HauntedLaird (10 page)

Och
, the woman made him as randy as a young buck in
mating season.

“Hopefully this will give you enough room,” she said as her
gaze swept from his feet to his head. “But I doubt it.”

When he got settled on the seat, she reached across him and
showed him how to operate what she called a seatbelt. She closed the door
behind him and scooted to the opposite side.

Her scent had permeated his senses when she’d reached across
to strap him. If the others had not been waiting for them, he would have taken
her in his arms and ravished her mouth like a hungry animal.

Padon watched her move in front of the metal beast. He liked
the sexy little jiggle of her breasts as she walked with purpose. Closing his
eyes, he leaned into the seat. The image of her standing in the kitchen doorway
over Timothy as she held a board in her hand made his lips twitch into a smile.
She’d knocked him on his arse with one blow. Now that was a woman.

She’d tried to carry his Claymore but it was too heavy for a
wee one like her. The fact that she’d even attempted it showed she didn’t fear
weapons. Perhaps after he returned to Castle MacKinnon, he’d locate a fine
swordsmith and commission a special dagger for this spitfire o’ a lass. It
would be a perfect gift in his opinion.

His eyes sprang open the moment the beast beneath him roared
to life. Lynn pulled a lever and the mechanical horse moved. Padon’s heart
thumped inside his chest as he gripped the seat. His knees pressed against the
inside of the beast’s stomach and he wished he had more room to maneuver. In
this position, he couldn’t reach his sword quickly enough if trouble arose.

Her hand grasped his, causing him to look her way. She gave
him a quick smile right before she stared straight to the beast in front of
them. “We will be fine, Padon. Relax. I’m a good driver. I promise.”

Relax. How in the name o’ the angels was he going ta relax
while riding in the belly o’ a metal beast? He turned his eyes forward and was
stunned to see the beast in front of them also had red glowing eyes on its
arse. Was it angry that they followed so closely?

Lynn drove but couldn’t keep her thoughts off the hunk next
to her. In the house, she’d noted Padon had studied his surroundings carefully,
as if taking mental notes of every detail. But he’d remained quiet and didn’t
ask questions though she knew he must have had a zillion running through his
brain. Standing next to the car, she’d caught the first visible signs of
distress in him since the cave when Jasper had to leave. She saw the fear in
his eyes as she opened the passenger side door for him.

It tore at her heart to see him this disconcerted. Big and
bad mixed with vulnerable and scared made him even more hunky in her eyes. She
did her best to help soothe his nerves by rubbing his wrist. The touch may have
helped calm him, but it did nothing to ease the jumble of sensations zinging
through her belly. The way he stared intently at her and the deep resonance in
his sexy baritone as he called her his
wee one
sent a thrill down her
spine to pool between her thighs. The more he called her that, the more it set
her insides all aflutter and turned her mind to mush.

She did her best to make him comfortable in the car and
hoped she wouldn’t have to hit the brakes hard, because it would probably crush
his knees in the dashboard. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his fear
reignite when she started the car. Maybe he was feeling claustrophobic being
cramped in such a small space. Lynn pressed the control for the window and he
jumped the instant it opened.

“I’m sorry, Padon,” Lynn said as she explained. “I thought
you’d like some air so I lowered the window for you.” She shot him a quick
smile as she looked his way for a moment before returning her gaze to the road.
“I should’ve warned you.”

He leaned his head out like a joyful dog on a car ride. The
grip he had on the seat eased and his hands moved to his lap. After several
minutes, he pulled his head in and leaned back in a more restful position. He
turned to her and smiled. “Thank ye, milady. Fresh air helped.”

“You’re welcome.”

Even though the night air was cool, her skin was flushed.
Damn. She couldn’t believe how he managed to get her hot without more than a
couple of well-spoken words and a few quick stolen kisses to her brow and her
lips. Just remembering how those felt made her nipples tingle. She prayed for
the ability to resist jumping his bones. Oh lordy. She rolled her eyes
heavenward. Something about this man brought out the naughtiest of thoughts and
had her wishing she were a bad, bad girl.

“This car be fast.”

His comment jarred her from her thoughts. “Umm, yes. It’s
faster than the average horse.” She cleared her throat and did her best to
start a conversation she thought would help him understand more about today’s
world. “It has what’s called an engine which makes it go. The engine requires
fuel to work.” An idea popped into her head and she ran with it. “Kind of like
a horse. You had to feed and water a horse to keep them healthy and make them
work. Right?”

“Aye.” He nodded.

“With a car, the engine is its stomach and it eats fuel in
order to work.”

“And ye drive it instead o’ guide it with reins like a
horse,” Padon added and she sensed he seemed more at ease as they spoke.

