The Curse Keepers Collection (6 page)

He shook his head in confusion. “But you had just mentioned you wanted to go on a diet! If you want dessert, you can get it—”

I opened the door and pushed him out while handing him is shoes. “You’re damn right I can get dessert!”

I stood in the doorway, pulling the door shut behind me as I watched as Dwight clomped down the stairs, irritated that I’d put up with him through five dates. I really sucked at dating. Man after man after man had paraded through my life, each one worse than the last. My judgment was not to be trusted.

Maybe it was time to find my purpose in life. A purpose that didn’t include men. Maybe I’d even try to move away.
No
, I could never move away from Daddy, and Myra needed me to help with the inn. But I could try to take a trip in the fall. I’d always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I’d learn some breathing exercises to deal with my anxiety of getting too far from Roanoke Island.

Starting tomorrow morning, I was changing. No more flighty Ellie. I was going to be mature and responsible. I was going to figure out who I was. And I was giving up men. At least until I figured out me a little better.

As I turned to go back inside, I noticed someone in the shadows, six feet away. My hand froze on the doorknob.

The figure stepped out of the darkness, and my heart jolted.

It was
him
.

C
HAPTER
F
OUR

“What are you doing here? Are you a stalker?”

A slow smile covered his face, and he moved toward a chair on the corner of my small porch. “If I were a stalker, would I really admit it?”

Good point. But stalker or not, finding him on my porch freaked me out. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”

He leaned back and crossed one leg over his thigh, tilting his head with a self-confidence he didn’t have earlier that afternoon. “Ellie, you know why I’m here.”

He knows my name
. Wait. Of course, he did. He’d read my name tag. But that still didn’t explain how he knew where I lived.

He grinned, waving toward my chest. “You might want to cover up.” He shrugged with a smirk. “Or not. It’s entirely up to you.”

I glanced down to see my dress still partially down, exposing my bra. Jerking my dress up, I pressed my back into the door. “What are you doing here?”

He set his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward. “We have less than a week. We need to make a plan.”

A plan for what? I nearly groaned when I realized what he meant. I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His eyes widened slightly.

I couldn’t deal with this right now. “You need to go.” I turned my back to him and started to open the door, but he moved behind me¸ inches away, his mouth close to my ear. A small electrical charge ran up the length of my body, like when you put your hand in front of a TV screen.

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

“You
do
know what I’m talking about.”

My breath came in short pants. Was he some crazy lunatic? He had to be. Why else would he be here?
Maybe I should scream
. “I’m warning you. Leave or I’m calling the police.”

He backed up, and I whirled around to face him. His hands were upraised in surrender. “I only want to talk, Ellie. Can we talk?”

My heart was a runaway freight train, and I could hardly catch my breath. “How did you know where I live?”

“It wasn’t hard to find out.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

He shrugged and leaned his back against the post supporting the roof over my porch. “Does it matter? What matters is what started this afternoon.”

“I don’t know what you think happened this afternoon, but it’s all in your head. I’m not interested in dating you. I have a boyfriend.”

He looked over the railing. “That guy?” Turning back to me, he smirked as his eyes roamed my body, then rose to my face. “Well then I guess it’s a good thing that’s not what I’m interested in.”

My mouth dropped at his insult. Why
wasn’t
he interested?
What the hell is wrong with me
? “Then what are you
doing
here?”

His voice lowered. “I’m here about the curse, Ellie.”

I turned around in a panic, my fingers fumbling at the door. “There is no curse.”

“You’re denying it exists?”

“Do you not understand English? That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“You’re a Curse Keeper, Ellie. You can deny it all you like, but that doesn’t make it any less true. We opened something this afternoon, something dark and ugly. It’s up to us to deal with the aftermath.”

I whirled around again, my body blazing with anger. “I didn’t do this!
You
showed up at
my
restaurant! You grabbed my hand.”

“I couldn’t help grabbing your hand. It was like I couldn’t control the urge. You felt it too, like you wanted to get away but you couldn’t.”

How did he know? I forced myself to calm down, especially when I saw the amusement in his eyes. “What kind of sick game is this? What are you up to?”

He stepped away from the railing and moved in front of me. He’d changed shirts since he’d been in the restaurant. This one was darker and tighter, hugging the muscles of his arms and chest. My body noticed and my body heat rose. But God help me, I was not going to fall for this arrogant son of a bitch.

“You feel that, don’t you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He grinned. “How do you explain this afternoon?”

“Asthma attack.”

A sexy as hell look crossed his face. “And now?”

“I can breathe just fine right now.”

His gaze dropped to my chest, then up to my eyes again. “Oh, really?”

The breathing trouble I suffered from now was nothing like that afternoon. I wasn’t sure that fact made the current situation any better.

“I’m not talking about your lack of breath. I’m talking about what we feel standing next to each other.”

I bet he wouldn’t have any trouble getting an erection
. Dear Lord in heaven, where had
that
come from? I lifted my chin and shot him a withering glare. “And here I thought you weren’t interested.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m not. Trust me, Ellie. You’d know if I was.” His statement sounded like a promise.

