The Selkie (13 page)

could be working up a sweat with her instead.

What? Who am I? Where did nice, polite Maggie go?

Out the window, apparently.

“
Look,
”
she said, trying to reason with Calan.
“
He’s just not worth it. Believe me.
”

As she remembered the scene of Matthew’s indiscretion, she felt immeasurable sadness weigh on her shoulders. Not so much at losing Matthew, but at losing so much of herself in the process.

How could she let him do that to her? She couldn’t ever let anyone do that to her again.

Calan must have glimpsed the heaviness in her heart. His face softened and his death-grip on the doorknob loosened. As much as he might be able to read her thoughts, or whatever mind trick he employed, he clearly couldn’t see everything in her brain. Just then he appeared a little crestfallen, as if he feared Matthew meant a great deal to her. More than she was willing to admit.

The sadness in his eyes touched her, in a way she’d never quite been touched before.

“
Calan,
”
she whispered, wanting to take his sadness away. She put her hand on his arm.
“
I don’t love…
”

He yanked on the door, opening it wide. As if he were a character in a bad eighties sitcom, Matthew fell forward. He’d clearly been listening at the door. Calan watched as he tumbled to the ground before them, unhurt but comically rubbing his ass where he fell. He glared up at the towering length of Calan, his blue eyes red at the corners.

Calan grinned.
“
Your peedie friend has come a-callin’, Maggie, love.
”

Matthew bristled at the word
“
peedie.
”
He stood, dusted himself off and held his head high. He almost reached Calan’s six-plus feet. Almost but not quite.
“
What does that mean?
”

“
Oh, I apologize for using the vernacular,
”
Calan laughed,
“
here on Orkney, ‘peedie’ means small. Insignificant.
”

Matthew glared.
“
You need to come home, Maggie. This country is full of savages.
”

Maggie watched as Calan’s grin shrunk, turning into a thin line of barely disguised fury. To his credit, he was managing it. Sort of. He puffed out a laugh through his flared nostrils, but it only made him resemble a maddened bull preparing to charge.

What happened to the sweet, fuzzy seal? Maggie shook her head. Who was she kidding anyway? Even as an animal, Calan had never been sweet and fuzzy, but warm and erotic.

Hold on! Don’t tell me you’re buying his lies now, too? He’s not a selkie! Dammit. They don’t exist. He lied, just like Matthew.

At that moment, Maggie heard distant thunder. She stared outside, wondering that the weather should change so swiftly. Every couple of seconds, the thunder grumbled through the sky, seeming to get closer. For some reason, Maggie looked at Calan’s face. Every time he expelled a breath through his nostrils, the thunder clapped again.

As if it were coming from him.

No way.

She stiffened, coming back to reality.
“
Okay, that’s enough! I want you both out of here. I have enough on my mind without having to placate a couple of testosterone-charged men!
”
She put her hand on the door.

Calan eyed her.
“
It’s my house, love.
”

She shrunk a little.
“
Oh, right.
”
Trying to retain her bravado, she stepped toward the door.
“
Fine. I’ll go then.
”

His strong hand was on her arm in an instant, not hurting her but not allowing her to leave either.
“
You’ll stay.
”

“
I’m not letting her stay with you,
”
Matthew exploded.
“
Some … some…
”
he blubbered, looking Calan up and down,
“
some backward Scottish biker!
”

Calan bit his bottom lip, apparently trying not to laugh. Maggie watched in awe at the way his teeth gripped the flesh of his lower lip, wishing she were biting it instead. She might be biting it right now if Matthew hadn’t spoiled everything.

Wait. This was so wrong. This man had somehow burrowed deep inside her head and had screwed with it. And now she felt her head was screwed on backward. Just the thought of the word
“
screw
”
was making her desperate to be alone with Calan again, against her better judgment.

But Matthew didn’t quite look ready to depart. He put his hand on Maggie’s other arm. And pulled.

Calan reacted, his dark eyes burning with anger. At the same time, lightning streaked yellow through the heavens. Thunder boomed, like a bomb being detonated nearby.

He put his firm hand on Matthew’s and removed it from Maggie’s arm.
“
Do not touch her.
”

Matthew flinched, as if Calan’s touch had hurt him, but his pride seemed hurt more than anything else. And as Maggie took in the tense set to Calan’s jaw and the way his hands were now bunched into tight fists, she suspected he’d held back out of respect for her.

He hadn’t hurt Matthew, because of her, but he was more than willing to do it.

He turned away from Matthew, looking at her. He frowned, breathing in and out deeply, and she watched his fists unclench. As he calmed himself, the sudden storm clouds seemed to disperse. He gently cupped her cheek.
“
If you want to go with him, if you love him, tell me now.
”

She stared back, completely lost in his eyes and the feel of his fingers on her cheek. No feeling had ever felt as good, as delicious, as Calan Kirk’s hands on her skin. It was senseless, and it was magical.
“
I don’t love him. I haven’t for some time. And I would never go back to anyone who cheated on me. I’m better than that.
”

Little by little, the corners of his lips curled into the flirtiest, most enticing smile she’d ever seen. It made her heart leap and brightened her world. In her head, birds sang and flowers sprouted. And between her legs, moisture pooled. Her underwear was a useless barrier against this man.

“
Well, then, Maggie Collins,
”
he drawled, his gaze dipping down to her open lips and lingering there.
“
What now?
”

She swallowed.
“
Before you put me back on that Harley, I could really use a drink of that wine you have.
”

A low rumble of quiet laughter sounded from somewhere deep in his chest, sounding very much like the thunder that had so briefly ravaged the sky.
“
What the hell? It was a late breakfast. Come.
”

He held out his hand, and she took it. Wondering that the touch of his hand should feel so much like home.