“Yes. The steering wheel is how I guide it and I use the
foot pedals to make it go and stop.”

Again he nodded and she noted his unease lessened even more.
If she kept the conversation going, hopefully he’d be more comfortable with the
car by the time they reached their destination. With only a few hours of night
left, the first stop in this rescue mission was Travis’ place in Edinburgh. They
needed a location to hide Padon during the day and be closer to where Timothy
claimed Lonnie had taken Fin’s grandfather.

Out of the corner of her eye, she checked the side mirror
then shot her gaze to the rearview. Nothing shone in the night. No additional
headlights followed them. Still, she couldn’t shake the sensation someone or
something was back there. She breathed deep, trying to calm the unease. It had
to be the situation that kept her nerves taut and on edge. She did her best to
focus on Padon and their conversation, which helped make the time pass quickly.

She enjoyed listening to his sexy brogue as he spoke of his
family. The dedication and love couldn’t be missed in his voice. Keeping him
talking about his home seemed to ease most of the tension from him, but she
sensed a deep sadness laced every word. It had to be difficult to wake up and
learn life passed you by while you slept, cursed in a stone tomb. Lynn tried
not to dwell on that aspect as she did her best to keep him focused on a subject
he knew and understood, his family. Before she knew it they were pulling into
the driveway of Travis’ home in Edinburgh.

The sun threatened to breach the sky as she hurried Padon
into the cottage behind Travis. He motioned to the first open door off the
hallway. It was the bedroom where she’d left her things before they’d started
their camping trip to find a ghost with a secret. She eyed Padon. What a hell
of a secret Jasper had protected for centuries.

Chapter Ten

It hurt her heart to watch him fall to the curse again. He
stood proud and staring at her with a heat that warmed her to her toes. A
longing to hold him, kiss and make love to him grew in every fiber of her
being. She wanted desperately to learn how to break this curse for good. Lynn
pressed her palm flat to his chest and swore she felt his heartbeat. Even if it
wasn’t possible, it didn’t matter. As long as she believed it, then to her it
was true. His heart still beat beneath that heavy stone tomb and that gave her
hope that he was alive.

Travis and Fin locked Timothy in a closet just to be safe.
Neither of them trusted Timothy even though they doubted he had the capability
of planning an escape without his cohort Lonnie. Even with him locked up, Lynn
still had a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach something wasn’t right.
The look Timothy shot her right before they’d closed the closet door gave her
chills.

Lynn tried to relax. She took a shower and lingered in the
water until she was pruned. Still it didn’t help ease the nagging discomfort
that something balanced in the wings, waiting to happen the moment her guard
was down. Wrapped in a towel, she crossed the room, passing Padon in the
process.

Could he see her? She stood in front of him, dropped the
towel and did a sexy stroll around him. Her fingertips lightly caressed him as
she moved, giving her a sensation of closeness even though a thick layer of
stone separated them. Unable to resist, she jiggled her breasts, wishing Padon
would touch them, hold them and taste them until she couldn’t take it anymore.
When he didn’t, disappointment settled in her gut even though she didn’t expect
him to move until sundown.

She turned, drew the shade, shutting out the sunlight, and
then closed the curtains for an added measure of darkness. Lynn slipped on her
pajamas. The moment she snuggled under the covers, she realized it appeared as
if Padon stood watch over her. His hands were crossed at his waist. His back
straight, chin lifted and his gaze—though frozen—still focused on her, never
letting her out of his sight. Silly as it may seem, a sense of security flowed
within her, lulling her to sleep.

Complete exhaustion didn’t keep her from dreaming of Padon.
If she had her way, he’d be beside her, wrapped around her instead of standing
guard across the room. His heat would keep her warm. His lips would turn her on
and his cock… Oh how his cock would satisfy her every sexual need.

Deeper into sleep, she hungered for his touch to the point
her dream made her believe he was right beside her. Touching her. Caressing
her. Kissing her. Tongue upon tongue, lip upon lip. His flavor inspired her
hunger to crave more and more of his kiss. Her body responded. Both nipples
hardened. Her abdominal muscles flinched as the phantom sensation of his
fingers’ featherlight touches teased her. Moisture formed between her thighs as
her hidden bud tightened with a desperate ache.

In slow motion, his fingers worked their magic, drawing tiny
circles on her lower abdomen along that sensitive skin without dropping lower
where she wanted them. Lower. She wanted him to touch her between her folds and
finger her to completion. But he didn’t.

His lips never left hers. His hands caressed and touched,
teasing and strumming her flesh to perfection until every uncovered section of
skin sizzled from his ministrations. Lynn’s moan broke their kiss. Unable to
take any more, she grabbed his wrist and guided his hand where she desperately
needed his attention. He cupped her mound and she sighed, breathing deeply as
her legs opened wide.

