Bound by Blood (Cauld Ane Series) (10 page)

He was somewhat taken aback by how fast his heart raced as he waited for her to open the door. He felt like a teenage boy with his first crush all over again. She’d answered the door, and he’d nearly bound her right then and there. She was stunning in no make-up and her hair pulled away from her face.

Kade went through the kitchen looking for what he needed. She watched him, but not in suspicion. More like curiosity with a little confusion mixed in.

He set the corkscrew on the counter and glanced up at her. “I’m sorry, Samantha, have I pushed my way in? Would you like me to leave?”

She seemed to contemplate the question for a few seconds and then she leaned over the counter and hummed. “That depends. If you leave, do I get to keep the wine?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s a package deal.”

She wrinkled her nose. “In that case, please stay.”

Kade laughed. “I see where I lay in your list of priorities.”

“What can I say?” She grinned and opened the pizza box. “I’m ruled by food and drink.”

He grinned and poured her a glass of wine. She grabbed serviettes and took two large slices of pizza, setting them on her plate. Carrying her wine and food to the sofa, she set everything on the coffee table. Kade followed.

She sat cross-legged on the couch, her back against the armrest, and smiled. “So, is there something new with the blood samples?”

“Hmm?”

“Why you’re here. I thought maybe you needed to discuss work.”

He shook his head as he sat facing her. “Honestly, I just thought we could get to know each other.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Is that all right?”

Sam reached for her plate. “I guess that depends on what that means. I don’t like to mix business with pleasure, so to speak.”

This was going to be harder than he thought.

“Well, we’ll keep it professional, then.” He sipped his wine. “You had some questions that I thought I might be able to shed some light on.”

“The royalty one?” Sam grimaced. “Just ignore that. I’m chalking it up to my ignorance of the Scottish monarchy.”

“No, you’re not entirely far off.”

“Oh,
really
?”

“My lineage is long and complicated.”

“What do you mean, long and complicated?”

“Well, from what I understand, it started in Iceland over a thousand years ago and brought our clan, our family, here.”

“You have roots that far back?” she asked.

He refrained from telling her that his lineage went back a lot longer than that. He wanted to ease her in. “Yes. Fiona’s doing some research, and that’s what we’ve found so far.”

“Wow. History fascinates me.”

“Me too.”

“I can trace my ancestors back to the Civil War, I think, but that’s not nearly as impressive.” She sipped her wine. “Tell me about yours.”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

Samantha chuckled. “I’ll tell you what I know, but seriously, I don’t think it’ll have much of a wow factor.”

Kade shifted in his seat. She was going to drive him mad before he could bind her, he was sure of it. “Let me be the judge of that,” he said.

“Okay. Fire away.”

“Iceland was under Norwegian rule until 1380. That’s when we came under the control of the Danish Crown. We were forced to give everything to Denmark, including our autonomy. The Danes didn’t see us as worth protecting, so they didn’t try to stop pirates from attacking our coastlines. In 1420, my ancestor chose to take the clan away. We sailed here.”

Sam smiled. “I thought I heard an accent other than Scottish. Do you still speak Icelandic?”

He nodded. “I do. I also speak Gaelic and French.”

“So you’re a genius, then?”

Kade chuckled. “No, I just had very strict parents.”

Sam bit her lip, making Kade want to kiss her. She was stunning. “Do you live near your parents?”

“My father has passed on, but my mother’s a few hours away.”

“Were you born here?”

“No. My brothers and sister and I were born in Iceland, although we’ve been here for many years. In fact, we changed our name shortly after arriving here. We used to be Haarde, but took on Gunnach as we acclimated to Scotland.”

“Haarde? As in Haarde Pharmaceuticals?”

He nodded. “One and the same.”

“Wow.” Samantha cradled her wine glass in her palms. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be raised in a different country. I was born in the same town I just left. This is the first time I’ve been outside the States.”

“There’s comfort in that, don’t you think?”

She shrugged. “I suppose. I tend to think of it more as boring.”

He squeezed her knee. Perhaps too intimate, but Kade couldn’t stop himself from touching her. “I can’t imagine there’d be anything boring about you.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “How does the clan thing work? Do you have a name and a tartan and everything?”

He chuckled. “We do. Clan Gunnach.”

“Well, I feel dumb now.”

“Why?”

“Logic would suggest your clan name would be your last name.”

“Perhaps, but there are many other names within our clan.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, so your family is the head of the clan, so to speak?”

He grinned. “You could say that.”

“Which means you
are
royalty…at least in your own mind,” she joked.

“Exactly.” He tipped his glass toward her. “Your turn.”

“Hmm.” Samantha leaned back against the arm of the couch. “I have a feeling there’s more to the story, but what I remember is that my ancestors were spread out over several states. When they say in movies and books that the Civil War was fought brother against brother, they were probably talking about my family. My great-great-great-great—give or take a few greats—fought for the South, and his brother fought for the North. They never healed the breach, and even though I have family in Pennsylvania, we’ve never met. The divide goes deep.”

“Have you ever tried to reach out to them?”

“No. Isn’t that terrible?” She sighed. “That’s not one of my strengths, to be honest. Strangers intimidate me.”

He felt her nervousness and couldn’t stop laying his hand on her knee again. She calmed instantly and didn’t object to his touch, so he kept it right where it was.

“I personally think your story falls into the wow factor category.”

