Midnight's Captive (Dark Warriors) (8 page)

Laura put her glass on Con’s desk and stood. “I think that’s my cue.”

Charon sat forward, intending to rise with her until she held up her hand.

“No. It’s time I stepped out so you two can talk properly instead of hiding meanings in your words because you don’t want me to know.”

Charon caught her arm as she turned away. He rose to his feet and looked into her green eyes. “Laura—”

“It’s all right,” she interrupted, and smiled softly.

Her skin felt warm in his hand, smooth. She smelled of cherry blossoms from her soap, and he wanted to lean nearer and breathe it in. “Stay close.”

She pulled away, and he didn’t stop her. It wasn’t until she was out of the office, the door closed behind her, that he turned to Con. He was done beating around the bush.

“What do you know?” Charon demanded.

Con set down his now empty glass. “A lot, actually. But that is no’ why you came. You came because you want to sell my scotch.”

“I’m no’ so sure anymore. I doona like being investigated.”

Con made a sound at the back of his throat. “Charon, we’re no’ your enemy. And doona worry for Miss Black’s safety. There are fewer places on this earth where she could be safer.”

Charon instantly thought of MacLeod Castle. She’d be safe there. “Who are you? Really.”

Con rubbed a hand over his chin. “A potential ally. A friend if you want it.”

“Again, why?”

“I think the name Jason Wallace means something to you.”

Charon squeezed the crystal so hard, the glass shattered in his hand. He put his palms on Con’s desk and leaned toward him. “Is that why I’m here? Did Wallace pay you to trap me? Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll triple it as long as you allow Laura to leave.”

“Nay, I’m no’ working with Wallace,” Con said calmly, and he got to his feet, seemingly unfazed by Charon’s response. “My business is much more vast than most realize. I have my ear to the ground, so to speak, in various places. I know Wallace Mansion has been damaged. Again.”

“No matter what you think you know, you doona know half of it. Stay away from Wallace. He’ll infest everything you have until there’s nothing left.”

Con regarded him quietly for several long minutes. “Wallace isna the man his cousin was. Declan was out in the public eye showing off his wealth and power for all to see. But it’s what he was doing behind the scenes that concerned me.”

“What was that?” Charon would find out all he could from Con and then determine what to do about his knowledge of Jason Wallace.

“Lining other men’s pockets. Declan might be dead, but doona make the mistake of underestimating Jason. Jason might no’ have the good looks of his cousin, but he’s smarter. You Warriors have done a fine job battling the
droughs,
but Jason Wallace is different.”

Charon straightened, his hands clenched as he took in all of what Con said. The bastard knew he was a Warrior, and he’d known of the
droughs
. What else did they know?

He wanted to know how Con had discovered what he was, but more important was the information Con had on Wallace. Charon reined in his fury and focused on his nemesis as he walked to the window, where he shoved his hands in his pockets. “We already underestimated Jason. I’m going to make him pay though.”

“Alone?”

“If need be.”

“It’ll be tricky.”

“What do you know of it?” Charon asked. He kept his gaze out the window, but he was watching Con in the glass pane.

The head of Dreagan sighed heavily, his brow furrowed for a moment. “You’ve every reason to be mistrustful. In all the time we’ve been at Dreagan I’ve never invited a Warrior—or anyone, for that matter—into my home and told them what we are.”

Charon waited, his mind racing with possibilities. Yet, he kept coming up empty of just what Con could be.

“I find even now I can no’ actually say it. It’s been a secret too closely guarded. All I’ll tell you—today—is that you’re no’ the only immortal being around.”

Charon placed his hands on the windowsill, his heart pounding in his chest. This he never expected. Some kind of Druid maybe, but another immortal?

“Why tell me now?” Charon asked.

“Because I doona think it can be put off any longer. Things are escalating. There may come a time when we can help each other.”

Charon didn’t hide his grin as he narrowed his gaze at Con’s reflection and the distaste distorting his features. “That was difficult to say. I take it that you doona really think you’ll ever need a Warrior’s help?”

