SHADOWLOVE--STALKERS (17 page)

Not his type
? Why not? Who was it that had forced—well perhaps not forced, but instigated—that first kiss? However, she raised a brow and decided to bite her tongue.

He eyed her as she sat silent and felt a wicked glint as he surveyed her face. “Oh—lass, I’m not saying you aren’t a beauty. We both know that
you are
—but beauty isn’t everything.”

Her chin went higher, she folded her arms across her middle, and she continued to ignore him.

He caved in and gave up his taunting to say, “Shawna, just admit it—you know you want to be with your grandparents. Think about it. They will be safe with me…and so will you.”

“It is because I want them safe that I can’t stay with you. If Pentim does discover where I am, he will find some way to use them, hurt them, and I would rather die now than allow that to happen.”

He saw the look of agonized desperation come into her eyes, and it touched his heart.

Her hands went into the air with the heat of her feelings. “Don’t you see—the only way I can keep them out of this is to stay out of their lives. You can make up some story, say they are your relatives—or family friends…some story that has nothing to do with me.” She paused and then added with a sad smile, “It will be hard on them and on me, to have them so close and not be able to acknowledge them…”

He inclined his head and felt a pang of deep, heartfelt sympathy. It made him want to sever Pentim’s head even sooner than he had planned. “You do have a point for now, but things change, Shawna.”

“How do you mean?”

“The future holds mysteries that my visions can’t see.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“It means…we are bound to have a few unexpected and unwelcome surprises. I still think you will be better served staying with us at Darby Gray.”

He watched her as she held her tongue, turned her head, and once again stared out her window at the passing dark landscape.

No good would come of badgering her now. He allowed the subject to drop. A moment later they had turned onto a gated driveway whose antiqued sign denoted that they had arrived at the huge manor estate.

“Darby Gray—of course, I remember when I investigated Stockton…I saw Darby Gray listed as an historical home site. It has been here for centuries…”

“Longer than that,” he stuck in.

“I never put it together—Darby Gray with the name MacFare.”

“Clumsy investigating,” he remarked casually, intentionally goading her to get her out of her melancholy mood.

“Oooh…” was all she could respond as she folded her arms once more across her middle.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see her watching him as he punched in the code to open the black wrought iron gates. He smiled to himself and said softly, “I change the code every day to keep unwanted humans out—as to others, the grange is heavily warded.”

He smiled to see her eyebrow go up, but she said nothing to this as they moved forward slowly and made their way up the rolling blacktop driveway past overhanging old oaks and fenced pastures with grazing horses. Her mouth dropped open when she spied his brightly lit up old manor home for the first time, and he felt a wave of pleasure.

He loved this place, and again for some unfathomable reason Shawna’s reaction mattered to him more than he told himself it should. He was struck with a sense of absurd happiness as he watched Shawna’s eyes open with appreciation, and he felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
Och, man, you are letting your dick rule your
head. Better get control. She is no for you!

Chad had always loved Darby Gray. In the past, in what he thought of as the ‘old days’—and in truth they were—he had hated having to leave Darby Gray, forced to entrust it to strangers, in order to protect their secret, their immortality. However, two centuries ago, his grandmother and father quite by accident had discovered that they could use the spell of illusion to make themselves appear older. They could stay and allow themselves to age in the eyes of their neighbors. They only had to leave when it was time to fake their own deaths, whereupon a much talked about heir would come to claim his inheritance. His father, who appeared no older than he, and he would take turns at this game.

His grandmother and father actually appeared to be siblings in their late twenties. The trick of aging themselves with illusion had proved more than useful. Hacking into government computers, creating death certificates and birth certificates, had been the easiest of all.

They had always left themselves a paper trail and no longer had to hire actors to play their parts, as they had done during their early years. Now, using the spell of illusion, they simply made themselves appear older with the passing years…

He shut off these memories as the Grange glowed and whispered to him and he shot a glance towards Shawna. The Grange was infused with the magic of a thousand years, and he wondered if she would feel it.

Shawna shot him a quizzical look and said, “It hums.”

He smiled at her warm reaction and said softly, “Aye, it does. Beautiful isn’t it?”

“Does it always hum a welcoming sound like that, or just whenever
you
return?”

“Whenever one of the family returns.” He smiled widely. He glanced at her profile and knew he was irresistibly drawn to her loveliness in the starlit darkness. She was exquisite. Her golden hair seemed to have its own sun rays glittering in its lengths as it framed her wondrous face, and when she turned to him, her perfect lips opening with unspoken words of admiration, he wanted to stop the car and take her into his arms. He could see her silver eyes as they glittered with appreciation, and she made a small sound that thrilled him to his core. “Oh…Chad…your home is so much more than what it seems!”

Yes, it was, and apparently she sensed it. That realization filled him with warmth, though again why it should was a question that filtered through his brain and was shoved aside. This was the only place he had ever thought of as home. It was where it had all started for his grandmother. It was where they always returned. It was where they knew they belonged. An odd circumstance, because in truth Darby Gray was not really theirs—
at least not by blood ties.

The front overhead portico came into view. There were small lights lining its frame, similar to Christmas lights, and yet they spoke of spring. He had always enjoyed the invitation the lights seemed to offer. They seemed to whisper ‘be at rest’ and offered gentle solitude, although as of late, the solitude was closing in on him and he found he wanted something more…

“Stone and oak…” Shawna whispered, and it was obvious to him that the words had poured out without her putting too much thought into it. “Chad…your Darby Gray is magnificent—I just love stone and wood…so warm and completely welcoming.”

“Beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Beautiful doesn’t seem adequate in describing this place, Chad. Your family home is like something out of
my dreams
. I can’t get over it. This place is outstanding! Honestly, it looks like one of those ancient manor homes out of a history book, all wrapped up with fairytale charm. I just love it.”

He eyed her and smiled. “I do as well.”

He could see the curious look in her silver eyes as she asked him, “You called it a ‘she’?”

“Aye, ’tis my home, my real home, and I always think of a home as a she, warm and…” He hesitated as he cast her a wicked smile, and said on a husky note, “Inviting.”

“Uh-huh.” She totally ignored his innuendo and said, “I like that—it actually makes you sound nicer than I thought you could be.”

He put his hand to his heart. “Again, you cut me to the quick, lass. What have I ever done to make you think so poorly of me?”

As an answer she rolled her eyes. A short laugh escaped him as he decided to let it drop for the moment. They didn’t speak again until he had parked the car and ushered her through the front double oak doors to the central hall.

He frowned to himself as he realized that he couldn’t get his eyes off her. She had a natural sway when she walked that was totally captivating. It was all her own, it drew his glance to her ass, and it made him hard, hot, and hungry.

She touched the dark oak beams that lined the walls and made soft appreciative noises, and he wanted to grab her and mold her to his body. He wanted to take off her clothes and bare her breasts and…

Damn! He had to hold himself in check. He had to remember that Pentim needed killing and there was only one way to get to him, through this mysterious, complex, and beautiful woman—this lass who was beginning to make him worry about things he had never considered before.

He wanted to know her—he wanted her to know him, but everything about her, just as everything about him, was shut up tight inside. She didn’t want anyone getting close…and until now…neither had he.

* * *

Shawna walked into what had once been known as the great hall of Darby Gray and looked around at the wainscoting, the antique furniture, the age old feel of the place, and felt her mouth drop with awe.

Her eyes widened, and her breaths came in short gasps of admiration as she released staccato squeals of delight. She checked herself, but even so, odd little sounds escaped her lips.

She was nearly drooling with pleasure. It was instant—she loved Darby Gray. It had come to life, actually exploded from a place that was deeply part of all her fantasies. It was a dream that had slammed her with its reality—and it was all she had ever imagined it would be. She loved history, old buildings with a past, ancient abbeys, castles, and this…this wondrous home that had held onto its heritage through time.

“Oh whoa, tell me, what century am I in, and then never let me leave,” she said finally, not really expecting him to answer, but he did.

He took her hand to his lips, and his voice was low and charged. “I will keep you here as long as you will stay.”

She felt a swift electric current run from his touch, his eyes, his voice into her abdomen and couldn’t stop herself from looking right back into his green eyes. What was happening to her? She hurriedly retracted her hand and moved away.

She returned her attention to his home and its décor, staring at the dark oak beams that crisscrossed the ceiling. A huge wheel-styled chandelier hung in the middle and looked as though it had supported candles at one time instead of the candle-shaped light bulbs it now housed.

“Chad, no wonder you love this place. It is magnificent. I haven’t even seen all of it and I feel as though it fits—it just fits here…” Her hand moved to her heart.

“It does, and you fit in it.” Chad said on a husky note as he moved closer to her and slid her huge overnight bag out of his way. “More, much more than you know.”

She tried to ignore the erotic tone of his voice. “It is this house. I feel as though I have been here…or have seen it in my dreams.”

He didn’t say anything to this because he was already beside her, sliding his arm around her, bringing her into position, bending to her…

She pushed at him. He was intoxicating, and if she gave into this, she would be lost. She couldn’t have that. She just couldn’t have that. She was surprised to find that she was free to move away from him. She had expected him to try harder, but he didn’t.

He straightened up and winked. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room, and then if Mrs. Wunkly has already left, we can explore the kitchen and find something to eat.”

“Wait…just show me a room or two down here—there…that one behind those magnificent double doors.” Shawna gave him an enticing smile, and he grinned as he wagged a finger at her.

“Shawna love, if you are going to smile at me just like that…it will be more than a room or two that I’ll be showing you.”

She laughed and touched his arm. “Come on now, be nice.”

“I am never anything else but nice to you, lass…” He was leading her to the set of double doors and behaving as though he hadn’t tried to take her into his arms. She tried not to think of his arms—massive, strong, tempting…oh so tempting.

“How old is Darby Gray?” Her voice cracked on the words because her mind was still meandering around his touch and what it had done to her body.

“Oh, the original Grange dates back more than a thousand years, but our ancestors kept adding on and updating over the years.” He opened the doors, which led onto a room whose walls were lined with encased dark oak shelves; those shelves were filled with books.

A huge stone fireplace housed one entire wall and evidently was kept in constant use. Shawna went right to it and put out her hands. “How do you keep a fire lit when you aren’t here?”

“My housekeeper, Mrs. Wunkly, is very efficient, at keeping whatever help she has brought in for the day very busy. When you meet her, you will find that she is also quite motherly…” He glanced at his watch. “She usually leaves at five, but she needed, she told me earlier, to stay till six today. However, she will soon leave us to our own devices, and then, Shawna love, it will be just
you and me.”
Again the tease was in his voice, and in his twinkling green eyes.

Hard to resist, but she had to.
Why?
A younger version of her mind asked,
Why resist him,
stupid girl…go for it.