A flustered redhead stood tapping her fingers on the counter where she’d already spread out a several-times refolded map. Her face was dark as a storm cloud; it was obvious she and her companion had been having a heated discussion. The elfin brunette stood just behind her. The brunette was not happy. She leaned against the counter glaring at the redhead. A disgruntled look upon her face, she rested her head on her hand as though she’d rather be anywhere but standing beside the redhead.
Latharn tore his eyes away from Nessa long enough to sneak a glance at Brodie. “God’s teeth, Brodie.” The man’s cock stood at full attention making a pup tent in the front of his kilt. If they were outside, Latharn would call up an icy rainstorm to help the man bring things under control. Scrubbing his face, Latharn chuckled to himself and leaned against the crystal wall. Well, the lad was on his own, he’d just have to keep his randy arse behind the counter.
Brodie coughed and adjusted the front of his kilt as he edged closer behind the waist-high counter. His voice a bit strained, he cleared his throat and smiled at the two young women.
“Where might ye be headed? I’ve not seen ye here in town before. And from your accent, I don’t believe ye’re from anywhere near Balnakiel.”
The tiny brunette grinned, her face lighting up with a victorious smirk as she nudged the redhead in the shoulder. “I told you we overshot Durness an hour ago and you should’ve turned right at the last burial cairn!”
“That’s my girl,” Latharn purred. He loved it when Nessa showed her fire. She looked tired. What he wouldn’t give to massage all the aches and pains from her body. She worked too hard. Well, that would soon be over. When he was free of the globe, she would work no more. He would take care of her. She wouldn’t have a care in the world. Her life and her happiness would be in his hands. He would take care of her every need.
“Don’t start with me, Nessa,” the redhead hissed in irritation. “We always end up where we’re headed.” Her voice softened as she turned to face the politely smiling MacKays. With a nod toward the map, she added with a tight-lipped smile, “We just sometimes take the scenic route. Besides. I didn’t realize this was a race.”
“Hmm…that one there is going to be the undoing of some poor man,” Latharn noted with a grin. He had been watching Trish’s friendship with Nessa for years. Latharn missed the camaraderie he’d once had with his clan whenever he watched the two women together. It reminded him of just how isolated he was. He swallowed hard as he pushed the memories of his clan aside. Enough of this senseless bickering. It was time to put on a little show.
With a polite smile forced across her face, Trish elbowed Nessa in the ribs. Just as she opened her mouth and started to speak, Latharn jostled the witch’s ball across the shelf. If Brodie hadn’t caught it when it reached the edge, it would’ve vibrated off into the floor.
Tiptoeing to get a better view across the polished counter, a look of wonder crossed Nessa’s face. “What made it rattle off the shelf like that? I didn’t feel a tremor or anything. Did you?”
Nessa leaned closer and studied the crystal ball Brodie held between his hands. The lights from the sparkling orb pulsated and danced, reflecting up into her face.
“Hello at last, my precious love,” Latharn whispered up into her eyes. He waved his hand across the sphere, increasing the rhythm of the lights to match the pulse of his heart.
Brodie’s face paled. He swallowed hard as he risked a glance at his wide-eyed wife. His voice cracked as he coughed and slid the globe to a safer spot on the counter. “It must’ve been the vibration of the slamming door. I’ve needed to level that shelf and tighten it for some time now. The slightest movement always sets this thing to dancing. Ye never know when it’s going to come flying off the shelf and try to go crashing to the floor.”
Fiona rapped her knuckles on the counter and raised the map to Nessa’s face. “Ye need to go back this way but a few kilometers. Here’s the turn ye must’ve missed.”
Nessa poked Trish on the shoulder again and waggled a teasing brow. She held the marked map just inches beneath Trish’s upturned nose and goaded her with a know-it-all voice. “See? I told you! What good does it do for you to buy all these maps if you’re not going to listen to me when I’m telling you what they say?”
