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Stunned, I stood there for a minute. How could he know my name? As if in a trance, I reached out and my hand landed where his heart should be. He looked down as I felt the strong beat of it under my palm.
“Yer touch doesn’t tempt me, lass.”
Mortified, I snatched my hand away. I hadn’t done that to sway him. In fact, I’d expected to touch air and not solid muscle. But he was as real as I was.
“You’re really not going to let me stay here, are you?” When he didn’t answer, I said, “Then no need for me to put off the inevitable.”
I turned so fast my hair and nightgown were still spinning as I marched forward. “Happy birthday to me,” I muttered to myself as I took the passage across the hall and down the spiraling stairs, two steps at a time. When I made it to the bottom, I ignored the portraits of long-dead people and looked to my left first, spotting double doors set in a grand archway. It didn’t matter where the door led as long as it was out of the castle.
My bare footsteps slapped against the stone floor, reminding me I wore no shoes. I hadn’t thought I’d need them. It didn’t matter anyway. I was so out of here, damn the consequences.
The heavy wooden doors appeared to be made from metal from afar. Closer in, there was much detail I couldn’t explore. I reached up and took hold of the heavy handle on one, which was metal. It took me a moment to figure out how to open them. Finally, with a heroic push, the right door opened.
A howling wind freed the door from my hold, and it flew open all the way as I watched in utter fascination. The air felt charged as transparent apparitions with no true shape floated above a gravel drive. This had to be the front of the castle. Despite the shape of someone or something walking toward me, I had no fear as I took a step forward.
I didn’t make it far as a strong hand snagged my arm and snatched me back. Then another hand extended forward, causing the door to slam shut. I spun and my chest landed against a stronger one.
“Are you mad?” Duncan thundered.
Six
Craning my neck toward the ceiling so I could level my glare at the ass, I said, “Mad, maybe. But I believe you wanted me to go.”
“I dinnae mean at this very moment, lass. I said ‘at first light.’”
I could have reminded him I was still firmly in his arms, but arguing with the infuriating man seemed more important.
“What does it matter? You don’t want me here. I was leaving.”
If I hadn’t been looking directly at him, I might have thought there were wolves nearby as a growl rumbled from his chest.
“Ye cannae go.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You said I can-nae stay,” I said, trying my best at mocking his accent, which might have been funny in any other situation.
“Ye cannae stay here either.”
Since I hadn’t ever been this close to a man, I was struck silent as I felt his cock hardening against my belly. It was something I’d read about but hadn’t experienced myself.
In a movement too swift for me to comprehend, suddenly I was out of his arms and there were three feet between us. “Ye cook, ye clean, ye stay the hell away from me.”
Any snarky remark I could have made was thwarted when the front door crashed open and the other man from the beach Duncan had been fighting with sauntered through the door.
“Cin,” Duncan hissed.
Cin’s stormy eyes landed on me as he spoke. “Ah, there you are. A bonnie lassie, aren’t ye? It’s a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht. Care for a walk?”
Duncan stepped between us before I could ask him what he meant. I’d been fascinated by the leaves in Cin’s dark hair he didn’t seem to notice. Duncan pointed a finger at me. “Ye go to yer room. Now!” He turned, and I had to shift so I could see Cin as Duncan spoke to him. “I warned you. Stay away from her.”
Cin grinned and then aimed it at me.
Though the men appeared to be around the same age, there was something about Duncan that read he was far older.
Duncan spun and took me by the arm. He marched me back under the archway in the hall that hid the stairs I’d come down. “Go. Unless ye have a death wish.” He gave me a little shove. Cin’s maniacal laugh snapped me out of my curiosity. That and the death glare Duncan aimed at me set me in motion.
“Her death would be salvation for us both. Better me to end her life as the Dark One searches for her,” Cin said, his eyes full of hellfire.
