The Curse: Touch of Eternity (The Curse series) (15 page)

“Blair, you are soon to be the head of this clan. I demand your help tonight, or I will consider our oath to be voided.” Cathal’s words echoed through the high hall.

“Of course,
mo charaid
. You can count on me. Sean, Payton, and I will accompany you.”

When Cathal was in a mood like this, Payton preferred not to say anything. It wasn’t advisable to fight with him. He would argue with Blair later that their father had explicitly forbidden joining the attack.

But Payton also knew that he didn’t really have a choice. When their father had been very ill a few months before, he had demanded that his sons swear loyalty to Blair. He wanted to prevent any quarrels between his sons after his death. Shortly afterward, Fingal’s health improved, and no one doubted who still was the McLeans’ chieftain. But there had never been such a fight as this.

Cathal and Nathaira left, and Blair went to his father’s quarters. Payton stayed back alone to finish his ale. Just as he put his beer mug to his mouth, Sean came into the hall.

“What’s been going on in here? Cathal and his sister just stormed right past me without even a nod.”

He sat down on a chair next to Payton, pulled up Kyle’s half-empty mug, and took a big gulp.

Payton was giving Sean a blow-by-blow account when they heard shouting coming from the living quarters. Finally, a door banged and Blair appeared in the hall, his face bright red.

“Don’t just sit around—get ready! We are riding with Cathal in an hour.”

On his way out, he bumped into Kyle, who was just returning.

“And you—get out of my way,” Blair said, pushing Kyle out the door.

Sean, who hadn’t witnessed his siblings’ fight, asked, “Is Kyle not coming with us?”

Blair looked scornfully at his youngest brother.

“No, I have no need for disloyal, impertinent children.”

A car was coming toward him. Payton took his foot off the gas and breathed deeply. The memory of that fateful day had burned itself into his mind. The guilt he felt weighed just as heavily now as it had then.

All the Camerons are dead, he said to himself. But one question after another popped into his head: How come Sam looked so much like a Cameron? And where did she get that coat of arms? Could it be that someone truly had managed to escape?

He thought back to how young and stupid he’d been. He didn’t know how many people were supposed to have been in the castle at the time. Nor had he bothered to ask
how many had been killed. Cathal had claimed there were no more Camerons, and everyone believed it.

But Payton’s heart recognized Sam for what she was. A living, breathing Cameron. When he’d left her there at the pub, she was crying. He had made her cry—and he hated himself for that. And now the toughest questions came to him: Could he ever make up for what he’d done to her ancestors? Could he tell her the truth?

He would ask her to forgive him. Then he would leave her in peace, never see her again—and love her for the rest of his endless life. His immortal heart lay in the hands of a woman who would never forgive him if she ever found out what he had done. Still, he had to see her one more time.

I
put my cell phone away. I had just talked to Kim. She was still a little mad at me, so she kept the conversation short, using a date with Justin as an excuse. But she had done what I asked and looked through my grandma’s diary. There were dozens of things about Scottish clans written in the book, but she wasn’t sure what I was looking for. The first pages said something about keeping up the family legacy, though, and I knew that meant I really did have something to do with these Camerons. I thought of the message on Grandma’s pendant: Remember those you are a descendant of. What was I supposed to do with that?

Even though Payton had acted like a jerk, I wanted to talk to him. I found myself dialing his number, and then quickly hanging up. No, I tried to convince myself, I wouldn’t run after him. He was the one who had behaved so stupidly. He should be the one to apologize.

But, I thought, what if he didn’t apologize? What if he never talked to me again? With shaking fingers, I tried his number again. I was waiting for it to connect when all of a sudden my phone rang. I jumped, and my phone fell out of my hand and slid under the bed. I groped around until I found it, and thankfully, it was still ringing. “Payton,” my
phone display read. I took a deep breath and said hello, but I was too late. Damn!

Then I decided that since he had taken the first step, it was all right to call him back. Quickly, I typed his number, and on the first ring he picked up.

“Hello, Sam,” Payton said quietly. He sounded contrite.

“Hi! What’s up?” I asked pertly, trying to act like it was no big deal.

“Sam, listen, I’m so sorry about yesterday. I wish I could explain better, but suffice it to say, I am an idiot.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I said, just as perkily as I could.

“Can I make it up to you? I don’t know what got into me.”

I was unbelievably relieved. What Kim had said about me returning home in a few weeks was in the back of my mind, but I had fallen in love. And I wanted to enjoy every moment of it.

“Just promise me you won’t be an idiot in the future?”

Payton exhaled. “Promise. Listen, I could come and pick you up… We could get some ice cream or something?”

“Sounds great!”

“Right, I’ll see you soon.”

Quickly, I got myself ready, deliberately leaving the stupid necklace behind. And the short skirt. It certainly hadn’t brought me good luck, and besides, jeans made more sense for an ice cream date.

Fifteen minutes later, I heard a car outside, but when I pulled back the curtain, I saw a red Mini Cooper instead of a white SUV. And when I opened the door, curious, I found two good-looking men.

Payton shrugged.

“Sorry. My dear brother Sean”—Payton motioned grandly to his brother while speaking—“couldn’t be persuaded not to join us.”

Sean bowed to me, a cheeky smile on his lips. He looked like Payton, with slightly darker hair, but he was taller and thinner as well. That wasn’t the only difference. Their manners were almost opposite; while Payton was introverted and pensive, Sean was a giant flirt.

