Timeless (30 page)

Regan rested back against the couch cushions. How could she explain her feelings to him? Could she share the hard facts about Evelyn?

As difficult as it was to convince him what they were experiencing was real, he’d never be able to accept anything else she said as true.  He’d doubt her and doubt himself.

He’d thought she was crazy before.  It would just give him a reason to believe it.

But after all he had experienced, too, would he?

She studied his face for a moment. If he turned away from her now, she’d be alone with all this again.

Alone.

 Just when, for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel isolated any more.

 She couldn’t tell him. Not yet.

“My mom and dad are great. I’ve never lacked for love or attention since they adopted me. But from the beginning I felt— unworthy.”

“The foster families social services placed me with before them were good to me, but my biological mother wouldn’t release me for adoption, so they kept an emotional distance.”

“When I was ten, Evelyn, my biological mother died. She had a history of drug abuse and she died of an overdose.”

“God, I’m sorry, Regan.” Quinn breathed and grasped her hand.

Regan gave it a squeeze. “My parents adopted me.  They’re a little older than a traditional adoptive couple. But then I was older, too.  And you’d think the fact that they wanted me at all would have been enough, but it wasn’t.”

“I was afraid I’d do something that would make them not want me anymore. I had to be the smartest, the most well behaved, just the most
everything,
so they’d keep me.”  And so they wouldn’t think she was defective like Evelyn. She shook her head to clear the thought. “They actually worried about me being too well behaved.”

She swallowed. “It’s hard to change a pattern of behavior once it’s established. I can’t quit, and I can’t fail.”

She touched the bump on her forehead. It seemed that the swelling was going down already. She braced her elbow on her hip to keep the pack in place. “After everything I’ve been through here, I’ve realized something about myself. I’ve been running away my whole life.”
Running from the possibility she might go crazy like Evelyn
.
“ My parents offered me love and I returned it, but I’ve held back from them, too. ” She shouldn’t have, she should have grasped what they offered with both hands and returned it just as fiercely. She’d wasted that opportunity. But no more.

She moistened her lips. “I want to run from this, but I can’t. I’ve been waiting for that one thing that would make me unworthy of their love to show itself. ”

She swallowed and closed her eyes, riding the wave of doubt and pain that rose up in her. “And now that it has, I have to face it.”

“So, you’re looking for a cure to the visions.”

“Yes. A resolution. I’m also looking for a family I’ve never known. My mother never spoke of her family to me or anyone else, as far as I know. There has to be some connection between Coira and me. I look so much like her. As you look like Braden. We have to be family. And there has to be some purpose behind all of this.”

They fell silent for a moment each lost in their own thoughts. “Why are you still around? Why didn’t you turn your back on all this?” she asked.

“I wanted to,” Quinn admitted. “I wanted to deny that it was even happening.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “The more I tried to deny it, the more insistent the dreams and visions became. I couldn’t ignore the warnings and have something happen to you Regan.”

So he had followed his conscience and not his heart. She couldn’t fault him for that. The way he had made love to her—conscience hadn’t had a damn thing to do with that. “I’m sorry you were looped into all this against your will.” She rose to toss the ice pack in the sink, but Quinn got to his feet.

“I’ll get that. I’d just as soon you continue sittin’ for a while yet, just to be sure about your head.”

Rather than argue with him she handed him the soggy pack. She sipped the strong sweet tea he had prepared until he returned from the kitchen. “What kind of dreams are you having?”

He returned to his seat beside her. His eyes looked moss green as they moved over her features. “More than one, but I want you to tell me somethin’ first.”

She studied his expression, both serious and searching. “What?”

“I want you to tell me what happened during your first dive here.”

Regan shifted back against the couch. She’d been expecting this. But was she ready to tell him everything? And if she did, what would she do if he didn’t believe her? She bit her lip. “I didn’t experience narcosis.”

“Aye.”

She ran her hand through her hair and flinched as she brushed the bump. “I should have surfaced as soon as Henry and I became separated. I wish I had—more than you know.”