Latharn chuckled, leaning harder against the infernal glass wall separating him from his love. If only he could touch her, she stood so close. The heat of her filled his senses.
“Fine,” Trish muttered through clenched teeth. Nodding to the MacKays, she snatched the map from Nessa’s hands and stuffed it under her arm. “Thank you for all your help. Once you get your shop set up, we’ll stop back in and have a look around. If the rest of your items are as unusual as that crystal, your business should really do well.”
Fiona cleared her throat and glanced at her speechless husband who stood with the globe clenched between his hands. “Why, thank ye for your kind words. That’ll just be grand.” Fiona twitched her head in gratitude as she spared a glance at the animated witch’s ball.
“Nessa, no!” Latharn pounded his fists against the glass as Nessa moved away from him toward the door. Now that he had her so close, he couldn’t bear to see her go. The scent of her perfume wafted through the glass, a delicate orchid scent. Latharn grasped at the sweet essence as though he could pull her into the crystal by inhaling the fragrance that had once surrounded her body.By all that is holy, please don’t let her leave.He flattened his palms against the frigid walls, his heart falling the farther she moved away.
When the two women had argued their way out of the shop, Fiona locked the door and pulled the blinds. “What was that about?” Fiona hissed, eying the dwindling light flickering from within the glass ball.
With a puzzled look, Brodie handled the sphere with a ginger touch and eased it over onto the counter. “For some reason, Cousin Latharn seems verra interested with one or both of those foreign lasses.”
Fiona pursed her lips, her brow creased as she studied the pulsating light. “Was it the fiery redhead with the well-endowed chest and the tiny, upturned nose?” As she turned the ball, she leaned in closer, watching the globe as she named Trish’s most obvious attributes. “Well, that brought no reaction. Then it could only have been the tiny curly-haired lass with the striking blue eyes.”
It was about time they got to the point. Latharn responded with the entire spectrum of his emotions. Now he would give them a light show. It was time Brodie and Fiona met their ancestor. He illuminated the entire room in a play of iridescent lasers. The energized light electrified everything it touched. Every surface in the room rainbowed with a prismatic glow.
His brows arched to his hairline; Brodie splayed his hands across the countertop as he stared at Latharn’s prison. Leaning in closer, his breath fogged the glass as he matter-of-factly spoke to the ball. “Well then. That was a definite choice. So ye like the dark-haired lass?”
Latharn laughed so hard the globe shook. Brodie was the master of the understatement. This century must have diluted the lad. Latharn vibrated the globe again, sending it scooting across the counter.
As he captured the vibrating base between his hands, Brodie gaped into the pulsating depths of the crystal. “What do ye think we should do now, Fiona?”
“Ye go after her, ye blessed fool!” Latharn’s deep voice rumbled out of the core of the orb and echoed off the walls of the shop. As his thundering voice dissipated and faded away, so did the lasers dancing about the thrumming globe.
Brodie’s face drained of color. He pushed away the crystal and steadied himself against the edge of the counter, his hands shaking, knuckles white. He opened his mouth as though about to speak, closed it, then opened it again. Visibly swallowing as though about to choke, he finally found his voice. “Ye can make yourself heard! Is this the spirit of Latharn MacKay? And if it is, why have ye not spoken to us before now?”
The light of the orb diminished in strength as the crystal reduced to a subtle glow. Latharn blew out a weary breath as he paced the circumference of his prison. His voice grew quieter as he tersely replied, “Aye, I am Latharn MacKay. As for allowing ye to hear my voice? Up until now, I had nothing to say.”
Brodie’s jaw dropped. “Ye had nothing to say?” He spun on his heel and jerked his chin toward Fiona. “Fiona and I have been your caretakers for nigh on six years now. I have been around ye since I was but a gleam in my Da’s wandering eye. And ye mean to tell me in all those years, ye didna’ have one small thing ye might have wanted to say to us? Not one word?”
