Dual Release (19 page)

The brothers were close-knit but for some reason refused to share the secret to ending the curse. Four of them were free and lived a normal life, or as normal as possible for men born hundreds of years ago, cursed and awakened to live in a totally different world. For the past six weeks, she and Jenny had done everything possible to coax the answer from any of them without success. Akira’s words of advice on the matter taunted her thoughts daily.
The answer ye seek lies within one’s heart.

What the hell did that mean? She tried not to linger on it as she smiled from one person to the other as she scanned the intimate gathering.

There were only a few others in attendance. Margaret and Ned, the married couple who worked as the housekeeper and the handyman/groundskeeper. Margaret wanted to make all the food for the reception, but May insisted she relax and enjoy the wedding and had everything catered. That had been an interesting conversation to overhear, but May won in the end. Cait smiled remembering the gentle way May convinced the older woman she wanted her included in the festivities as her friend.

Izzy’s best friends Nessia MacKay and Colin Campbell sat side by side and were an obvious couple, though they pretended not to be. Cait shook her head at that one. Caledonia’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kavanaugh, and her two closest friends, the O’Reilly brothers, Abel and Percy, sat together. Friends of Lynn and Padon, Travis Shain and Fin MacIntyre, along with Fin’s grandfather, Thicket MacIntyre, sat in the last row of chairs.

Now that Thicket MacIntyre might be a good match for her Gran. Cait shook her head. Matchmaking. What the hell was she thinking? It had to be the wedding scene that had her mind working that way. Her Gran had loved meeting everyone when she visited the week before and it didn’t surprise Cait that she understood the curse thing and the clan. Gran was special that way. It disappointed Cait that Gran couldn’t make it to the wedding. She had prior plans.

When the music started and May stepped into sight at the far end of the center aisle. Akira floated at her side. Being the only MacKinnon sister, she was spared the curse. If it weren’t for her efforts, Hume MacGillivray would have destroyed the MacKinnon brothers as they slept in statue form. For a split second, Cait truly hated MacGillivray for what he’d done but if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have Donnell.

She slid her hand into his as they stood. He smiled down at her, and her insides heated. Damn. She liked when he looked at her like that, as if he wanted to kiss her. Cait broke eye contact with him and lifted her gaze to the bride. Belvedere led the way wearing a bright-green bowtie and a matching top hat. When they reached the altar, Akira gave her away, then floated to hover beside Ericka. Belvedere sat at Angus MacDonnell’s side, facing the audience as if it were his job to oversee everything and make sure it went right.

The ceremony was short and beautiful. The vows they’d written left not a dry eye among the women. May and Jameson were the perfect couple. Smiles were permanently glued to their faces at the reception, which was held in the huge common room of Castle MacKinnon. A buffet table of food lined one side of the room. A local band was in the back corner and played traditional wedding music. A dance floor had been placed beside the band. May and Jameson had the tables arranged in a circle at one end of the room with their table in the middle. They wanted to be able to share every joyous moment with everyone.

Donnell took her hand and led her to the dance floor. He whispered, “I am not much of a dancer but with a lady as beautiful as ye upon
mi
arm, I refuse to not at least try.”

Cait smiled up at him. After a few minutes, she realized he wasn’t lying, so before it cost her some toes, she nodded toward the door leading to the garden. “I could use some air.”

They crossed the hall and out through the double glass doors leading into the rear garden. A full moon gave tremendous light, showing the pathways with ease. The side garden was where the ceremony had been held. But this garden was Cait’s favorite. She and Jenny spent many hours researching the curse with no luck of finding a cure, while tucked away on a lawn hidden within this maze of shrubs, flowers and trees. In the center was a water fountain with benches nestled in alcoves of shrubbery around it. Out the rear gate led into a field of wildflowers and lavender, something she wished she could share with Donnell since it was her favorite spot she’d found so far on MacKinnon land.

A movement caught her eye and she turned just in the nick of time to see Dour and Jenny kissing as he walked her backward into the trees and out of sight. She smiled, knowing Jenny was in love and from the look on Dour’s face recently, she didn’t doubt he felt the same about her. Lucky girl. But she didn’t get the chance to think on it before Donnell clasped her elbow and spun her into his arms.

