After more small talk, Arran ended the call and walked to the door that led to his bedroom. He spotted the large bed and couldn’t help but think of Ronnie in it with him. Her wheat hair spread around her, and her body bared to him.
He could just imagine pulling her shirt off and unhooking her bra. He’d unbutton her jeans next, then slide them over her hips before hooking his fingers in her knickers. It would be difficult, but he wouldn’t cut her panties off with his claws.
No, he’d take his time and remove her pants and knickers while he kissed down those long legs of hers. Then he’d kiss back up them, over her hips and to her breasts.
“I have to go out.”
He was pulled harshly out of his daydream by her voice, but it was the anxiety he heard in it that concerned him. He turned as she came back into the living area. “Out?”
“Yes. I need to find a dress, and hopefully if there’s time, get some girl stuff done.”
He frowned. So much for his hours of making love to her. “What is ‘girl stuff’?”
“Hair. Nails. That kind of thing. I may not want to be here, but it isn’t because I don’t like dressing up. I don’t get to do this often, so when I do, I take absolute full advantage of it,” she said with a big grin.
“So you do like dressing up in the formal gowns and such?”
“Well. I hate the panty hose, and if I can help it, I don’t wear them. The rest, yes, I love. I guess it’s the little girl in me that still remembers dressing up and pretending I’m a princess.” She giggled and then twirled around the room.
Arran grinned as he watched her. This was a different Ronnie, but one he liked just as much as the other. Here she was more carefree, more open.
She stopped spinning and pinned him with a look that didn’t quite work because of her smile. “And if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you. Or stab you, since you’ll heal,” she said with a laugh.
She reached for her purse and started for the door when Arran comprehended that she was going alone.
“Ronnie—”
“I’ll be fine,” she said as grabbed the door handle and turned to look at him. “The boutique I use for my dresses is three blocks away. The salon is another half block. But I warn you, I’ll be gone most of the day.”
“Then I’ll see you at dinner?”
She opened the door and lowered her gaze. “Ah … not alone, I’m sorry. I’m supposed to meet Pete and another man from the Edinburgh museum. You can come, though.”
Arran thought about joining them, but he realized he could do a lot of research in Edinburgh while he was there. After dinner, however, he planned to have his way with her. No more interruptions. “I’ll be fine. Go have fun.”
“I’ll see you later, then,” she said with another smile, and departed.
Arran looked around the suite once was she gone. It was going to be a long day. He left the suite and got directions from the Sheraton to the nearest computer store.
There he bought a laptop, but before he went back to the hotel, he had some things to see and do about the city.
* * *
Ronnie stared at her reflection clad in a body-hugging, strapless black dress. It was gorgeous, but Andy’s words still haunted her. Maybe she should try something else besides black.
“Tabitha, how about another color?” she called from the dressing room.
The young owner of the boutique stuck her head of spiky blond hair with pink tips around the door, her dark eyes wide. “Really? You mean, you want color? Actual color?”
“Yes,” Ronnie said with a laugh. “Why is that so odd?”
“You’ve never wanted to before. May I ask what’s changed?”
A lot, but it wasn’t as if Ronnie could tell her.
“Ah,” Tabitha said. “A man.”
Ronnie shrugged. “It’s part of it, plus it’s been brought to my attention that I always wear black.”
“Everyone looks good in black, but I think color would be nice. I’ll be right back.”
Ronnie got out of the black dress and hung it up. Tabitha’s shop was pricey, but she had an eye for simple, elegant designs that Ronnie preferred.
She’d never gone to another designer since finding Tabitha five years ago. Even when Ronnie was in another country, she’d call Tabitha up and have a dress shipped. Tabitha never failed to give Ronnie something that was perfect.
“How about this?” Tabitha asked as she walked in with a deep red dress that had an A-line skirt.
“I like it. Let’s see.”
For the next hour, Ronnie tried on gown after gown. There were many she liked, but she hadn’t found the one she was looking for. Which was difficult since she didn’t know what that dress might look like. Only that she’d know when she saw it.
