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“I wouldn’t have expected you to fall for all that mermaid rubbish,” Kellan said. “She was wearing a green silk dress with nothing underneath.”
“Hmm,” Nan said, her brow furrowed. “The Irish legends about merrows say that they wear a red cap or a cloak and if the human steals either one, the merrow will forget her life in the sea and live on land with the human.”
“If you want to keep her, maybe you should start looking for that cloak or hat,” Jordan teased. “I’d definitely hide the green silk dress for safe measure.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Kellan said with a chuckle. “Because the best way to form a perfect relationship is to trap someone into staying with me. Especially some magical sea creature that isn’t human in the first place.”
Nan and Jordan giggled. “So she’s probably not a real merrow,” Nan said. “But if she’s pretty and you like her, maybe you should ask her to stay a little longer. You need a date to our engagement party, don’t you?”
He smiled. “I really don’t think she’ll hang around that long.”
By the time he finished his beer, Danny had packed up his supper order in a paper sack and encouraged him to bring the “merrow” down to the pub for lunch the following day. Kellan put up with the last bit of teasing before making his escape.
As he walked back to the cottage, the wind nipped at his face. The thought that Gelsey might have died on the beach sent a shiver running through him. How long had she been there? Was there no one who’d missed her? Wouldn’t her absence cause at least one person to wonder where she was sleeping for the night?
The cottage was dark and quiet when he stepped inside. The peat fire on the hearth had cooled and Kellan set the bag of food and box of paper on the table and slipped out of his jacket. When he saw Gelsey on the sofa, sound asleep, he kicked off his shoes and crossed to the hearth.
He silently tossed another brick of peat on the fire, then turned and looked at her. The light from the flame played across her beautiful face and he studied her for a long moment. Was she the girl he remembered from so long ago? If it was her, where had she been all this time? Why hadn’t he seen her in the last fifteen years?
A sudden thought occurred to him and he walked into the bedroom and bent down at a spot beneath the window. The floorboard was still loose. He took his keys out of his pocket and pried the end up, peering into the dark space between the joists.
There it was. Where he’d hidden it all those years ago. Kellan reached down and pulled out the old biscuit tin, wiping the dust away with his palm. Did it belong to her? Is that why she’d come back to him? Or was he just fooling himself that there was something special about her?
Kellan sat down on the bed and pried off the lid, silently inventorying the contents and looking for a clue about the previous owner. When he found nothing, he tucked the tin into the bottom drawer of the bedside table, then walked to the kitchen and grabbed a cold beer.
Stretching out in the overstuffed chair across from the sofa, he watched her, thinking about what it would be like to have her in his bed. The heat from the hearth relaxed him and he sensed that whatever happened between them would be incredibly pleasurable.
This wasn’t a woman who hid her passions. Whatever had sent her to that beach last night, dressed in almost nothing, and vulnerable to the wind and cold, had overwhelmed all common sense. Who or what had driven her to nearly kill herself?
He silently catalogued what he knew about her. She was familiar enough with the area to know how to get down to the cove. He’d already ruled out the possibility that she’d washed ashore from the water. She wasn’t wearing any underwear with her dress, so she probably hadn’t been out in public before visiting the beach. She wasn’t a local. Her accent was an odd mix of British and American and something else. Something more exotic.
She seemed well educated, maybe even coming from a posh background, though he wasn’t sure what brought him to that conclusion. Maybe it was in the way she moved, with such self-assured grace and perfect posture. And in the way she ate, quietly sipping her soup from the spoon as if dining in some fancy restaurant.
Kellan sat in front of the fire for a long time, thinking about the women who’d populated his past. He’d always carefully chosen those he invited into his bed. Vulnerability wasn’t a quality he sought. But looking at Gelsey, he felt a strange urge to protect her, to keep her from harm.
When he finished his beer, he got up and took the empty to the kitchen, then wandered back to the bedroom. He thought about waking her, but she seemed quite comfortable on the sofa.
He stripped off his clothes in the dark, then flopped down on the bed, dressed only in his boxers. He closed his eyes, but images of Gelsey plagued his thoughts. His fingers twitched as he remembered the feel of her naked body beneath his palms, recalled the soft swell of her breasts, the sweet curve of her backside. Just the thought of touching her brought an unwelcome reaction and Kellan groaned and rolled over on his stomach.
