Dark Enchantment (29 page)

Dragging the other chair around so they were facing one another, knee to knee, he slid three books out of the case and handed them to Arianna. “The 1930 Lakeside Press edition of Moby Dick,” he said. “’Twas my mother’s. A gift from my father on my thirteenth birthday.”

“The Moby Dick in a Can series? Do you have any idea how rare this is?” Turning the pages with reverence, she was careful to touch only the top edge of each one.

Caleb smiled at her enthusiasm, the gold flecks in his eyes twinkling in the firelight.

“I was watching you sleep last night in hospital, when I remembered this. Thought how much you’d enjoy it.” He paused. “I want you to have it.”

She lifted incredulous eyes. “No! I mean…that’s really thoughtful, Caleb, and I love you for offering it to me. But you know I can’t accept this. It’s your mother’s, a priceless family heirloom. It just wouldn’t be right.”

“’Twas mine,” he said simply. “And now it’s yours.”

Arianna hesitated. For some reason, this seemed to mean a lot to him. “If you’re sure.” She closed the book and gently clasped it to her heart. “I’ll treasure it always.”

Caleb’s demeanor was vague. Distracted. “I’ve a question to ask.”

“Question?” A herd of elephants began a stampede through her chest.

“Have you given much thought to the future?” He floundered, shoving his hand through his hair. “What I’m saying is, are you planning to have a family?”

“Why? You offering to help me with that?” Arianna joked, trying to ease his discomfiture.

His expression slammed shut with a loud bang. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Caleb, I told you, I have a feeling our blood is perfectly com—”

“Tisn’t compatible! Now would you ever just answer the question.”

Arianna rolled her lips together. “Truthfully, I’ve always dreamed of being a mother.” She heard him draw in a ragged breath. “But there are so many unwanted children in the world, Caleb, we can always adopt.”

His fingers curved around the arms of the chair. Arianna could see his mind working overtime. His face became a clay mask. “Adopt.” He spat the word as if it were spoiled milk curdling on his tongue. “Sorry, luv, but I’ve no desire to assume responsibility for another man’s mistake.”

Arianna stiffened. The callous remark had been like ice water thrown in her face. He was purposely
trying
to put her off. But why?

“To be honest, I fancy my life just as it is. Wine, women and song,” he went on. “Reckoned ‘twas only fair to set things straight between us. You know, so there are no misunderstandings.” He looked away, as if unable to tolerate the pain in her eyes another second. But then his eyes locked with hers again, his gaze implacable. “That’s not to say I’m not fond of you,
cailín
. We could still be together from time to time. Sure, aren’t there safe ways to share our bodies, to bring each other pleasure.” A leering grin. “Using only our hands and our mouths.”

If he had slapped her face, it would have hurt less. Arianna lifted her chin and rose to her feet. “I don’t
think
so.” Girders of cold gray steel hardened her heart. “You’ve been good to me, Caleb. You saved my live. If you hadn’t come to the island and rescued me, I’d have died.” With a mental fog still shrouding the details of that horrible night, she wasn’t clear on how he had accomplished the feat. One thing she did know, however: the man had
not
come soaring through the clouds. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t do this anymore. I feel like there’s some kind of game being played here, and no one’s bothered to tell me the rules.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “That being the case, I think it’s best if we don’t see each other anymore.” Her voice cracked on the words. “Now, if you’d be good enough to have your driver take me home.”

Caleb stood up. “I’ll drive you myself.”

He sounded so weary, so wretchedly grim, her heart went out to him. “Thank you, but no.” She said it softly, firmly. “I’d really prefer you didn’t.”

Their gazes locked for the length of several heartbeats. He was the first to break eye contact. “I’ll have my driver meet you at the front door.”

“Fine.” As she stood and pulled the long strap of her purse over her shoulder, she set the Moby Dick edition on a piecrust table beside her chair.

He picked it up and held it out to her. “Please. Keep it as a memento of your stay at the castle.” A look crossed his face that she couldn’t identify. “Read it to your children one day…and think of me.”