“We’ve been around since the beginning of time. We doona need anyone.”

Charon faced Con and leaned against the window. Now, wasn’t that interesting. “Really?”

Con sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk. “You know how difficult it is to keep a secret. You’ve kept yours a long time, but even now, some of your men know what you are. We’ve kept our secret for thousands of millennia.”

There was so much Charon wanted to ask, but he knew by the set of Con’s jaw that nothing more would be said about it today. If Con was offering to be his ally, then he’d be a fool to turn it down.

“Do I get to sell your whisky or no’?”

Con’s smile was slow as it filled his face. “Aye, Charon, I think you’re just the type of man we want selling our brand.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

University of Edinburgh

Aiden couldn’t believe how much Britt discovered in the time she had been studying the blood. Though he wished things had moved along quicker, he wasn’t going to complain about it as long as the information kept coming.

He finished sending off the latest e-mail to everyone at the castle, explaining that Britt was trying to isolate the property in the Warrior blood to determine why it reacted so violently to the
drough
blood.

Although Britt had no idea the blood was Warrior and
drough,
or why it was so important to him. She asked often enough, but so far, Aiden had been able to keep her in the dark.

“I’ve never seen blood do this to other blood before,” Britt said, her face pressed against the microscope lenses.

Again and again, she had tested the
drough
blood on the Warrior blood. Each time the results were the same. The red and white blood cells instantly began to die off.

Aiden rose from his seat in the lab and walked to look out the window. It had been raining for two days, and didn’t look to be letting up anytime soon.

“Tell me, Aiden, please,” Britt urged.

For two weeks Aiden had spent most of every day with her in the lab. He sat silently staring at her, dreaming about her while she worked. They had shared numerous meals, but all eaten quickly while she looked at her notes or talked about the blood.

All the while he listened, he waited for the times she would look up at him and snare him with her eyes. Those brief moments were enough to last him until the next time.

The more he was around her, the more he wanted her. He’d made sure to “accidentally” touch her as often as he could. Britt always had a ready smile for him, but she had been so involved with her work that he hadn’t been able to decipher if she was as attracted to him as he was her.

Perhaps it was time to find out.

“Let me take you to dinner tonight,” Aiden said as he turned to her.

She blinked, her blue eyes holding a hint of surprise. She tucked a pencil into her hair, it joining the three others she had stuffed in her loose bun. “Dinner? You want to take me to dinner instead of telling me about the blood?”

“Aye.” Aiden sighed and spun a pencil on the table. “Britt, I keep the information from you to protect you.”

“And to protect your family in case what I find ever gets out in the world.”

“Aye.”

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears. “Do you have that hard a time trusting people?”

“If you knew all I had been through, you’d understand.”

“Then tell me.”

Aiden bit back a laugh. “I admit, it would be easier if I could.”

“But you won’t,” she finished.

He shrugged. “There are people out there who would kill you just for helping me. It’s why we do this in secret, why I ask you no’ to tell anyone what you’re working on.”

“Tell me one thing, then. Is one of those blood samples yours?”

“And if it was?”

She smiled as she slid off the stool and set aside the samples she’d been looking at. “I have a class I can’t miss again.”

Aiden watched as she grabbed her stuff and started for the door. She suddenly stopped and turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“Pick me up at seven.”

He grinned and rocked back on his heels, feeling a bit of happiness for the first time in weeks.

*   *   *

Laura sat in the kitchen area having tea with Cassie when she heard Charon’s voice. Her heart kicked up a notch when she turned and spotted him on the top landing smiling with Con.

“I think things went well,” Cassie said.

Laura nodded. “I knew they would. Charon can charm anyone when he sets his mind to it.”

“I hope this means we’ll get to see more of you and Charon around Dreagan.”

Laura’s head swiveled back to Cassie. “But I thought Dreagan was more private than that.”

“There are a few clients we invite on a regular basis.”

Why did Laura feel there was so much going on around her without her truly understanding it? She’d felt it from the moment they drove onto Dreagan land, and the sensation grew the longer she was here.