Unless he wanted to put up with this kind of torment for the rest of his stay in Ballykirk, he’d have to return Gelsey to where she belonged. He pulled the pillow over his head and quietly sang a familiar pub song that went on and on.
Like counting sheep, the song gradually relaxed him and he found himself drifting closer and closer to sleep. The image in his head slowly morphed into a dream as sleep overcame him.
THE WIND RATTLED the windows and Gelsey sat up and ran her hands through her tangled hair. Where was she? She squinted to see in the low light from the hearth. This wasn’t her room at Winterhill. Or her room at her mother’s apartment on Park Avenue. She didn’t recognize anything.
She swung her feet off the sofa and stood, fighting a wave of dizziness. Running her hands over her clothes, she remembered that she was in Kellan Quinn’s house. What time was it? How long had she slept? And where was Kellan?
The room was chilly and she rubbed her arms, then grabbed up the quilt and wrapped it around her body. She was normally a restless sleeper, preferring to nap during the day and stay awake during the darkest hours. Rain hissed at the windows and she crossed the room to the fireplace.
There was no more peat to feed the fire and the room would only get colder. She raked her hands through her hair again, then wandered over to the bedroom, her bare feet silent on the rough wooden floor.
She found Kellan asleep in the bed, his form faintly visible in the dark. His long legs were twisted around the bedclothes and his arm was thrown over his head, his naked chest bare to the chilly room. Gelsey stood over him, deciding whether she ought to wake him, or just crawl into bed beside him.
She tossed the quilt over the bed, then stretched out along the length of his body. As she slipped under the covers, he jerked, then pushed up on his elbow, squinting into the dark.
“The fire went out,” she whispered. “It’s cold out there.”
He cleared his throat. “I—I can fetch more peat,” he said. “And there’s a portable heater in the kitchen.”
“This is all right,” she said. “You’re warm.” She snuggled into that warmth. He had a beautiful body, slender but muscular, perfectly masculine in every way.
He grabbed her hand, pressing it to his heart and Gelsey felt his pulse beneath her palm, quick and sure. She held her breath, wondering what was going through his mind. “Maybe I should go find that heater,” she murmured.
“No.” Kellan held tight to her hand. “It’s all right. You can stay.”
She relaxed again and stretched out beside him. “I love nights like this,” Gelsey whispered, “listening to the rain and the wind outside. It makes me feel safe, all warm and cozy and out of the weather.”
“You weren’t out of the weather last night,” he said.
“I wasn’t out there all night,” Gelsey explained. “I walked out there after the sun came up.”
“You were drunk at seven in the morning?”
“Not so much drunk as just … drained. Emotionally exhausted.”
“Would you like to tell me why?”
Gelsey shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted to talk about. There was nothing about her past that she wanted to remember. “It’s not important.” She pushed up on an elbow and tried to make out his features in the dark. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. I don’t know if I said that before, but I do appreciate what you did.”
“Not a problem,” Kellan said.
She leaned closer to kiss him on the cheek, but at the last moment, he turned and her lips came down on the corner of his mouth. Gelsey froze. She’d promised herself that she wasn’t going to rush headlong into a sexual relationship again. She was going to think before she acted.
But Kellan made the next move and she was powerless to stop. He slipped his palms around her waist and pulled her beneath him. A sigh escaped from her throat as his mouth covered hers in a long and mind-numbing kiss.
Gelsey moaned softly as he stretched her arms out above her head. He was nearly naked and she was bundled up in a fleece sweatshirt and a pair of his cotton boxers. But she was glad for the barrier between them, at least for the moment. It was just a kiss and nothing more. Just a kiss, she reminded herself.
“Are you sure about this?” he whispered.
Then again, maybe it was something more. She arched against him, her movement instinctive. “I don’t know,” she said, the answer coming with a gasp.
Her hands skimmed over his back, her fingers exploring the rippled muscle that shifted with every movement of his body. Though she was ready to tear her clothes off, Kellan seemed more intent on seducing her slowly.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured.
But as his hands slipped beneath her clothes, Gelsey knew the battle was already lost. Desperate to feel that connection with another human being, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. It was always this way with her, craving that intimacy she only found in bed with men. It wasn’t always the right thing to do, but it was the only time she felt wanted and needed—and completely in control.
