With a satisfied sigh, Emma kissed his side, then slid out from under his arm. Rising from the plaid spread in front of the hearth, she cursed under her breath as she bumped into a table in the darkness.
Torin chuckled again. Fiery-tongued wench. Rolling to his side, he slid open the grate to stare into the orange glow of the shimmering coals. When she returned, he would give her a gentle nudge; remind her she’d promised to listen with an open mind when he explained the mysteries awaiting her touch. They would never be able to cross the veils to join what remained of his clan until she opened herself to the magic and together, they defeated Arach.
A disembodied glow floated across the room toward him. The halo of a flickering candle illuminated Emma’s face. “I didn’t want to run over that stupid table again, and I can’t find a flashlight.” Setting the plate holding the sputtering candle on the table, Emma dropped to her knees and crawled toward him.
Torin caught his breath. His body roared to attention at the sight of her coming toward him on all fours. “Feel better?” His voice rasped, catching in his throat as he looked up into her face.
“Much.” Emma snuggled up against him, nuzzling into the dip of his shoulder like a kitten burrowing against its mother. “Torin?”
“Aye?” How in the hell did she expect him to be able to speak when she pressed those breasts against his side?
“How did you know where to find me?”
“Where to find you?” Torin hedged. Her hardened nipples tickled into his ribs, reminding him of their delectable sweetness when he took them in his mouth.
“When I left the clinic,” Emma prompted, tracing her fingertips along the muscles of his chest.
“I canna do this,” Torin groaned as he rolled her over and pinned her beneath him. Pressing his forehead against hers, he sank into her body. “I canna carry on a conversation when ye’re tempting me with your charms.”
Arching into him, she smiled as she raked her nails down his back and pulled him deeper into the embrace of her thighs. “Then I guess we’ll talk later.” Grinding her hips hard into his, she gasped out her next instructions, “Yes—definitely—talk later. For now, just shut up and move.”
Chapter
Thirty-Four
“Iwas concerned when Moira said they found the truck abandoned in the center of the flooded gully.” His dark blue gaze lasered through her when Alex looked up from behind the check-in desk.
Self-consciousness heated her cheeks. Emma felt like a schoolgirl caught out with the wrong boy after curfew. Brushing the back of her hand across her flaming face, she avoided Alex’s penetrating stare. Why should she feel like she’d been dishonest? She’d never promised Alex anything more than an attempted truce. And all he had ever asked of her was friendship. How she lived her life outside of the clinic was none of anyone’s business. “The rutted out road washed away before I realized it. I had no idea flood waters could rise so fast.”
“Saints be praised! Ye are all right.” Moira rushed out from behind the door to the storage closet and crushed Emma against her buxom, lavender-scented bosom. “We thought for sure ye’d washed out to sea when we couldn’t find ye anywhere near the truck.”
Peeling herself out of Moira’s pillowed embrace, Emma grabbed the fretting woman’s fluttering hands. “I’m fine, Moira.I’m all right and I’m so sorry about Alfred’s truck. I promise I’ll pay for all the repairs.”
“Pshaw!” Moira huffed, squeezing both Emma’s hands as though fearing Emma might evaporate into thin air. “The important thing is that ye are alive and well. Many a wretched soul has drowned when that passage overflows from the heavy rains.”
Remembering the roaring ferocity of the water, Emma struggled to slow her hammering heart before it pounded out of her chest. A weak smile trembled at the corners of her mouth while Emma inhaled a calming breath. “Luckily for me, my friend Torin came along. If not for him, I probably would’ve drowned.”
“Torin.” Alex spit the name as if it was a curse. “The man from the pub? The one ye threatened to kill if he showed up at your croft again?”
Emma snapped around at the heated edge to Alex’s tone, growing uneasy at the sudden irritation firing in his eyes. Choosing her words with selective care, Emma did her best not to over-think his reaction. Alex was just concerned about the clinic’s investment. It would be expensive to set up another grant to secure a pediatrician from overseas.
“Ye threatened to kill a man?” Moira whispered, her eyes rounding in wide-eyed surprise behind her pearlized spectacles.
Emma stifled the urge to roll her eyes. Moira took everything too literally. “I didn’t mean it when I said I was going to strangle him—and both Alex and Torin knew that.”
“Ye seemed fairly certain ye wanted nothing to do with the man when ye stomped your way out of the pub.” Alex challenged her with arms folded across his chest, his mouth flattened into an accusing frown.
Aggravation tightened her jaw. Disbelief stoked the flames of irritation flowing through her veins. What the hell was wrongwith him? He was behaving like an alpha dog protecting his trees from somebody else’s piss. “Look, Alex. All I know is Torin saved my life. He showed up when I needed him the most. Why are you so hostile this morning? I thought we’d called a truce?”
Alex straightened behind the counter; a non-committal mask shuttered over his face as though someone had flipped a switch. “I amnothostile. I was merely concerned for the future of the clinic. I don’t appreciate our investment endangered. If we lost ye, we dinna have the funds to lure another pediatrician to the Isle.”
“Well,thatmakes me feel so much better.” Emma snatched her white lab coat off the hook and yanked it on. What a nice guy. No wonder the man was still single. There couldn’t be a heart beating inside his chest. He must’ve come equipped with nothing more than a calculator. “I’m sorry I worried you about your investment. But life tends to be dangerous sometimes and we can’t always control what crosses our path.”
His mouth tightened into an accusing sneer as Alex knotted his hands atop the counter. “Aye, Dr. Maxwell. I agree ye couldna help the storm washing away your path but ye have definite choices when it comes to the company ye keep.”
“Look. I don’t know who you think you are but you have no right lecturing me about choosing my friends. We may have called a truce the other day but if you keep up this line of conversation, the cease fire is over.” Emma straightened her collar with an irritated yank then jammed both fists into her pockets. She was in no mood for some territorial male, especially one with a confused idea of ownership.
“Moira, will ye talk some sense into her?” Alex barked out the words as though shouting life-saving orders during triage. “I canna deal with the woman!” Clearing the countertop of the stacks of files, he stomped down the hall to his office and slammed the door.
