T is for Temptation (37 page)

“Let’s get Tee. I have a feeling we may be doing too little too late,” Jake said as he tugged on his earlobe.

Silence ruled their return journey, but as they climbed the stairs to the fairy room, Alex asked, “What about the trunk? You seemed intent on finding it.”

“It’s our only way back to the present as far as I can figure. Tee can’t take us there.”

They arrived at the attic, and Jake edged open the door. “Are you decent, babe?”

He didn’t expect a warm welcome, but he never anticipated an empty room.

“She’s not here. Blast, blast, blast. Where the hell did she go? You don’t think she’d venture outside, do you?”

“Where would she go? It’s not as if she knows anyone here. Wait a minute, her horse. She asked Tiny about him last night, wanted to feed him, but he said he’d take care of it.” Alex tapped a finger against his chin. “She was pretty insistent.”

“I should’ve thought of that. Hell and damnation, a woman like her with all those blasted warriors.” He rubbed a circle around the back of his neck. “I’ll take the stables. You find Tiny. Try to avoid raising suspicion.”

“Yeah, right, as if that’s possible. By the way, where’s Tee? She seems to be missing. And I’m not going to arouse suspicion?” He grabbed Jake’s arm. “Hang on. Take a look at this room. Are the walls blushing like she does?”

“It must be the light. Where did the shower come from? And isn’t that the bed from her nanna’s cottage?” He opened the glass shower stall door and swiped a finger. “Wet, warm, she was here. Not too long ago. Okay, remember that pulsing I told you about? It’s happening big time. That trunk’s close.”

A thread of restless agitation swirled up Jake’s spine. The hair at the nape of his neck bristled. When a search of the four stables turned up nothing, he checked Brandy to see if the horse had been groomed. Tee had a habit of braiding the stallion’s mane or tail, creating a different pattern every day. It amused him to watch her frown and carry on a conversation with the animal, speaking to him as if he could answer.

Yesterday, the creature’s tail swished a long waterfall. Today, an intricate plait spiraled the dark hair. About to leave, he spied scarlet dotting the strawed floor. A black scrunchie lay next to the spot, and his chest caved, and he imagined the worst.

Fear rose hot and wild in his throat. Cold sweat trickled down his temple, swathing panic with every slow drizzle. He studied the scuffed straw and dirt identifying several sets of shoe prints. All the evidence pointed to a struggle. Further exploration revealed a bloodstained poker.

Cold dread settled low in Jake’s belly, and murderous rage overthrew any logical thinking. He saw everything through a crimson swathe.

On his way back to the hidden entrance, every effort centered on Tee’s safety, he almost collided with the Ramsay brothers, ducking into the forest to avoid them.

By the time he made it back to the attic, anxiety-frazzled nerves had taken their toll, and when he saw Alex’s damp hair and smelled shampoo, he snapped. “You showered? At a time like this, you blasted well took the time to shower?”

“Christ, Jake. Panicking is not going to help. We need cool heads.”

“She was in the stables. I found a bloody poker.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. There could be another explanation.”

“What? She braided Brandy’s tail sometime today, yesterday she’d one his mane, not his tail. And I found this.” He held up the scrunchie.

“Crap. I saw her conjure that myself.” Alex sat up straight. “Who’d attack her? And what would they do with her? Christ, don’t answer that. I couldn’t find Tiny. And those Ramsays are looking for you. We have to leave now, Jake, or risk them grabbing you.”

“Not without her. They could be raping her right now. You think I could leave? I’m blasted well searching this damned castle from top to bottom. She has to be here somewhere.”

“We can’t risk them seeing you. Wait here. Let me find Tiny. I’ll bring him here. Caveman instincts won’t win the day. I’ll check the kitchen. One of the kitchen maids said Tee was there before she left to go to the attic.”

“I’m coming with you. I can’t sit here and stew. They get me—they get me. Let them try to force me to consummate the handfasting. Not about to happen.”

“I’ll go first.” Alex opened the door and poked his head out. He snapped it back inside, slammed the door shut, and leaned against the rough wood, his mouth opening and closing like the fish in a koi pond.

Alex’s ashen face made Jake’s pulse race, and the dazed panic in those cobalt eyes sent rivulets of cold sweat dripping down his spine.

“What?”

His friend’s jaw dropped open. It closed and opened again. No words came out.

“Is it Tee?”

Alex shook his head. “Uh-uh. Not.”

“What’s beyond that door? The
Loch
Ness
Monster?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Damn it, what the hell’s wrong with you? You’re never speechless. No, you make up a duke for a father.”

“Yeah, well this is retribution time. I know why everyone accepted you as the laird,” he said and took a wheezy inhale. “Look.” His voice cracked, but he opened the door.

Jake glared at him and stuck his head out the narrow opening.

Stunned, he stepped into the hallway, propelled forward on autopilot, brain and body in disconnect.

A man with his features confronted him.

Everything happened in slow motion.

Jake’s mind reeled. He gulped, held out his hand, palm outwards, and grazed the man’s brown coat. Rough wool scraped his fingertips. The other man’s fierce scrutiny seemed as intent as Jake’s, but he remained silent.