After a light lunch, Tabitha brought Ronnie back into the dressing room and said, “I have two more dresses I’ve put in the back. One isn’t quite finished. I actually had you in mind when making it, but never thought you’d like it.”
“Let me see them.”
Excitement ran through her mostly because of the way Tabitha had spoken of the dresses. Somehow, Ronnie knew one of the dresses was going to be
the
one.
“Here’s the first,” Tabitha said, and brought in a hunter green gown with a plunging vee down the front.
Ronnie was quick to get into it. She loved the feel of it, but mostly she liked how it showed off her body. Her breasts weren’t big, but the dress made them look bigger.
“I love it,” Tabitha whispered happily. “But not as much as I think I’ll love this on you.”
Ronnie turned around and took one look at the gown. “That’s it. That’s the gown I want.”
Tabitha beamed. “I knew it. Let’s get you into it so I can finish hemming it for tomorrow night.”
Once the gown was on, Ronnie reached behind her and let her hair down.
“My God, girl. You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?” Tabitha asked, her voice full of awe. “Wear that glorious hair of yours down. No jewelry either.”
Ronnie touched her trinity knot. “None?”
“None,” Tabitha said, and pointedly looked at the necklace. “Especially not that. I do have some earrings that are just the thing to complement the gown. And the shoes. I’ve got those as well. I’m tempted to go to this thing and give you all my money just to see you.”
“You already get all my money. It’s fair I get yours,” Ronnie said with a laugh.
But she looked in the mirror and saw someone different. With her hair down, and in the gown, Ronnie was the person she wanted Arran to see.
The one he wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off of.
“He won’t be able to,” Tabitha said in agreement.
Ronnie hadn’t even realized she’d said that out loud.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Arran rubbed his eyes as he let himself back into the suite. He’d managed to discover some information about the magical items that had been taken from Edinburgh. Determining how much of the information was truth was going to be the problem.
He listened to the quiet of the suite and hated that Ronnie wasn’t there. It wasn’t like he could just barge in on her dinner.
“Well, I could,” he said to himself with the beginnings of a grin.
He could, but Ronnie wouldn’t be pleased. She was with Pete, and that had to be enough for Arran. As much as he loathed the thought, he had to accept it.
Arran turned and walked to his room, where he found a long bag hanging from the door of his closet. He flipped open the paper attached to find Saffron’s note that said:
Hope you like it!
He unzipped the bag and sighed as he looked at the black jacket and bow tie that hung from the hanger. The jacket was short and had a black vest to go underneath it and on top of the white shirt.
It wasn’t until Arran removed the jacket, vest, and shirt that he saw the kilt. For the first time that evening, he truly smiled.
“It’s no’ a true kilt as I was hoping, Saffron, but this’ll do, lass. This’ll do.”
He ran his fingers over the MacCarrick plaid and thought about his family, of his life before he’d become a Warrior. How simply he’d lived and loved.
Nothing had turned out as he’d expected, yet somehow fate had given him something larger than he could have imagined. It had given him a family with the others at MacLeod Castle. It had given him brothers and sisters, even if they weren’t blood.
The bonds that held them all together were stronger than any other. They were bonds that could never be broken.
Arran reached for his phone to call Saffron and thank her when he got a text from a shop dealer that specialized in antiques. The old man had hardly been able to stand because he was so frail, and he hadn’t wanted to talk to Arran at first.
But Arran managed to win over the old man’s nephew with his knowledge. Now, the text from the nephew said the old man wanted to see him.
Arran glanced out his door to Ronnie’s. He’d wanted to be here when she got back. All day he’d waited to take her in his arms and kiss her, and he wasn’t going to let another opportunity pass. Not with a woman like Ronnie.
Yet the idea of discovering something regarding the items they’d found and what the monsters were was too important to pass up.
“Damn,” Arran mumbled as he hastily answered the text, promising to be there in ten minutes.
Before he departed the suite, he left Ronnie a quick note letting her know where he was.
* * *
Ronnie was so tired, she could scarcely hold her eyes open, but when the elevator doors opened to her floor, excitement chased away her exhaustion. She stepped out of the elevator and lengthened her strides so that she was almost running to her door.