Her stoic expression camouflaging her pain, she gave her head a shake. “No, I’m sorry, Caleb. But I don’t want to remember…not the castle or you.”

He flinched as though she had struck him. In the brief instant that his guard was dropped, she caught a glimpse of the crumbling ruins of his heart. Comprehension came to her then. Rather than withhold from her the magic of motherhood, the experience of new life quickening within her womb, he would sacrifice their love.

He just didn’t get, she reflected sadly.

If she couldn’t have
his
child, she would prefer to have no children at all.

But here he was again, the domineering, infuriating man determined to make that decision
for
her.

Arianna rose onto her tiptoes and brushed one final kiss across his cheek. “I don’t want to remember, because I love you,” she confessed quietly, holding his gaze. “Remembering would hurt too much.”

She turned and, somehow, made it across the room. She could feel him watching her every step, letting her walk away from him. At the door, she remembered the lovemaking in their dreams
. God.
She stopped and turned back to him. “Don’t come to me in the night….” she breathed, willing him to read the plea she couldn’t put into words. “I couldn’t bear it.”

His expression bleak, he closed his eyes and inhaled meditatively. Then, releasing the breath in a long, steady flow, he met her gaze and inclined his head slowly. “
Saol fada chugat, a ghrá,”
he said softly. “Live long and well, my love. Live long and well.”

Chapter Thirty

T
he week had flown by in a flurry of activity as Arianna got the cottage ready for strangers to move in. She had gone through every nook and cranny, packing pictures and personal items for shipment back to the States and storing some of the more valuable pieces of furniture. With no idea how long it would take to sell her business and Da’s home back in Maine, Mr. Kavanagh had suggested some short-term vacation rentals to help offset the costs of upkeep of the property.

Arianna and her friends had gone to the Cliffs of Moher yesterday for a private memorial service for Da and she had finally scattered his ashes. Their bags were packed and waiting at the front door for the cab that was, as usual, running on Irish standard time.
Late.

Arianna hadn’t heard a word from Caleb since she had left him at the castle on Thursday…Thanksgiving Day…a week ago. God, how she missed him,
yearned
for him, until her heart was an open, pulsing wound.

Wanting to say goodbye to Granny, she decided to call the castle landline rather than Caleb’s cell. Her pride drawn around her like a cloak, she wouldn’t want Caleb to misinterpret the contact as a ploy to get in touch with him. Besides, the mere sound of his voice would destroy her. She dialed. On the third ring, a young woman answered the phone. One whose blood was compatible with his? Arianna felt sick to her stomach. “May I speak with Mrs. O’Clery, please?”

“Sorry, herself and Mr. MacNamara aren’t in at the moment.”
Mr. MacNamara?

“Laura?”
The downstairs maid.

“This is. May I ask who’s calling?”

Arianna identified herself and requested to speak with Flanagan.

Flanagan came to the telephone and stuttered his usual greeting. “Miss…Arianna? So nice to hear from you.”
Nice? Flanagan? Have I entered an alternate reality?

“Um, you too. Uh, Caleb mentioned that Gran—um, that Mrs. O’Clery would be staying with him.”

“She has been, yes.”

“Well, will you give her a message for me, please? Tell her that my friends and I are leaving for the States this morning.”

“You’re leaving us, Miss?”
Us?
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Yeah, definitely in the Twilight Zone here.
“I’ll get the message to Himself right away.”

“The message is for
Granny
,” Arianna stressed. “But please let her know I won’t be here for her to return my call. Our flight leaves at ten and the cab just pulled up outside.”

After loading their luggage into the taxi’s trunk, Arianna stuck her head back inside the cottage for a final look around. With a heavy heart over all that had been, and all that could never be again, she pulled the door closed behind her.

* * *

Caleb was pulling up outside the keep when his mobile rang. “Flanagan?” He frowned. “Leaving? When?” Though he’d known this was coming, sure the news was after leaving him pole-axed.

“Who’s leaving?” Granny reached for her bag with one hand, pulled her shawl more snuggly around her shoulders with the other.

