A Christmas Spirit (8 page)

A visible sigh of relief escaped Gabriel’s sensual lips, and the smile he gave her made her insides turn to mush. “Thank you,” he simply said.

Paige didn’t even know what to say to that. Nothing at all came to mind to suffice just how grateful she truly was.

Paige drew a deep breath. “I’m going to go have a fast shower, just in case the power decides to go out again,” she said, and made for the stairs. At the first step, she turned. Gabriel hadn’t moved an inch. He stood there, staring. No smile, but the muscle in his jaw moved.

His green eyes darkened as he watched her.

Paige cleared her throat. “I’ll be right back.” She didn’t wait for him to respond. She took off up the stairs.

Behind her, a deep, low chuckle sounded until she reached her room and shut the door.

Quickly, Paige chose her favorite pair of faded boot-cut jeans and a long-sleeved garnet cashmere sweater, and she laid them across the bed while she showered. Standing beneath the hot stream, she closed her eyes and let the water fall over her until the bathroom filled with haze. The soap smelled of lavender and vanilla, as did the shampoo, and both created a calm she hadn’t experienced in, well, never.

Or was it the fact that the spirit of a nine-hundred-year-old Highlander awaited her in the great hall?

Paige thought perhaps it was the latter.

Only when the water began to run cool did she finish up. Wrapping her hair in one towel, she draped the other over herself, brushed her teeth, and inspected her face. Gently, she touched the sensitive purple-a nd-black skin beneath her eyes and eyelids, her slightly swollen forehead and the narrow strips of tape across the bridge of her nose. At least her nose wasn’t crooked. How on earth could Gabriel think for a second she was attractive? Before the broken nose, she was plain. Now? Plain, broken and bruised.

He didn’t seem to mind so much.

With a shrug, Paige decided not to ask herself any more unanswerable questions. She dried her hair, didn’t bother with makeup at all since she already sported a nice shade of purple on her eyes, and dressed. Pulling on her boots, she eased out of the room.

And nearly ran straight through Gabriel.

He had waited in the corridor, leaning against the stone wall, arms crossed over his bulky chest.

Grinning.

Well, at first grinning. His eyes took on a decidedly darker tone once he inspected her closely. His gaze started at the top of her head, traveled slowly down to her booted feet, then even slower back up until their eyes met and locked.

Gabriel nearly tripped over his own booted feet as he straightened. He quickly imagined his stupid self, legs sprawled and plaid bunched up round his waist.

Paige MacDonald was the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on. After so many lonely years of stalking the halls of Gorloch, how had he become so bloody lucky as to encounter such a lass? No’ only that, but gain her trust in such a short amount o’ time? They got along as though they’d known one another for the whole of their lives. As if they were a perfect fit.

’Twas beyond his reasoning.

He’d thank the saints daily for his good fortune for the remaining of his existence.

“You scared me,” Paige said, although mirth laced her alluring voice. “I thought you were downstairs waiting on me.”

Gabriel smiled and drew closer. “I found I couldna wait any longer.” He studied her. “Christ, you’re fetchin’, Paige MacDonald.”

He then thoroughly enjoyed watching her neck and cheeks turn the same color as her jumper.

“I’ve got two big black eyes,” she said quietly, batting her lashes. “I look like a raccoon.”

“And a fine raccoon you are,” he said. He inclined his head. “I’ve a surprise for you, and once we reach the end of the passageway, I want you to close your eyes.”

Her pixie nose, now bandaged at the bridge, crinkled. “What have you been up to while I was showering?”

He lowered his head to her ear. “You shall see,” he whispered, and could have sworn he smelled the sweet scent of lavender.

“I cannot wait,” she answered.

Together they walked the length of the candlelit corridor.

A few yards from the end, Gabriel brought Paige up short. “Here’s far enough, lass. Now, do exactly as I say, aye?”

She looked at him and nodded.

“And close your lovely eyes,” he whispered against her ear.

She shuddered, met his gaze, then closed her eyes.

Gabriel thought he could stare at her for several centuries looking just as she did at that moment.

“Now,” he said sternly. “I want you to grasp the handrail and dunna let go,” he said.

She did exactly as he asked, her eyes pinched tightly shut. A slight smile pulled at her mouth, and he had a powerful desire to stop just as they were and kiss her. Instead, he continued on.

“Verra good, lass. Now slowly take the steps until I tell you to cease.”

“Okay,” she said, excitement in her voice.

Somehow, it pleased Gabriel to think mayhap he had put it there.

When she reached about midway down, he stopped her. “Just there, Paige. Now,” he said, and once again drew close to her ear and whispered, “open your eyes.”

With a deep breath, she did.

“Oh,” she said in a voice so light, Gabriel barely heard it. “Wow . . .”

Gabriel watched the glow in her blue eyes as she drank in the sight before her. Christ, how he hoped he’d done a fine job. ’Twas many a Yuletides past since he’d thoroughly enjoyed the holiday, but he remembered his fondest. And with that memory, he’d created a Yuletide for Paige.

“I can’t stop staring at it all,” she said, her eyes sweeping the great hall. Finally, she looked up at him. “It’s like something straight out of a fairy tale, Gabriel.”

He swallowed past the lump in his throat at his name on her tongue. “ ’Tis my gift to you,” he said. “An image, nothin’ more, but for you all the same.”

Her gaze returned to the hall. “Can we go down?”

