claire swallowed. She couldn’t just sense the sexual tension coming from him, she could actually feel it. It was almost a third presence there in the room with them. She had not a doubt he would be an amazing lover.

“Ye need a man, lass,” he said softly. “’Tis a shame it willna be me.”

She stiffened. Was he reading her mind? Was that a rejection? She was only thinking about what was terribly obvious!

She stared at him and he stared back. “Why not?” Her tone was hoarse. She could barely believe herself. She had never even had a casual affair.

And his gaze intensified. “Ye be intent on seduction, lass? Ye wish to seduce me?”

Claire was mortified. “No.” She couldn’t think, so how could she even begin to know what she intended?

He smiled—a soft, heartbreaking smile—and then he spoke with vast regret. “In another life, momhaise, I would gladly accept such a beautiful invitation.”

Only this man could make a rejection so utterly sexual. His words should have hurt her. Instead, she stood there aching.

He turned away. Claire glimpsed the very evident ridge of his arousal beneath the tunic and she almost expected her store to go up in flames.

He spoke brusquely now. “I need the page afore another takes it. It belongs in the shrine with the Cathach. I expect yer help an’ then I’ll be gone.”

It was another moment before Claire came to her senses. “This isn’t a joke, is it? My cousin didn’t send you here. You are from Scotland.”

His gray gaze was steady. “Aye.”

She began to shake. “The Cathach is in the Royal Irish Academy. Every scholar knows, because it’s the oldest illuminated Irish manuscript that anyone has ever found.”

As emotional as she was becoming, he was as calm. “The Cathach be enshrined on Iona, lass.”

Claire shook her head. Was he a nut after all? “There is no shrine on Iona—it is nothing but ruins!”

His face settled into hard planes and taut angles. “Maybe in yer time.”

“What the hell does that mean?” she cried.

“It means I ha’ been to the shrine many times. I have guarded it meself.”

She swallowed, backing away. “I believe you are a true Scot, but why the costume? Why the absurd story—the lies? And who is the woman who broke into my store?”

His eyes flashed. “Dinna accuse me o’ lies, lass. Men ha’ died fer less.” He shook his head. “I dinna ken what book is in yer academy, but ’tis nay the book o’ wisdom, which I ha’ seen with me own eyes.”

“That’s impossible!” Claire cried, terribly agitated now. “You believe it, though, don’t you?”

“I speak the truth.” He folded his massive arms across his chest.

Her mind was racing now at an alarming speed. There was no way to rationalize his behavior or beliefs. The genuine Cathach was in Dublin, on display. It was not enshrined on the island of Iona. There was no shrine on Iona! She had been there. The monastery and abbey were in ruins. Had a shrine existed there, she would have seen it. And what about the Cladich—and the page that both he and Sibylla claimed they were after? She was a scholar, but she had never heard of such a book before.

“Tell me about the Cladich,” she said.

His gaze narrowed, as if he was wary. “Fergus MacErc brought the book to Dunadd. When St. Columba established the monastery on Iona, it was enshrined there with the Cathach. ’Twas stolen from the Benedictines,” he said.

She wet her lips, her heart racing. He was definitely mad, because he believed his every word. “If you are telling me that a manuscript predates the Cathach and the establishment of St. Columba’s monastery on Iona, you are wrong.”

His eyes darkened. “Do ye accuse me o’ lies again?”

“I don’t know what to think! There was no written tradition among the Celts until St. Columba’s time—none,” she cried. “The Druids prohibited writing. Everything was oral.”

His smile was smug. “Nay. The books were written, because the Ancients wanted it so.”

“The Ancients?”

Softly he said, “The old gods.”

Beyond mad, she thought. She prayed for the strength to dissemble. Then she looked right at him. “All right, I concede. I am only a bookseller, so maybe I’m the one who’s wrong.” She smiled. “I’m cold. I am going upstairs to change, but I’ll be right back. Go ahead, look for the page. I’ll help you when I come back downstairs.” She didn’t bother to tell him that such a page, if original, would be in fragments if not carefully preserved.

He smiled back at her, a smile that did not reach his gray eyes.

He knew she was up to something. It didn’t matter, as long as he let her leave the room. Claire walked slowly out of the front store, when what she wanted to do was run. His gaze burned holes in her back. She darted into her office, pausing at her small desk, and unplugged and snatched up her laptop. No sound came from the front. Holding the laptop to her chest, she started up the stairs, tripping in her haste.

In her bedroom, she leaped onto the bed, lifting the computer’s lid. Shaking, feeling ill with dread, she went to the Internet and did a search for the Cladich, then lifted the phone.

But before she could even dial 911, the information she wanted appeared on her screen. Claire forgot all about calling the police.

The Cladich was a myth. There was almost no proof that it had ever existed, except for a reference to the holy manuscript that had been found on the effigy of a tomb in the tiny village of Cladich, Scotland. Three scholars believed the claim. They all held that it had been a book of healing, belonging to a secret society of pagan warriors. However, they were divided after that. One claimed the brotherhood and scripture dated to the Dark Ages; another, to the birth of Christ. The third opinion was that the secret brotherhood had survived into the Middle Ages, although it was doubtful the book had.

