He hadn’t missed the physical connection, but it made meetings like this awkward. He just didn’t know what to do with himself.
He watched as Kaitlin hugged Sadie, then Ethan, Rose and Dave, Christa and finally turned to Jake.
“Brat.” Jake opened his arms. She moved into them and laid her head on his chest. “We missed you,” he said.
Kane knew they were close, and he also knew that Jake saw her as a sister. But he wasn’t quite sure of Kaitlin’s feelings for the other man, and something stirred in his gut.
“You love her,”Janelle said in his head, and his gaze flashed to her, his eyes narrowing.
“Mind your own business,”he replied.
“It is my business, just showing a little sisterly interest.”
Finally, Kaitlin stepped back, and as one, they all focused on him. What? He heard Janelle’s soft laughter in his head. She was finding this amusing. He was glad one of them was.
Christa stepped toward him. She was pretty, rather than beautiful, with blond curls and blue eyes. “Happy New Year.”
Janelle snorted in his head.“Yeah, welcome to the End of Days.”
He bit back a smile. He could see why Jake thought she was like Kaitlin.
“Thanks. To you, too.” He looked around. “All of you.”
Then Christa hugged him. She was short, especially compared to the rest of them, and only came up to his chest. She was also soft and warm and genuinely nice. He held her for a moment, then caught sight of Jake over her shoulder. He nodded.
He put Christa away from him. “So, is everyone here?”
“Yes,” Jake replied. “You’re the last.”
The whole group together—well apart from Leila and Brandon. If anyone wanted to bring them down, now was the time to do it. They needed to get inside and talk about this new development of Kaitlin’s. Someone had clearly found her. But who were they? What did they want?
Jake must have picked up his thoughts as his eyes narrowed. He turned to Kaitlin. “Why didn’t you tell us straight away?”
“Because I didn’t know anything.”
“You knewsomething.”
“Well, I wanted to know more.”
The mountains all around them were covered in snow, showing up against the dark of the night, and a cool wind blew from the north. Kane decided he hated Scotland. He shivered. “Let’s get inside,” he said. “And Kaitlin will tell you all about it.”
She turned to him and scowled. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
He shook his head. “Kaitlin can tell you if itpleasesher to do so.”
Without waiting for an answer, he headed for the house. They all fell in around him. A wide stone stairway led up to big wooden double doors. He pushed them open and stepped into a hallway with flagstone floors and tapestries on the walls, like something out of a goddamn movie. Then he realized he had no clue which way to go and turned to Jake.
“Martin’s in the kitchen,” Jake said. “We’ll head down there.” He took the lead and Kane followed, along the hallway, through a door, down a set of stone steps, through another door and into a huge, cavernous kitchen, filled with the scent of cooking food.A large wooden table was situated in the center, and Martin Rayleigh stood there, chopping vegetables.
Martin was the descendant of Alasdair Rayleigh who had originally discovered Kane’s people back in 1878. Kane vaguely remembered the man, and he could see that Martin bore a striking resemblance. He was in his fifties and looked every one of his years.
Janelle crossed to him, slipped her arms around his waist from behind, and kissed his neck. He stiffened for a moment and then gave a resigned shrug. Kane had known there was history between the two of them—Jake had told him. Martin had broken the relationship off, because he was aware that he would grow old while Janelle remained young. He hadn’t been able to face the prospect, but clearly, Janelle wasn’t giving in without a fight.
“Too right.”
Otherwise, the room was empty of people, though a huge glossy Doberman stretched out across the flagstone floor. He lifted his head and gave a bark of welcome but didn’t get up. This was Max, Sadie’s dog.
“Where’s everyone else?” Kaitlin asked.
