Midnight's Kiss (13 page)

“I’m no’ so sure. It could be they’re waiting for something.”

“Like what?”

Arran looked at the spot Ronnie had been digging. Almost half the arch could be seen now. “Maybe they’re waiting to see what Ronnie finds.”

“Shite,” Fallon said, and raked a hand through his dark hair. His green eyes glittered with anger. “I’d thought we were finished with such evil. I want to give Larena the babe she craves so desperately.”

Arran dropped his arms to his sides. He hated the spot Fallon and the others were in. He didn’t want to bind his god as they did, but he understood their need to make their mates happy.

“Tell me of Ronnie.”

Arran raised a brow at Fallon. “I’m sure Saffron told you all there is to know. And knowing Gwynn with her computer skills, she was able to pull up Ronnie’s entire past.”

“Aye,” Fallon said with a nod. “But I want your take on her.”

“She’s stubborn. Talented. Beautiful. There’s a wee bit of pride in her as well, but it’s understandable, being as good as she is in her field. Though she’s that good because it’s her magic leading her to the artifacts. She’s good to her people, both paid and volunteers. She’s also verra private and keeps men at arm’s length. I think it has to do with her past.”

“It does.”

Arran glanced at the food tent, where he’d last seen her. He wanted to know her past. It would help him get closer to her, to know what paths to take and which ones to steer clear of.

“Her parents died when she was only four,” Fallon said. “There were no relatives to take her in, so she went into the foster system in Arizona. A couple with five other foster children took her in and raised her.”

Arran nodded as he listened to Fallon. “There was a man she was involved with, was there no’?”

“Aye. A man named Max Drummond.”

“He broke her heart.” Arran turned his gaze back to Fallon. It wasn’t a wild guess. It would explain her hesitation to give in to her desires. “What did he do to her?”

“He lied in order to get close so he could steal the relics she was finding and sell them on the black market.”

Arran closed his eyes at the realization that there were parallels between him and Max. They both got close to Ronnie for something she was digging for.

But whereas Max had done it purely for the money, Arran was doing it for his friends. Though he didn’t like lying to her. He planned to tell her all of it when he spoke to her about her magic.

He hoped she wouldn’t be too angry with him, but in all likelihood, she’d kick him off the site. How he wished Max was in front of him so he could put his fist into his face for what he’d done to Ronnie.

Now Arran understood why she was so hesitant to give in to the attraction between them. He’d have to work harder to earn her trust. He hadn’t expected it or wanted it, but he cared about Ronnie.

As soon as the thought went through his mind, it felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach by a horse. He did care for Ronnie.

Shite
.

When he opened his eyes, it was to find Fallon staring at him curiously. “What? Ronnie is a good person who didna deserve such treatment.”

“Hmm.”

“What happened to this Max Drummond?”

Fallon shrugged. “He disappeared before authorities could find him.”

“Did Gwynn find anything about him through the computer?”

“Nothing.”

“What about Saffron? Any visions? Have Cara, Dani, Marcail, or any of the other Druids been able to use their magic to find him?”

“It’s like he never existed.”

Arran fisted his hands. “I doona like the sound of that.”

“Neither did I, which is why I called Charon. He’s using his network of men to see what they can discover.”

Arran hated that they still relied on Charon. He’d forgiven the Warrior for spying all those decades, but it didn’t mean Arran had to like the guy.

Fallon shifted his shoulders, and Arran smiled.

“You feel the magic of this place.” He wasn’t posing a question, and Fallon nodded in response.

“You were no’ lying when you said it was overpowering. This is definitely the spot for the items sent from Edinburgh, then.”

“At least we hope,” Arran added. “Ronnie is close to finding something, I think. She unearthed a stone arch in the ground.”

“Is that where the magic is coming from?”

Arran shrugged. “It’s difficult to pinpoint the location. I feel the magic wherever I walk around the site. The arch does give me pause, though.”

