Beyond A Highland Whisper (20 page)

Nessa exhaled and reached to start the car, relieved when he didn’t attempt to stop her again. He’d taken the bait, now to get him home and out of her life. As she steered out of the parking lot, she turned on her windshield wipers. The skies had opened the floodgates.

She raised her voice to be heard over the rain as it pounded against the windshield. “You’ve been nothing but kind. That’s why I think it’s best if I’m honest with you now. I’ve been trying to get into this research project for years. It’s my first priority right now.” The lights of the pub flickered in the distance. Only a little farther and she’d have it made. She just needed to keep playing to his inflated male ego and then she’d have him out the door before he knew what had happened.

Gabriel reached over and stroked her cheek, his voice dropping to a coaxing purr. “’Tis a very lonely life ye have chosen for yourself, Nessa Buchanan. I know I could make ye happy.”

Nessa tried not to gag. Her skin crawled beneath his touch. As she pulled into the lot in front of the pub, she forced herself not to jerk away from his hand. The longer she was around him, the more nauseous she became. Something malicious brewed just below the surface of this man’s shell. If she believed in demons, she’d think he was possessed.

Nessa smiled into his eyes and feigned a nod of agreement. “I’m used to making sacrifices for my work. I’m sure someday I’ll look back on this with regret. You’re a good man, Gabriel Burns, and I wish you all the best.”

Gabriel slid his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her into his arms. He bent her head back, covered her mouth with his, and ravaged her with his tongue.

Nessa held her breath to keep from retching. One thought ran through her mind:
He’s going to get out of this car and then I’ll be done with him forever.

Gabriel slid from her mouth and grazed at her ear, his voice husky with desire. “We could have one night, Nessa Buchanan. It might help ye change your mind.”

No way in hell.
She gasped a different reply out loud. “I wish I could, but it’s really the wrong time of the month…if you know what I mean.”

With a disappointed sigh, Gabriel smiled as he opened the door. “Once again I am bested by the phases of the moon and their pull upon a woman’s fate.”

Nessa gave a weak wave goodbye and stifled a shudder as she watched him slide out of the car. Thank goodness, he was one of those men who wouldn’t go near a woman if he thought it was her time of the month. “Good-bye, Gabriel. Take care of yourself.”

Gabriel bent to look back inside the car and blew her an airy kiss. “Goodbye, sweet Nessa. I guess we’ll never know what we could have been.” He closed the door and trotted through the rain to the pub, his stiff knee miraculously healed.

Nessa shuddered, wiped her mouth on her sleeve, and hurried to click the locks on the doors before she pulled the car out on the road. “Yuck!” she sputtered and spit into the air, the taste of him turning her stomach. “What a jerk! Thank goodness I didn’t fall into that trap.” As soon as she’d said the words aloud, the flickering image of a young woman appeared in the passenger seat of the car.

“Ye just don’t realize how right ye are, lass. His punishment will be great for his crimes against women. The goddess is no’ pleased with that scoundrel at all.” Patting her reddish blonde curls behind her ears, the young girl turned and smiled into Nessa’s shocked face. “Ye said ye wished I’d come and give ye a visit and guide ye upon your way.”

“Aveline?” Nessa jerked the steering wheel to keep the car from landing in the ditch. She headed for a graveled parking area farther down the road so she could stop the car.

“Aye.” Aveline smiled in agreement. She toyed with one long curl of hair, winding it about one finger as she coyly tilted her head. “I’ve been noticing ye seem to be having a bit of trouble accepting the legends of the MacKay clan.”

“Are you a ghost?” Nessa pressed her clammy hands to her throat. She hadn’t eaten very much today. Could low blood sugar cause hallucinations? She swallowed hard and took a deep breath to try and clear her head. Was she losing her mind? This day just kept getting worse.

“Oh, nay.” Aveline shook her head, frowning as she toyed with the dials on the dashboard of the car. “When mother appeared to ye…she is a ghost. But I am an immortal. I canna die.”

Nessa’s blood pounded in her ears. She had hit sensory overload. She covered her face and thought back to the woman at the goddess Brid’s well. “Now wait a minute. The woman in the woods…that was your mother, Rachel?”

Aveline smiled again in agreement and folded her hands in her lap as she settled against the seat of the car. “Aye, Mother wanted to meet ye. She also pops in from time to time to help people along their way.”

Her hand to her chest to settle her pounding heart, Nessa struggled to catch her breath. This wasn’t good. She couldn’t breathe. She really needed to calm down. Aveline meant her no harm. Perhaps she could tell her a thing or two. If Nessa passed out from not breathing, she couldn’t ask any questions. She had to breathe. Being an immortal, maybe Aveline could provide some insight as to how Nessa could bring some order into her life. Nessa inhaled a slow, deep breath. Much better. Why not? she decided, and turned to speak with her shimmering guest. “What can you tell me about Latharn MacKay? Any ideas as to why he keeps showing up in my dreams?”

Aveline’s smile faded to a frown. She stared down at her folded hands. “I canna tell ye much. But I will tell ye this: ye need not ever fear him.”

Her fears forgotten, Nessa huffed in aggravation and slapped her hands on the steering wheel. “That’s the same thing your mother told me. That and I just needed to look into his heart.”

Aveline’s pale blonde brows arched in a thoughtful look and she gave a slow nod of agreement. “Mother is right. Look into his heart. Ye will find everything there ye need to know.”

