A Highlander's Obsession (Highlander's Beloved) (3 page)

The sound of the generator grinding to life filtered through the thick castle walls. Lights powered by the large machine flickered on. Soon the place would warm up.

Once he and his brothers were alone, Ronan poured them each a brandy. “Did ye say something to Paisley to scare her?”

“Nay.” Creighton sighed as he settled into a leather chair by the fire. “The woman’s teched in the head.” His index finger made a circular motion at his temple.
She also pulls at me
.

Bryce took the snifter Ronan handed him then glanced at Creighton. “I think she knows what ye are. What we are.”

“Nonsense. How could she?”

“There’s something about her. Dinna ye feel it?” Ronan swirled the brandy in his snifter.

“Aye, he feels it.” Bryce smirked into his glass before he took a swallow. “He feels it in his balls.”

As soon as Fiona left their suite of rooms, Paisley turned and met Gram’s steady gaze. “You look tired. Are you okay?”

“No, because I can see you’re not. What’s wrong, sweet pea? I read distress in your aura.”

There was no use hiding things from her. Gram always had a knack for sensing every emotion she had. “Gram …” Tears burned the backs of Paisley’s eyes. “I’m losing my mind. I’m … I’m …” She shook her head and began to pace across the sitting room. She wasn’t ready to talk about what she’d heard just yet. “Why don’t you take a hot bath? I need a few minutes alone to come to grips with things before I can share them with you.”

Gram patted her arm. “Are you sure? Lord knows, I’d love a hot bath to ease these achy joints. I thought we’d never get here.” She collapsed on the chintz sofa and cast tired eyes on Paisley. “How long ago did we leave Virginia?”

“Nearly twenty-two hours.” Paisley pressed fingertips to her temples. “I think. Some of our trip is a fog. All this rushing just to sit in the same spot for hours and hours had to be hard on you. I’m worried.”

Gram waved a hand in dismissal. “Pahhh. This old bird is built of sturdy Scot stock. I can handle most anything.” She rubbed her knees and winced. “It’s ol’ ‘Arthoritis’ who needs the help.”

“I hope you’re right.” Paisley set Gram’s suitcase on a luggage stand in her bedroom. Gram tottered behind her.

“These are lovely rooms, aren’t they? Spacious.” Their suite had two bedrooms, each with its own bath. A sitting room with a fireplace separated the two sleeping areas. Gram ran a hand over the pink rose wallpaper. “How do you think this wallpaper would look in my house back in Clifton?”

“Which room?”

Gram sported her what-the-hell grin. “All of them.”

“Overkill, Gram. I’m taking a shower while you get your bath. We’ll have our hot chocolate in the sitting room when we’re done.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Gram unzipped her suitcase.

Minutes later, Paisley stepped into the shower, its hot spray easing some of the travel-weary kinks. Thoughts and fears surfaced. She’d shared her first conversation with an animal at the age of twelve when Bosco, her chocolate Lab, told her about the thorn embedded in his paw. At the time, she thought it was the coolest thing. At least until she told her parents and they freaked. She seldom allowed recollections of that dark time to invade her consciousness. Weird, her parents had called her. A freak. A liar. Crazy.

Well, now it looked as if there was a new block in her crazy quilt of life.

Tonight, for the first time, she’d heard a human’s thoughts. She fisted her hands over her eyes.
Oh my God. A human
.

Tears pooled and fell. She truly was a freak. Wasn’t it bad enough she’d been cursed with the ability to hear animals communicate? Now she’d stepped further into the realm of insanity. Her chest constricted and her breathing came in shallow bursts.
Holy shit, I can hear other people’s thoughts
. She slid down the tiled wall of the shower and cried.

* * *

Gram was talking to Fiona when Paisley, dressed in her pajamas, stepped into the sitting room.

“Sweet pea, wait till you taste this hot chocolate Fiona made us. It’s to die for.”

Fiona smiled and stepped toward her. “Are ye feeling better, dear?”

Her gram had taught her good southern manners. Truthfully, she wasn’t up for polite chitchat, but to be rude would only upset the person she loved most in the whole world. Paisley smiled. “Yes. Thanks for your concern. I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”

The woman patted her arm. “Good. Good. I like fer our guests to enjoy their time here.”

“Are Ronan, Bryce, and Creighton your only children? They’re quite good-looking, yet very different.”