“Is it a burial tomb?”

“I think so.”

Fallon’s lips flattened. “Be careful. I’ll call when I hear from Charon.”

And just like that, Fallon was gone. Arran might have gotten the power to control ice and snow, but Fallon’s was teleporting. It came in handy often.

He took a deep breath and turned to the food tent. He wanted to see Ronnie, not because he had something to tell her, but just because he needed to see her hazel eyes, wheat-colored hair, and smile.

He needed her beside him.

CHAPTER

TWELVE

Ronnie tossed and turned on her cot. Usually it never bothered her that the damn thing was so narrow, but tonight she couldn’t shut her brain off enough to get some sleep.

It was Arran. And it was the site.

She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her fingers itched to be back in the dirt, scraping it away from the stones of the arch.

The song was so loud, she couldn’t shut it off. It kept calling to her, summoning her to it. The problem was, she could no longer wait. Morning seemed like an eternity away. She had to get to the box right then.

Only a few times since she’d become an archeologist had the need taken her so. One time had been when she found the trinity knot pendant.

What would be in the ground this time? What priceless relic was in the box hidden for hundreds of years, forgotten until she had located it?

Ronnie sighed and gave up forgetting about the site. The only way for her to find any kind of peace was to go dig.

She wound her hair into a bun and slipped back into her boots. The summer nights in Scotland only helped her. It was almost midnight and it was still light outside.

Since she didn’t know how long she’d be working, she found a light and kept it beside her so she could turn it on when it got dark.

It would have been better to keep the light on its stand, but it might wake others, and she’d rather be alone.

As soon as her fingers touched the dirt, she smiled. It calmed her in ways nothing else ever could. Except maybe Arran.

“Enough,” she whispered to herself as she thought of his golden eyes and heart-stopping smile.

The first time she’d taken a geology class and the professor had them dig in search of rocks, she knew what she wanted to do with her life.

While she dug around the stones, she thought of the next fund-raiser. She couldn’t go alone again. It was exhausting, trying to fend off the men. Not that she was a great beauty, but they seemed intrigued by what she did. Interested enough to keep pursuing her long after the party was over.

It had become a problem. She hated the things anyway. The thought of begging for money to continue her work irked her. She made a little money off the things she found, but it wasn’t enough to support her digs.

Since Pete had ruled himself and Andy out, there was no one else for her to choose from.

Arran.

“No,” she murmured.

She couldn’t ask him. She wouldn’t ask him.

First, because she knew he’d most likely say yes. Second, because she was inexplicably drawn to him and couldn’t say no for much longer. If she was put in close proximity with Arran for any amount of time, there was no telling what she’d do.

She found herself smiling at that. It wasn’t like she was ever the one who had taken control in a relationship. Yet, with Arran, she didn’t want to wait for him to kiss her.
She
wanted to kiss
him
.

So unlike her. But then again, she hadn’t been herself since he arrived.

Ronnie shook her head and continued to dig around the stones of the arch. She was prone on the ground, stretched as far as her arms would allow her. She continued like that, working slowly and methodically around the stones until she had removed another four inches of dirt the entire four feet across the arch.

She sat back on her heels and surveyed the arch. In order to get any more work done, she’d have to climb down to where the barriers were holding back the sides of earth from crumbling on top of the arch again.

“Damn,” she said, and looked around the site.

Everyone was in their tents and campers, asleep. The few hours where the darkness crept across the sky had come without her even knowing it.

Still, Ronnie wasn’t tired. She wanted to keep working. Even if only for another hour.

She set her watch to countdown from an hour and jumped to where the barriers were. Ronnie stayed still for a few seconds to see if the barriers would hold.

On her knees, she could just see over the top of the ground, so even if the barriers gave way, she had plenty of time to get out before she was injured.

With that resolved, Ronnie went to work.

*   *   *

Arran was on his stomach, one arm hanging over the side of the cot when he jerked awake. He was instantly on alert. His god bellowed, welcoming a battle, but nothing moved.

