Beyond A Highland Whisper (21 page)

The man had died a few days later. He’d never awakened from the coma. There weren’t any charges because Trish had mumbled through a broken jaw that Nessa had saved her life.

“I really hate it when your eyes glaze over like that, especially when you’re staring at me as though I’m a rare and exotic beast.” Trish banged her soda can on the table in front of Nessa.

“Sorry. I was just thinking,” Nessa mumbled, tracing her fingertip around the top of her soda can. With an arched brow at Trish, she leaned forward and dropped her voice to an excited whisper. “How would you like to hear something so weird you’re going to think I’ve finally gone over the edge?”

With a grin, Trish leaned forward to meet Nessa halfway across the table and propped her chin in her hand. “Try me.”

Nessa took a deep breath and prepared to tell her tale. She spread her hands on the table in front of her. Leaning forward just a bit, she struggled to control the tremble in her voice as she glanced at the door joining their room to the MacKays’ private residence.

“I met Rachel MacKay in the woods by a spring. Or should I say…I met her ghost, even though I didn’t realize who or what she was at the time.”

Nessa waited for Trish’s reaction. Nothing. Trish just sat there and stared at her. Nessa frowned. She raised her voice and leaned in closer, her fingertips curled into her palms. Trish would react when she told her the rest of the story. “She told me the Highlander in my dreams is Latharn MacKay and that I should never fear him. I didn’t find out until today that Latharn MacKay is her son.”

Trish frowned just a bit. She rubbed her chin, tapping her bottom lip as she spoke. “How exactly did you find out that Latharn MacKay is her son if you didn’t know who she was when you were talking to her?”

Nessa leaned in closer, propping her chin in both hands. She paused to build the suspense, watching Trish’s face. Her friend was taking this information entirely too well.

“Her immortal daughter, Aveline, told me who she was when she appeared in the car with me on the way home.”

Trish continued rubbing her chin. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. The ghost of Rachel MacKay appeared to tell you the man in your dreams is her son, Latharn MacKay, but you didn’t know who she was or that he was her son until you talked to…did you say the immortal daughter, Aveline?”

Nessa struggled against the sly smile tickling at her lips and waited for Trish to demand she quit joking around. Any minute now Trish would explode. She knew Trish would think she was crazy. It was a good thing she’d never had a history of alcohol or Trish would accuse her of tying one on. She gave Trish two thumbs up and a wink as she replied, “I’m impressed. It took me a couple of times to get it figured out but it sounds like you’ve connected the dots the first time around.”

Nessa leaned back in her seat and waited for what she was positive would be Trish’s traditional reply of, “Bullshit!”

Trish took a deep breath and stared at her hands as she chewed on her lower lip. “Well what else did Rachel and Aveline tell you?”

Nessa couldn’t believe it. Why was Trish acting so weird? She wasn’t even reacting! “They both told me even though Latharn is forbidden to speak to me in my dreams, if I’ll look into his heart, I’ll know the truth.” Nessa folded her hands on the table and tilted her head to one side. “Pretty unbelievable, huh? What do you think?” If Trish didn’t give her a reaction pretty soon, she was going to reach across the table and smack her. She wasn’t being any fun at all.

Trish rubbed her nose. She drummed her fingers on the table. “Oh, hell. I give up. It’s time to tell you.” Trish slammed her hands on the table. “They couldn’t tell you anything else because they were forbidden. If they broke the rules, Latharn’s soul would burn in the eternal abyss. The curse says that any person of MacKay blood or marriage must not help you in your quest.” Trish buried her face in her hands.

“My quest?” Nessa repeated. She waited for Trish to look her dead in the eye so she could figure out if she was pulling some sort of practical joke. This was not the reaction she’d anticipated from her flamboyant friend. “My quest for what?”

Trish rose from the table and motioned for Nessa to follow as she headed for the MacKays’ adjoining door. “Follow me and I’ll show you. Since I’m in no way related to the MacKays, I’m pretty sure it’s safe for me to tell you what you need to know.”

Nessa’s heart fluttered and her mouth went dry. What was Trish talking about? Nessa reminded herself to breathe. She followed Trish into the MacKays’ drawing room. There sat Brodie and Fiona as though they’d been waiting for her arrival. On the table between them sat the violet sphere. The orb bathed the entire room in an eerie light.

“Have ye told her?” Brodie searched their faces as he rose from his chair.

“Not yet.” Trish pointed to a chair on the other side of the table and motioned for Nessa to sit. “Latharn MacKay lived in the year 1410 until he was cursed by an evil sorceress from a neighboring clan. It appears he was quite talented at pleasing the ladies but when he didn’t fall in love with the witch, she decided to make him pay.”

Nessa glanced around the room at the anticipation shining on everyone’s faces. Trish’s words played right along with everything else she’d learned today. Nessa had an uneasy feeling of where Trish might be headed with her tale.

“And just exactly how did she curse him? Did she send him to some mystical plane where he can only wander through people’s dreams?”

Trish shook her head. She slid the crystal orb across the table until it was sitting mere inches from Nessa’s face.

“No. She cursed him into this witch’s ball until such time as the spell is broken.”

Nessa’s heart pounded up into her throat. She felt the rhythmic beats synchronize with the pulsating light of the orb. Her mouth grew even drier. She lost the ability to breathe as she glanced into the depths of the ball.

“Latharn’s soul is trapped in there?”

Trish nodded.

