Emma’s heart lurched at the jagged, shining scar marring the perfection of his angular face. The torn silver line sliced through the plane of smooth weathered skin, marking an unmistakable path down the curve of his cheek. The stark reminder of a more painful time started at the outer corner of Torin’s cloudy right eye and ripped a tattered course to the base of his tanned throat. What sort of accident could’ve caused such an injury, robbed the man of half his sight and left such a scar?
“It no longer pains me. If that’s what ye are wondering.” Torin’s smile disappeared. His face tensed as both eyes narrowed into defensive slits.
A flash of embarrassment flooded through her. What the hell was her problem? Emma cleared her throat and looked away. Rubbing her amulet with her thumb, she sent a wish into it for guidance. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just that I’m a physician, and I’ve assisted with several reconstructive surgeries.” Emma grimaced. Could she possibly sound more cold or insensitive? “What I mean−”
Torin’s face darkened into a thunderous scowl. The muscles of his jaw twitched. “I have no idea whatreconstructive surgeriesare. But I dinna find shame in the reminders of my service to my clan or the protection of this realm. I find only honor in the marks of my battles. I earned each one while defending this place against certain chaos and destruction. My scars prove I did my part in protecting the gateway. There are not many stone guardians who have lived long enough to make such a claim.”
Emma wished the ground beneath the stone would open up and swallow her. She’d succeeded in putting both of her oversized feet ankle-deep into her mouth. “I am sorry. There is nothing wrong with the way you look. I only meant…oh, just forget it.” Clamping her mouth shut, she threw both hands in the air and turned away from the glowering man. She would never learn. If it popped into her mind, it more than likely flew out of her mouth. The best thing she could do was just shut up and go back to the cottage.
Gingerly fingering the bump on the side of her head, she closed her eyes and pulled in a deep, cleansing breath. Maybe this was all a terrible hallucination caused by the blow to her skull. Peeking through barely opened eyelids, frustration settled like an iron lump in her stomach. Nope. He was still there. A disgruntled sigh escaped her chest. She might as well get this over with and grab the proverbial bull by the horns.
“Look.” Wincing as she palpated the tenderest portion of the knot, Emma rubbed at the throbbing goose egg swelling above her ear. “I don’t know why you’re here, what brought you here, or where you came from. All I know is that I’ve whacked my head. It’s been one hellatiously long day, and I’m ready to go home and go to bed.”
Torin’s ferocious scowl paled a bit as he glanced down the hill toward the car. “Aye, well. Ye called me forth. So, I am ready tobegin this journey. I’ve faced more fearsome demons thanthatbeast that brought ye here.”
Emma’s probing fingers stilled against her skull. “What do you mean you’re ready to begin this journey?” She hadn’t whacked her head that hard. He wasn’t coming home with her.
Torin didn’t reply, just spun on the heel of the worn leather boot laced midway up his muscular calf and plodded down the path. When he reached the car, he circled the squatting red auto as though trying to figure out how best to attack it. Scowling at the machine, he unsheathed his blade from the scabbard strapped beneath his arm. After passing the haft back and forth between his palms several times, Torin inhaled a deep breath and wedged the tip into the passenger door at the level of the latch. With a mighty twist and a determined frown, he leaned into the sword and shoved.
“Hey, there’s an easier way to do that.” Emma pounded down the hard dirt path just as Torin bared his teeth in an irritated grimace and glared up from the door. Latching onto the silver handle, she yanked down and swung the door open. “See? You just pull the lever down and it opens right up. That’s all you have to do.” What kind of car doors had this guy been using all his life? Was he acting out some sort of theatrical joke to match the part of his ancient attire?
“Humpf.” Torin bent and peered inside the vehicle. His face darkened with a look that said he feared the metal beast would suck him inside if he risked standing too close. “Pray tell me. What is this thing?”
Emma peered closer at Torin’s face. Was he serious? He had never seen a car? Where had this guy been? Surely, he was pulling her leg. Emma took a step nearer and studied Torin’s strained expression. Nothing but apprehension blazed from the icy depths of his steel gray eye. Unease coiled a tighter knot in her chest. Something wasn’t right about this strangeman. Perhaps he’d escaped from an institution. Maybe he was mentally off?