I swallowed.

“I’m talking about the electrical current between us. You can’t deny it’s there. It’s part of the curse. It’s part of the story that’s been passed down. You have to know this.”

I didn’t. I didn’t remember anything about the other Keeper except that he or she was a descendant of Manteo. “There is no curse.”

Exasperation flooded his eyes. “Why are you denying it? This is what you were born to do. Four hundred years of waiting, and it comes down to you and me.”

“That damn curse can wait another four hundred years because I don’t want any part of it.” I tried to turn around again, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the door, his body pressing against mine. The current between us intensified, and it gave me smug pleasure to see his eyes dilate and widen in surprise. He felt it too. And it wasn’t just an electrical current.

But the intention of his invasion of my personal space was far from amorous. His voice lowered. “You can’t ignore this. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of what’s happening. The spirits have already been set loose—they’ll flee at a slow trickle to start, but they’re loose all the same. Have you felt them?”

I didn’t answer. He really believed this.

“You have, haven’t you? A feeling that you’re being watched? Like something is lurking in the corner, in the dark?”

I refused to confirm that I had. “You’re right. I
have
sensed something lurking in the darkness. You.”

He tensed, his anger pouring off of him in hot waves. “We have a week to take care of the gate. Don’t waste time denying it’s real.”

I splayed my hands on his chest and shoved him away, my own anger exploding. “You
do not
get to tell me what I can or cannot do.
I don’t even fucking know you
. You show up outside my front door, lurking in the shadows. If I have anything to be worried about, it’s
you
. There is no curse. It’s all a bunch of made-up crap that caused my family nothing but trouble. It’s probably someone’s idea of a sick practical joke. Well, guess what? I’m not listening to another word of this. Now get the hell off my porch before I call the police.”

He took a step back, shaking his head in disgust. “Manteo’s line held onto our belief. We’ve taken our role seriously, waiting to fulfill our duty. Why am I not surprised the Dare line would be full of cowards and slackers?”

He was disparaging a four-hundred-plus-year-old man who may or may not have been my ancestor, and yet I felt insulted. I had been wrong. This night
could
get worse.

He stepped close to me and lowered his face to mine. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed he was about to kiss me. But his body language said that was the furthest thing from his mind. “Humanity is at stake, and you call it a sick practical joke.” Contempt filled his words. “The joke’s going to be on you when all hell breaks loose. Hopefully, you’ll be more willing to play your part then.” He turned toward the steps.

“Who
are
you?”

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Collin. Collin Dailey. Manteo’s Keeper.”

I stayed in front of the door for several seconds, watching him disappear down the stairs. When anyone else used the staircase, I always heard the thuds of their footsteps, even in my apartment. But Collin’s were silent.

That was a great stalker skill.

I fumbled with the doorknob and practically fell inside, slamming the door behind me. Collin Fucking Dailey was insane. That was the only reasonable and rational explanation.

So how does he know about the curse?

I grabbed the wine bottle and took a chug. How
did
he know? There was only one way he could: There really was a Manteo line of Curse Keepers. And if there was a Manteo line of Curse Keepers, that meant I was currently the Keeper in the Ananias Dare line.

Shit.

I grabbed my cell phone and called Claire.

“Well?” she asked when she answered. “Did you ever find it?”

“No,” I waved, even if she couldn’t see me. “I kicked him out.”

“Good for you.”

“That’s not why I’m calling. Something else much bigger happened.”

“Something bigger than Dwight?” She giggled. “It couldn’t get much smaller.”

“Ha, ha.. Very funny.” I would have laughed too if Collin Dailey hadn’t once again shaken up my world. Twice in one day. “Something happened this afternoon.”

“What?”

“I think I met the other Keeper.”

Claire went silent.

“Well? You don’t have anything to say?”

She cleared her throat. “I thought you didn’t believe in the curse.”

“I don’t. Well, I didn’t . . . but I don’t know how to explain what happened. Plus he knows about the curse. He knows I’m a Keeper.”

“Wait, slow down and start from the beginning.”

I told her what happened at the restaurant, and about how my dad was having a lucid day and told me that he felt the curse open. And that Collin showed up on my porch, announcing we had a week to shut the gate.

“Is that true? Do you only have a week?”

“I think it’s until the beginning of the seventh day. I don’t remember much else, Claire. You know I’ve forgotten most of that stuff.”

“Maybe it would be better to start with what you
do
remember.”

I took a long drink from the wine bottle, finishing it off. I sat it on the table, then ran my fingers through my unruly hair. “This is crazy. The Roanoke colony disappeared because they ran out of food and supplies and neighboring Native American tribes took them in. Not—not because a Croatan Indian and the son-in-law of the governor of Virginia created a curse.”

“I’m coming over.”

I sighed. “Claire, you don’t have to do that.”

“Are you kidding me? While
you
spent your entire life insisting the curse wasn’t real,
I
spent my life hoping it was. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”