Nessa remembered all the tales she’d found about the MacKays’ loves and their losses. Hands pressed against her cheeks, Nessa’s heart swelled in her chest, sympathizing for Latharn’s pain. As she realized all Latharn must have witnessed, everything he knew and loved torn away. Nessa’s throat ached with unshed tears. She couldn’t imagine the misery he’d suffered, trapped in the crystal as he watched his world die away.

She splayed her fingers on either side of the globe. Nessa drew her face even closer to the swirling surface.

“Oh, Latharn, I’m so very sorry,” she whispered. Nessa’s heart clenched with the sorrow he must have known. She couldn’t imagine her gentle Highlander trapped inside the tiny glass tomb for nearly six hundred years. Her eyes overflowed with tears of compassion; she didn’t bother to wipe them away. She just watched as they rolled down the surface of the shimmering witch’s ball.

“Latharn, you’ve taken such good care of me all these years. You’ve made me what I am today.” Her tears came faster. Nessa closed her eyes. Her lips trembled as she whispered, “I want you to know I’ve always loved you and I’d give anything to be able to set you free.”

As soon as the words fell from her trembling lips, thunder and lightning split through the room. Wild energy spun around in a cyclone of blinding light, ripping everything from the shelves. Furniture crashed against the walls as chairs and tables lifted off the floor. Nessa dove under the table, joined by Trish and the MacKays. They shielded their heads with their arms and whatever cushions they could grab. Then all went silent. The storm died just as soon as it had risen. Not an object in the room was untouched by the fierce energy that had ripped through the house.

Nessa remained motionless under the table, afraid something would fall on her head. She just knew the building must be about ready to collapse from the violent attack it had just endured. Strong hands closed around her arms, and lifted her from the rubble. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into a set of deep green eyes she’d only seen before in her dreams.

As he tenderly stroked the curve of her cheek, Latharn groaned with satisfaction. “’Tis about time ye said the words for me, lass. I’d begun to think I’d never be free of that hell.”

Nessa’s jaw dropped to her chest, her lips moved but no words came out. Speechless, she stared up into his face. She’d never imagined how his voice would sound. His deep Scot’s burr, the way his words rolled off his tongue—the sound set fire to her blood. The richness of his voice stroked her body, making her ache for more. Running her fingertips across the stubbled whiskers of his jaw, Nessa finally whispered, “It’s really you.”

Latharn lowered his mouth to hers. He savored his first true taste of her lips. When her trembling hands slid up his chest, his heart swelled to near bursting. He deepened his kiss of possession. He tightened his embrace. He’d waited for this moment for centuries. To hold her, the one woman he ever loved, to feel her breathless against his chest.

The one way he’d maintained his sanity all these years was by searching for her with his mind. He’d used his powers. He’d traveled the mists until he’d finally located her soul in the energy of eternity. Once she was born, he’d waited for her to become a woman so he could be with her in her dreams. He’d watched Nessa since her soul first came into being now at last, he held her in his arms.

Latharn raised his head and smiled down into her eyes. “I’ve waited for centuries to hold ye like this. Now that I have ye, I’ll never let you go.”

Nessa lost herself in the strength of his arms as she heard the others rustling through the shattered room. She could stay in the loving warmth of his embrace forever and ignore the rest of the world. However, the others might be hurt from the energy storm that had released Latharn from the crystal orb. Her conscience nudged her. She couldn’t enjoy her flesh and blood lover until she was sure her friends were okay. “Maybe we should unearth Trish and your cousins, since the two of us have caused a bit of a mess.”

With an arched brow, Latharn tore his gaze away from Nessa and looked about the room. Flexing the corded muscles of his right arm, he stretched his hand out over the carnage of broken furniture and shattered glass. An aura of purple light surrounded his body and culminated into a solid beam flowing from his extended hand. As he guided the energy beam around the room, everything returned to its undestroyed state.

“Damn. Can you teach me how to do that?” Trish gazed around the room.

“He’s more powerful than all the others,” Fiona whispered, huddling against Brodie’s side.

“I am the highest trained master of the ancient ones still physically walking upon this plane.” Latharn’s voice rang with sorrow as he faced the present day MacKays. “When all the others passed to the next level of existence, they willed their powers to me.”

Brodie stretched out his arm and waited to grasp Latharn’s forearm in the ancient greeting of another member of the clan. “I’m proud we were the ones to finally see ye free, Cousin Latharn. Welcome back to our world.”

Latharn nodded and his smile returned as he accepted Brodie’s proffered arm. “Aye, I canna thank all of ye enough for the role ye played in helping Nessa break the curse.”

With a fiery spark in his eyes, Latharn turned and swept Nessa up into his arms. “Now I must ask ye to forgive me but I’m sure ye’ll understand that I’ve quite a bit of...catching up to do with my future bride.” Then he turned and strode through the doorway to the bedroom, kicking the door shut with a purposeful slam.

Chapter Twenty-One

With a sultry smile, he lowered her to the bed, his eyes never leaving her face. He claimed her mouth. He nuzzled at her lips. He whispered his love to her in husky Gaelic phrases. Latharn grabbed her blouse by the front, ripped it aside, buttons popping across the room. With one quick motion, his mouth never leaving hers, he slid her pants to the floor.

Nessa pulled his plaid from about his shoulders and tossed it to the floor. She wanted her body melded against every inch of his skin. She wanted his hardened muscles playing beneath her fingertips. She wanted to memorize him with her touch, his velvety hardness pressed against her belly. Pulling him closer, she raked her hands down his back. “Latharn, please,” Nessa panted. Arching her back, she pressed against him. Why didn’t he just dive in?