Caleb held up a finger while he listened to Flanagan. “Arianna left a message for you, luv. She’s on her way to Shannon, returning to the States.”

“Humph. And here I’d reckoned the two of ye were keeping company, and yerself the likes of a wounded bear all week long.” Granny chuckled. “Had a bit of row, did ye?”

“What’s this carryon about herself and meself keeping company? You’re beginning to worry me, so you are.”

“And just what is it you’re finding so worrisome?” She inclined her head and looked over her nose at him…in that way she had of making it clear she’d be putting up with none of his nonsense.

“Oh, nothing. Except ‘tisn’t possible for me to be ‘keeping company’ with a mere mortal.” Her brows furrowed in confusion, as he added grimly, “I’ve no desire to be repeating the sins of my father.”

“And exactly what
sin
is it you’re speaking of? Are you not aware that yer dear mother hid the fact of her mortality from your Da until only hours before your birth?”

Caleb looked at her, stunned. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying yer father loved yer mother, sweeting, much as he’d never have admitted to such a
mortal
failing.” At Caleb’s doubtful expression, Granny explained. “Your mam had met him in town, so handsome and self-possessed was he that she felt an instant attraction. A sweet and gentle soul, her kindness and beauty attracted him in return. Now she was acquainted with one of the castle maids who, after a few jars of stout one evening, told MacNamara family secrets. Speaking of the magic in his blood, she said that Himself would never date a mere mortal. My daughter, unable to bear the thought of being without him, didn’t she let him believe there was a wee bit of magic hanging about the branches of our family tree.” Granny sighed. “I was newly involved with the
Túatha
de Danann
through yer Mam at the time and knew nothing of the Enchantment ‘til ‘twas too late.”

“So you’re telling me my father wasn’t aware his wife was a mere mortal.”

“That’s the pure truth of it, luveen,” she said. “‘Twas only after the signs of birth poisoning became apparent during her labor that yer Da confronted her, and she confessed. Yer Mam, my precious Aoife, was after dying in yer father’s arms that night. And I’ve yet to know a man, mortal or otherwise, to ever take a thing so hard. You being yer mother’s son and half mortal, your da was fearing he’d not be able to provide adequately for yer emotional needs. So he sent you home with me. You looked so much like yer sweet Mam, ‘twas the reason he stayed away I reckon. But didn’t he call Flanagan to him after each visit with you to learn how you were faring?”

Caleb shook his head. “All these years, I’ve believed that he used my mother, discarded her like so much rubbish, just as he’d discarded me. That said, it still doesn’t explain why you’d be thinking I would willingly date a mere mortal, that I’d risk the same fate befalling Arianna as did my mother.”

“You said Arianna told you about her mother.” Faded blue eyes searched his.

“She did, yes. About her drowning.”

Granny’s lips drew tight. “Conor didn’t tell her, so.”

“And what is it he was supposed to have told her then?”

His grandmother’s answer left him gobsmacked.

* * *

As the plane taxied down the runway, Arianna knew she was leaving Ireland today a different woman than the one who had arrived a month ago. The fiery trials had served to burn away the dross in her character, to forge a more intimate sense of self. And to uncover an ineradicable strength, the extent of which she hadn’t known that she possessed.

Gazing out the window as the plane lifted off, she touched her fingers to her lips. “Goodbye, my love…
Slán, a ghrá
,” she whispered in the language of the man she would always love.

A couple of minutes later, a strange pinging noise, then a loud clang from the vicinity of the left engine, made her sit bolt upright in her seat. As the plane began to rock and vibrate, she and Tara exchanged worried glances. Michaela gasped from the seat behind her. The pilot’s voice came over the P.A. “We are having a slight maintenance problem and will be returning to the terminal. Please remain calm and keep your seatbelts securely fastened until the plane has stopped moving and the fasten seatbelt sign has been extinguished.”