He’d long gotten used to sleeping in his pants in case there was an emergency. Arran sat up and put his feet on the ground.

Arran sat with his eyes closed and allowed the heightened senses of his god to determine what had wrenched him out of his sleep. He was unsure how long he sat there before he heard the unmistakable sound of someone digging.

It was slight and soft, but it was there.

Arran walked out of his tent and found a light shining upon the section with the arch. He barely had time to register that it was Ronnie’s wheat-colored head he saw when he heard the ground shift.

There was no time to call out, nothing to do but get to her. Arran used his speed to cross the distance from the tents to the section just as there was a loud crack that reached him.

He slid across the ground, the claws of his right hand extended and digging into the ground as he went off the side just as the earth fell out from beneath Ronnie.

Arran snagged her arm as her screech reached him. He dug in his claws to hold him in place as Ronnie’s other hand came up to grasp his hand.

“Don’t let me fall,” she said softly.

There were no hysterics, no screaming with his Ronnie. But he saw the fear reflected in her hazel depths. “Never,” he said.

He could easily get them up over the side, but then she’d want to know how he did it. Arran wasn’t ready to explain his immortality, his powers, or the fact that he was a Warrior.

Nor could he continue to allow her to hang suspended over a hole in the earth.

“I’m going to swing you up,” he said.

She nodded her head jerkily. Arran didn’t waste any time after that. He quickly swung her side to side with enough force to get back on solid ground.

Once he released her, he heard her gasp before she landed. Arran put his bare feet against the earth and used his legs and arms to jump himself onto land.

He landed with his knees bent and his hands on the ground. When he lifted his head, it was to find Ronnie looking at him as she lay on her side and propped up on her elbow.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, and hurried to her.

He knelt beside her and smoothed back her hair from her face. Somehow the damned bun still held and he wanted to rip the pins out so he could feel the tresses run over his fingers.

Arran tilted her head first one way and then the other, looking for scrapes or bruises. He inspected her hands before he pushed up the sleeves of her shirt and looked at her arms.

“I’m fine,” she said shakily.

Her words halted him. This wasn’t the woman he’d come to know. Even after the accident the night before when she’d been in shock, her voice had been strong.

He cupped her face and made her look him in the eyes. “You’re safe now.”

She blinked slowly, her pupils dilated so he could barely see the hazel of her eyes. “Arran.”

He found himself leaning toward her tempting lips, his body urging him to taste her, savor her.

Claim her.

Somehow her hands moved so that she gripped his arms as if he were the only thing anchoring her to this world.

Arran moved slowly, the need urgent and consuming. He saw her eyelids flutter shut and her lips part on a sigh. Never had he wanted a woman’s kiss more.

Never had he craved a woman more.

But that hunger caught him off guard. He didn’t place his lips on hers as he closed the distance. He brushed his nose against hers, her lips not a breath away.

Arran could stand no more of the torture. He closed his eyes and, with a groan, kissed her.

Her lips were soft, pliant, and sweeter than any wine. He tried to keep things slow, but that one taste enflamed his desire to new, unparalleled heights.

All he could feel, hear, and taste was Ronnie.

At the first parting of her lips, he slipped his tongue inside and found hers. He moaned again when she not just accepted him, but kissed him in return.

He could sense her desire, and it burned, scorched … seared.

Arran wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against him as he deepened the kiss. Her nails dug into his back, a soft moan reaching him.

He was contemplating taking her right there in full view of anyone who might be looking. That’s when he knew he had to pull back.

It went against everything inside him, but somehow he ended the kiss and placed his forehead on hers. She was breathing just as hard as he. He wasn’t ready to release her, and by the way she clung to him, neither was she.

All Arran knew was that with one taste, nothing and no one would do after Ronnie. Somehow, someway he had to have her.

With one kiss she had gotten in his blood.

With one kiss she had found his soul.

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN