Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (41 page)

Lany’s eyes widened, recognizing the Maiden’s action. “Touch her, Dallan. Now.” He
looked to John.
"W
e’re losing her.”

Dallan
's protective instinct took over.  He
leapt to his feet in front of the Ma
iden
and took her chin in a lar
ge warrior’s hand. She
shuddered at his touch, her eyes growing wide as she was drawn into him. She no longer had any control; he had dominated her Muiraran heart the moment he touched her. Unbeknownst to Dallan, he controlled everything now.

“Are ye hurt, lass?”
He
asked as his green eyes brightened.  He
stepped even closer and instinctively brought an arm around her waist. The action
sent unexpected bolts of sensa
tion through both their bodies with such intensity they began to tremble in response. An odd glow began to encompass the couple.

The Maiden’s inner heart had begun beating.

The Lord Councilor and his assistant both sighed in relief.

Dallan
himself
took a deep breath as he struggled with indecision—let his instinct take over o
r just stand there and hold her?

Instinct won. Dallan lifted the Maiden into his arms and brought her around to the front of the sofa. John and Lany, mouths agape, watched in horror as the Weapons Master stood directly in front of them. “Let’s go,” he commanded.

John and Lany exchanged the same look.
Uh oh…

“Dallan, we can’t take her yet,” John told him in his famil
iar fi
rm yet gentle way.

T
he Scot’s eye
s narrowed. “Nay, I canna leave her.
”

“
What’s
going on here?”

The sharp sound of a woman’s voice made John jump as all three men turned to face the noise. Julia Dawson stood at the top of the stairs t
o the music room with a horrif
i
ed look on her face, one that quickly turned to contemptuous rage as she launched it at Dallan. “What’s the meaning of this? Put her down at once!”

“Dallan,” Lany said from the corner of his mouth, leaning toward the Scot, “let her go.”

Dallan ignored him and faced off with Julia, who had advanced to three feet in front of him. She stood there, arms crossed, jaw set, and
stared up at him venomously. He
stared back, deciding whether o
r not to just take the lass,
let everything else be hanged.

“Dallan,” Lany began trying to draw his attention.

Dallan looked at the Maiden in his arms jus
t as she raised her head to off
er her trustful eyes. The thing bi
nding them together strengthened
another notch. He gave her a tender smile, grasped her more tightly and sent a look of warr
ior’s challenge around the room.

“Dallan, it’s safe. Let her go,” Lany resumed as he wedged himself between Julia and the Scot as much as possible.

Dallan backed up a step just as
Maggi
e suddenly entered. “
Shona!” She pushed Julia out of the way in her haste to reach her daughter. Dallan read it as threatening and backed up again to allow himself more room, in case he needed it.

Lany grabbed Dallan’s arm. “That’s Shona’s mother,” he whispered into the Scot’s ear.

Dallan gave Maggie a concerned look before glanc
ing to the Maiden
in his arms. He recognized something in Maggie Whittard’s eyes: true motherly love. A lo
ok he had not seen in a long
time. He gently set the Maiden on her feet, but did not abandon his hold on her. “The lass is yer daughter, then?”

“Yes,” Maggie
began as she looked nervously over
her shoulder at
the mu
sic room door
then just as
quickly turned her attention back to the matter at hand.
“What hap
pened?” She asked and
rushed to Shona, who
seemed perfectly content to stand
against Dallan.

As if
this wasn't obvious enough, s
he leaned into him further and let go a moan of pleasure.

“Shona! Are you all right?” Maggie put her hands on her d
aughter’s shoulders, surprised
when Shona tried to burrow further into the Scot’s embrace.

The action greatly pleased Dallan, though he wasn’t exactly sure why. Nevertheless he held her more tig
htly, a satisfi
ed look on his face. “Mayhaps she’ll fall if I let go o’ her. I dinna think she can stand on her own.”

John and Lany both moaned.  N
ot out of pleasure.

Maggie looked nervously to the door a
gain
before she turned and took a good
look at Dallan with Shona
.

“Then put her on the couch.” Julia cut in coldly.

Dallan had instantly disliked the woman for some reason the minute she entered the room. He grabbed her brutally with his warrior’s stare, causing her body to jerk slightly in response.

Julia, in turn, did not at a
ll like her reaction
. “Put her on the couch and then kindly leave,” she demanded through clenched teeth.

“I’
m afraid I canna do that for ye
as yet,” Dallan began to stroke the Maiden’s back with a large hand
, sending tiny tremors of fulfi
llment racing through both their bodies. He tightened his hold on her, just as he did the same with his mental hold on Julia.

Julia’s face ignited with pure rage. Her face contorted as if in an attempt to rip her
eyes from Dallan’s as she
spun on her heel. “We’ll just see about that,” she pushed out and stomped from the room.

Dallan’s eyes narrowed to slits as he watched her retreat

“Julia,” Maggie began apologetically, her face now white as she glanced at the door, “overreacts at times. Please, tell me what happened. Is Shona going to be all right?”

Lany, sensing the woman’s fear, realized he better take control of the situation. Fast. “I’m sorry about this, Mrs. Whittard,” he s
aid with an embarrassed chuckle, hoping to calm the woman
. "I assure you, your daughter is all right."

