Lucan: The Pendragon Legacy
Read Lucan: The Pendragon Legacy Online
Authors: Susan Kearney
“IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY,” LUCAN SAID.
His voice was low and sexy, and every time his gaze met hers, her pulse kicked up another notch. “We’re going to be okay.”
We?
“You don’t know that,” she whispered.
“I know that you’ll do your best and that’s all anyone can do.” His fingers slid sensuously over her arm.
“But my best—”
“Your best is passionate and strong. Your best is better than anyone else’s I know,” he insisted, the searing heat in his eyes melting her. Then his mouth closed over hers. She let out a soft gasp and parted her lips. While she knew friends didn’t kiss like this, she made herself stop thinking. She wasn’t going to think about anything painful, not when she could lose herself in his kiss.
With an aching deep in her heart, Cael trailed her hands over his back, his neck, and into his thick hair. Goddess, she adored kissing this man who could be so tender and hot all at the same time.
Kissing him was oh-so-much better than any dream she’d ever had. His kisses made her feel cherished, special, and most of all, for the first time in her life, desired…
“Fast-paced and sexy otherworld adventure.”
—L
INNEA
S
INCLAIR
, RITA award-winning author
of
Hope’s Folly
“Kearney is a master storyteller.”
—
New York Times
bestselling author
V
IRGINIA
H
ENLEY
“[Kearney] combines sexy romance with spaceships, laser guns, psychic powers, and time travel.”
—Tampa Tribune
“Susan Kearney takes you on a wild ride, keeping you guessing until the very end.”
—
New York Times
bestselling author
K
AREN
R
OSE
on
Kiss Me Deadly
“Out-of-this-world love scenes, pulse-pounding action, and characters who come right off the page.”
—
USA Today
bestselling author
S
UZANNE
F
ORSTER
on
The Dare
…
The Challenge
gave me a new perspective… love and sex in the future!”
—
New York Times
bestselling author
C
ARLY
P
HILLIPS
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Hair Express Inc.
Excerpt from
Rion
copyright © 2009 by Hair Express Inc.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Forever
Hachette Book Group
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New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
.
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Forever is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing.
The Forever name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
First eBook Edition: September 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-55820-4
This one’s for Amy Pierpont, editor extraordinaire!!!!!
Your insight’s amazing, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed
working with you. You’ve not only made this book
so much better, you’ve made me a better writer.
There are so many people who work behind the scenes whom I’d like to thank for their efforts on my behalf. This is my first book for Grand Central Publishing, and I have yet to meet everyone, but I know that without editorial help, art, promotion, marketing, production, and sales, this book wouldn’t have made it to the shelves. This is such a team effort, and without everyone’s help, I wouldn’t be able to write the books I love. In particular, I’d like to thank Diane Luger and Christine Foltzer for my beautiful cover, Anna Maria Piluso for the book’s production, Giorgetta Bell McRee for book design, and the Grand Central Publishing department.
I’d also like to thank Julie Leto, Charlotalign=te Douglas, and Jeanie Legendre for their critiquing efforts. Thanks for making the book so much better.
Contents
“It’s Going to be Okay,” Lucan Said.
The precious myths of our heritage are our way of understanding things greater than ourselves. They are tales of the inexplicable forces that shape our lives and of events that defy explanation. These legends are rooted in the spilling of our life blood, in the courage of brave hearts, in the resilience of humanity’s tenacious spirit.
—A
RTHUR
P
ENDRAGON
In the near future
S
low down, Marisa,” Lucan Roarke warned his twin.
They were deep inside the cave he’d discovered in the Welsh countryside in the shadow of Cadbury Castle, and his helmet light had settled on a gaping crack in the compacted clay of the cavern’s floor. “Don’t step on that—”
“What?” Marisa looked back at him just as the ground opened beneath her feet. Falling, she flailed her arms and clawed at the cave wall for a handhold, but the loose earth crumbled beneath her fingertips, and gravity dragged her down through the crevice into the darkness below.
Lucan lunged to grab her, but the unstable earth lurched and dipped under him, throwing him off balance, and his fingers missed her by inches.
“Marisa!” The sound of splashing water drowned out his cry.
Lucan had brought his sister to Cadbury Castle for a vacation, and he’d been excited to show her this cave—his latest discovery in his quest for the Holy Grail. Although many dismissed the Grail as mythical, his years of exploration and research had convinced him the vessel actually existed.
Lucan peered through the gloom into the chasm, but his helmet light couldn’t penetrate the blackness. Even worse, the earthen sides of the hole made a steep vertical descent. Reaching for the heavy-duty flashlight he carried in his back pocket, he yelled, “Marisa? Talk to me, damn it.”
Nothing but silence answered him.
Closing his eyes, Lucan inhaled deeply and concentrated on linking his mind with hers, a telepathic communication the two had shared since they were little.
Marisa. Where are you?
In the water. Help me. I’m cold
.
Heart racing, Lucan shined the flashlight into the darkness and spotted her head above the rushing# _l c water.
“Lucan. Here.” Smart enough not to fight the powerful flow of water that tried to sweep her downstream, Marisa swam for the wall at an angle and clung to a rocky ledge.
“Hang on.”
She coughed and sputtered, then shot back, “If I let go, it won’t be on purpose. Hurry. It’s freezing.”
Lucan reached for the rope in his backpack and cursed himself for bringing his sister into the bowels of the cave. He’d sweet-talked her into coming along, desperate to break her out of her funk. Since her latest miscarriage, she’d been fighting off depression. He’d hoped this excursion would take her mind off her loss, at least for a little while. He hadn’t intended to distract her by risking her life and scaring her to death.
He uncoiled the rope, then leaned over the hole to see her lose her grip on the ledge. The current pulled her under. “Marisa!”
A split second later, a pale hand broke through the water and clutched a rock jutting from the wall. Marisa pulled her head and shoulders above the torrent, spat water, and forced her words through shivering lips. “I knew… I should have gone… to Club Med.”
He looped the rope around the biggest boulder within reach. Then he tossed the line down the narrow shaft. “Grab on and I’ll book the next flight to Cancún.”
Marisa stretched for the rope. And missed. Water surged over her head. Again she swam to the surface, but the current had carried her too far downstream to reach the lifeline.
With no other choice, Lucan jumped into the dark shaft. He fell about twelve feet before frigid water closed over his head and ripped away his glasses. His flesh went numb, but he managed to keep a grip on his waterproof flashlight. His lungs seized and his vision blurred. Forcing his shocked limbs to move, he kicked for the surface. And heard Marisa’s scream. Turning around, he swam in the direction where he’d last seen her.
Already his teeth chattered. He struggled for breath, and his waterlogged clothing and boots weighed him down. The raging current swept him under, but his concern was for Marisa. She’d been in this icy water too long. Clenching his teeth, he kicked harder until he was finally close enough to grab Marisa’s shoulders. They had only minutes to find a way out before hypothermia set in.
He pulled her close. “I’ve got you.”
When she didn’t reply, fear poured through his system. Fighting to lift her head above the surface, he shined his light around the cave in search of a shoal or a shallow pool.
Marisa lifted a quaking hand. “There.”
Just ahead, the river forked. One side widened, the other narrowed.
Using most of his remaining strength, he steered them toward the wider fork, praying it wouldn’t take them deeper underground. His prayers were answered when they rounded a bend and the water leveled out onto a dirt embankment.