“Whatever you wish,” he returned.

Together they walked down the stairs.

Paige could do little more than stare at the conjured scene before her. Joining the decorations Craigmire’s wife had put up were boughs and boughs of Scots pine, pine cones, and nuts weaved in long garlands and draped across every surface including the hearth and swagged over every doorway. A tall fir that looked exactly like the one she’d picked out in the wood earlier sat in the far corner of the great hall, and it, too, had small garlands of nuts and candles wrapped from tip to stump. A thick wrap of plaid, the same pattern and color as the one Gabriel wore, swaddled the base of the tree. What looked to be hand-blown glass ornaments hung here and there, as well as tiny silver bells. The glow of the candles gave the great hall an amber hue—a much different hue than the real candles.
Amazing
.

“It’s the most beautiful Christmas I’ve ever seen,” she said softly, then looked at Gabriel. “How could you know?”

Gabriel cocked his head. “Know what, lass?”

She blinked, then smiled. “That this is a Christmas straight out of my dreams.” She glanced at the spot between her boots. “Although I have to confess, you’re a Christmas surprise that I hadn’t counted on at all.”

Suddenly, he was so close, her body tingled with his energy. “Is it a surprise that you’re pleased about, Paige MacDonald?”

Paige collected what little courage she possessed and looked up to meet Gabriel’s questioning gaze. “I’ve spent most of my adult life alone, never really belonging. I merely wanted to be around people this year, perhaps sort of
feel
like I belong in some strange way.” She shook her head. “Never, ever did I expect to feel this. Or you.” Without looking at him, Paige took the remaining steps and wandered amongst his conjured Christmas. His gift to her.

She didn’t trust herself to look at him. What had she just confessed? He probably thought she was a lunatic. Not only had she accepted his ghostly existence, but she’d just basically admitted to being in—

“Paige, stop,” Gabriel said, suddenly right behind her.

She stopped, breathed, and stared at a flickering candle set within the enormous Christmas tree until her vision blurred.

“How do you feel?” he asked quietly.

She couldn’t bring herself to answer.

“Look at me,” Gabriel said, his voice deep, the brogue heavy and sensual. “Please?”

With butterflies in her stomach, Paige slowly lifted her gaze.

The impact of what she saw in the depths of Gabriel’s eyes nearly rocked her backward.

Taking a deep breath, Paige swallowed her fears and faced the enigmatic ghost of a Highlander warrior.

Gabriel felt badly for forcing Paige to tell her feelings. The girl stood there, staring straight back at him with more courage than she’d possessed a mere two days before, and he allowed it.

Christ, how he wanted to know how she felt.

Even if it meant making Paige MacDonald squirm for a moment or two.

He certainly knew how he felt. How, in such a short time, had he come to know it? But he did. And he prayed mightily she felt the same.

Paige MacDonald looked at her booted feet, drew a deep breath, then bravely stepped closer. She once more looked him square in the eye. No fear, Gabriel noticed now. Simple honesty.

His heart melted a bit more.

A slight smile tipped the corners of Paige’s mouth. “I don’t know if I’d be this bold, were you alive in the flesh,” she said. “I think you being a ghost gives me more strength and courage. I’m really shy around men I’m attracted to. Probably because I know they’re not usually attracted to me.”

Gabriel said nothing. He wasna too happy to hear she’d been attracted to other men, but that couldna be helped, he supposed. A gaggle of idiots, those modern men, and all the better for himself, he thought. He held his breath—such as it was—and waited.

She assessed him head to toe, and seemed to concentrate mightily on her words. Almost as if they surprised her, too. She shrugged. “I don’t know, but for the very first time in my life I feel wanted.” She tipped her head back, lifted her wee hand, and grazed the line of his jaw. “And thanks to a single, solitary look from you. I feel as though I’ve known you my whole life, Gabriel.” She laughed softly. “I feel comfortable around you; all of my senses are heightened. I feel alive.” She again shrugged. “And I also feel as though it was meant for me to book a self-driving tour of the Scottish Highlands in the dead of winter, and that it was meant for my car to die and for me to find my way here, to Gorloch.” She wrapped her arms around herself and blushed that appealing shade of red. “To find my way to you.”

Gabriel’s heart pounded fast and hard in its ghostly cage. Every nerve ending that really didna exist hummed with pent-up emotions. He clenched his fists, since the alternative was to make a feeble and useless attempt to grab Paige up in his arms and devour her. He drew a deep breath, because he knew if he wanted any sort of physical bond with her, he’d have to go painfully slow. He didna wish to keep making a pitiful grab for her, only to fall through her.

Slowly, he lifted his hand and traced the sweeping line of fair hair that hung beside Paige’s jaw. With the pad of his thumb he smoothed both darkened circles beneath her eyes. Then he traced her lush lips with his fingers.

He’d never wanted to touch a woman so fiercely in all his existence, dead or alive.

“I am a selfish man, Paige MacDonald, for it pleases me to know you’ve been alone all this time.” He placed a knuckle beneath her chin. “Look up at me.”

She did.

“I now understand why I died when I did, and why I’ve roamed Gorloch for all these centuries past.” He lowered his mouth to hers and brushed over them once. “I’ve been waiting for you, Paige. You were meant to be mine.”

Paige’s insides shook with something. An overwhelming sense of joy? Fear? Uncertainty?