The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance (40 page)

He stopped outside a low wooden door and snapped back the three bolts securing it. An unearthly glow seeped into the darkened hal as he pul ed the door wide. She fol owed him down a narrow winding stairway, the only light a luminous glow from the shel s embedded in the wal s.

After a little while, he paused and turned. “Do you need a rest? It’s quite a drop, two hundred steps.”

At her headshake, he moved on. The rushing of water sounded in the distance. As they descended farther, the noise grew louder and a cool breeze carried the scent of the sea up the stairwel .

“I’ve always loved the sea,” Kate said, almost to herself.

Esras turned and flashed her a smile. “Of course. You’re one of Lir’s people.” Even as a little frisson of excitement passed through her, she shook her head. Esras had introduced himself as a descendant of the sea god Lir. Now he was trying to involve her in his delusion.
But if she thought that, why did she instinctively trust him?

They emerged into an underground cavern lit only by the same luminous glow as the steps. The sea hissed in and out of an opening in the rocks. They had descended from the top of the cliff, where the manor house stood, to sea level and must now be inside a cave under the cliff.

She fol owed him along a tunnel leading deeper into the rock and they came out in a smal grotto. Above the murmur of the sea, she heard a swishing, sucking sound. They stopped at a circular opening in the rock floor. Water swirled inside the hole, flickers of light and dark dancing in its depths. “The Whirlpool of Lir,” Esras whispered.

The pearl resting on Kate’s chest lifted towards the wel , tugging at the chain around her neck.

“Ahh!” She grasped it and hung on as it tried to jump from her hand.

“Don’t be frightened.” He put an arm around her waist, pul ing her against his side. Her skin hummed with his nearness and she leaned into him, enjoying the thril of touching him even while her heart pounded with uncertainty.

“Give me Lir’s favour.” Esras held out a hand.

“My grandmother’s pearl? What are you going to do with it?”

“Trust me.” He leaned closer and stroked the back of his fingers across her cheek. She breathed in the scents of salt, sea and fresh air from his skin, combined with a musky masculine fragrance. She stared at him, mesmerized, and her worries drifted away.

She unfastened the chain from her neck and placed it in his palm. He then removed the pearl from the chain. Before she realized what he was going to do, he dropped the pearl into the swirling waters.

“No!” Kate put a hand over her mouth, staring into the water. She turned her shocked gaze on Esras. “What have you done? Grandma left that to me.”

“She wanted you to bring her pearl back here,” he said gently.

“I know, but—”

“She wanted Lir’s favour returned to him.”

Kate stared into the water, tears pricking her eyes. The one memento she’d had of her grandmother was lost forever.

“Kate.” Esras stroked some hair that had escaped from her ponytail back behind her ear. “She wanted you to have your own favour from Lir . . . from me.” Esras crouched and scooped a handful of the surging water into his palm. Instead of leaking between his fingers, the water formed a bal . He shaped it, scraping away blobs of water as though they were jel y. When only a smal tear-shaped piece of water remained, he stroked it, chanting under his breath. Rainbows danced around him, glowed on the mother-of-pearl at his neck, glittered in the heart of the water droplet in his palm.

Eventual y, the colours faded and the cavern was once again lit only by the luminous glow from the wal s. Esras held up a pink-tinged pearl teardrop and then threaded it back on her chain. “This one wil feel right because I made the favour for you. Wear it by your heart and you wil never be far from me – or the sea.”

Kate let him refasten the chain around her neck and rubbed her fingers across the pearl. Tingles danced up her hand, spread across her skin, setting her nerves on fire until she longed to feel the soothing cool stroke of the sea over her body.

“How did you make this from water?” she asked.

“Pearls are always shaped by the sea, Kate.”

She stared down at the pearl, her mind churning with conflicting emotions. She prided herself on being practical and down-to-earth. The things Esras said and did clashed with everything she believed, yet she couldn’t deny what she’d seen with her own eyes – could she?

His fingertips slid beneath her chin and lifted her face so she couldn’t avoid meeting the bottomless green of his eyes.