Nessa banged her fist upon the steering wheel and shook her head. “I don’t know how to look into his heart! I’ve been dreaming about him since I was eighteen years old. I didn’t even know his name until your mother told me a few days ago. If I can’t even figure out his name after ten years, what makes you think I’ll be able to figure out what’s in his heart? And answering questions is my
job
.”

As silent giggles shook her shoulders, Aveline smiled and clapped her hands. “What fire! What passion! Trust me, Mistress Nessa, ye will find the way destiny means ye to travel. Ye must be patient and listen with your heart.”

Nessa turned in the seat and glared at Aveline. “Isn’t there something you can tell me about your brother? Isn’t there anything else I might need to know?”

Aveline gave a wistful smile as she faded from view. “I am verra sorry. At this time, I can tell ye no more. But know there are many MacKays watching over ye, both in this world and the next.”

Nessa whacked the steering wheel again as Aveline disappeared. Clenching it in a strangle hold, she grumbled out loud as she started the car. “Fat lot a good all of those MacKays are doing. So far, all they’ve done to help me is told me his name and I shouldn’t be afraid.” She thought she heard the faint sound of ethereal laughter as she squealed her way back onto the road.

Chapter Twenty

“Where have you been?” Trish met her in the driveway, yanking open the door before the car rolled to a complete stop.

“What’s the matter, Mom? Did I break curfew?” Nessa taunted as she gathered her things from the car. The last thing she wanted to hear right now was one of Trish’s lectures about how she should live her life. She wasn’t in the mood. If Trish had any survival instincts at all, she’d back off and leave her alone.

Trish circled Nessa like a dog herding sheep, stumbling as she walked backward up the steps leading to the porch. “If you were with Gabriel Burns… You’ve got to listen to me. You’ll just end up regretting it. I found out a thing or two about our newfound friend. He’s a worthless piece of—”

“
Not
that it’s any of your business,” Nessa interrupted, shooting Trish a meaningful look she knew Trish would never take to heart. “But I went to the Wi-Fi Café to see what the Internet could tell me about the MacKays.”

“Why didn’t you just ask them?”

“Not
those
MacKays.” Nessa shot Trish an impatient look as she slid her laptop on the table in their room. “The history of the MacKay clan and all the legends surrounding them from the 1200s up until present day.”

“Oh…
those
MacKays.” Trish shrugged a shoulder. “Well, what did you find out? Anything interesting?”

Nessa chuckled as she bent to rummage through the tiny fridge. Memories of legends of time-traveling witches, cursed lairds, and Aveline’s sudden appearance ran through her head. From everything she’d discovered today, her dream Highlander had once existed. As she fished her way farther into the depths of the fridge, a shiver of excitement ran up her spine. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Rising with a soda in her hand, she winced as she popped the tab. “By the way, since you mentioned him, I think I also finally got rid of Gabriel Burns. There was just something weird about that guy that set my alarm bells ringing into super squall mode.”

Trish’s face lit up in complete agreement. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. He’s physically abusive. He tried to strangle Fiona and then Brodie almost killed him.”

Nessa froze, holding her soda in midair as she stared over the can at Trish. “What? When did this happen? I was only gone a couple of hours.”

Her eyes growing wider with every word, Trish plopped down in one of the tall wooden chairs and plunged into her tale. “Fiona and Gabriel were engaged to be married. She said he was a control freak but she didn’t know just how cruel he was until he snapped on the night of the wedding rehearsal. She was thirty minutes late because she’d had a flat tire. He took her into the alley and almost killed her for what he considered
shaming him
in front of his friends.”

Trish jumped up from her seat, waving her hands in the air. She became more animated with every word. “Brodie came along and pulled him off of her. Nearly killed him from what I understand.”

“Wow.” Words failed Nessa as she pulled out a chair. So that explained the negativity surrounding Gabriel Burns. A stifling darkness always followed the man. He emitted a coldness that just couldn’t be explained. She sent up a silent thank-you to the fates and heaved a sigh of relief.

Raising the soda to her lips, she paused, the can midair. Wait a minute. What Trish said didn’t make sense. “Then why isn’t our buddy Gabriel lounging in prison for trying to kill his future wife?”

“Oh, it gets better.” Trish snorted, plopping back down at the table. “He blackmailed Fiona, saying the only way he wouldn’t charge Brodie with assault was if she kept her mouth shut about his part of the abuse.”

“What a jackass.” Nessa huffed. Thank goodness she’d avoided the vicious bastard. A shiver of disgust rippled over her body. She thought back over all she’d found on the Internet and her conversation with Aveline. Nessa drummed her fingers on the table and studied Trish’s still-flushed face. She wondered just how open Trish would be if she told her everything she knew.

She and Trish had been friends for years. She understood Trish’s intense hatred for Gabriel because of his treatment of Fiona and she would bet his abuse of countless other women. Trish had only been twenty years old when she’d been beaten and mutilated by a college acquaintance. That was how she and Nessa had met, their friendship forged by that traumatic event.

Nessa had decided to take a shortcut back to her apartment that evening long ago. She’d just finished one of her kickboxing classes on campus and was on her way home from the session. She’d heard a muffled shriek come from a darkened outbuilding and had recognized it as a call for help.

The adrenaline pumping through her veins had made her forget she was barely five feet tall and on a good day pushed the scale to within a shadow of a hundred pounds. Nessa had kicked her way into the building and followed the sound of the weakening cries. She’d rushed to find Trish cringing in a bloody huddle, her assailant looming over her with an upraised knife. Nessa had grabbed a broken board off the floor, not noticing the jagged roofing nail sticking out of the end. She’d connected the board with the base of the attacker’s skull with all the might her adrenaline fueled.