What prophecy? It was so frustrating to hear only one-half of a conversation.
Gavin again. “The name Macbeth has never come up.” A long pause. “Alex, are you there?”
At that dread name, Macbeth, Kate’s heart didn’t race, it began to sprint. How could he know about Macbeth?
Gavin’s whisper was unequivocal. “She’s the one, I tell you.” Another pause. “I just know it.”
He was silent for a long time, obviously listening intently to what his brother was telling him. Her eyes began to droop. The room was too hot, though the fire had burned itself out. It was raining fiercely, and the wind from the North Sea rattled the windowpanes in violent gusts.
“You’re awake,” he said.
He had startled her, and her eyes flew to his. He was propped against the doorjamb, glass in hand, watching her warily. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. He’d removed his jacket and neckcloth, and at his throat a pulse beat slow and strong.
She felt as though she’d been caught red-handed, like a dog drooling over a stolen bone, and she gestured weakly to the other room in an effort to distract him. “Who was that on the telephone?”
“My brother,” he said and took a sip from his glass. “He won’t be joining us after all.”
Her relief was overwhelming. Anyone who thought of her as bait was no friend to her. “I never understood,” she said, “what you hoped he could do for us.”
He strolled into the room and sat at the end of the bed. She was still fully dressed apart from her jacket, and she resisted the urge to check the buttons on her bodice to make sure they were all done up. She kept her eyes on his, but that was no help. He had beautiful, long-lashed blue eyes that had the power to make any woman’s heart beat just a little faster. She’d seen him work his charm with the old biddies up at the house, but it was all done artlessly, without conscious thought. What woman could resist that?
“Alex has connections,” Gavin said. “He can go into any police station in the country and get access to information that only the police know. Besides that, he is very . . . gifted. We work well together.”
“Gifted?” She said the word carefully. It was how Will Rankin had described her.
“Alex,” Gavin said, “has a lot of experience in his field. He sees things that most of us would overlook.” His lips curled in a private smile.
When he paused to take another sip from his glass, she said, “Your voice changes when you speak about your brother.”
“How does it change?”
“It gets warmer.” She shrugged. “Are you a close-knit family?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Our parents died when we were young,” he finally said. “I suppose you could say that Alex took their place for me. And, of course, my grandmother McEcheran was always there. If we are a close-knit family, then my grandmother can take the credit for it. She had three grandsons. Besides my brother and me, there’s Cousin James. He is a railway magnate and part financier. He manages the family fortunes, thank God, or Alex and I would be as poor as church mice.”
“Interesting,” she said in an undertone.
“What is?”
She shook her head. “Just a stray thought.”
“Tell me!”
She sighed, then went on reluctantly. “Your brother is a secret service agent, your cousin is a financier. They sound . . . industrious . . . purposeful men of the world.”
“Meaning that I’m an indolent pleasure seeker?”
“I didn’t say that!”
His eyes filled with laughter. “You didn’t have to. Your expression said it for you. But you’re wrong. My life
is
purposeful.” He leaned toward her and pinned her with his wickedly amused eyes. “I’m a connoisseur of fine whiskey, fine horseflesh, and fine women.”
“As I am well aware,” she said coolly, thinking of Janet Mayberry. She was tempted to ask him about Alice but was afraid that her curiosity might be misconstrued, so she turned the conversation back to a safer topic.
“Do you see much of your brother and cousin?”
“A fair amount. Family gatherings. That sort of thing. There will be more of those in the coming months. I’m to be an uncle twice over. Faith and James’s child is due in July—and Alex and Mahri’s sometime after that. Why the smile?”
“Your voice got warmer again. I take that to mean that you like Mahri and Faith?”
“You’re very perceptive. Yes, I like them immensely, but . . .”
“But?” she prompted when he stared into space.
He shrugged. “I’m glad I’m not married to them. You wouldn’t want to meet Mahri in a dark lane if you were looking for trouble. She can handle herself like a . . . well . . . like a secret service agent.” He grinned.
“I see,” she said, not seeing anything at all. “And Faith?”
“She’s an antiquarian and a classics scholar. You’d better know your facts before voicing an opinion on the ancient Greeks when you’re with Faith. She doesn’t say much, but she can make you feel like a dunderhead.”
She could hear it again, the warmth in his voice. “She sounds like my father. If he’s not debating points of law, he’s whipping up interest for the Knights Templar. Yes, I know, they were discredited centuries ago and had to surrender their wealth and monasteries, but their name and relics still live on in Deeside.”
“Then I shall be careful not to provoke my future father-in-law.”
He was joking, of course. “You should be married,” she said, voicing the thought that occurred to her. She was thinking of his lost love, Alice.
Amusement glinted in his eyes. “Are you offering, Kate?”
“I meant . . . oh, forget what I said. It’s none of my business anyway.”
“No, seriously. I could say the same to you. You should be married. Why aren’t you?”
“I haven’t married,” she said, “because I’m fussy.” She was quoting what she’d heard Magda say many times. “Besides,” she went on flippantly, “no one has asked me.”
She chewed her bottom lip, wishing she could take the words back. The truth was, she didn’t want to marry anyone, couldn’t take the chance of exposing herself.
“I find that hard to believe.”
She tried to make a joke of it. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew my sister. Men take one look at Magda, and they can’t remember their own names, much less that I was the one who brought them to the party.”
His eyes were grave, as was his voice. “Not every man is seduced by a pretty face.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I take that to mean that there’s hope for me yet.”
