The Summons (2 page)
“You’ve been away ta long, lass,” he said, his voice low.
She lifted her head from the pillow and looked around. She was lying on a pile of blankets on a stone floor before a crackling fire with a handsome man stretched out beside her. Her apartment was gone.
“I’ve been here before,” she said.
“Aye, love, many times. Give it a moment and you’ll remember.” He brushed a tendril of her hair from her cheek.
Other dreams flooded her thoughts, filling her mind with images and countless conversations. This man was her dream lover, the man who brought her more pleasure than she ever thought possible.
“Roan.”
“Aye, lass.” He leaned forward and pressed soft kisses to her throat. “Och, I’ve missed you sorely.
The days grow ta long for me ta bear without you.
Glad I am that you’ve come ta me so early in the day and withou’ my summons.”
“I’ve missed you too.” And she did, regardless of the fact that he was just a dream. To Lindsay he was so much more. But why did she always forget him when she woke up?
His hands, those rough, tanned hands, so strong 8
The Summons
yet so gentle caressed and stroked her skin. In moments she was naked beside him, reveling in every touch, every whispered endearment.
“I canna wait, love. I need you now,” he said, his voice rough.
“Yes,” she breathed. To hell with her sanity. She wanted him, needed him, and she would have him, imaginary or not.
The shrill peel of a telephone sliced through the dream.
“No! Doona leave me,” Roan called out. But Lindsay was torn from his arms.
With a rapid blink or two, she yanked up the receiver and snapped out a hello.
“Geez. Hello to you too,” Bev said.
“Sorry,” she sighed. “I was—I fell asleep on the couch.”
And was about to have the greatest orgasm of
all time till you interfered
, she thought.
Roan’s handsome face appeared before her mind’s eye and she did everything she could to hold on to it. She would not forget him again. Not this time.
She supposed she should thank Bev for that. By brutally ripping her from her dream at its most intense, she had a better grasp of it all instead of slowly coming awake and losing him in the mist between the dream world and the real one.
“Hey!”
“What? Oh, sorry, Bev. I guess I’m still groggy.
What were you saying?”
“Do you want to swap Friday for Saturday? My son has a game on Friday and I’ve missed too many already.”
Swap? That would give her a long weekend since she already had Monday off. Three whole nights with Roan. Unhealthy as it was, she needed her imaginary lover.
She smiled. “That would work out perfect for 9
Jo Barrett
me. Thanks.”
“Oh, that’s right. You wanted to go to the Scottish Festival this weekend, right? I’d forgotten all about that,” Bev said.
So had Lindsay. It was on her things-to-do-to-relax list, and now she wouldn’t miss it for the world. She would bathe in some of that lovely Scottish lilt for real before falling back into her dream lover’s arms.
As the afternoon waned, more and more of the dreams she’d had over the last few weeks seeped into her thoughts. She’d been with him before, several times. But why had she forgotten? She’d awakened on occasion with misty images in her mind, but never anything as tangible as what she remembered this time. Had she been pushing them down into her subconscious so she wouldn’t think she’d gone loony?
“Possibly,” she muttered, climbing into bed. Her heart rate increased as she reached to turn out the light. With a flick it was dark, and she lay back against her pillow.
“I’m excited about being with a dream lover.
Maybe I need to make an appointment with a psychologist or something.”
But the corner of her mouth lifted as her lids lowered and her thoughts sped down a private road, one where
he
was waiting.
Lindsay grinned as Roan’s fingers danced along her skin. “I was afraid I wouldn’t see you tonight.
Not after what happened earlier today,” she whispered.
His deep warm chuckle induced her heavy lids to lift. She was amazed by his deep green eyes filled with desire for her. He seemed so real, so wonderfully male, how could her dreams be so vivid?
“’Twas a painful afternoon, aye. But ta no’
summon you, would be far worse.” His lips blazed a 10
The Summons
path along her throat to her breast as one hand slid beneath the sheet and cupped her mound.