She blushed. “Well, thank you.”

He lifted a photo frame from the console against the sofa. A young woman stood with a black horse covered in blue ribbons, her blonde hair pulled away from her face. Her smile was radiant. He turned the picture toward Sam in question.

“That’s Pepper. At that particular show, she won first in every event, including dressage, which is her worst discipline.” Sam smiled. “She was so happy.”

“She and Connall would have much in common, I think.”

“Oh? Does he ride?”

“Yes. He’s a large animal vet. We refer to him as the other doctor Gunnach.”

Sam smiled. “I’m sure he enjoys that.”

Kade nodded. “He also breeds and trains Thoroughbreds. Mostly race horses, but his philanthropic activities involve anything of the equine variety. He’s helped develop several medications for horses.”

“Wow. Very cool. We’ll have to introduce them, but we won’t tell Pepper about the Thoroughbreds. She’s an Arabian fanatic all the way.” Sam chuckled. “She drilled that into me from a very young age.”

“Do you ride?”

“I do. Well, I used to.” Sam shifted in her seat. “I haven’t for a while. As kids, we used to ride all the time, but then we grew up and high school kept us busy and then I went off to college. I rode mainly because Pepper did, and I enjoyed it, but it’s her passion. I think she’d die if she couldn’t ride. She also wants to be a vet one day. As well as ride for the Olympics and attend drama school.”

“Really?”

Sam giggled. “Yes. She’s the eternal six-year-old. I’m half expecting her to say she wants to win a pageant and be a pretty-pretty princess with a tiara. Her ability to dream while working her fingers to the bone is one of the things I love the most about her. It’s virtually impossible to discourage her.”

Kade smiled. “Tell me about the rest of the pictures.”

Sam picked up a frame and pointed out her family, appearing a little contemplative as she settled it back on the table.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

She smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “I’m thinking that you’re different than many of the people I meet.”

“How so?” he asked.

She shrugged, her face a lovely shade of pink. “I’m going to confess something that I may regret as soon as I’ve done it.”

“You’re safe with me, Samantha. Confess away.”

“I feel totally comfortable with you.”

Kade chuckled. “And that worries you?”

“A little, I suppose. You’re the third person I’ve met since I arrived here that I don’t feel nervous around, and that makes me suspicious.” She cocked her head. “That’s weird, isn’t it?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“Who the other two are.”

“What if you don’t know them?”

“Hmm, then it’s probably weird.”

Samantha laughed. “Thanks.”

He smiled. “I hope the other two are my employees. I want you to feel welcome.”

“Oh, I do,” she said. “And, yes, Payton is one of them. She’s wonderful.”

“She is invaluable to our company. I often threaten I’m going to steal her away from Duncan.”

Sam pursed her lips. “What does he say?”

“It can’t be repeated in a lady’s presence.”

“He has good taste.” Sam sipped her wine.

“Who’s the other one?” Kade asked, nervous that it might be someone he’d need to pull rank on.

“Oh, he’s no one you know. His name’s Cole. I met him on the plane.”

Kade pulled his hand away. He didn’t want her to feel the full effect of the jealousy rising in him.

“Are you okay?” Sam set her wine on the coffee table.

Damn it.
He needed to get control of himself.

“Of course. Why?”

“I just got an unsettled feeling. It’s strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yes, I’ve had these little flutters of panic over the past few days, and I thought it was because I’m in a new place, but…” Sam rose to her feet and rubbed her forehead.

“Samantha? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything. I’m sorry.”

He stood and took her hand. “Tell me.”

“I’m telling you entirely too much as it is. This
isn’t
me.”

He waited until he felt her heart calm and then he smiled. “When did you first have the panicky feelings?”

“When I arrived at the hotel on Friday night and this morning when I got to the office.”

Friday night he’d argued with his sister and this morning, he’d had the heated discussion with Angus.

“Then there was right before I called you about the samples,” she continued.

The news stunned him. Holding Samantha’s hand and doing what only he could as her mate, calming her, he realized he’d underestimated his sister’s connection to Angus.

She took a few deep breaths and he squeezed her hand. “Better?”

“A lot better.” She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know how you just did that, but you seem to have the same effect on me that Valium does.”

“Maybe we’re simply connected on a different level than other people.”

“
Right
.” Sam pulled her hand from his and took her seat back on the sofa.

He sat down as well and studied her. The depth of his emotion for her was humbling. Both Angus and his sister had described how it felt when they reached the age of mating and discovered they were to be bound to one another, but Kade hadn’t grasped the intensity of Fiona’s emotion. He realized how wrong he’d been to downplay her desperation.

No wonder he’d been willing to marry someone who wasn’t his mate. He had no idea what it felt like to have one. Now was another story. He could never settle for anyone other than Samantha. His challenge would be not to rush her. He couldn’t remember a time a
Cauld Ane
had been bound with a human, at least, not since he’d been old enough to pay attention to such things.

Her gentle touch nearly had him bounding off the couch. “Kade?”

“Hmm?”

“Where did you go?” She removed her hand from his arm.

“Sorry. I just remembered something I forgot to do.”

“I hate it when I do that.” She smiled. “Do you need to go?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I do.” He rose to his feet again. “But we’ll have to do this again soon.”

She seemed to hold back something and he waited for her to quash his suggestion, but then she surprised him with, “That would be fun.”