“I’m your King, Kate. You belong with me.”

Three

Kate spent a terrible night tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The image of Esras with rainbows dancing around him plagued her mind. By morning, she had convinced herself that the rainbow light had simply been reflections from his mother-of-pearl necklace and his making the pearl had been a trick. He obviously hadn’t thrown her grandmother’s pearl in the water at al . He’d hidden it.

Then by sleight of hand, he’d made her believe he’d created another one.

If he was loony enough to believe he was descended from a sea god, he was likely to be the type of man who’d pretend to have magical powers.

And like a complete idiot, she’d al owed herself to be sucked into his fantasy world. After working in television for two years, she should know better than to believe everything she saw.

Kate joined her col eagues and sat at one of the plastic tables by the catering van with her styrofoam cup of tea and an egg and bacon breakfast rol . She breathed the sea air, marvel ing at the fantastic view of white-topped waves on the green Celtic Sea. From the rocky headland where Knock House stood, the land sloped down to the vil age of Knocknapog: a smal harbour surrounded by a scatter of slate-roofed cottages with bobbing fishing boats riding the waves in the bay.

On the lawn in front of Knock House, Esras’ people and some of the vil agers had started to erect stal s and tents for the Midsummer Feast.

As if her thinking of Esras had summoned him, he stepped out of the house, rested his hands on his hips, and surveyed the feast-day preparations. “Grand. You’re al doing a fine job,” he shouted to the workers. He had on his dove-grey tailcoat minus the top hat, this time with Hawaiian-pattern board shorts. His gaze found her and a smile kicked up the corners of his mouth. Kate’s stomach did a hot flip as she remembered his hard muscular arm around her waist, pul ing her against his side. She quickly looked away and tried to pretend she hadn’t noticed him.

As he sauntered over to her, the pearl started to pulse against her chest. She ignored it, tel ing herself it was probably just vibrating with her racing heart.

“How are you doing this fine morning? Did you sleep wel , my love?” His term of endearment caused a few raised eyebrows among the production team who were breakfasting with her.

Kate’s instinct was to tel him that she wasn’t
his love
, but if she protested too much it would only confirm everyone’s lascivious suspicions.

“I slept wel , thank you,” she replied. “The room’s very comfortable.”

“Wonderful.” Esras rubbed his hands together and glanced around at her col eagues. “I’m expecting you al to dress up for the Feast of Beauty. I have traditional costumes for you to choose from.”

“Ohh,” Claudia said, slipping on sunglasses as she joined them. “Did I hear something about costumes? What fun. I adore dressing up.” She put an arm through Esras’ as she accepted a cup of tea from Peter. “When can we see the clothes, Esras darling?”

“Right now if you like.” Esras turned towards the house, taking Claudia with him. The female members of the production team fol owed eagerly, while the two cameramen climbed wearily to their feet and trudged behind.

Kate had no intention of dressing up. If she did, she might end up on camera, and she hated herself on film. Although she didn’t want to see the costumes, the sight of Claudia hanging eagerly on Esras’ arm annoyed her. She stuffed the last of her rol in her mouth and washed it down with a gulp of tea, then fol owed the rest of her col eagues inside.

Everyone had trailed through to the back of the house to a room ful of costumes. Each outfit was careful y covered and hanging on a metal rail. What kind of man had a storage room ful of costumes in his house for goodness sake? Surely that proved he was weird.

Peter looked puzzled, while the cameramen grabbed the first things that came to hand and retreated quickly. Claudia and the other women
oohed
and
ahhed
over sparkly dresses while Kate watched from the doorway.

Esras came to her and caught hold of her hand. “I have the perfect dress for you. It’s the same sapphire blue as your eyes.”

She stood her ground when he tried to pul her into the room. “I grew out of playing dress-up years ago.”

The corners of his mouth dipped sadly although his eyes continued to sparkle with mirth. “Al work and no play makes Kate a dul girl.”

His words hit a nerve. “Then I guess I’m dul ,” she snapped and yanked her hand away from him.