Her tart response made his lips quiver. “I wonder what Magda will say when she hears that we’re engaged?”
Her lips quivered, too. “She won’t believe it.”
“Oh? Why not?”
She gave him a look that was meant to tell him that the answer to his question was obvious.
“Well?” he goaded.
She sighed. “Because you’re a catch, and I don’t know how to go about catching someone like you.” She gave a tiny shrug. “I’m awkward around men.”
“Yes,” he said seriously, “I’ve noticed, but not all men, only me.”
The corners of her lips turned down. “What does that mean?”
He drained his glass and got up to put it on the table. When he came back to the bed, he sat down so close to her that she inched away.
“That’s what I mean,” he said. “You’re always putting distance between us.” He put his hand on her shoulder, and she jumped, dislodging his hand.
He smiled. “If we’re going to convince the world that this engagement is real, you’ll have to do better than that.”
Pride kept her immobile when he captured her wrist and put her hand on his shoulder. His voice was velvet soft. “Lovers like to touch each other. Touch me, Kate. I won’t bite you.”
When she remained frozen, he said softly, “Let me show you.”
He held her fingers and stroked them down the length of his arm, from shoulder to wrist. When her brows rose, he said, “What is it?”
“I had no idea,” she said, trying to sound bored, “that there were muscles concealed beneath your fine clothes.”
He chuckled. “Kate, I climb mountains. I rescue damsels in distress. I slay Giants.”
She smiled at this, but he wasn’t finished yet. This time, he pressed her fingers to his throat. The beat of his pulse had her own pulse racing in counterpoint. When she looked up at him, his eyes were closed. He stroked her fingers up the strong column of his throat and then brushed them over his mouth.
“Very good,” he said. He opened his eyes. “No, don’t tense your muscles. Remember, we’re engaged. We should look comfortable together, as though we’re in love.” His fingers traced her jawline. “This is a love match, isn’t it?”
She gave a refined snort.
He laughed softly under his breath. “No. It must be a love match.” His lips were only a hairsbreadth from hers. “We have eloped,” he murmured, “and we wouldn’t do that unless . . .” His words slowed and faded away. “Ah, Kate,” he finally said. Against her mouth, he murmured something unintelligible, then he framed her face with his hands and kissed her.
She had some idea of showing him that she was immune to his practiced lovemaking, but when his lips moved on hers, it was just like the first time. Everything inside her melted and, just like the first time, she twined her arms around his neck and strained against him, so that not even a shadow could slip between them.
“Bloody hell!” His hands clamped around her wrists and dragged her hands from his neck. In a low, angry voice, he said, “Don’t you know how to say no, woman?”
Fatigue and the emotions that were churning inside her were taking their toll, and she hardly knew what she was saying. “No,” she said. The awful thought that emerged from the chaos in her mind was that she might be falling in love with this impossible, dazzling man. “No,” she repeated, meaning that it was the last thing she wanted.
He was on his feet, pacing, dragging his hand through his hair. He suddenly stopped and glared at her. “No?” he roared. “It’s bad enough that I have to protect you from a vicious killer. Must I also protect you from myself?”
As sensible thought returned, she began to discount what she was feeling. It was this awful situation that had blunted her natural caution. He was her savior, her protector. It was bound to have made an impression on her. He couldn’t help being what he was any more than she could help what she was. When the danger was over, when he had unmasked the killer, as she was sure he would, she’d find her balance again.
Through gritted teeth, he said, “I don’t believe you’ve heard a word I’ve said.”
She clasped her hands and stared down at them. “I heard you, and the answer is yes. You have to protect me from yourself. You see—” She looked up at him and looked away quickly when she saw that he was still glowering at her. “I haven’t had your experience with the opposite sex. I didn’t know that kissing could be so . . . well, I didn’t know.”
“And now I suppose you’ll want to repeat the experience?”
His irate tone made her lift her chin. She said the first thing that came into her head. “Not with you. What I had in mind was a variety of men, you know, to compare notes, and yes, to put your kisses in proper perspective.”
She almost smiled when she saw that her little barb had found its mark. His face looked like thunder.
“One of us is insane,” he muttered, “and I know it’s not me.” His voice rose alarmingly. “If you start kissing other men, no one will believe we are engaged to be married.”
“When this is over, is what I meant.”
A knock at the door made them both jump. Dalziel stood on the threshold drawing great gasps of air into his lungs. “There has been a break-in up at the house. The odd thing is, nothing was taken. Mrs. Cardno thought she heard glass breaking. When she went downstairs, one of the windows was broken. She heard footsteps running away. She called the police. They should be here soon.”
“Bloody hell!” Gavin combed his fingers through his hair. He looked at Kate. “Our villain has found us.”
“The man who followed us?”
“I think so.”
“What do we do now?”
“We go back to the clinic and hide out in Will’s rooms.” To Dalziel, he said, “It’s best if we don’t have Macduff with us. He may not be welcome at the clinic.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Dalziel promised.
“Thank you,” Gavin replied. “Anyone seeing him will know that I can’t be far away. Do you think you could find someone you trust to get him back to Feughside?”
“Consider it done,” said Dalziel. “Come on, boy. Let’s go for a walk in the grounds.”
Macduff gazed at his master with mournful eyes. “Go!” Gavin commanded, and Macduff obediently followed Dalziel from the room.
Kate’s head was spinning. She was comfortable where she was and didn’t want to move. “Isn’t this a bit excessive?” she demanded.
“Please yourself,” he replied indifferently. “You can answer any questions the police may want to ask.”