“Och, sweet child, ye do
not
want to get an Irish woman talking about her sons, or a Scottish one either. I moved here from County Kirk in Ireland when I married me Scottish love more than thirty years ago. I bore him four bairns, each within two years of each other. Me only daughter died when she was almost three. She was a frail thing, she was. We lost her a month before me husband.” Pain pinched her expression and she glanced away, blinking as if to ward
off tears.

“Oh, how awful. How did you go on after so much loss?” Gram reached for a cookie on a tray set on the small coffee table.

Fiona shrugged. “I had little time fer grief. I had three active sons to raise. A mother does what she has to do to take care of her young. Our family’s had many sad experiences. Me youngest, Bryce, married at a young age to a wee slip of a girl. Miranda died birthing their daughter. Colleen was nearly two months early, and we feared we’d lose her too.” She shook her head, clucking her tongue. “Our wee sweet bairn survived. Och, ’tis the light of our lives, she is. You’ll meet her tomorrow when she greets ye.” A smile of pride graced her lips. “Creighton gave her the title of ‘Official Cheery Greeter.’ A title she takes verra seriously, let me tell ye. I keep hoping my sons will soon marry and give me more grandchildren.” Her gaze swept over Paisley.

Lady, don’t even go there
.

Fiona stooped in front of the fireplace and added two more logs. “ ’Tis a cold, windy night. Or as the Scottish say, ’tis a dreich nicht. Ye will need the extra heat from the fireplace, so keep yer bedroom doors open.” She stood and gave the room a cursory glance, no doubt to make sure all was well. “Set yer tray out in the hallway when yer done. Sleep soundly. Guid nicht an sweit dreams.” She closed the door behind her.

“Fiona seems nice, doesn’t she?” Paisley sipped the hot chocolate and moaned. “Oh, this is fabulous.”

“Didn’t I tell you? She melts real chocolate in milk. Sure tastes better than a mix.” Gram toed off her bedroom slippers and tucked her feet under her nightgown. “Tell me, sweet pea. What has you so troubled? I can see by your eyes you’ve been crying.” She brought the mug to her lips.

Paisley settled onto the sofa next to Gram. “I’m losing my mind.”

Gram lifted a bony shoulder. “Oh, well, haven’t we all in one form or another? Have a cookie. They’re made with real butter.”

Paisley reached for one of the treats and then laid it back on the plate. She wasn’t hungry. Food was the last thing on her mind. “I’m starting to hear people’s thoughts.”

Gram’s cool hand covered hers. Her voice held a tinge of awe. “When did it start?”

“Tonight, when I first stepped in front of Creighton.”

Gram raised her cup and held it in front of her lips. “You heard his thoughts or heard bells ring?”

“Very funny. I heard his thoughts. Scared me so bad I fainted.” She swiped at falling tears. Childhood fears and insecurities resurfaced. Feeling helpless didn’t sit well with her. She was, by nature, a fighter. “You don’t think I’m crazy, do you? You won’t send me away?”
Listen to me. I sound like a scared child
.

Flannel-clad arms enveloped her and drew her close. The scent of the baby powder Gram was so fond of comforted her. “My precious child, no one separates us. No one.” Gram pressed a kiss to her damp hair. “When you think about it, it’s not that much of a stretch. You can hear animals’ thoughts. Some people would say we humans are animals too. I think this is just a natural progression of your gift.”

“Gift? Oh, Gram, it’s more curse than gift.”

“Nonsense. Look at all the animals you’ve been able to help. Veterinarians around the country contact you when they have a difficult patient. Your talent, your gift, is in demand.”

She slipped off her glasses and blotted more tears with her fingers. “Yeah, I guess. Still …”

“Still …” Her grandmother’s eyes held that ornery sparkle. “I think it’s telling the
first
person’s thoughts you heard were that of a handsome-as-hell man in a kilt.” She pursed her lips. “By his thunderstruck expression, I’d say he was just as taken with you as you were with him.”

“No. Now you’ve got this situation all wrong. I’m not interested in that … that … what did you call him? Galoot?”

Gram winced. “I shouldn’t have said that. I apologized to his mother when she brought the hot chocolate. I’ll apologize to him in the morning. I was just so worried about you, I forgot my good manners.” She set her cup down and yawned. “I can’t stay awake another minute. Help me up and hug me good night. I’m glad we have a day to rest before Angus’s funeral. We’ll both need to recharge our batteries. What time did the lawyer say the funeral was again?”

It wasn’t like Gram to forget details like this. “Ten. Maybe you should spend tomorrow in bed.”

