“Emileeee!”As faint as a faraway whisper, Jessa heard an answer.It was Emily.She felt sure of it.“Emily!Ems!Help me!”She held her breath, praying to hear a reply, but nothing came.Nothing answered but silence.
“I can’t do this.”Jessa buried her face in her arms and sobbed.“I can’t hang on like this much longer.”If this was a dream, it was the most realistic nightmare she had ever experienced.The rug slid through her hands, burning her palms before she found the strength to tighten her hold again.
She twisted, peered downward, and immediately wished she hadn’t.Below was blue-black nothingness spattered with stars.A midnight sky, the entire freaking universe, was just past her feet, and if she let go, she would fall for eternity.
Then the rug tore and sent her tumbling into free fall through the darkness.A shrill, desperate scream ripped free of her as she flailed and fought the fall.She was going to die.This was too real to be a dream.
“Lass!Woman!”A pair of large, powerful hands caught her by the shoulders and gently shook her.“Stop yer caterwauling and open yer eyes.Ye are safe.”
A man’s voice?She froze, held her breath, and kept her eyes shut.
“Aw, bloody hell, woman.Daren’t ye die on me.”He pressed his head to her chest.It was warm and heavy, making her panic even more until he lifted it away.“Thank the fates.Yer heart still beats.”
A callused touch brushed her forehead and temple, pushing her hair away from her face.She kept her eyes shut, continuing to play dead or, at least, in a dead faint.If it worked for possums, it might work for her.
Wherever she was, it smelled…different.This place was no aroma candle and incense scented massage room.It reeked faintly of wood smoke and not so faintly of a man who didn’t exactly stink but wasn’t just out of the shower fresh, either.He possessed a natural, fragrance-free scent that was the pure, raw maleness of pinewoods, mountain air, and maybe a day’s worth of sweat.
She risked easing in a deeper breath and strained to hear the slightest sound.The nose-tingling tang of whisky came to her.Or the fumes of some sort of alcohol faintly hung in the air.Beer maybe?No.It was ale.Just like the one Lilias had offered her at the pub.The only sound was gusting wind and maybe rain.Wherever she was had a window that was partially open because the damp air whispered across her, and she hadn’t seen a ceiling fan since arriving in Scotland.
“I know ye’re awake, lass.Yer wee nose is twitching like a cat’s whiskers when it’s tracking a mousie.”
Whatever she was lying on shifted, and his warmth warned he had moved closer.
“Open yer eyes.I’ll not harm ye.”
What choice did she have?She was not only weaponless but also without her phone and couldn’t call for help.She opened her eyes and choked on a sharp intake of air as she locked eyes with Mr.MacSexy.Coughing and wheezing, she rolled away from him, scrambling to escape.She hit the hardwood floor with a thud, spotted the door, and shot for it.
His arm snaked around her waist and yanked her back against a wall of muscle.“I said I’d not harm ye, but neither will I let ye run away.”
She kicked, clawed, and tried to punch him.Twisting around, she tried to bite him.She tried anything she could think of to make him let her go.She had to get out of here—whereverherewas—and find someone to help her.
He resettled his footing, blew out a heavy sigh, then tossed her back onto the bed and pointed at her.“Stay!”
“I am not a dog.”Although she couldn’t resist baring her teeth in case he doubted she would bite him if she could.
“Aye, and I am not a man with a great deal of patience.I said I wouldna hurt ye, and I always keep my word.Now, stop yer foolishness, and tell me yer name.”
“You first.”She didn’t care that she sounded like a bratty child.Whatever had gotten her wherever this was gave her license to behave any way she wanted.
He glowered at her, then folded his arms across his chest, which looked much broader and more muscular than it had in the picture on that infernal app that had gotten her here.He was also a great deal taller than she had imagined.Mr.MacSexy possessed the height of a grizzly bear stretched up on its hind legs, the build of the biggest offensive lineman in the NFL, and the smug, drool-worthiness of a male model.His only flaw was a fresh scar that ran down his right cheek and damned if that didn’t make him even more handsome.
She glowered back at him.This was a guy she could find all sorts of reasons to hate because if past experience had taught her anything, men who looked like him were jerks.And he already acted grouchy.She mimicked his posture, folding her arms across her chest even though she sat in the middle of what she assumed was his bed.Which was slightly disconcerting.Should she really push her luck with this guy?Especially since here of late, all her luck had been bad?
“Tell me your name, and I’ll tell you mine,” she said, trying to sound civil, calm, and not in the least bit afraid, which was a lie.She was a hair away from a hysterical nervous breakdown.
“Grant MacAlester, laird of Clan MacAlester, and since Mairwen probably already told ye, I am also the Earl of Suddie.”He gave her a curt nod.“And ye are?”
He knew Mairwen.That meant Mairwen knew him and hadn’t said a flipping word about it when she had shown her his picture.Resentment and a sense of betrayal filled her.She had trusted Mairwen, even thought they might end up being good friends.“I am Jessa Tamson.How long have you known Mairwen?”
“’Tis a pleasure to meet ye, Miss Tamson,” he said with a grumpiness that called it out for the lie that it was.“And I have known that old witch for as far back as I can remember.”
“I see.”She glanced at the window and felt even more disoriented.It was night.How had she lost the entire day?When she’d powered off her phone in the massage room, it had only been ten in the morning.“What time is it?”
“Nigh on midnight, and afore ye ask, ye are in my bed, in my keep.”
“Keep.That’s the same thing as a castle, right?”
He studied her as if trying to decide what sort of animal she was.Eyes narrowing, he ambled closer to the foot of the bed.“Not exactly a castle.But MacAlester Keep is a fair-sized stronghold that the English left alone for reasons known only to themselves.”