His lips met hers and all thought of what anyone else was up to dissipated instantly. The heat of his hands skimming along her arms gave her chills. When he cupped her arse and tugged her close, the hardness of his cock beneath his kilt couldn’t be missed. His warm breath tickled her ear as he whispered, “
Mi
brèagha neamhnaid
, I have been in need of ye in
mi
arms. The shower only whetted
mi
appetite for ye.”

It was wonderfully arousing to know he wanted her as much as she wanted him. And every time he called her his pretty pearl,
brèagha neamhnaid
, it made her heart swell. Never had anyone given her a pet name. In any other situation, she probably wouldn’t have liked it, but with Donnell it seemed natural, and the way he spoke it gave her chills and made her hot at the same time.

She stretched upward for another kiss but froze at the sound of a woman’s scream. Donnell spun around, as did she, trying to determine the direction from which it came. In a flash, he removed the
sgian dubh
—dagger—from its sheath hidden inside his boot. With her hand in his, they followed the sound of voices arguing on the other side of the hedge. At the opening into that pathway, they met Dour and Jenny doing the same thing, tracking the sound of the voices. Dour held a dagger similar to the one Donnell carried. The brothers nodded to one another.

“Stay here,” Dour whispered to the women.

As soon as they stepped a few feet away, Cait turned to Jenny and nodded in their direction. The pair silently followed the men. The voices grew louder. Cait recognized Struan’s deep timbre. He sounded calm yet intimidating, warning someone not to harm his woman. Someone threatened Caledonia? Who? Why?

Where the path opened into another hidden alcove containing a small fishpond with a bench beside it, she noted Dour and Donnell split up. Each slid into the shadows of the trees surrounding the area and she guessed they were angling for better positions to help.

Slowly she and Jenny stepped closer, making sure not to be seen. She kept Jenny behind her as they eased to one side of the path and lingered in the darkness provided by the shrubs and trees. Carefully Cait peeked through the branches. She’d be damned. That rat from the warehouse stood holding a knife to Caledonia’s neck. The last she’d heard of him, he’d still been in the hospital awaiting release to jail, but that was weeks ago. How the hell had he managed to escape?

“Kip, why are you doing this?” Cait heard the desperation in Caledonia’s voice. Moonlight glinted off the steel at her neck.

“You belong to me,” he growled loudly. His voice cracked and his hand shook dangerously closer to Caledonia’s skin. “Not to statue boy there.”

Struan took a step but froze when Kip dug the tip into her flesh to make a point. “Not a step closer, asshole,” Kip yelled. His hand fisted Caledonia’s braid and jerked her head backward, tightening the skin of her neck, making it the perfect cutting board.

“Caledonia does not belong to ye, Crosby,” Struan spat angrily at the dirty, smaller man. Cait saw his one fist ball and unball at his side. His other arm remained in a sling, keeping his shoulder intact. But she doubted that would stop him from using it in a fight. She could tell he was calculating his next move carefully so as not to spill Caledonia’s blood. “She be no man’s possession. She be a woman with a mind of her own and she chose me over ye.”

“She is mine. Together we’ll rise to the top of the treasure-hunting world. And you,” he gasped, “you’ll be a forgotten memory once Brother Leod has his way with you and your whole clan.”

Kip tugged Caledonia by the braid, making her walk as he walked, moving toward the pathway. Struan moved in sync, never taking his eyes off the intruder. Realizing he was headed her way, Cait took the opportunity being handed to her. The MacKinnon men needed a distraction and she had just the thing. As subtly as possible, she slid the emergency kit out of her bra, because in the dress she wore there was nowhere else to keep it and she never went anywhere unprepared.

A smile split her lips as she lit the firecracker’s fuse, waited a second for him to take one more step closer, then threw it to land directly behind him at his feet. Never had she seen anyone jump so high or heard a man scream in such a high-pitched tone. You would have thought she’d shot him. He dropped the knife from Caledonia’s throat and it was all Struan needed to take him down. But he wasn’t alone in his efforts. Caledonia elbowed Kip in the ribs and jerked free of his weakened grip just as Struan made contact with a solid blow to his jaw. Kip’s head twisted to the side. The knife went flying into the trees. Dour and Donnell lunged from their positions,
sgian dubhs
poised at the ready.