His steady gaze did nothing to reassure her.

“You’re not going to believe me. I experienced it, and I don’t believe it myself.”

“Rip the plaster off and just tell me, lass. I have some pretty amazing things to tell you.”

Regan smiled. “Good, you go first.”

His black brows clashed in a frown. “I’ve never known you to be a coward, Regan.”

Shit! Leave it to him to call her on it. She closed her eyes and braced herself, physically, emotionally, and told him.

When he opened up to her and told her about his own experiences while in the SAT system, it was worth it.

“That trip to Edinburgh is looking more and more like a priority, lass,” he said.

Would he go along with the other idea she had? The best she could do was ask. As strange as it was, it couldn’t hope to compete with what had already happened to them. And it might work.

But it could be dangerous?

But what choice did they have if they were going to get answers fast?

“I saw Coira today in the chamber, while we were trapped there.”

Quinn drew back to look down at her.

“It was just a glimpse of her peering out at us from the back room. But she was there.”

“It always comes back to her, doesn’t it?” His jaw worked. “I’ve been thinking—if we discover what all this is about, how will it affect us? Will it free us or will it tear us apart?”

Regan swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “Coira promised Braden she wouldn’t allow the stones to tear them apart. What if that’s the whole point? Or at least one of them.”

“You mean she’s set this whole thing up so she can get back to Braden?”

“And if she did, what will it mean to us?”

Quinn’s eyes moved over her face. He cupped her face and his thumb rubbed lightly over her cheekbone. Her heartbeat rose at the emotion she read in his face.

“Whatever it is, we’ll face it together,” he said. He lowered his mouth to hers.

Fear coursed through her, and Regan clung to him, turning aside the comfort of his kiss for more. She raised her chin to allow him access to her throat as his hand cupped her breast. “Promise me something,” she said her voice hoarsened by the knot of emotion in her throat. “Promise me you won’t forget what we have right at this moment.”

Quinn drew back. His gaze traced over her face, fierce and intent. “I give you my oath, Regan.”

As she drew his mouth back to hers, she prayed it would be enough.

CHAPTER 27

Regan pulled the heavy all-weather jacket close around her. The air hung moist and clammy. Patches of fog drifted just above the water, giving the scene the look of a class B horror flick. Lightning flashed just over Mount Slioch’s shoulder.

At the hollow thud of footsteps on the dock behind her, she looked down to the end of the platform. Quinn’s distinctive walk brought a smile to her face. Years of struggling against the force of water while walking on the bottom of lochs and the ocean had conditioned his body. He planted each foot with such smooth precision, such control.

But he wasn’t controlled when they made love. A quick flash of how his lean muscular frame covered hers, how the taut muscles of his stomach caressed hers as he moved inside her, triggered an ache of need. She scrambled to her feet to meet him and flinched as the bruise on her calf sent a painful reminder of the injury.

“Are you sure you want to try this?” he said as he reached her. The dull glow of the dock lights cast distorting shadows over his face, and she stepped close. His thick brows relaxed from a frown as she ran her hands up over his coat to loop her arms around his neck. His smile was a blend of tenderness and lust that kicked her heartbeat up a notch. She rose on tiptoe and kissed him.

Quinn’s arms tightened around her, molding her to his tall frame. His instant reaction, though separated from her by two layers of denim, pressed against her stomach. Her legs grew rubbery and she fought the desire to rub against him.

“Have you decided to stay here and focus your attention on something more interesting then?”

She laughed. “I’m very tempted.” Her voice sounded breathless even to her. His quick smile and the slow shift of his body against hers sent tempting sensations trailing downward.

The intensity of her feelings for him grew each day. Could she love him already? Or was it all an illusion she’d bought into with the visions? She didn’t think so but-—

Uncertainty dried her mouth and she swallowed. “The conditions should be perfect for observing what happens to the stones during a storm. We may not have another opportunity before we leave for Edinburgh.”

“Afterward, then?” he said. He cupped her buttocks one handed and held her against him as he nuzzled her neck.

