How could he make them understand? Latharn waved the globe into deeper darkness and reduced the light to a sorrowful flicker. His voice echoed with emotion as he struggled to explain his pain. “I had wished to be the one to teach her the pleasures of love. But it just wasn’t to be. I understand her trying to find an end to her loneliness. I could no’ very well expect her to wait until she realized I was real and could be with her upon this plane. I could never be sure that would ever happen…no matter how often I nudged her subconscious mind. But ye canna imagine the ache of watching the one ye love, search for what only you should be able to give them.” Latharn crouched at the base of the globe, cradling his head in his hands.
Brodie rubbed his chin and smiled. “Apparently, ye have affected her more than ye might think. Her friend mentioned something about how Gabriel might compare to the Highlander in her dreams.”
Latharn rose and increased the light of the globe, allowing the purple aura to dance about the room once more. The light waves pulsed with his voice as his presence filled the room.
“Now that Nessa is on the soil of my homeland, now that her given name has been spoken aloud upon MacKay land, she will find I’m not restricted to merely appearing in her dreams. This man had best be wary of going anywhere near my woman.”
Fiona stepped forward. Chewing on her bottom lip, she wrung her hands as she spoke. “Ye must be careful, Cousin. Nessa may be accustomed to history and artifacts but I doubt verra much if she’s used to the wrath of a six-hundred-year-old Highlander gifted with magic. Ye don’t want to scare the lass back across the Atlantic by striking Gabriel Burns down with one of your spells.”
“Brodie.” Latharn’s voice fell deadly quiet. He infused his simmering emotions into every word. “Didn’t your wife once think herself in love with this Gabriel? Weren’t they even betrothed to each other at one time?”
Brodie’s lips thinned into a scowl of disgust as he frowned down into the ball. “Aye, Fiona was promised to him before I won her heart. I opened her eyes by rescuing her from the devil himself. She and Gabriel were almost as one. She thought herself in love with the beast.”
“And how did ye feel…and how do ye feel now whenever ye see them in the same room together?” Latharn challenged Brodie, interrogated him with the power of his mind as the pulsing light of the orb thrummed throughout the room. Latharn ensured the fiery flashes kept pace with his prodding tone, taunting Brodie to speak what he truly felt.
As his gaze locked with that of his beautiful wife, Brodie sneered, “I want the man’s neck snapped between my hands so I can close his eyes forever.”
“Brodie!” Fiona gasped, her hand fluttering to her throat. “I canna believe ye would say such a thing...not even about Gabriel Burns.”
Brodie ground out his words through gritted teeth. “We MacKays love with every fiber of our being. It doesna matter within what century we are born. When it comes to our mates, we revert to our most primitive emotions. When we find the one meant to be ours, we willna let her go. No one takes what is ours.”
Fiona nestled her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Brodie, ye know I never loved the man. I couldn’t when I saw him for what he really was. I’ve never felt for any man what I feel for you. You’re the breath that feeds my soul.”
“It doesna matter.” Latharn projected his voice louder into the room. “Brodie’s passion will never allow him to see Gabriel as anything but an enemy. This century’s manners will keep him from acting on his emotions. But the hatred will always be there.”
Fiona whirled upon Latharn’s globe. “Hate him if ye must. But can’t ye see what I’m saying? If ye cause him harm, Nessa will run back across the sea. She’s no’ a Scot. She wasna weaned upon the legends of myth and magic. As far as she’s concerned, all ye are is a dream. She has no idea that ye truly exist. If ye mean to have the lass break the curse, ye must awaken her to the legends with care.”
Latharn waved his hand across the glass with an angry swipe. Did they realize what they were asking of him? Did these two have any idea how long he’d been waiting for Nessa? Did they have any idea what he’d been through? If that bastard touched his woman… Latharn paced back and forth across the sphere, his hands itching for Gabriel’s throat.
Brodie and Fiona watched the globe and waited for Latharn’s response.
Latharn battled with their reasoning, warring against his emotions. Raking his hands through his hair, he threw back his head and roared. It was no use. He had no choice. This century had ruined true justice. Forcing his hands to unclench his fists, he calmed the energy and reduced the light play to a peaceful glow.
With a shuddering breath, Latharn forced his voice to echo out into the room. “I will not kill the man unless he provokes me. That’s all I can promise. Dinna ask any more.”
Then he shut down the aura of the globe to a flicker and it faded as he retreated into the depths of his tomb.
ChapterTen
Nessa stared into the mirror for the hundredth time. Her mouth crooked critically to one side. As she studied her reflection, she turned first one way, then the other. It didn’t matter which way she turned. In her opinion, every angle sucked. This sweater made her look as flat-chested as a pre-pubescent boy. What the hell had she been thinking when she bought it?
Nessa yanked it off over her head, ripping her arms out of the sleeves. She tossed it on the growing pile of rejected outfits on the bed. Hands on her hips, she fixed a bleak stare into the closet at the number of bare hangers she’d strung along the bar.
She ought to strangle Trish for this setup with Gabriel. Her stomach churned into a knotted mass and she needed to pee again even though it had only been fifteen minutes since her last trip to the toilet. What was wrong with being alone? Being single wasn’t some sort of death sentence. Being alone sure caused a lot less stress. Besides, she was sure a man like Gabriel would lose interest in her soon enough. He didn’t strike her as the type of man who valued a woman for her brains.
Nessa frowned as she sorted through her last few remaining blouses and fingered the silky cloth of one of the sleeves. She caught her lower lip between her teeth as she fingered the deep blue silk in her hand. Why in the world was he even interested in her in the first place? Whenever she and Trish were out together, his type always gravitated to the buxom redhead. Her nagging instinct to veer away from Gabriel still hammered at the back of her head. There was still something that disturbed her about that man and not a good something either. But she just couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Nessa shrugged as she spoke aloud to her reflection in the mirror. “Well, since I’m sure this is going to be not only our first date but probably our last, it really doesn’t matter what I wear.” She yanked the silk blouse off the hanger and slid it over her arms.
Nessa studied her reflection in the mirror, fluffing her dark curls with her fingertips until her bangs framed her anxious eyes. She smoothed a pink shade of gloss across her full lips and eyed her reflection with the usual disappointment. “At least I know I’ve got a beautiful brain, no matter how plain the wrapper.”
She jumped at the knock on the door and almost cleared the dresser’s top of its contents. She glanced at her watch and returned her reflection’s wide-eyed stare. Frowning into the mirror, she once again addressed the pale-faced girl blinking back at her with apprehensive eyes. “Oh great. He would be a little early.”
Nessa fluffed her curls one last time, took a deep breath, and jerked open the door. There they were again, those predatory dark eyes sizing her up as though she were a juicy, ripe tomato hanging on the vine.
She greeted him with a nervous nod of her head. “Hi, Gabriel, I see you didn’t have any trouble with Trish’s directions.” Nessa opened the door wider and motioned him inside with a fluttering wave of her hand. “Come in while I get…er...find my jacket.”
With a predatory widening of his perfect white smile, Gabriel glanced around the room. His brows rose as he spotted the clothes piled on the bed.
