Stone Guardian

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Torin wrapped his plaid close about his shoulders and stepped between the dimensions. He emerged from the clinic’s shadows and waved a taunting hand in front of Harris while the old man swept with a tireless rhythm against the puddled water in the doorway. Harris didn’t react. The industrious old man was oblivious to the hulking man standing at his side. Torin grunted with a satisfied growl. He’d never enjoyed walking in the in-between but he needed his form cloaked.

Emma brushed past him on her way to her car. Head down, brow furrowed into a troubled scowl, she yanked open the vehicle’s door and heaved her bulging briefcase across the seat. Sliding in behind the wheel, her knuckles whitened as she gripped it in a stranglehold.

He’d upset her. Perhaps, he shouldn’t have mentioned drowning. Torin blew out a frustrated groan as he sifted into the car beside her. He’d only wished to show her he understood the pain she harbored from her past. How had women evolved into such complicated beings over the centuries? They were difficult enough to figure out hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps that’s why she’d never married. Too much pain filled her heart, leaving room for little else. Torin studied her troubled face as she fought the sticking gearshift. What a waste. A woman so fine and yet all alone. Had she been around centuries ago, many would’ve vied for her hand. Maybe even—No. Torin forced the thought from his mind. He’d known excitement and passion from his beloved Eilean and look where that had led. Unbidden voices from the past taunted him with their whispers. Marriage to Eilean had also provided a good share of misery. Flashes of Eilean’s unexplained absences from his bed writhed like a venomous snake from the shadows of his mind. The vicious rumors sliced through his memories with the deadly accuracy of a poison-dipped arrow.

Closing his eyes, Torin groaned in a shaking breath, trying to escape the truth. A delicate sweetness wafted across his senses. The faintest hint of lilies soothed the agony burning in his chest. He’d never truly noticed it before. The essence of the flowers perfuming Emma’s skin transmitted an air of innocence and vulnerability around her. Torin filled his lungs with the beguiling scent. Damn, but it suits her well.

He risked a touch to her silken hair, running an errant curl between his fingertips. Emma tossed her head, raking the tress out of his hand as though smoothing it from the tug of the wind. Thank goodness, she’d yet to discover her heritage, had no idea of her powers. Torin grinned as he brushed his fingers through her hair again. She’d think it merely the breeze. What wondrous hair. Torin shifted in the seat, his body awakening at the thought of burying his face and perhaps other neglected body parts into the ecstasy of those silken locks. By the powers of the abyss, this woman threatened to be his undoing.

Torin adjusted his aching member beneath his kilt, thanking the powers for the ability to hide between the dimensions. Sucking in a deep breath between clenched teeth, he forced his gaze straight ahead. If the Cailleach wanted them joined together, Torin would gladly oblige.