Wait for the Wind (8 page)

“I’m glad you came home, Dad.”

“I’ve loved you all your life Allie. I’ll be here when you need me. That’s all I can promise you for now.”

“Okay.” Allie closed her eyes and snuggled into the pillow.

The door closed with a soft click and he followed Kate back down the hall.

“Stopping looking at me like that, Ryan. Skye was teasing and well you know it. You don’t have to give me a lift. I can manage.” Ryan watched Kate stalk to the door and grab her jacket off the peg. He could smell rain on the air and wondered if she realized her pride would get her soaked.

He snatched the keys. “I’ll drive you. Rain’s coming. How can you take care of everybody else if you get sick?”

They drove in silence. Thankfully the ride was short. Kate pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and climbed out of the car. “There. You delivered me here. Thanks.” She glared at him out of hot blue eyes. He knew she needed distance to balance the frustration and he wasn’t about to give it to her.

“Here, I’ll do it.” Ryan took the keys out of her hand. She jumped when his hand touched hers. Thunder sounded in the distance and rain began to pound them while they stood on the landing. Ryan jiggled the lock and turned the knob.

“Thank you. I can manage from here.” She clipped the words at him. Kate pushed past him and went inside. She tried to slam the door in his face.

Ryan blocked it with the palm of his hand. “Are you really going to shut me out now? I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I know how he is.” He pushed his way in and locked the door behind him. Leaning forward, he pressed a light kiss to her throat.

“You made me look like a–well, do I need to spell it out for you? Then again, I guess you’d be used to those kinds of women by now.”

* * * *

It took a split second for her to realize she had pushed him too far. Ryan would never hurt her physically, but he might give up trying to repair their relationship. One minute she felt Ryan’s lips on her throat, the next the door pressed into her back and Ryan was plastered against her body. His hands circled her wrists and held them above her head. His eyes were so dark and intense.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t how you spent the last thirteen years of your life. I’m angry and afraid. I’m not sure why.”

“I can’t stand the thought of another man touching you. Kissing you. Making love to you. It’s killing me.” His kiss wasn’t gentle or caressing as it had been earlier in the evening. This was possession, a claiming. Ryan plundered and demanded she ride the torrent with him.

“Ryan, I haven’t had another lover. You are the only one.” Was it possible to feel so much at once? The line of his body fit perfectly to hers, familiar, yet not. Heat, God yes the heat threatened to consume her, but the love radiating from him was her undoing. She wanted it more than anything else he could give her. Ryan tore his mouth from hers to steal ragged breaths.

“I won’t lie to you. There were others, but every time I touched another woman, it was your face I saw. Your body trembling beneath me.”

Ryan released her wrists and slid his hands to her sides, boosting her up. Kate wrapped her legs around his waist and he moaned in response. He turned with her in his arms.

“Tell me you want this. No turning back.”

Kate clutched his shoulders. “My room is at the end of the hall.” She pressed hot open-mouthed kisses on his neck, unfastening the buttons on his cotton shirt as he half-walked, half-stumbled down the hall. His hands cupped her backside and burned through the denim of her jeans. She reached around him, turned the doorknob, and he kicked it open. Then she was set on her feet by the bed.

Ryan pushed the bedroom door closed and turned the lock, remembering through the haze someone might have an emergency and walk in on them.

Kate pulled her damp t-shirt over her head and tossed it in the corner. She’d already disposed of his in the hall. Reaching behind her, she began to unclasp her bra.

“Let me.”

Chapter 8

Ryan slid around, freed the hooks, and pulled the white lacy material away from Kate’s creamy skin. How could he have forgotten how beautiful she was? She didn’t blush as she had the last time they had been together; instead her gaze held his, strong and sure of what she wanted. He pulled open the snap on her jeans, slid down the zipper. Was there a more erotic sound? At that moment he didn’t think so.

He took her hand. “Step out.” When she was free of her jeans, he lifted her and laid her on the bed. Quickly, Ryan removed his jeans, socks and shoes. Taking his cellphone out of his pocket, he turned it off and laid it on Kate’s nightstand.

“No more interruptions. If Allie needs me, Molly will call my pager.” Kate held her arms up to him. “Make love with me.”

“I thought you two might have set up this little sleepover.” He twined his fingers with hers and let Kate pull him down onto the bed. Ryan gathered her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. She opened for him, mating her tongue with his.

“I missed you so much,” she whispered, her voice thick with desire, and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Don’t wait, Ryan. Please. We’ve wasted so much time already.”

He pressed against her center and she closed her eyes. “No. Look at me, Kate.” She opened her eyes and held his gaze. “I love you. Even when we were apart, I never stopped, even through the hurt.”

“I love you.” Kate twined her fingers with his, rose up and kissed him. Ryan slid into her waiting heat.
Home. Finally, I’m home.
They moved in an easy dance of reunited lovers, discovering what was new, cherishing the old and familiar. She took him past reason, past thought, until they shattered in each other’s arms.

“I love you, Kate.”

* * * *

Briella felt the heavy pounding footsteps of her husband strike the ground in chase of her. Each thudded through her heart like a separate alien beat. How could they have betrayed her? Had she not taken care of her sister even when she had nothing for herself? She’d returned Daemon to health. She believed he’d loved her. Maybe Etain had been right. You really couldn’t trust a demon, not even a good-natured one. What had the old woman said? “Bad blood will out, even in the wee ones.” If her words were true, what did that mean for their daughter?