His fingers needed no further guidance. Back and forth, he
slid them along her slit, causing her to become more and more wet. In. She
wanted him in her. Cock. Fingers. She’d take whatever he’d give her for some
form of relief. Time after time, he came close but didn’t enter her. Lynn
lifted her pelvis from the bed, urging him to fulfill her need. Unwilling to
take any more teasing, she intertwined her fingers with his and showed them
what she wanted.

In deep. Out until just the tips hovered within her
entrance, then in deep again. Over and over, she helped him set the pace as she
held his wrist while his fingers did the walking. She needed. Faster and
faster, she pumped her pelvis in tune to his fingers while wishing it were his
cock. One solid swirl of his thumb to her clit and she bit back the scream of
ecstasy as her back arched and a wave of pure pleasure took her over the edge.
Her clit throbbed as her cream soaked his fingers.

At last, she groaned. Release at last.

He stood watching her masturbate. Was she dreaming?
Apparently she was, but he really didn’t care. What he came for wasn’t her. It
stood in the corner, poised and quite ripe for the taking. His boss would be
proud.

Ignoring her passion-riddled moans in the background, he
perused his prize. Frozen. Lifeless. This was easier than taking candy from a
child. The statue looked extremely heavy. But that mattered not to him. He had
plenty of support to carry out his plan. And it had been easy enough to
convince his partner to go along with it. The idiot listened to every word and
absorbed them as if they were his own to act upon. The plan had gone without a
hitch and here he stood ready to redeem his reward.

A smile tugged at his lips but he refused to allow it. Not
yet anyway, not until the job was done. Slow and deliberate, he walked toward
the bed. She lay entangled in the blankets. Her face was flushed from her
dream. It must have been a really hot one. If he had the time to spare, he’d
help her with her little horny problem.

But time was something he didn’t have. They’d been hired to
find a particular group of statues. Through dumb luck, they’d stumbled upon one
with Fin’s inadvertent help. They were supposed to have delivered the statue by
now. Brother Leod was becoming impatient. But what was he to do? His partner
was incompetent and unreliable so he’d had to make other arrangements, which no
longer included him.

What a shame, they’d been friends for years.

With a damp cloth in hand, he silently closed the distance
to the bed. She never knew what hit her. Just like what happened with Travis
and Fin. Neither had had a chance to respond before the drug claimed him. Her
eyes opened wide, but he doubted she had time to focus before the chloroform
took effect and slammed them shut. With the last one out of the way, he pulled
the cell phone from his pocket and made the call.

“Transport needed. Problem secured.”

* * * * *

“Lynn, wake up, lass.”

Someone shook her hard while calling her name. Her head felt
like a sack of bricks sat on it. And when she swallowed, her mouth was the
driest it had ever been and a horrid taste coated her tongue. What the hell
happened?

A face appeared behind her eyes and instantly she bolted
upright. Unbelievable. Grasping for any form of saliva she could muster, she
sputtered, “Timothy. He—”

“We know, lass,” Travis replied coldly. “He got the drop on
all of us. Fin and I just woke from whatever he used on us.”

Lynn stared at the empty corner. “Padon?”

“He took him,” Fin stated from the doorway. “But don’t you
fear, lass. We will be getting him back.”

“How’d he get out of the closet?” Lynn questioned in a panic
as she tested her legs before she stood. Her head spun but she managed to gain
her balance.

“Seems we were duped.” Travis cupped her elbow for support.
“From what we’ve figured out, Lonnie was hiding in the trunk of Fin’s car. We
found the backseat pushed out. They must have loosened it in order for Lonnie
to escape from the trunk, then he freed Timothy from the closet. Apparently,
our capturing Timothy was part of their grand plan.”

“Gentlemen.” She looked to the doorway to see an older
version of Fin standing behind his left shoulder. She could only assume he was
Fin’s grandfather. With a nod in her direction, he added, “And lassie. We have
a problem. Seems Timothy cut his ties ta Lonnie.”

They followed Thicket MacIntyre into the kitchen. “Lass, you
may want ta be looking away.”

When she shook her head, he opened the pantry door. Lonnie’s
lifeless body lay crammed in the small space. His neck was obviously broken.
Lynn gasped and said a prayer for his soul. Timothy’s face was the last she’d
seen before she’d been drugged. The nagging little voice in the back of her
head whispered,
I told you so. I told you something wasn’t right.

It surprised her that her brain functioned enough to form a
sentence. “Where were you?” She posed her question to Fin’s grandfather.