Kip slowly folded to his knees. His head wobbled on his shoulders like a bobble-head doll. Dour looked at Donnell, then gave a shove to Kip’s back with a swift kick of his booted foot. The man fell face forward into the grass.

“So he was stupid enough to come here after all,” May exclaimed as almost everyone from the wedding rushed onto the scene.

“You knew he escaped?” Cait asked.

She nodded. “We were informed by the authorities that Kip Crosby managed to get away. From what they’ve determined, a thug named Roy Finnegan dressed as a male nurse got into Crosby’s room, apparently with the intent to kill him. There was a scuffle between them, which alerted the guards outside the room. During the chaos of them trying to apprehend this Roy guy, Crosby exited the room and the hospital.”

“Why did he come here?” Jenny asked, stepping out of the shadows to stand beside Dour. “Why did he want to hurt Caledonia?”

“He’s my ex-husband,” Caledonia explained. “He used to be such a wonderful person until greed took over his soul. He blames me for his being arrested. You see, when I brought Struan up from the bottom of the loch, he stole Struan in statue form, thinking he’d make a lot of money selling him on the black market. Trouble was, I had no plans of losing Struan. We followed him and took Struan back.” She shook her head. “Even though we knew Kip escaped, I’d hoped he wouldn’t try anything. I was wrong.”

Struan wrapped his good arm around her, hugging her tight. “
Mi
fiadh-chat
—wildcat—it be over. He won’t get away this time.”

Ian hobbled onto the scene along with Izzy. “
Och.
I missed the fun,” he grumbled. “Damn boot. It be slowing me down.”

“Good thing,” Izzy teased. “You might’ve gotten in the way. Looks like your brothers handled it just fine.”

“Ye be right,” he admitted as he leaned closer to Izzy. “I can think of other ways to be having a bit of fun.” Izzy just grinned up at him.

As he reached the group, Charles said, “When I saw you gentlemen had it under control, I called the authorities. They’re on the way.” He tossed a roll of thick gray tape to Donnell. “I grabbed this from the kitchen drawer. Bind his ankles and wrists together with it. It’ll hold him until they arrive to take him away.”

From the bunched-brow look on his face, Cait knew he didn’t understand the substance he held in his hands. She took it from him and pulled a long piece free from the roll. “It’s called tape. It’s sticky and has a world of wonderful uses.”

She straddled the facedown man, bent over, grabbed his ankles and wound the strip around them tightly. When she turned to obtain more, she wasn’t surprised to see Donnell doing the same to his wrists. She shot him a wink and teased, “I knew you were a fast learner.”

He grinned, leaning close to her as he whispered, “I could think of a few good uses for this later.” Then he wagged his eyebrows and she knew she blushed from the heat seeping up her neck to fill her cheeks. His grin broadened as he helped her step over Kip.

The O’Reillys offered to move him to the front and watch over him until the authorities arrived. They dragged him a few feet, letting his head bounce until Caledonia stepped in.

“As much as I know he doesn’t deserve any kindness, please don’t break his neck or bash his skull by moving him like that.”

“Aww, Cali,” Percy O’Reilly groaned in a teasing manner, “we never get to have any fun.”

Abel nudged his brother, leaned in and whispered loudly, “We just have to carry him until she can’t see us anymore, then we can let him taste the dirt of the motherland again.”

Caledonia crossed her arms over her chest and gave them a raised-eyebrow look. “I heard that. Don’t make me follow you all the way around the castle to the driveway.”

Cait snickered at the bickering threesome. Those two might not be her blood brothers but they sure acted like true siblings in her book. Struan stepped forward, reached down with his good arm and grabbed a handful of Crosby’s hair.

“Come on, lads,” he announced with a mischievous grin. “I’ll be glad to help carry him.”

Jameson stated loudly, “Show’s over. Let’s get this party started again.”

“I agree.” May kissed his cheek and held his hand as he led them back inside.

“It’s never a dull moment with this clan,” Jenny claimed as Dour led her to the dance floor.

One arm wrapped around her waist while his other hand held hers snugly against his chest in between them. “Would ye prefer dull?” His brows bunched as he met her gaze.