She’d made a point of sleeping in the nude tonight, hoping it would make her dream of him, and dream she did.
“Och, love. You’re ready for me,” he whispered, his breath warming her flesh as his finger slid into the depths of her moist heat.
“I’ve been ready all day,” she said with a groan, pressing her fingers into the flexing muscles of his back. She really should’ve tried to take another nap, but had been terrified something else would interfere, and terrified she was losing her mind. To want him, need him so much wasn’t right. So she’d forced herself to make it through the rest of the boring day without him. To prove to herself she could do it, that she wasn’t crazy.
He nipped and sucked at her breast. “You should have come ta me, love. As you did before.” His thumb rubbed against the tender nub as he slid another finger inside her.
“I—was—afraid.” She was almost there!
Another moment and she’d explode.
“You’ve no’ ta fear from me, Lindsay. Now let go, love. Let it take you. I want ta watch your body flush with your pleasure.”
“I—I wasn’t afraid—of you,” she panted, edging ever closer to the precipice. “I was—afraid of me.”
Then over she went, tumbling and swirling like a feather on a strong wind, winding her way to the bottom. Thoughts of her mental health lost to the exquisite sensations this man gifted her.
Gasping for breath, she opened her eyes and found him grinning. Slowly, he eased over her, and she parted her thighs, cradling him between her legs. “’Tis no’ a more beautiful sight than that,” he said, brushing his lips across her warm cheeks.
11
Jo Barrett
She turned and caught his lower lip between her teeth and teased it with the tip of her tongue. “Only you make me this way. Although it’s wrong.”
“Nay, ‘tis no’ wrong ta love you.” He kissed her deeply, making her ache inside. Was she truly losing her mind? She had to be to fall in love with a dream.
“What are you thinking ta cause such a mark?”
He stroked the spot between her brows.
She forced a smile to her face and wrapped him more tightly in her arms, relishing the feel of his bare chest warming her breasts. “Nothing,” she whispered against his lips.
“You doona lie well, but I’ll no’ pursue it.” He shifted and eased inside her. “We’ve better things ta do this eve.”
Slowly and sweetly he made love to her, giving as no man had ever given to her before, and she gave all of herself to him. He was the only man she could be this way with, open and free. She could tell him what she wanted without embarrassment, and he delighted in her requests. And when she turned the tables on him, he was doubly pleased.
Lying sated in his arms, she trailed her fingers across his broad chest, sifting through the dark matt of hair, gently stroking a large scar.
“How did you get this?” She’d never asked before, and had assumed with her work at the hospital, mending broken bodies, tending wounds and seeing so many scars, it was in some way her real life invading her dreams.
He silently took her hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed each finger then pressed one against her palm.
She lifted her head and peered into his deep green eyes. “Roan?”
His dark brows drew together as he looked at her, seemingly deciding something. Then his brow smoothed as his gaze shifted to the canopy above the 12
The Summons
bed. He slid his hand behind her head and pulled her to his shoulder on a deep sigh.
“I was but a lad and had been told ta stay behind, ta stay away from the battle, but I couldna. I vowed ta make my father proud and fight for our clan. ‘Twas no’ long before I was struck down.”
She closed her eyes at the thought of him in pain. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t real, he was real to her and she hurt for him.
“As I lay dying, silently making my peace with God, trying no’ ta cry like the babe I was, a woman appeared. Only she wasna a woman like any I’d e’er seen. I asked if she was fey, but she just laughed and said it wasna my time. She said for my bravery, she would grant me a gift, the gift ta summon. I fell unconscious and when I awoke I’d been brought home and tended ta properly. No one had seen a woman. My kin believed me daft from my wounds. I believed it as well until one night, when a favorite pup had gone missing. I feared he’d been hurt or killed, and with all my childish heart, I wished him home ta me.”
“And he came?”