“The bastards knocked on the door. Since I knew them from
the society ta protect the MacKinnons, I made the mistake o’ opening the door.
They overpowered me and used the same drug on me as they used on you. When I
woke up, I discovered I was in a car trunk. I just kept pounding on the lid
until Fin and Travis here found me.”

She looked from Fin to Travis. “He was in your trunk the
whole time,” Travis answered. Her jaw dropped. She knew she’d felt like
something or someone was behind her last night as she drove, she just didn’t
know how close he truly had been. They’d never even considered opening the
trunks. They’d had no reason to. And Timothy had played them for fools. He’d
given a prize-winning performance in her opinion. The idiot at their mercy
wasn’t an idiot at all but the mastermind behind the pair. Damn. She felt like
such a fool and now Padon was in jeopardy.

In his current condition, he had no defenses. Lynn’s gut
flipped and knotted. They had to find him before Timothy turned him over to
this madman or worse, smashed him while stuck in statue form.

* * * * *

“Well done, Timothy,” Brother Leod commended as he circled
the MacKinnon. “You have succeeded where others have failed before you.”

“Thank you, master,” Timothy replied. He held his stance
taut and his face showed none of the excitement that roared through his veins.
It was all he could do not to smile at his own achievement.

“You have proven your worth to me and you shall be
rewarded.” He watched Brother Leod continue to peruse the statue as if looking
for a particular mark to prove its validity as being the right one.

Brother Leod turned to face him. Timothy shuddered inwardly
at the sight of the marred left side of his face. It was crinkled as if he’d
been caught in a fire. There was no eyebrow above his left eye and that gave
him an eerie appearance. Those golden, wheat-colored eyes seemed to swirl as
their stares met. The sensation of falling filtered through him and he actually
grabbed the wall beside him for support. But he wasn’t moving. Timothy couldn’t
pull his gaze from Brother Leod’s powerful control. A presence entered his
head, tapping into his thoughts, shuffling through them like a deck of cards.

When he was done, Brother Leod turned away from Timothy,
releasing him from his mental snare. Timothy physically shook, trying to regain
his composure. Anger built him a backbone and he lunged toward Leod and grabbed
his shoulder, forcing him to turn back around.

“What the hell was that about?”

Leod’s right eyebrow arched. “I had to know if you were
trustworthy or if this was a trick.”

“I got rid o’ Lonnie ta prove my devotion ta the cause,” he
snapped. “That should have been enough.
That
and the fact I brought you
the damn MacKinnon you asked for.”

A wicked smile upturned Leod’s lips. Timothy forced his eyes
not to meet Leod’s magical gaze again. He looked at his nose, lips or his chin
but not his eyes. It bothered him that this man had some sort of magical power
of mind control.

“And for that you shall be paid.” Brother Leod nodded toward
the big redheaded goon of a guy, who stood stoic beside the only piece of
furniture in the room, an old wooden desk. “Roy, give our loyal follower of the
Brotherhood of the Sons of the Servant of Judgment his due payment.”

Roy opened a briefcase on the desk and pulled out a manila
envelope. He walked over to Timothy and handed it to him. Timothy quickly
peeked inside and saw two neatly bundled stacks of money. Both were for him.
With Lonnie gone, he didn’t have to share.

“There’s more where that came from,” Brother Leod stated, “
if
you find me another MacKinnon statue. From my calculations, there are three
cursed brothers left. You have proven yourself to be an asset to our cause.
Don’t let me down.”

Timothy no longer tried to hide his smile as he folded the
envelope and shoved it in the inside pocket of his jacket. “Consider the
statues as good as found.”

“Roy here will walk you out.” Brother Leod waved a hand at
Roy then turned back to studying the statue.

“Don’t you worry. I’ll find you another one o’ those
statues,” Timothy boasted as Roy escorted him through the door.

When Roy returned, he stood beside him. “I don’t see why you
like that one.”

“I don’t,” Brother Leod replied coldly. “But
he
got
the job done.” He shot a sideways look at Roy. “Now don’t you worry, Roy.
You’ll get your chance to do with him whatever you wish once the last cursed
MacKinnon is in my possession.”

Roy snickered as he punched his fist in his palm and Brother
Leod knew from past experience Roy liked to inflict severe pain before he
killed.

“Do I get a chance at him too?” Doc stood in the doorway,
adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses and grinning as if waiting for his cue to go
after the young man. Strands of white hair hung in his face and his frame was
so thin it looked as if he hadn’t eaten in a decade. His beady black eyes
seemed to sparkle in delight at the thought of the things he’d like to do to
Timothy if given the chance. Fucking him raw would be the first on Doc’s
agenda. Leod didn’t doubt that for a minute.