The heartache was more than she could bear. How could she still love them? She was bound not by magic, though there was that, but by the heart. She had to reach her circle.

Earth that gave life could take it again. Her mother had been a priestess, and the other Druids of her clan held her in high regard and they gave Briella the same status. It was her duty to see her sister punished. Arianne had done this, but only Briella could repair the destruction. She cast a glance toward the direction of the castle. Stone and mortar had withstood invasions from many an enemy and would continue after her death.

Thunder sounded in her ears. White lightning crashed through the night sky. She could smell the stench of nature’s fire thick in the air all around her. Her final act would spare them all more pain. She grieved for their deaths and her daughter, who would barely remember her parents. It was her fault. She should never have let love blind her to Ari’s conniving. Why wouldn’t he want her? She was so dark, just like him.

The sky opened and rained its tears down on everything. She knew it was Daemon’s sorcery calling up the storm to stop her. Blasted weather witch! Finally, atop the hill she lifted her arms, exhausted. The long blue velvet robe she wore hang with drenching rainwater. Cold all the way through her bones, she wanted to give in. Heart pounding in her chest, magic racing through her veins, she saw what she’d come for, her circle.

Her ancestors’ power pulsed through the ancient stones, making them glow a bright green. This was the only place left she could call on her magic and control it. Arianna had stolen her power and used Daemon to do it. Well, she could do something about that.

Kate woke with a start in Ryan’s arms. In sleep he’d spooned into her back and rested his hand across her stomach. It felt so good to be held and treasured after so long apart from him. She wondered if Ryan might heal the scars she carried inside her body as he had with her heart. Devin had tried to heal her once, but after a few minutes without reaction told her the nature of the injury must be reversed, neither of them had wanted to head down that road.

The dream bothered her. Why would she dream of the healer in Liv’s visions? Of the actual legend itself? Liv seemed convinced Briella, the healer, had visited her in dreams when she met Jack, but Liv had the gift of sight. Kate was as ordinary as Allie was powerful.

Ryan snuggled into her back and kissed her bare shoulder. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. I’d offer you to fix you breakfast, but the best I can manage is sugary kid cereal and coffee. I’m still an awful cook.”

“Same here. Liv actually bought me a cookbook for dummies once.”

“Did it help?”

“Nope.”

Kate laughed and turned into his embrace. “It’s close to lunch time. We could shower and go over to the pub. Skye has the morning shift today, so the food is guaranteed to be not only edible but to die for.” She leaned over and checked her pager. No missed calls.

“Do you want to pick up Allie and take her with us?”

Kate checked her bedside clock. “It’s Saturday. She has lessons with Devin from ten until two.”

Ryan propped up on his elbow and the sheet slid down, uncovering his golden chest. “You really trust the wizard, don’t you?”

“Yes. I’d trust him with my life, and I trust him with our daughter. Devin’s a good man. Ancient, strange, a little rakish, but good. I know about some of his past, the more recent years anyway. He would die before he’d let harm come to any of us.”

“Then why are you letting those thugs bully you, Kate?”

How had he found out about that? “Who told you?”

“Ma. I won’t have you threatened. Why haven’t you called the police?”

“Are you kidding? This guy probably owns half the officers on the force. As long as I pay him, he leaves Allie alone.”

“What did you say?” Ryan got out of bed and stalked across the room, picked up his cellphone. He turned it on and started punching buttons.

“He said if I didn’t pay off Mick’s debt he would go to her school and force her classmates to watch while he peeled off her skin. If I do anything to stop him, he’ll kill her outright.”

“Men like him are never paid in full. He’ll keep bleeding you for more until you run and then he’ll carry out the threat.” He held up a finger and spoke into the phone. “Jack, how do I get in touch with Devin?”

Kate climbed out of bed and retrieved her bathrobe from the closet. She slipped her arms in the sleeves and pulled the belt snug at her waist. It was too late to stop him. Walking into the bathroom, she turned the water on. She was about to step inside the stall when Ryan slid his arms around her.

“I’m taking care of this. I won’t let anyone hurt either of you. Let me stay, Kate. Let me be here with you and Allie. I need to know you’re safe.”

“I’d like that. I’m just so used to doing everything on my own.”

“You aren’t alone anymore.”

Chapter 9

Even in the middle of the day the lights in O’Malleys were dim. Men and women sat around old scarred tables enjoying the soup of the day, sandwiches and anything else Skye could dream up in his kitchen. There was music, of course. Pushing open the swinging door to the dining room, Skye carried two plates and set them on the bar in front of the Riley brothers. Rhiannon caught his eye, motioned for him to come over and nodded toward the corner.

“Enjoy the meal.” Skye flipped up the pass-through and moved to the end of the bar next to her. “Hello, darling. I’m at your command.” He gestured toward Ryan’s table. “Well, that’s lovely. I guess they worked things out.”

“Your brother came home and you didn’t tell me. I’d have given you today off if you’d only mentioned the fact.”

“Besides, he didn’t need me to hang about. He knows where to find me, Ryan had old business to settle. Come into my kitchen and I’ll tell you about it. Rhia’s taking a break, Maegan. Watch the bar.” Skye pulled her into the kitchen.

“It’s a wonder you’re still alive with that killing look Maegan gave you.”