Arran awaited her. There was no way she was going to allow another night to pass without kissing him again. And … if something else happened, she wasn’t going to stop it.
All she’d thought about all evening was Arran. Pete had gotten irritated with her, but she couldn’t help it. She should have invited Arran regardless of what the others thought.
Arran was … Well, she didn’t know what Arran meant to her, only that she wanted him next to her. It wasn’t just because she felt safe with him near. It was more than that. So much more.
Words couldn’t begin to describe how he made her feel, what he made her dream of. His mere presence soothed her even as it scorched her with desire from the inside out. A smile from him could make her heart skip a beat.
And his touch … Well, she could forget everything when he touched her.
It took her three tries to get the key into the door to unlock it so she could enter. She was winded, a smile on her face as she let the door slam behind her and she walked into the living room.
“Arran?” she called.
The smile slipped when she saw the note on the table in front of her. She set down her purse next to the note and swallowed her disappointment. Then she went to take a long, hot bath. She started the water and kicked off her shoes before she grabbed a nightgown and a book she’d brought with her from the dig.
She loved reading, but there were many nights she didn’t get to immerse herself between the pages of a good romance. The fact she was alone in such a beautiful suite without the man she’d been thinking of all evening made it a night perfect for a romance novel.
Ronnie removed her clothes and tested the water with her toe. She sighed as she stepped into the water and leaned back against the large tub. Steam drifted around her, and just as she’d hoped, her muscles began to relax.
She let herself unwind for a moment with her eyes closed and the water soothing her before she reached for the book.
* * *
Dale leaned against the lamppost and covertly watched the Warrior, Arran MacCarrick. He’d been following MacCarrick for over three hours.
The first thing MacCarrick had done was purchase a laptop. He’d then spent an hour at a café on the computer, but Dale couldn’t get close enough to figure out what MacCarrick was doing.
After that, MacCarrick began visiting antique shops. Some he was hardly through the door before he would turn and leave. Others he would stay for several minutes.
Dale was able to see through most of the shops’ windows, so he saw MacCarrick talking to the owners. What he was saying Dale didn’t know, and that wasn’t going to earn him any points with Jason.
“Bloody damned Wallace,” he murmured as he thought about Jason.
He should have called Jason as soon as he realized what MacCarrick was doing, but Dale wasn’t suicidal. He quite enjoyed the power and immortality he had.
Though he hadn’t seen MacCarrick fight, he knew the Warrior was centuries older than he, which meant MacCarrick would probably kick his arse.
Jason would have Dale get closer to MacCarrick, and that would alert the Warrior he was being followed. So, for the time being, Dale was going to keep his distance.
He clenched his jaw as he saw MacCarrick exit the latest antiques shop and turn his way. There was nowhere for Dale to go, nothing he could do but stay absolutely still.
MacCarrick passed so close, their shoulders brushed. Dale kept his head down as MacCarrick mumbled an apology. Thankfully, a group of tourists was coming from the opposite direction, which would help Dale hide.
Since they were atop a hill, it was easy for Dale to keep his eyes on MacCarrick. Until MacCarrick turned a corner.
“Fuck,” Dale muttered, and shoved his way through the tourists.
He kept a steady pace instead of running after his quarry. The closer he got to MacCarrick, the better—but he had to be smart about it.
Dale caught sight of him four blocks later just as MacCarrick was entering another store. This time, Dale set up in the shadows of an alley. Warriors had amazing eyesight that allowed them to see even in the dark, but if MacCarrick didn’t know to look, the chances were he wouldn’t see Dale.
A few short minutes later, MacCarrick walked out of the store. He stood on the sidewalk for a moment and looked first one way and then the next before he turned to his left and continued walking.
Dale was tired of following him, but he had no choice. Jason would have his head—literally—if he didn’t do as ordered.
He trailed MacCarrick for six blocks before turning left and heading toward Edinburgh Castle. Several times, MacCarrick stopped and looked at shop fronts, but he didn’t go inside any more.