“Aye, from the mists floating in off the loch he trotted ta my side. I knew then what the woman meant when she said I had the power ta summon.
O’er the years I used it ta aid the Laird of my clan without letting anyone know ‘twas my doing that brought their enemies ta their knees before them, or lost loved ones back ta the bosom of their families. It doesna always work, and I wouldna’ wish ta be branded a demon or some such, so I told no one. ‘Tis a secret that I’ve no’ shared with anyone but you.”
She lifted her head from his shoulder. “And what did you wish for when you got me?” she asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood. He sounded so solemn, and it frightened her.
His gaze bored into hers, the deep green depths 13
Jo Barrett
filled with emotion. “My one true love.”
She shook her head, confused and saddened.
This entire conversation, the man beside her was nothing but a fantasy! A dream her poor work-weary body had conjured up to keep her from going mad from loneliness and fatigue. God, she was far sicker than she’d realized.
His strong rough hands clasped her face firmly.
“‘Tis the truth. I vow it.”
She swallowed down the sob begging for release.
She’d fallen in love with a dream. A man she could never have, a man that didn’t exist.
“I believe you,” she said roughly. And she did.
He was telling her
his
truth. One her subconscious mind had created for him.
“Och, lass.” He pulled her to his chest and held her firmly. “You still doona understand. This is no dream. I am real.
We
are real. I summoned you ta my side.”
“Don’t—don’t talk about it anymore.” She would wake up soon enough and he’d be gone.
“Love, look at me.” He lifted her chin then swiped away the lone tear sliding down her cheek. “I wished for my one true love ta come to me. And come you have. Through space, through time…through dreams. It matters no’ how you came ta be here, only that you are.”
She sniffled and clamped her lids closed, holding back the tears. “You know I’ll wake up in my bed, in my little apartment as I always do.” She opened her eyes and let the tears flow. “Please don’t make it harder than it already is.”
“Och, doona cry, love. I beg you. ‘Tis our last night together.”
“Last night? Why? What—”
“Hush, love.” He kissed her silent. “My time grows short on this earth, and I’ve no’ wish ta spend it making you weep.”
14
The Summons
“You mean you think you’re going to die?” It was her fault for accepting him as fantasy. Now her mind had found a way of fixing the broken cog in her head. But losing him to reality didn’t do much for her heart.
“’Tis my time. ‘Tis part of the gift the lady gave me. Ta know when the end was near. A battle comes, one I must play a part in. One I willna survive.”
“But I’m not ready to let you go,” she cried.
“Perhaps we’ll meet again, in another time or place. But for now this night is ours.”
****
Or it was real,
an inner voice whispered.
“I’m losing it,” she hissed and rubbed a tender spot at her neck.
“What the—” She jumped up from her bed and ran to the bathroom. She flicked on the light and gazed at the mirror. Her eyes instantly caught sight of a love bite at the crook of her neck.
“That can’t be. It isn’t possible,” she whispered.
She looked at the rest of her body and found whisker abrasions in various places, tender nipples, and noticed a distinctive ache between her thighs that was unmistakable.
In a daze, she shuffled back to the bedroom.
Why hadn’t she ever noticed these things before?
Had she ever had them before? And if she didn’t then why did she have them this time? None of it made sense.
“And he’s never given me a love bite before,” she muttered, as she sat on the edge of the bed. But 15
Jo Barrett
wouldn’t she have noticed the whisker burns and the ache between her legs?
Possibly, but then if her memory was correct, they’d never made love that many times in one night before, nor that vigorously.
She dragged herself to the closet and blindly rummaged for something to wear. She had to work Bev’s swap although what she really needed was more sleep.
“No,” she whispered. He wouldn’t be there. She knew it deep down inside, and that fact just might kill her.
****
Back home and incredibly tired, she flicked off the light and climbed into bed, hoping she wouldn’t have a single dream about anything or anyone. But that was not the case.
Dark misty corridors surrounded her.