She bit back a groan. “Afterwards.” Her fingers combed through the thick hair at the back of his head. His teeth grazed the sensitive area between her neck and shoulder. Delightful tingles raced over her skin, and she shivered.

The distant rumble of thunder drew her gaze to Slioch again. With a sigh she stepped back putting some space between them. “But we need to do this.” Was she trying to convince herself or him? Standing out in a thunderstorm close to the stones wasn’t the safest thing she’d ever done.

“How’s the hand?” she asked as they strolled further down the dock to the skiff.

He held it up and she flinched. The bruising had spread and his fingers were an eggplant purple.

“Are you sure it’s not broken?”

“The x-rays showed only a few hairline fractures.”

“Oh, only a few?” Her voice held a note of amazement.

“It’s just sore as hell. I’ve had worse injuries playing football.”

“You really should keep it in a sling, Quinn. You’re taking your pain meds aren’t you?”

“Yes, dear.”

She punched his arm.

The sound of thunder grew louder and more insistent as he helped her down into the skiff. “If the last one was any indication, we’ll have to take cover as soon as we get there,” he said.

He started the engine and flipped on the running lights. A movement on the path in front of the cabins caught Regan’s attention, and she studied the hill. A figure came out of the trees to walk along the bank just west of the dock. Because of the distance, it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or woman.

Had the person been watching them? Her cheeks burned at the thought of what the observer might have seen. She turned her face into the cold air that whipped over the windshield of the boat.

In less than two minutes, Quinn guided the skiff toward the dock at the dig site and cut the engine. The boat slid in next to the structure in a perfect, practiced motion.

“You’ve got to teach me how to do that,” she said. “You always time that perfectly.”

“Practice, darlin’.” He turned his head to gaze at her. “You often comment on my timing. I like that.”

Regan laughed at his smug tone, though her cheeks heated again.

He helped her out of the boat, then turned to gather three bundles from the floor behind the driver’s seat. Once again using one hand, he slid, in turn, a basket and two long draw-stringed pouches onto the dock, then stepped up.

“Camp chairs?” she asked.

“Aye.” He handed her an umbrella. “I saw no reason for us not to be comfortable while we watched.” He slung the handles of the two pouches over his shoulder. “And I brought a snack as well.”

She smiled at his unexpected romantic gesture and then laughed aloud. “Only you would bring food to a thunderstorm.”

“A man seizes his opportunities to please his
caileag
where he might.”

Was she his girl? The emotions she read in his face, the passion she experienced when she was with him, told her yes. The sense that time was running out hung like a Scottish claymore over her. Over them both. Was that true? What would happen once they learned what Coira needed of them?

They walked down the dock to the path that led to the dig site. The well-lit wooden platform ended in the darkness cast by the edge of the cofferdam. Quinn removed a flashlight from the basket he carried and handed it to her. They hiked up the gravel path toward the dig by the dim glow it cast.

“How’s the leg?” he asked as he slowed his pace in deference to her limp.

A match to his hand. “It’s just a little bruised and sore.”

A light flared, catching them in its circle. Blinded, Regan threw up a hand to block the beam. Quinn swung out the arm with the basket as though to push her behind him.

“Oh it’s you, Quinn.” As he turned the flashlight aside, Kennedy MacLeod, the security guard, rose like a mountain before them. His massive shoulders fell and his wide face held an expression of disappointment. “I was hoping for some excitement.”

“From the looks of it, you’ll be getting some in about twenty minutes,” Quinn said. He looked over his shoulder at Slioch as thunder rumbled. “We’ve come to watch the show.”

“I was here for the last one. You’ll need to find cover and keep your distance.”

Quinn nodded. “So we’ve heard. We’ll be sitting in the entrance of the main office. Should you see any movement there, you’ll know it’s us.”

“All right. I’m going to make sure everythin’ is battened down here before it begins.” As he walked away, gravel crunched beneath his feet as though his size fourteens dug craters in the path.