They looked at the still-fuming Matthew.
“
You’ll regret this, Maggie,
”
he muttered

as he charged down the path away from them.
“
You will. He’ll use you and toss you to the curb.
”

Maggie was too busy admiring Calan’s profile to spare Matthew another glance.

Whatever, Matthew.

Chapter 6

Calan paused in the front hallway of his cottage, cursing his swollen dick for interfering with his brain waves. He’d lost his mind over a woman. A human woman.

What was happening to him? He’d felt a bizarre need to make her breakfast, something he’d never done for anyone other than himself. And now he was ready to knock another man’s block off for her?

He’d almost lost his self-control a few short moments ago. He’d been so enraged by the sight of Matthew’s hand on Maggie’s arm, he would have taken great pains to remove it forcibly. Indeed, he’d almost hurt the daft bugger. Would have if Maggie hadn’t been watching or if he hadn’t been able to harness his self-control.

By all that was sacred, she brought out the beast in him. Made him lose the tight leash he had around his emotions, the ones that were so connected to the elements.

How could that shithead treat her like that? How could any sane man cheat on her? By Loki’s wiles, five minutes in Maggie’s presence and all he could think of was cheating
with
her! That is, if he had anyone to cheat on. It wasn’t as if he had any lasting ties to Annette, or to anyone else for that matter.

And now, here he was, in his home with her. Where there was a bed. Her small, cool hand tucked into his, the soft texture making him want to burst with unknown passion. The sound of her footsteps crossing the threshold making his heart pound.

He’d never brought any woman to this place, no matter what she suspected. No one. At least, no one other than Kyla. Of course, she’d been different, like him. He hadn’t minded bringing her here. She’d understood that the small cottage was his sanctuary.

But that was a long time ago, and Kyla was gone.

Calan felt a numbing, little jolt of pain near his heart, but ignored it. It did no good to think of Kyla now. Not with Maggie’s hand in his.

He still couldn’t believe she was here with him, in the delectable flesh. In his home away from home. Incredible.

Whenever he’d been captured through time, he’d always stayed at the woman’s abode. And any time he’d gone looking for a spot of fun, again, he’d always ended up back at the woman’s place. Never thought twice about it. He’d always needed a private place to call his own, so his cottage had always remained off-limits.

Why did it make him so happy to bring Maggie home? He felt ready to sing about it. Had the fucking lyrics and music already composed in his head, and the song was worthy of bloody Barry Manilow.

He closed the door behind them and turned to her. Neither said a word. That was fine with him. Talking was the last thing on his mind at present.

However, she’d expressed her need for a drink. He should probably make some attempt to be a good host, or any kind of host. He moved toward the cabinet that held his stash.
“
Is red fine?
”

She nodded, her eyes wide.

She was nervous. She should be. He was thirsty, but not for wine.

He steadied himself, cursing in his head the whole time, and reached for a bottle and two glasses. He poured, handed one of the goblets to her, and watched as she reached for

it with a shaking hand. Poor thing downed it in one gulp.

“
Whoa,
”
he murmured, removing the glass from her hand and setting it down along with his.
“
Keep your wits about you, lass. I won’t have it said I compromised a woman in her cups.
”

“
‘In her cups?’
”
She snorted.
“
Haven’t heard that one since the last period drama I watched on the BBC.
”

He narrowed his eyes at her. His hands were itching to drag her body closer so he could kiss her. He shoved his hands behind his back. Not that it helped. He began imagining all the things he could do to her with his tongue instead.

“
So, are you … going to compromise me?
”
She looked up at him, the dare flashing in her beautiful, blue eyes. The wine already making her bold.

He drew closer.
“
The thought had crossed my mind.
”

She let out a nervous laugh.
“
Just checking. That night on the beach, you were all action and no talk. Now you’re all talk and not much action. Do you like to confuse all your conquests? All the other women you seduce?
”

In any other woman, jealousy had always been nothing more than a troublesome, flitting emotion. Why was it that, in Maggie, it made him ashamed? And determined to prove she had it wrong. He didn’t want her to equate him with that bastard Matthew and the other goon before him.

He supposed he wanted her to like him. To see beyond what she considered the selkie myth. To know him, Calan Kirk, and to like him as a man.

He’d never quite wanted that before. Had never quite cared who liked him. Kyla had liked him, but that had been different. As he stood before Maggie in his cozy room, smelling the sweet wine on her breath, watching her bosom rise and fall with her uneven breaths, he was resolved. She would like him.

If he had anything to do with it, by the time he was done, Maggie would like him a whole lot.

*

Once again, Maggie felt ashamed for lashing out at Calan, especially after he’d taken her part against Matthew. However, every time she remembered what Calan was supposed to be, each time she pictured him as a womanizing, studly selkie man, she felt gut rot. She shouldn’t care if he slept with every woman up and down the coast.

But she did. She cared. More than she wanted to admit out loud or even in her tumultuous brain. Since she’d been dreaming of him, communing with him at night, she’d thought of him as her own, personal dream man. To be confronted with him in reality, and to discover that he was as randy as Tom Jones, made her eyes turn emerald with searing envy.

“
Were you telling the truth,
”
she whispered,
“
about all the women?
”

He’d been playing with her hand, but he dropped it now.
“
I can’t help what I am, Maggie.
”
His brown eyes turned down with a strange sadness.
“
In the many years that have been my life, yes, it’s happened a few times. I won’t lie to you. And here and there, being captured has even been pleasurable to me. Heaven knows I’ve gone looking for company myself once or twice. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a wee spot of companionship.
”

He drew in a deep breath, his gaze never leaving her face. He reached for her hands again, and entwined his fingers with hers. Then slowly, he moved his hands up the length