Claire began to tremble with excitement. She had to remind herself that the book was a legend. But both Malcolm and Sibylla believed a page was in her store. What if it wasn’t a myth?

As she scanned the article again, she felt him.

She slowly looked up, across her bed. Malcolm stood as still as a statue in the doorway of her bedroom. His silver gaze was fastened upon her.

She couldn’t move. She stared at him, forgetting all about the Cladich and its missing page. His gaze moved over her face, her breasts, her legs. Her skin fired and flamed. Slowly, vaguely aware that she was no longer herself, Claire leaned back against her pillows. She needed him.

His voice cut the trance like a whiplash. “Get up.”

Claire jumped from the bed. His face was so tight it looked as if it might crack. He strode past her, to the bed.

“Who are you?” Her heart was thundering madly.

His hand swept over her favorite pillow and he turned to look at her with astonished and furious eyes. “Goddamn it,” he exclaimed. “Aidan slept here? In yer bed?”

She did not know what he was talking about. “There was a cat…a stray…but I haven’t seen it in hours.” She was babbling. Her heart refused to slow. Worse, her body continued to ache for fulfillment.

He was thunderous. “There be nay time left.” He looked her up and down, scathingly. “Change yer fashion an’ come down now. Yer comin’ with me, lass.” It was a statement, not a request. He spun past her and left.

Claire stood there in shock. All of her fear returned, and with it, a vast confusion. There had been no mistaking his urgency. He had perceived some threat, real or imagined—but he was the threat, wasn’t he? And who the hell was Aidan?

Claire felt as if she was in the path of an oncoming hurricane and that her life was about to be blown to hell. She ran to the top of the stairs. “I’m not going anywhere with you!” Even as she insisted, she had the dreadful feeling that he was going to have his way. But where did he think to take her? And why would he want to take her anywhere?

He didn’t answer. He had walked into the kitchen but hadn’t turned on any lights.

Claire raced back into the bedroom. She slammed the door and frantically ran to the phone. She dialed 911. The operator was calm and in no hurry, which infuriated Claire. “There is a burglary in progress!” she screamed at the man, and slammed the receiver down. At least the police should be there within five or ten minutes.

She ran to her suitcase, leaping out of her boxers and tank top as she did so. She shimmied into a thong and pulled on a bra. Her hands were shaking and it took her three tries to hook it closed. What was he up to now? She was almost afraid to find out. But she wasn’t going anywhere with him. She’d stall until the police came and carted him away and then she’d start researching. She seized the top garments from her open suitcase and quickly pulled on a denim mini and a cap-sleeved tee. Stumbling into a pair of really worn cowboy boots, she grabbed a cotton cardigan and ran to the bedstand. She seized the deadly Taser, slipped it in her pocket and flew down the stairs.

The kitchen remained dark but the refrigerator was open, shedding light, and he was staring into it. Claire hit the lights and he whirled to face her, his sword ringing as he unsheathed it.

Claire leaped back so quickly she fell against the stove. She’d never heard a genuine sword before, but she knew immediately that his weapon was real.

He held the sword high, his eyes black with fury, as if she was his mortal enemy and he was an instant away from cleaving her in two.

He lowered the sword. “By the gods, lass,” he said hoarsely. “Dinna sneak up on me that way!”

She wet her dry lips, unable to look away, her heart hammering so hard she felt faint. For one instant, she had been afraid he was going to kill her on the spot.

A madman with a sword. She was in deep shit.

“I’ll never hurt ye,” he said, a strange expression twisting his face. His gaze had slipped to her legs again.

“You scared me,” Claire managed to say, beginning to tremble. That was a vast understatement. If that sword was genuine, what did it make the man?

“Be ye impoverished? Ye have no garments but rags?” His gaze lifted to hers.

Claire didn’t even try to answer. She stood there, overwhelmed with what her mind wanted to tell her.

“Dinna fear, lass, I’ll see ye clothed soon enough.” He began to smile reassuringly at her, when she could not possibly be reassured, but then his gaze jerked past her and widened. Before Claire could really register that something or someone was in the hallway, he shoved her behind him. “Get back,” he commanded.

Claire stumbled from the force of his push as his sword rang, unsheathed once again. The sound was answered by another sword’s terrible echo behind them. In dread and disbelief, she turned and cried out.

Another towering man, dressed almost exactly as Malcolm, faced him, a huge sword raised threateningly in both hands. He was dark haired but fair skinned, impossibly handsome, and his eyes were filled with malicious delight. “Hallo, a Chaluim.” He spoke softly in Gaelic, his words clearly taunting. “De tha doi?”

Malcolm roared, “A Bhrogain!” The battle cry was ancient, barbaric and deafening. It was also terrifying. Claire cringed as Malcolm wielded a blow that would have cleanly sliced the other man’s head from his neck had his adversary not met it with equally great strength and skill. The two swords locked and rang again.