A mirror trick, it had to be.

He circled.

His mirror image moved with him.

Alex seemed to recover from his initial shock, and he took an investigative position on the wall, leaning one shoulder into it, and crossing one ankle over the other. “Right in front of my eyes and I didn’t get it.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jake demanded.

“Your brother.”

“Don’t touch me. Get back,” Jake growled as he jumped out of range. “I have no brother.”

“I’m your elder brother.” The man snorted. “The heir. By four hours, according to our mother.” He poked a finger into Jake’s chest.

“I have no brother. And don’t touch me again if you value your life.”

Alex’s piercing whistle punctuated the air.

“What?” Jake’s question resonated in the narrow hallway, but his eyes never wavered from the other man.

“I think you’d better listen to him. Unless I miss my guess, you guys are identical twins.”Alex studied the fingernails of one hand, his lips twitching.

“Don’t be a jackass. You and I grew up together in an orphanage. You know very well I have no brother.”

“I am Stephen Kieran Ferguson, your brother, elder by four hours.”

“What in the blasted hell do you keep repeating that? Like four hours makes a difference? I need a drink.”

“A magical chest brought you home.”

Jake felt as if he’d moved inside a glacier, the blood drained from his head to his pink toes. It hurt to breathe. He met the man’s sable eyes, which darkened as his mouth curved into a rueful smile.

“You know about the trunk? Then you must know where it is.” Alex said in his clipped interrogator tone. He straightened.

“Stop it, Alex. Shut up for a blasted minute,” Jake barked. He stepped backwards, edging into the attic room. “Not only did I grow up in an orphanage, I live in the year 2007.”

“Where you met our mother’s brother, Douglas Graham, and he gave you a magical chest. When you opened it, you came to our time, and Tiny Graham guided you here.”

Jake strained to get air into his lungs.

“You have a mother, Elaine, a father, Kieran, and a sister, Helen.”

The man’s quiet, even tone froze Jake’s movements.

“I think you’d better listen to him.” Alex insinuated himself between the two men and glanced from one face to the other. “You’re identical twins.”

“Alex, don’t.”

“You even have the same scar.” Alex touched one finger to Jake’s eyebrow, and another to Stephen’s, at a spot where a scar slashed the dark hairs.

“It can’t be.”

“It makes sense. Think about it. It explains everything, all the coincidences, the trunk, the Grahams. Everything that’s happened over the past few days.” Alex paused. “At least give him a chance to explain.”

“Thank you.” The man inclined his head towards Alex. He waved towards a new room at the end of the hallway. “Come, I will tell you the tale.”

“Where did that room come from?” Alex asked.

“That mystifies you, but not an identical twin? No, that one’s a piece of cake,” Jake snapped, fighting to regain control of his blasted life, of this reeling situation, and damned angry with Alex’s blasé acceptance of an impossible twin brother.

“I believe Tiny explained this is the fairy addition to Brodick. It changes to accommodate us. These are my quarters. They appear while I’m in residence.”

“Fascinating. What happens when you leave?” Relaxed curiosity tinkered Alex’s blue gaze, and Jake glared at him.

“They vanish. ’Tis a means of protection.”

Gesturing to a small square table in the center of the room, Stephen smiled and said, “Sit. Whisky?”

Jake slumped into a chair and surveyed the room. Leather and wood furniture, dark and oversized, but oozing comfort and hinting of a luxury beyond the current century’s capabilities, dominated the large space. Flames blazed and crackled in a marble fireplace with ornate carvings.

After delivering a glass of whisky to each man, Stephen sat opposite them and stretched out, long legs crossing at the ankles. “Welcome home, Brother. Our mother will be overjoyed.”

Jake swigged his liquor and gritted his teeth at the fierce burn.

“Our mother, Elaine, is an Elfish princess.”

“I’m not staying here to listen to a blasted fairy tale.” Jake blew out an exasperated breath.

Undeterred Stephen Ferguson continued, “She married a mortal, the Scottish Laird Kieran Ferguson, against her family’s wishes. The Elfish ring of elders banished her from their realm. You and I are her firstborn children. She didn’t expect twins. I came first, and the midwife left the birthing room to attend to me.”

Bells pealed.

“Ah, the feasting begins. I will hasten my explanation.” Stephen swallowed a generous portion of whisky. “Mother was alone in the room when you came into the world. She was weak, dazed, and thought she gave you to another midwife to care for, but it was a sea kelpie sent by the elders to steal you away.”

“Why? Why would they do that?”

“To punish her for marrying a mortal. The ultimate pain for a mother, to be separated from her child,” Stephen explained.

Jake’s head throbbed, the dull headache becoming sharper with each word Stephen spoke, and his mind verged on the brink of implosion. “Then this whole thing isn’t just a series of wild coincidences?”

“No. The Grahams have served the Fergusons throughout time. They are a family of warlocks. The chest is
Douglas
’s creation, but designed by our mother to return you to her side,” Stephen said and elbowed out of the plush chair.