The Maiden smiled contentedly. In fact, it was becoming quite evident to everyone in the room that she was well beyond all right.

“Shona seemed to be feeling faint, and our associate…” Lany tossed a dagger of a glare at Dallan, “… uh, overreacted.
Mister
MacDonald, I think you’d better go for the moment.”

Dallan’s contented look vanished. He was contemplating the best way to eviscerate Lany when he ha
ppened to catch sight of John, who i
n no shape to caution his assistant to be
more subtle
,
had thrown his face into his hands in pure exasperation. “Jo
hn?”

 
John lifted his head noting
Dallan’s questioning yet pleading stare. He gave the Scot a compassionate look and a grave nod as he motioned him to let go of the Maiden and turn her over to her mother.

Th
e Weapons Master off
ered his surr
ender with a barely per
ceptible nod,
and then
drew in a dee
p breath
.  He knew this
wasn’t going to be pleasant.

He sw
allowed hard
and smiled weakly at Maggie Whittard who had watched
him wi
th her daughter the whole while.  Her actions made
all three men wonder as to her lack of protest. She had not once demanded that Dallan put the Maiden down or let her go.

Dallan
reluctantly relaxed his hold on the Maiden, but didn’t have the strength to give her to Maggie. If her mother wanted her, she would have to take her, and she’d best be quick about it lest he change his mind.

Finally he let his arms drop as the telltale twitch in his jaw began to dance out his agony. The Maiden looked confused for a moment, not sure of what to do. Her mother took her by the arm and began to lead her from the room. She turned her body slightly toward Dallan in protest, her mother taking in the action with interest before ushering her to the door.

John and Lany
watched as
Shona and her mother disappeared from the room, leaving them with a Weapons Master on the verge of falling apart. Dallan’s now raspy brea
thing and tensed body
appeared
as if the Call were pounding away at him.

If only it were that; this was worse. It was one thing to crave something you’ve never had, quite another to have had it and suddenly have it taken away. Sometimes a small taste is worse than none at all.

“I dinna think…” Dallan had to stop and take a deep breath. “It hurts, John
.” He swallowed hard.
“What is she?” He asked on shaky breaths, his
body now
trembling.

John moved in front of Dallan and looke
d directly into his pain-fi
lled eyes, hoping to relieve the Scot with his next words. “She’s yours, Dallan.”

Dallan’s eyes slowly brightened as he smiled, his agonized voice barely a whisper. “Och, John. That much I ken.”

“Um, this is all well and good, but we have to get out of here,”
Lany interjected carefully, fi
ghting his own personal lump in the throat.

Dallan sent Lany a glare.

“Don’t you look at me like
that!
Let’s go before anything
else
happens.
"

Dallan sighed. “Aye, laddie, yer right. We best be off before temptation has its way
wi
’ me, if ye ken my meaning.”

He wanted the Maiden and was unconsciously preparing himself for the task. Still, he had the sense to know what could happen if he didn’t get himself out of there quickly. The three men gathered
together their eff
ects, namely John’s tablet of questions, and made to depart.

Or so they thought. Julia Dawson glided into the room like a spider chasing its lunch. “Y
ou!” She pointed an accusing fi
nger directly at Dallan, who stood and
looked at the woman with indiff
erence. She marched up to him as if to slap his face. “Now, you are going to tell me exactly what happened.
And don’t leave anything out!”

 
John and Lany exchanged the same look of panic.

“Mr. MacDonald let’s go get your papers,” John began, “I’m sure you left them downstairs. Miss Dawson, Mr. MacDonald and I came in mome
nts before you did. Mr. Mosgofi
an was with Shona when she…”

“Began to feel faint,” Lany threw in quickly.

John tried to hid
e his relief. “Yes. Mr. Mosgofi
an will be able to tell you what happened much better than we.”

“And how,” Lany muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?” Julia demanded.

“I said, and now… Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Eaton have to be going.”

John nodded his agreement as he grabbed Dallan’s arm and ushered him toward the stairs.

They quickly left the room and descended the stairs to the hall-study below when Dallan wrenched his arm from John and stopped. “Does that woman stay here? Does she live in this house?”

“No, why?”

Dallan’s eyes narrowed as he turned his head toward their recent exit. “I dinna trust her.”

“Neither do I. But there’s not a lot we can do about it at the moment. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Dallan’s last thought as they left the Whittards’ home was to quietly return and retrieve the fair wee lass. Let all the rest be hanged.

* * *

Julia spun on her newest victim, her face curled into a threat. “Well?”

 
Lany, thankfully, had had a moment to catch his breath and think up a plausible explanation. He gave he
r his best pollster’s look. “Th
e interview was going normally, but Mr. Eaton wasn’t feeling well and asked me to take over for a few moments…”

Julia was nothing if not impatient.
“And?”

“And… shortly afterward, Shona began feeling drowsy. She said something about the music…”

Julia’s expression turned immediately to fear. “What about the music?”

  
Lany wasn’t prepared to answer that one, so he didn’t. “Mr. Mac Donald had just stepped in to check on a clerical matter. Shona stood up… to greet him I suppose… and lost her balance. Mr. MacDonald caught her; I would imagine he was worried about her condition, for obvious reasons. I was telling him to set her down when you walked in. Impeccable timing, I might add,” he concluded with an exaggerated wipe of his brow.