“We’ll see how I feel after a good night’s sleep. I must say, I’m not looking forward to the funeral. You know how I hate them. All those people crying and talking about how good the dead person looks. If that’s not bad enough, there’s the reading of his will afterward. Though
why I’d be included in his list of heirs is still a mystery to me.”

After Gram went to bed, Paisley set the tray in the hallway, put another log on the fire, and went into her bedroom. She stepped to the window and pushed back heavy ivory drapes.

The wind screeched like banshees. Pines bent in reply. Her hand flew to her mouth to cover her gasp. Below stood a gigantic bear, staring at her with blazing golden eyes.

Ye shouldna have come, me bonnie lass. How will I ever keep me hands off ye?

Fear did a free fall through her system. Oh my God. Ronan was wrong; bears weren’t extinct here. She turned and bolted from the room.

* * *

Creighton read horror in her expression the moment her eyes landed on him. Damn, he shouldna stationed himself below her window, but he wanted to make sure the lass settled in peacefully for the night before he searched the area for wolves that had been killing his clan’s sheep. Not that this guest was any more special than any of the others. He saw to the safety and comfort of
all
the visitors at Matheson Lodge.

Now he’d have to hasten to her and allay her fears. He hurried behind the pines, where he’d laid his clothes after shifting earlier, and concentrated on morphing from one form of existence to another. A shimmer of transposing cosmic waves, a whirlwind of mind and soul continuum and he transmuted from bear back to human shape. Creighton gasped, forcing his human lungs to accept oxygen, and winced as systems within began functioning. Although the mutation took less than a minute, a time of discomfort existed with the acute awareness of his newly acquired being.

When he passed through the kitchen and stepped into the entry hallway of the converted castle, his steps faltered and his temper ignited. Bryce had his arms around Paisley.
Bloody hell
.

“No doubt ye are just exhausted from the trip.” Bryce’s hands rubbed her back while her arms stayed wrapped around his scrawny neck.

A flash of temper quickly blistered Creighton’s system. “What’s going on?” His voice had barely stopped echoing off the castle walls before Bryce released Paisley.

His brother’s quick action eased his rage. Where had that blaze of jealousy come from, searing his skin and singeing the hair on his chest?

“Our guest imagined she saw something. Fatigue, no doubt.”

Creighton waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “I’ll see to this. See to Colleen. Make sure her covers are about her wee shoulders. Ye know how quickly she catches the cold.”

Paisley stepped away from Bryce. “How old is your daughter?”

“She’ll be five in a few months. Ye will meet her in the morning and will no doubt hear her before ye see her.” He winked. “She’s a chatterbox and a rascal and the light of me life.”

“Ye can go now.” Creighton’s need to have the lass completely to himself grew stronger by the second.

His youngest brother had the nerve to wink before he took the stairs in his typical two at a time pace.

Creighton moved to within a step of her.

A blush kissed her cheeks and she set one bare foot on top of the other, perhaps in nervousness.

“Ye need baffies on yer feet in this
auld
, drafty castle.”

“Baffies?” Her voice held a sexy-as-hell breathy quality and his cock twitched in response.

“Aye. Slippers, ye Americans call them.” She wore a thin T-shirt and a pair of shorts that showcased long, shapely legs. His fingers itched to touch, and he clenched his fists to control them. Then, noticing she wore no bra, his sexual thoughts flamed hotter. In vain, he tried not to stare at her breasts through the worn Virginia Tech T-shirt. As if it had taken on a life of its own, his hand reached out and cupped her cheek. “Are ye all right, lass?”

Her sky blue eyes fastened on his and a jolt of keen desire unlocked something deep inside him. “Yes.” Her voice, barely a whisper, skittered across his skin, awakening every part of him as spring awakened the senses after hibernation.

Concerned about her getting chilled, he removed the plaid from his shoulder and draped it around her like a shawl. His hands squeezed her upper arms for just a second or two, and he was loath to cease the physical contact. “I’m thinking we should go where ’tis warmer. Then ye can tell me what troubles ye.”

She glanced over her shoulder toward the stairway and then at him. “There’s no need. You’ll only think I’m a crazy female, just like your brother does. I’m not some fragile woman who imagines she sees things when she’s tired. Or feels things in strange hallways.” Although
she tugged the plaid around her in a defensive gesture, there was a flash of fortitude in her eyes that stirred his loins even more. “Do I look fragile to you?”