Emma cleared her throat and shifted her gaze to the dreaded gearshift sprouting up from between the seats. “It’s called a car or an automobile, but if I can’t get the blasted thing running so that I don’t have to call for a tow, I’m going to call it a few special names of my own choosing.”
“Ye’ve damaged it?” Torin straightened from inspecting the interior of the car and returned his blade to its sheath.
“Idid notdamage it,” Emma snapped. “The thing is a piece of crap.”
“Piece of crap?” Torin wrinkled his nose and stepped back from the vehicle. With a hesitant sniff, he glared with a perplexed expression of disbelief first at Emma and then at the metal monstrosity sitting in front of them.
Irritation won out over the unease stirring her emotions and the man’s confused parroting of everything she said was getting extremely old. Emma slammed the door shut. This conversation was getting them both nowhere fast. “Look. I don’t know why or how you managed to appear out of the shadows. But don’t you think it’s time you went back to wherever it is you came from? You’re not coming home with me.” There. She’d said it. And she’d gone past the point of caring if she sounded rude or hurt his feelings. Her head hurt. She’d had a crappy day, and her body ached with the weariness of jetlag. She’d had all she could take.
His nostrils flaring, Torin tightened the leather strap belting a dagger to his side. “Tell me how to leave this place and I’ll gladly oblige ye. I didna ask to be awakened into this mess of confusion.”
A chilling breeze strengthened into an angry swirl, pulling clots of dust into chaotic spires as roiling clouds blotted the sun from the sky. Thunder rumbled from the angry gray masses as lightning flickered from deep within. The nose-tingling scentof an impending deluge rode high on the racing wind. Emma glared up at the building storm, her conscience gnawing at the back of her mind. Great. She couldn’t very well leave him stranded in the middle of a storm, especially when he seemed so damn confused. Could he need professional help? If he’d wandered away from some sort of institution, wasn’t it her duty to get him back? “Get in the car. Surely, there’s someplace I can take you.”
With a sweeping glance at the auto and then a nod toward Emma’s denim shorts, Torin shook his head. “I doubt verra much if anything I ever knew of the world remains in this time. What year is this?”
“2012.”
“Damnaighye,Cailleach.Ye kept me sleeping well over a thousand years.” Torin bent his head, muttering the curse toward his feet while scrubbing his palms against the dark stubble sprouting along his jaw.
“What did you just say?”
“Never mind.” Torin shot an irritated glance up into the clouds and white-knuckled the worn knob topping the haft of his sword.
Huge raindrops splattered into the dust, first a sparse plopping from the blackening clouds then a faster pelting that cut through the dirt as the stewing billows overflowed. Emma darted around the vehicle to the driver’s side and yanked open the door. “Just get in the car.” She rapped her knuckles on the top of it.
Torin stood rooted to the spot with a deer-in-the-headlight expression. The drops of rain mutated into a steady shower, increasing in force by the minute.Lord have mercy, was she going to have to shove the man into the seat?“Get in the car, Torin! I can’t very well leave you out here to drown. We’ll figure something out once we get on the road.”
He blinked slowly, as though waking from a trance. His jaw muscles rippled as slightly parted lips revealed his clenched teeth. Torin touched the amulet on his chest and jerked his way into the passenger seat. He yanked the door shut and bent his head against the sagging roof. With a stifled grunt, he folded his long legs up into the small space until his knees nearly touched his chest. Staring straight ahead, Torin swallowed hard, then coughed as though gasping for the next breath. After swallowing at least twice more, his voice rasped out in a strained whisper, “The beast appears much larger from the outside.”
Poor Torin. Emma didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The man was absolutely terrified about being inside the car. Reaching across him, she pointed down beside the door. “You can adjust the seat with that little lever near the floor. If you push it back and shove a bit, you’ll have more room for your legs.” Emma swallowed hard to keep from giggling. The poor man looked as though he was about to be sacrificed to the fearsome automobile gods. And to make matters worse, in his current position, he reminded Emma of a trussed turkey ready for the oven.
His lips flattened into an irritated line and his eyes narrowed in a defensive glare. Unwinding one arm from around his knees, he fished along the side of the seat where Emma had pointed. With a sudden grinding crunch, the seat shot backward, sliding as far back as it would go.“Damnaigh!”