How would a wealthy eccentric like Esras understand that normal people didn’t get anywhere in life by wasting time playing dress-up and fantasizing about magic?

Work hard and you’ll get your reward in heaven
, her mother had always said. And Kate wasn’t getting any work done watching Claudia fawn over stupid dresses.

Kate stomped back outside, found her clipboard, and started ticking off the jobs she had completed.

Three hours later, al her col eagues and Esras’ people were in costume and set to go. Esras walked regal y down the four steps from his front door garbed in a gleaming silver and emerald cape over a pearly grey suit. Despite the theatrical costume, he stil managed to look damn sexy.

He wore a gold crown on his head decorated with mother-of-pearl and huge sparkling green gems. The stones looked like emeralds, but couldn’t be; otherwise, the thing would be locked up in a vault. Esras’ people had carried out his throne, and it was set upon a dais beside a smal er throne decorated with tiny pink and yel ow shel s.

“OK, people, are we al ready?” the director shouted. Kate glanced down at her schedule, pleased that they were starting on time despite the fact that most of the team had had to change clothes.

Dressed in an elaborate off-the-shoulder gown of silver and gold with a scattering of tiny crystals across the bodice, Claudia introduced the episode before the crew filmed Esras taking his throne.

“And now, we’l witness the highlight of the festivities here today. King Esras wil choose his Feast of Beauty queen,” Claudia said in her silky on-camera voice. She turned to Esras expectantly, obviously keen to be cal ed up to sit beside him. A tense silence fel over Esras’

people and the watching crowd of vil agers. Kate had assumed Esras would select Claudia. She had even pencil ed Claudia’s name in at this point on her schedule. Stil , she couldn’t deny a niggle of . . . what? Disappointment? Jealousy?

Esras remained silent for so long that people began to shift restlessly and the director muttered his annoyance. Kate stared at her clipboard, bracing herself to hear Esras cal Claudia to be his Feast of Beauty Queen. Final y she looked up at him. His eyes were fixed on her, a hint of a smile on his lips. She seemed to fal into the green depths. A strange tingle that felt like bubbly water raced across her skin. The faint hum of voices and the noise of the feast day faded until al she could hear was the gentle hiss of the sea.

“Why are you ignoring me, Kate? You knew I’d choose you.” Esras’ words whispered on the wind.

Kate stared at him wide eyed. “I didn’t . . .”

“Kate is my queen,” Esras announced, and she snapped out of her trance with a jolt. Everyone was looking at her, some smiling, others with raised eyebrows, Claudia with daggers flashing from her eyes.

“You bitch,” Claudia grated under her breath.

“You can’t have Kate,” Peter said, striding forwards. “She’s not dressed up. It’s much better if Claudia’s your queen. It doesn’t real y matter who you have, does it? It’s just pretend.” Esras leaned back and crossed his arms. The temperature dropped. Tendrils of sea mist crawled over the cliff into the garden and drifted between the stal s like wraiths bringing a damp salty taste to the air.

After a long awkward silence, Peter heaved a resigned sigh. “Go and put on a damn dress, Kate. And hurry up.”

Kate hesitated in an agony of indecision. She didn’t want to be filmed, yet she could barely contain the shivers of pleasure running through her.
Esras wanted her to be his queen.
Of course, she wouldn’t have minded if he’d chosen Claudia. After al , this was partly being staged for the television show.

“Kate,” Peter said in a warning tone. “I’m getting old here.”

“I didn’t choose a dress,” she said weakly.

“Look on your bed,” Esras said, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Kate ran up to her room with Claudia’s make-up artist Tina on her heels.

On her bed, she found a beautiful deep-blue dress with a satin bodice decorated with a sparkling beading design and overlaid with tul e draping. “Oh, yes,” Tina said. “The man has got an eye for colour. This wil go perfectly with your dark hair and blue eyes.” After stripping off her jeans and T-shirt, Kate stood obediently while Tina fastened her into the dress. She squeaked in protest when Tina undid her bra and pul ed the straps off her arms. “I can’t go out there bra-less.” Her mother would never be able to hold her head up in church again if her friends saw the show.