“I guess I should be thankful ye visualized pinecones and not boulders.” He laughed again.
Hehadread her mind! “How did you do that? No. Wait. It doesn’t matter. Stop doing that. Understand?” A hot flush of embarrassment flooded through her.
His deep rumbling laughter drowned out the steady thump of thehorse’s hooves crunching along the dirt trail. “Forgive me, lass. I couldna help it. When ye concentrat and project yer thoughts, ’tis a natural response to protect myself.”
She closed her eyes and released a quiet groan. What had she gotten herself into? And what else had heheardher thinking that he wasn’t telling? “No more reading my mind, or Lisbet and I are turning around right now and going back. Do you understand me?”
His shoulders shook as he snorted with more laughter. After clearing his throat, he nodded, matching the rhythm of his horse’s gait. “Aye, Lady Guardian. I understand. No more reading yer thoughts.”
9
“Why do they call this Gearlach’s Pass?” Hannah scanned the limestone clearing with interest, shielding her eyes against the angle of the setting sun.
Taggart paused in unbuckling their gear and rubbed the thick leather straps between his fingers. What should he tell her? That Gearlach was a Draecna who inhabited these parts because he loved Scotland more than Erastaed? He had warned the nosy beast to keep his scaly arse hidden, or he would thrash him ’til his horns popped off. “They named it after a legendary beast. Much like the famed monster of Loch Ness.”
A low, deep rumble vibrated through the cliffs above their heads, sending a shower of pebbles and small stones tumbling down the hillside all around them.
“Damn ye, Gearlach,” Taggart swore under his breath. The nosy beast eavesdropped somewhere close, and Gearlach had never liked the Draecna of Loch Ness. Said she was a narcissistic, snobby little slut who enjoyed the way humans vied to take her picture.
With a glance upward, Hannah turned in a slow circle, studyingthe cloudless strip of brilliant azure peeping through the branches. “I wonder where that thunder came from? There’s not a cloud anywhere.” She led Lisbet farther away from the side of the cliff while eyeing the loose stones still bouncing over the side of the ledge. “Are you sure it’s safe to camp around here? I don’t want to wake up in the middle of a rock slide.”
“It is safe!” Taggart shouted, tossing their gear to the ground and turning to cast a warning scowl into the surrounding trees. Gearlach had better take the hint or he would spell him into another dimension. One sorely lacking in ale and whisky.
“You don’t have to shout.” She turned back to her mount and started unbuckling the saddle.
“I was not shouting at ye.” He peeled off his shirt and wiped the sweat from his face.
She pulled the saddle from the mare and turned. “Well, if you weren’t shouting at me . . .” The rest of the rebuttal escaped her at the sight of Taggart stripped to the waist. Bronzed by the setting sun. The angular cut of his muscular body chiseled to epic perfection.
“Uhm…I need to…” She stalled again, mind blank; overheated by the closeness of his painfully beautiful masculinity. It had been forever since she had been with anyone. She gave herself a stern shake, forcing her mind back to reality. No. This man was off limits. “Is there a spring nearby where I could wash my face?”
He nodded toward a narrow trail hugging the side of the cliff on the other side of the clearing. “Down that path, ye will find a spring that empties into a shallow pool. ’Tis perfect for swimming, if ye wish. Gothgar packed a towel in that bag I placed at the base of that tree.”
She snatched up the bag and headed down the path without another word. She had to get some distance between herself and that mountain of testosterone. The sight of him had her eyeballs sizzling as well as parts a lot lower. Now she knew what a thermometer felt like, and her mercury was about to explode.
Beyond the curved wall of the mountain was the oasis he hadpromised. The trickling spring had etched out a shallow pool into the limestone shelf, producing a peaceful, cave-like spa perfect for relaxing and cooling down. She stood on the edge of the protruding rock and gazed out across the land of Taroc Na Mor. Her land. It stole her breath. Even the beauty of her precious mountain back home dimmed in comparison. The jagged horizon of mountains were a hazy purple and blue draped with deep greens of woodlands edged in strips of limestone grey. She smiled at the realization that the landscape of Taroc Na Mor mimicked the colors of an intricate tartan. The vivid hues unfurled across the land like the proudest plaid.
A refreshing breeze greeted her with a gentle kiss that relaxed her even more. Yes. This was so much better. Carnal urges in check, she stripped naked and piled her clothes beside the bag.
“Holy crap!” A screech escaped her as soon as she touched the icy water. She had forgotten how cold spring water could be.
A resounding roar made the hillside shudder. The surface of the pool rippled and vibrated into a thousand rings. She shielded her head with one arm as she sidled along the cliff wall. Earthquake? Did Scotland have earthquakes? Toes digging into the slippery ooze at the bottom of the pool, she lurched farther along. Her stomach clenched at the realization she would never make it across the trembling ground to her clothes.
A great scaly head rose above the rim of the ledge. Huge, iridescent eyes glowed in the half-light of the shadows. The heavy lids narrowed as the golden orbs swept from side to side, scanning the quaking pool. The beast had twisted horns sprouting from the top of its head and also where its great jaws hinged. Its scales were green, but whenever it moved, the smooth plates caught the light and shimmered every color of the spectrum. A long, flowing beard trailed down from its bottom jaw, starting at its chin, running down its throat, and continuing in a point down the front of its wide chest. The creature kept its great muzzle shut; but two enormous fangs protruded from under its smooth, green upper lip and curled downward. She remained motionless, clinging to a jutting ledge of rock asshe wondered how many more razor-sharp teeth were inside that mouth..
She pulled in a quiet, deep breath. Calm. She had to remain calm. Maybe this creature was like a dinosaur. As long as she didn’t make any sudden moves, it wouldn’t be able to see her. And if it couldn’t see her, then it couldn’t eat her. She slid her hand along the cold slab of stone surrounding the pool. With any luck, she could reason with this thing. Get into its mind and let it know that if it ate her, she would give it a severe case of heartburn.
Focusing on a greenish scale right between the beast’s golden eyes, she concentrated, but nothing came to her. Nothing but velvety darkness filled her mind. Teeth clenched, she thought harder. Still nothing. This had never happened before. Why couldn’t she get inside that scaly head?
Breath held, she backed deeper into the shadows. She squeezed her eyes shut and projected her thoughts with a decidedly mental scream. If ever she needed Taggart to read her mind, now was the time.“Taggart! Get down here! I’m about to be eaten by a freaking dragon!”
“Gearlach!” Taggart's roar echoed through the pass as he pounded down the trail and rounded the cliff.
“She screamed,” Gearlach said with a defensive flip of a curled claw in Hannah’s direction. “I was merely responding to the distressed call of our beloved Lady Guardian.” He cocked his horned head and gave her a slow wink of his glowing eye. “And by the way, dragons are mythical creatures made up by drunken humans who couldn’t explain their sightings of Draecna.” He thumped his scaly chest with his paw. “I am real. I am a sacred Draecna.”
Her mouth fell open. The thing talked. It not only talked, but apparently, it had no trouble hearing her thoughts even though she couldn’t get inside its head.
“Gearlach?” she repeated. She sagged against the cold rock ledge, then knelt deeper until the water touched her chin, hugging herself against the cold. Her teeth chattered as the shock of the beast and the cold water sank into her bones. “A Draecna?”