“Don’t stop,” she said, reaching for the hem of her sweatshirt.
“Relax.” He took her hand and wove his fingers through hers, drawing it up to his lips. “We have time. Unless you’re going to wander out into this storm all by yourself again.”
Gelsey wriggled out from beneath him, then got up on her knees. “Maybe I should take my clothes off?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head.
“I could take your clothes off,” she suggested.
“No.” He pulled her back down on top of him. “I get the feeling you usually take charge in the bedroom.”
“No,” Gelsey said. She paused. “Yes.” He was right. She usually did do the seducing. The men she chose to seduce were always happy to be along for the ride. “But I’ve been told I’m really good.”
“I’ve been told the same thing,” Kellan said. He slipped his hand beneath her sweatshirt, running his palm along her belly until he cupped her breast. Gelsey’s breath caught in her throat as his thumb grazed her nipple. “I do know what I’m doing. If you just trust me, I’m sure we’ll make it through just fine.”
She closed her eyes and tipped her head back as delicious sensation pulsed through her body. “Yes, I suppose we will.”
He moved to the other breast. “And hasn’t anyone ever told you that anticipation can sometimes be as much fun as the act itself?”
“No,” she said. “In fact, you do more talking than anyone I’ve ever been with.”
This brought a chuckle. He slipped his hands around her and pulled her back down on top of him. “Everyone in town thinks you’re a mermaid.”
Gelsey laughed softly. “Do you think I am?”
He slipped his hand around her nape and pulled her close. “Sweetheart, right now, I’ll believe anything you tell me.”
Kellan grabbed the hem of her sweatshirt and in one smooth motion pulled it over her head and tossed it aside. He drew her closer, his lips teasing at her nipple. Gelsey sighed, furrowing her hands through his thick hair and arching against him. Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes and relaxed, focusing on his touch.
As promised, Kellan took his time, slowly seducing her, learning what she liked, what made her shudder and what made her moan. No man had ever taken so much care to make her feel wanted. Sex had always been a race to the end. But this was a long, lazy stroll.
By the time they were both naked, Gelsey wasn’t even in charge of her own reactions. As he kissed his way from her lips to her belly, she trembled, knowing exactly what was coming.
But he teased her a little longer, moving lower to gently kiss the inside of her thighs. When he finally found the spot between her legs, Gelsey was so close to the edge she knew she would lose control at the first caress. But, as if he read her distress, Kellan began slowly and deliberately.
Again and again, he brought her close, then slowly pulled back. He knew the signs of her impending release and never allowed her to tumble over the edge. A delicious tension grew inside her and with each flick of his tongue, she began to feel herself losing touch with reality.
Her fingers and toes tingled and her arms and legs felt boneless. She begged him to stop teasing and to give her what she needed, but Kellan seemed determined to prove his point. Her body belonged to him, at least for this one night and he was going to bend it to his will.
Gelsey finally ceded all control—she realized that fighting him was no use. All he wanted was to give her pleasure—deep, shattering, soul-stirring pleasure. And for the first time in her life, she trusted a man enough to allow it.
Though she didn’t really know him, she sensed that he had no ulterior motive. He had no idea who she was or where she came from. He didn’t know about her family or her money. And all the emotional baggage that she carried around was invisible to him, at least for now.
With this man, this stranger, she felt liberated. There were no fears hiding just beneath the surface, no doubts or insecurities. And when her release came, it was a perfect expression of what she felt—complete freedom.
Her body tensed and then dissolved into powerful spasms. He’d been right all along. It was worth the wait. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her until she couldn’t respond anymore. But though the orgasm relaxed her, it also invigorated her. And when the last shudder was long gone, Gelsey was far from finished.
Kellan pulled her into the curve of his naked body, resting his chin on her shoulder, his breath warm against her ear. Gelsey wriggled her backside, testing the limits of his control. He was hard. She could feel it. But Kellan had other ideas.
“Go to sleep,” he murmured.
“I’ve been sleeping all day,” Gelsey replied.
“I haven’t. And we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“What are we doing?”
“I have no idea. But I’m sure we’ll have fun. I suspect it will require a lot of energy, though.”
