“You don’t want to tell me about your keep?” Suspicion heightened her senses. What was Chieftain Ronan Sutherland hiding? She set the cups on the table along with a box of tea. He was acting so strange. Correction. He was acting stranger than before.
She tried to ignore the distinct feeling that she was on the verge of stepping off a high emotional cliff. “Where exactly is Draegonmare?”
Ronan jerked, staring at her as though she had just zapped him with a jolt of electricity.
“What is wrong?” She pushed the puppy into his arms, then pressed her palm to his forehead. He didn’t seem to have the beginnings of a fever. “Do you feel like you’re getting ill or something? You seem . . . unwell.”
He reached up, took hold of her hand, and pressed it to his cheek. A heavy sigh escaped him as he shook his head. “I am quite well. Better than I have been in a verra long time. I dinna wish to risk my current state.”
What the devil did that mean? An excited shiver rippled through her at the unspoken emotions reflected in his eyes. She wet her lips, took a deep breath, and eased her hand free. “So where is Draegonmare?” she repeated. She needed facts before any additional bricks crumbled from the wall around her heart and made her even more vulnerable.
He placed the puppy on the table, then leaned back in his chair. A troubled smile pulled a corner of his mouth upward while at the same time sending the other corner down. “It is north of here. Along the shores of Loch Ness.”
Loch Ness. Mairi frowned as she added hot water to the cups. The only keep she knew along the shores of Loch Ness were the ruins of Urquhart Castle. “Where exactly on Loch Ness? I’ve been there a couple of times to visit Urquhart Castle and the visitor center, but I’m not familiar with any other keeps in that area. Is Draegonmare too secluded to see from that part of the loch’s shoreline?”
“Aye.” The man’s smile completely disappeared. “Draegonmare is verra secluded. Few know of its existence.”
Well, that explained it and made her feel a great deal better. At least Draegonmare was in this century. Mairi added a plate of shortbread biscuits to the table along with a jar of honey and a tiny cow-shaped pitcher of cream. “After we finish our tea, I’ll show you upstairs where you can grab a hot shower and get warmed up before you return home or wherever it is you’re staying while in Edinburgh. Eliza has a closet full of men’s clothing—” She held up a hand at Ronan’s arched brow. “I don’t know why she has a closet full of men’s clothes. That is none of my business.” Mairi lifted the plate of cookies out of reach of the exploring puppy. “All I know is that she has them and I’m sure she won’t mind your borrowing something to wear to get you home.”
He slurped in a gulp of the hot tea, made a face, then slid the cup to the center of the table. “Did Mistress Eliza not tell ye? She extended an invitation for me to stay here for a few days.”
Mairi nearly choked on a buttery bite of shortbread. What? Eliza knew Granny wanted Mairi to return to the past and yet she was doing her damnedest to firmly implant Ronan Sutherland into her life? Mairi swallowed hard, forcing the shortbread down past the sudden lump ofsomething was upknotted in her throat. “Actually, no. I wasn’t aware you were an overnight guest.”
Where were they going to put him? The second floor belonged to Lilia and the fourth floor was Eliza’s domain, which she had declared off-limits to everyone except by invitation. Was Ronan Eliza’s next benefactor? Mairi rubbed a finger across her suddenly tingling lips. Ronan’s kiss sprang back to the forefront of her mind. No. Ronan Sutherland was not interested in Eliza MacTavish.
He smiled and leaned forward and tickled a fingertip across the back of her hand. “Aye. Many nights.” The look in his eyes said much more.
She rose, rubbing her tingling hand against the roughness of her still extremely wet jeans. “You can shower first. If you’re finished with your tea, come on and I’ll show you the bathroom as well as where you can find the clothes.”
He slowly rose to his full, heart-stopping height and smiled. “Aye, lass. Lead the way.”
“I think not, my fine chieftain,” Eliza said, her singsong chirping loud and clear. The sharp clicking of her heels pattered against the hardwood floor of the hallway. The swinging door to the kitchen popped open and she toddled into the room. “I shall be more than happy to escort ye to yer room for the evening so my wee Mairi can see to her own shower. I’ll not have either of ye catching yer death from traipsing around in a feckin’ rainstorm with no properprotection.” As Eliza stressed the wordprotection,she turned to Mairi and signaled her with a slow meaningful wink.
What wasthatsupposed to mean?Mairi stole a glance at Ronan then subtly motioned to Eliza and mouthedWhat?
Eliza cleared her throat, turned her back to Mairi, and motioned Ronan toward the back stair. “I have a private suite of rooms on the fourth floor. Off wi’ ye now. Let’s get ye settled for the evening.”
“The fourth floor?” Mairi scooped the puppy up from the table and hugged him close.
“Aye.” Eliza nodded. “And still yer wandering mind. This gentleman is not destined for what ye think.” She leaned in close and rested a perfumed hand on Mairi’s arm. “This one is all yers, dearie, but he and I must have a long chat afore he claims the grand prize.”
“I am not the prize pig at the fair,” Mair said through gritted teeth while glancing across the kitchen to make sure Ronan didn’t hear.
“Shall I leave the two of ye a bit of privacy so ye might discuss whatever ye wish?” He carefully scooted the kitchen chair up to the table then folded his arms across his chest. His body language transmitted his thoughts loud and clear. He had heard every word.
Eliza smiled and hugged an arm around Mairi’s shoulders. “Nay. Our discussion is quite finished.” She pecked a quick kiss on Mairi’s cheek then toddled across the kitchen. When she came even with Ronan, she nodded once more at the back stair. “But you and I have much to discuss. On wi’ ye now, my fine chieftain.”
CHAPTER9
Ronan wrinkled his nose against the almost overpowering scent of roses. The room reeked with the cloying sweet smell of the flowers in full bloom. And no wonder. Every flat surface large enough to hold a vase had been festooned with multicolored clusters of the aromatic flower.
“Come. Come.” Eliza waved him forward from a doorway at the opposite end of the room. “This is my personal sitting room. I doubt ye will wish to tarry here overly long.”
He glanced around. The woman had the right of it there. He sincerely doubted if any of the delicate white furniture—chairs and curved settees all trimmed in gilt and upholstered with even more scenes of multicolored roses—could stand the full weight of him. The room reminded him a great deal of the gaudy abode of the woman that Graham had enlisted to assist with hisinitiationwhen he first shifted from wolf to man.
With another wave of her bejeweled hand, Eliza ushered him into the next room. Och now, this was more like it.Ronan took in a deep breath and the tightness stinging across his shoulders disappeared. Leather. Whisky. The faint smoke of a well-tended fire. This room opened and embraced him like an old familiar friend.
Dark wood paneling reflected the soothing warm glow of the flames dancing in the hearth. A massive wingback chair upholstered with a leather hide tanned to a rich burgundy sat beside a mahogany arm table holding a glass and a cut crystal decanter full of an amber liquid that Ronan hoped like hell was whisky.