“I know Charon likes it here.”

Cassie beamed as she stood and motioned for Laura to do the same. “Come. I’ll take you to him.”

As they walked to the stairs, Cassie leaned close and said, “Charon is a handsome man. Men like him don’t stay single for long.”

Laura missed a step and nearly fell on her face. She glanced at Cassie and shook her head. “Charon is my employer.”

“Then why do you look at him the way you do?”

She was saved from having to answer when they reached the stairs and started up them with Charon watching. As always, Laura was caught off guard by his dark eyes and the way he held her gaze.

It was easy to forget everything, including her past in England, when she was drowning in his eyes. It was easy to forget she was just his employee and not the woman he desired.

It was easy to forget that he would never be hers.

“Thank you for your tenacity, Miss Black,” Con said, breaking into her thoughts and shattering the haze that had taken her. “Charon will now be selling Dreagan whisky.”

Laura smiled, but it was directed at Charon. She alone knew how much this had meant to him. “Congratulations. I told you it would all work out.”

The boyish grin Charon wore made her stomach flutter. He was pleased, and if she wasn’t mistaken, the look that passed between him and Con was full of a deeper meaning that alluded to the conversation they’d had before she left them.

With a handshake and farewells, Charon was soon walking toward her. When he reached her, Laura found his hand upon her lower back as he walked with her down the stairs.

His touch was light, barely grazing her clothes, but she felt it all the way to her bones. She slowed enough that his hand came in full contact with her. It was such a small pleasure, but she would take anything she could.

She was torturing herself. Yet in these few moments, she could pretend Charon was hers. There would come a day when she knew she’d have to face the fact that he’d fallen in love with someone else. Until then, however, she had her fantasies that got her through each day.

There was so much she wanted to ask Charon about his visit with Con, but she would have to wait until they departed the mansion. Just when she thought she’d get the chance, Cassie and Hal offered to walk them out.

“They want to make sure we doona snoop,” Charon whispered as she passed him while he held the door open.

Laura coughed to hide her laugh, but she couldn’t stop the grin. Charon’s dark eyes twinkled with merriment as he spoke to Hal.

By the time they reached the car, Laura had already promised to call Cassie in the next few weeks to set up a time to visit. She was so dazed at having made that promise without grasping that’s where Cassie had been heading her that she didn’t realize Charon was opening her door for her until he reached for the handle.

He was always a gentleman, but he had never opened her car door for her before. She looked up and was ensnared by his eyes.

“Laura!” Cassie yelled.

Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw something small and furry rush by her feet, and then she spotted something huge coming at her.

In an instant, she was hauled against the car, Charon’s body pressed against hers. Laura inhaled deeply, letting the spicy sandalwood scent of Charon fill her senses.

Her hands automatically took hold of his shoulders, and the feel of the thick sinew beneath her palms caused her heart to race.

But it was nothing compared to the amazing feel of the entire hard length of him against her.

It was the loud, deep bark that brought her eyes open. Laura spotted a harlequin-colored Great Dane skid to a halt and collide with Charon.

The dog went down on his front paws and ducked his great head beneath the car with his butt in the air and tail wagging. A moment later, the dog stood with a small solid white kitten held loosely in its mouth.

“Duke,” Cassie admonished as she rushed to them. “I’m so sorry. Duke doesn’t understand he isn’t the momma to the kittens. He won’t let them out of his sight.”

“Are you all right?” Charon asked softly near Laura’s ear.

“I’m not the one who almost got taken out by a Great Dane. Duke ran into you.” Though she had barely felt the collision.

Charon’s face was inches from hers. He was so close she could see the black ring around his deep brown eyes. Her breasts were crushed against him, causing her blood to sear her veins.

If she were the take-charge kind of girl, Laura would close the space between them and kiss him as she’d been yearning to do. Instead, she stood there, hoping, praying he’d be the one to kiss her.

Charon knew he needed to step away from Laura, but he couldn’t. His body was ablaze. For her.