And in that moment, she knew everything was real. These men wanted to kill one another and it was not an act. Malcolm’s adversary no longer smiled, his expression primitive, feral. As Malcolm went on the offensive, his enemy parrying every blow, she saw that they had the kind of ability that only came from years of practice—and years of actual battle. They were not in costume. They were medieval warriors intent on murder, mayhem, death.

So much testosterone filled the store that she felt ill and faint.

Blow after blow sounded.

Someone was going to die soon. Malcolm could die.

And Claire thought about the Beretta.

She had left it in the hallway. Both men were in the midst of their battle in the center of her kitchen. Claire edged toward the door, skirting the breakfast area as she did so, making certain she stayed far from the battling men.

And then she ran into the hall as their swords rang again and again, the violent battle clearly reaching a savage crescendo. She saw the Beretta and seized it. She wanted to turn and flee, but instead, she ran back to the kitchen and pointed the gun at Malcolm’s enemy.

“Stop,” she tried, but her teeth were chattering.

Malcolm had seen her. His eyes had briefly widened. “Lass, nay!”

“I’ll shoot!” she cried. “Malcolm, tell him I will kill him if he doesn’t stop!”

Malcolm and the other man were braced against one another, sword to sword. Malcolm smiled coldly. “Ye heard my lass, Aidan. Surrender, afore she murders ye with her weapon.”

Claire prayed he would surrender. She didn’t know who he was, and she didn’t know why she was defending Malcolm, but she would put a bullet in the intruder if she had to. She was a very good shot, but she had never fired a gun under such circumstances, or in such fear. Her hands were shaking, and while she would try to only wound the man, she wasn’t confident that she would not kill him by mistake.

The dark-haired man visibly relaxed, although for one more moment he and Malcolm remained braced like two horned stags. Then, as one, both men disengaged, stepping farther apart.

Claire sidled past Aidan, who turned to smile at her. Her heart turned over at the sight of so much male beauty and strength.

Aidan murmured, “Ah, beauty, ye let me live another day.” He grinned, clearly enjoying himself and not in the least bit shaken by such a violent fight. “Rascal that I am, I be eagerly awaitin’ our next meeting,” he added.

Claire rushed to Malcolm’s side, barely comprehending him. He stepped protectively in front of her, and in doing so, he briefly blocked her view of Aidan. “There willna be another time,” he growled back at Aidan.

Then he turned to Claire, his gaze searching. “Did he hurt ye?”

Claire was shaking like a leaf. She was about to tell him that she was fine—a monstrous lie—when she realized that Aidan was gone. “Where did he go?” she gasped.

“Give me the weapon, lass,” Malcolm said softly, taking the gun from her. He set it on the counter and put his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace.

And dear God, he felt safe. Claire clung, shocked by the overwhelming sense of security his huge body was giving her. “Who was that? Where did he go?”

His gaze seemed to melt as he looked down at her. His huge hand stroked down her hair to the small of her back, and everything changed. His body was so strong and male, his scent was so heady and sexual that her knees buckled. Her bare thighs were molded to his equally bare ones, but his tough leather boots were a startling and not unpleasant contrast against her shins. In her cowboy boots, she was still shorter than he was, and her breasts were crushed against the solid wall of his chest.

And he was massively aroused, his erection standing hard and high against one hip.

Claire’s insides hollowed. She wanted this man and it had nothing to do with any trance.

“Have no fear, lass. The bastard’s gone.” His hand moved lower, over her denim-clad bottom, his fingers spreading firmly there. “I be wantin’ ye, lass.”

She wet her lips. “I know.” She dared, “I want you, too.”

He smiled at her and she felt his hand caress her bottom, low near the hem of her skirt. “Can ye wait an hour or so?” he murmured.

Claire was overcome with pulsating desire. Ordinarily she was hard to please, but she felt that if he touched her—really touched her, right then, between her legs—she was going to climax. Maybe it was the battle she had witnessed. “Take me upstairs,” she heard herself whisper, and she was too hot to be horrified by her forward behavior. She had never felt this way before.

She would worry about who and what he was another time, later, after they had used each other and pleasured each other again and again.

His jaw tightened. “Ye dinna listen well, do ye? It’s nay safe and I canna protect ye here. But I will protect ye, lass. Ye be my Innocent now.”

“I don’t understand,” Claire whispered, pressing closer. The only thing she did understand was that he was refusing her offer. She leaned her face against his chest and her desire escalated out of all control. In his arms, she shook with an intense, consuming hunger. She ran her hands down to his waist, barely able to bite back a moan. He seemed to rise higher and harder in response.

His grip on her tightened. “I be sorry, lass,” he said.

Once again, Claire just couldn’t understand. It was as if they were from two different worlds, speaking two different languages—except for the language spoken by their inflamed bodies.

And then they were catapulted across the room, through walls, past stars.

Claire screamed.