“My lady, I’m pleased to meet you,” he said, grabbing my hand.

I blushed as he pressed a kiss on it.

“But I can’t stop asking myself why you spend all your time with him,” Sean said, laughing, as he pointed a thumb at his brother.

“Shut up,” Payton muttered. He was smiling at me, but I could tell he was annoyed. He led the way to the car, threw a faux nasty glance at his grinning brother, and held the door open for me. In the meantime, Sean went around to the driver’s seat, whistling a jaunty tune.

On the way to Inverness, Sean asked me hundreds of questions—or so it seemed. He was very childish, despite his age; he seemed to always be joking around.

“Sam, honestly. You came all this way, and you spend all your free time with my brother? All the men in the United Kingdom, and you settled for this guy?”

“Well,” I said, “the selection of eligible bachelors isn’t that big, you know. And Payton can be very entertaining, when he is not behaving like an idiot.”

A grunt from the passenger seat let me know that Payton was listening, and I winked at Sean, who was peeking at me in the rearview mirror. Sean was perfect for getting
even with Payton. He seemed to find it highly entertaining to make fun of him.

After we parked, we wandered through the town, and somehow Sean kept managing to squeeze in between Payton and me. He threw an arm around me.

“What would you like to do now, my sweet lady? Shall we leave this man to brood alone? A fair maiden like you deserves only the best.”

I glanced over my shoulder, searching for help, but there was none coming from Payton. I knew that Sean was only trying to pull his leg—and I wanted a little bit of revenge—but Payton looked positively glum. I needed a few seconds to think about what I should do.

“Well, first of all, I need to find a bathroom.” I pointed to a nearby fast-food restaurant and said, “I’ll just pop in here.”

“We’ll wait here for you,” Payton said, and the doors closed behind me.

I was relieved to have escaped the two of them for a moment. I didn’t want to hurt Sean’s feelings, but I was annoyed he’d come along. It was nice to meet him and all, but it was terrible timing. All I really wanted was to be alone with Payton and throw myself into his arms.

Before I walked back, I had managed to sort through some of my confused thoughts. Through the glass door, I could see the two of them standing opposite each other, immersed in a heated debate. Somehow I knew I was the reason for that.

“Hi, boys, I’m back,” I trilled, trying to sound happy.

Immediately, they both smiled. This time, Payton was the one to put his arm possessively around me. He seemed
more than a bit tense, but his hand tenderly stroked my upper arm.

“You and I are going to go have an ice cream now, while Sean gets some stuff done. We’ll meet up with him again later.”

That surprised me. Sean smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, I have some errands I really should tend to. I had completely forgotten, but you two carry on. You’ll manage without me.”

He threw me a kiss and headed off toward the town center. Payton led me in the opposite direction. We walked side by side, silently taking in the view of Inverness Castle, perched on a nearby hill. Payton bought ice cream from a van that touted gourmet varieties. I decided on a scoop of chocolate–salted caramel and a scoop of lemon meringue; Payton got raspberry–dark chocolate. We wandered farther down Castle Road. To our left was the sandstone castle and to our right, the expansive Moray Firth. We sat down on a bench on the riverbank and licked our cones.

“Sam, I wanted to apologize again. When it comes to you, I am just not myself.” He was staring at the river with such a serious look on his face. “It’s just, there are so many things I would like to tell you, or should tell you, but I can’t,” he said.

“It’s OK, Payton—I’m not very good at talking about my feelings either. And anyway, I can tell how you feel. You can’t hide it from me!”

He liked me, and I knew it, whether he could tell me or not. And I loved him. Nothing else mattered.

At last, Payton looked me in the eye. His gaze slid down my face to my neckline, where the pendant used to be.

“Yes, you are right. I can’t hide it. It’s just that this has never happened to me before. I am scared,” he whispered in my ear. My entire body felt electric. His finger gently drew a line from my ear to my chin. Then he turned my face to his and smiled. Oh, that smile! My heart started to race, and my knees would surely have buckled if I hadn’t already been sitting. He brushed his finger slowly over my lip.

Then he grinned even wider when his finger came away with a bit of ice cream.

“You should let them give you a napkin next time.” He stuck his finger in his mouth to lick off the chocolaty drop, and I turned bright red. Food on my face—how embarrassing!

I tried to hit him playfully, but he jumped up, running away from me. I ran after him, laughing, as he zigzagged down the sidewalk. We were completely out of breath when we met up with Sean at the corner. He was on the way to the parking lot, just like us. When he saw us coming, he shook his head, pretending to be devastated.

“Poor Sam, you needn’t run after that idiot. I would be happy to offer myself as a replacement. And I guarantee that I wouldn’t run away from you, regardless of what you were to do.”

“You had better run,” Payton said. “Otherwise, I’ll make you!”

Oh no, I thought, was the sibling rivalry flaring up again? Laughing, I put my hands on my hips and said, “If you two can’t get along, then I’m running away from both of you!”

The brothers showed only a tiny hint of remorse, but they were on their best behavior from then on. Half an hour later, I waved at the Mini Cooper as they drove away. Payton
left with a promise to take me on a special outing. Unfortunately, I’d have to wait for two days because he had family business to take care of first. What that was all about, I was very curious to know.