The plane landed without further incident. Passengers grabbed up their belongings and spilled into the aisles. As Arianna and her friends passed through the doors leading back into the terminal, Michaela nudged Arianna, with a nod toward the waiting room. “Hey, check it out.”

Tara turned her head and muttered, “The mind boggles.”

Arianna blinked, but Caleb didn’t disappear. Her heart beat a staccato rhythm as her starving senses gobbled up the sight of him. Black hair tousled, he reminded her of a small, naughty boy, leaning against the far wall, legs crossed at the ankles, hands shoved negligently into the pockets of his leather jacket. A crooked grin tugged dangerously at her heartstrings.

Her eyes narrowed. Surely, he hadn’t…couldn’t have…. No, the idea that he had used some kind of mind control to force the plane to return to the terminal was just plain crazy. Pushing away from the wall, he sauntered over to where they were standing.

“How’d you get past security?” Arianna asked, and then gave her head a shake. “Never mind that. What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“‘Tis. You’re leaving. And I’ve come to take you home.”

“The cottage is rented. The new tenants are arriving tomorrow.”

“I’m not speaking of the cottage. I’ve come to take you home with me.”

Arianna’s eyes widened in disbelief, the familiar surge of her hot Irish temper comforting. The man was incorrigible. Impossible. Unbelievable.
God
, he knew how she felt about him. Which meant he had to have known that his abandonment of her the last couple of weeks had broken her heart.

“So, that’s it?” She stomped up to him, stood toe to toe, hands on her hips, eyes snapping fire. “You have the unmitigated gall to just show up here in front of God and…and everybody? And not to ask me, mind you, but to
tell
me you’re taking me home with you? Just like that?” she snapped her fingers in his face. “Did it ever occur to you to call me? To check on how I was doing after that horrible ordeal?” At that, her voice broke and pissed her off even more.

She caught the exchange, the clandestine glance he slid toward Michaela. “He did,” she offered sheepishly.

“What?” Arianna asked tersely.

Michaela licked her lips. “He did call to check on you. Every day. But he asked me not to say anything, said that it would only make it harder for you. That you’d already been through enough. And every time I tried to bring his name up, to tell you he’d been calling, you cut me off. Shut me out.”

Digesting the disclosure, Arianna felt her traitorous heart take a jubilant leap. She turned back to Caleb. “What are you doing here?” she asked softly. “We said everything we had to say that day at the castle. When I left you standing there, there was no…‘please don’t go, Arianna. No…‘let’s talk things through, find a way.’ No…‘I love you—”

Her words were lost against his lips as his mouth came down on hers, communicating all those things with lips and tongue and teeth. Then he lifted his head, his emerald gaze burning into her with an otherworldly light. “God help me, I do love you,
a mhuirnín mo dílis
, my truest sweetheart.
An bpósfaidh tú mé
?” he asked, his eyes searching hers for an answer.

At the Gaelic, her brows raised quizzically.

“Will you marry me?” he proposed again, nuzzling her ear, his mouth moving over her face with shivery kisses. “Please say you’ll be my
anam cara
. My soul mate. My wife.”

Was she hearing him correctly? But how? “I’m confused. I thought…I mean, you said we couldn’t…” She gulped a breath. “You want me to marry you?”

“I do.
Anois.
Now.” He nibbled on her lips. “I’ve learned things today that change everything for us. Trust me,
a ghrá
, and come home. For I’ve a faerie tale to tell.”

“For heaven’s sake, you two. Get a room,” Tara said, but the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her tone.

Caleb invited Tara and Michaela to join them at the castle. But the girls had business to tend to at home and decided to board the flight when it was cleared and head back.

“There’ve been all manner of things I’ve not been free to discuss until now,” Caleb explained as he and Arianna headed toward the car park. “But Granny told me about your mother—”.

“Stop.” Arianna cut him off. “You’ve just asked me to marry you, Caleb. The last thing I want to do is sully this perfect moment with talk of my mother’s suicide.”

“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you. She
didn’t
kill herself,
a mhuirnín
.” And then he dropped the bomb. “Sure, in fact, your mother’s not dead a’tall.”