Gelsey smiled to herself and snuggled a little closer. She didn’t need to hear anything else. She had another day and maybe another night to spend in this world, with this man. And that was all she really wanted.
“You can’t resist me forever,” she said.
“I can’t?”
“No,” she whispered. There’d come a moment when he’d ache for the touch of her hand or the feel of her mouth on his body. And then, she’d give him what he’d given her … sweet, shattering release. And after that—they’d see what happened. Right now, the possibilities seemed endless.
KELLAN ROLLED OVER in bed, stretching his arms over his head. His legs were tangled in the bed linens and he kicked them aside, then reached out to Gelsey. But the opposite side of the bed was cold and empty. He sat up and drew a deep breath. The soft sound of her voice drifted in through the open door. It sounded as if she was talking on the phone.
Kellan glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. It was just past 5:00 a.m. and dawn was still hours away. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Kellan stood and tiptoed to the door. A floorboard creaked beneath his feet and he paused, waiting to see if she’d noticed.
“Really,” Gelsey whispered. “I’m fine. I’m safe. I’m with friends. I just didn’t want you to worry.”
After a long silence, she spoke again. “Yes, I have everything I need for now.”
Who was she speaking to? It sounded like a parent. But maybe it was a boyfriend. Or a husband.
“I—I lost my mobile,” Gelsey said. “If Antonio calls again, tell him … tell him that …” She cursed softly. “Just put him off. Don’t tell him anything.” She paused again. “All right. I know you do. Take care.”
He heard her set the phone back into the cradle. By the time she returned to the bed, his eyes were closed and the sheets pulled up around his waist. She sank down beside him and a moment later, he felt the warmth from her naked body against his. Kellan wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled his face into the curve of her neck.
“Are you awake?” she whispered.
“I wasn’t … until now. Where were you?”
“Bathroom,” she lied. Gelsey shuddered and wriggled back against him, her backside nestled into his lap. “I’m so cold. I just can’t seem to stay warm.”
It was a blatant invitation to touch her, to run his hands over her bare skin. Kellan considered his options. Why even bother to resist, he mused. She was offering herself to him without any conditions. Why not enjoy her company while she was here? He reached out and smoothed his hand over her shoulder, pushing her hair aside until he could kiss the curve of her neck.
The warmth of his lips on her skin was enough to get him aroused again, enough to make him forget all his doubts about who she was and where she came from. In truth, the mystery about this woman made it even more exciting, more dangerous.
She turned to face him and almost immediately, her mouth found his. She kissed him without any hesitation, her tongue tangling with his as he pulled her beneath his naked body. Everything about her was perfect, her long, slender limbs, her pale silken skin, the addictive taste of her lips….
Kellan groaned as she slid her leg up along his hip, his growing erection cradled at the juncture of her thighs. It would be so simple to just slip inside her and he ached to join in this way, to share such an intimate connection.
He hadn’t planned on unplanned sex. Part of the reason he’d focused on her earlier was that he wasn’t really sure he had any condoms with him. He usually kept a box in the side pocket of his duffel, but he’d put his emptied bag in the boot of his car to get it out of the way.
Gelsey pressed her palm to his chest. Kellan was sure she could feel his heart slamming against it. He’d always had such control around women, trying to figure out what they wanted, and what he was willing to surrender to get what he wanted. It was like a chess game, only with naked bodies and unsatisfied desires.
But he didn’t want to think now. He just wanted to feel. And when Gelsey ran her palm between them, then wrapped her fingers around his shaft, Kellan closed his eyes and groaned. He didn’t know anything about her, except her name. And one other thing. She could make his body ache like no other women ever had.
“I need to go get a condom,” he murmured.
“You don’t keep them in the bedroom?”
“They’re in my duffel. I think.”
“Where is your duffel?”
“In my car.” Cursing softly, Kellan crawled out of bed. This would no doubt prove to her that he wasn’t the smoothest guy on the planet.
“Aren’t you going to put some clothes on?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. That will take too long. I’m just going to make a run for it.” Kellan hurried to the front door, grabbing his keys from the table as he passed. With a squeal of excitement, Gelsey followed him, tugging the quilt off the bed and wrapping it around them both.
“You don’t have to come with me,” he said. “It’s freezing out there.”
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