“I’m a little restless, that’s all. It’s complicated.” Kiera wouldn’t say more. Her sister would worry too much.
“What’s complicated?”
“Visiting here. The abbey is like every postcard of a perfect English estate. And the roses.” Kiera paced the room. “Everything’s so beautiful that you forget what lies beneath the surface. The secrets and the pain.”
“Then finish and get out of there. That’s an order,” Maddy said sharply. “If you aren’t done by tomorrow, I’m coming to your hotel.”
“Stop worrying. I’m the practical one, remember? You can count on me to get this done without a hitch. But I’d better go, Maddy.”
“Just keep me updated.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Kiera was smiling when she hung up.
Outside her window, the moon was huge, and cool light covered the garden that bordered this side of the hotel. Kiera opened the door to her patio and was instantly engulfed in the lavender fragrance that would always spell England to her. The rich, sweet scent made her a little dizzy.
Though she would have given a fortune to be on her way home to her family in the rugged stone house in the Pyrenees, something about the moonlight tugged on her senses. As if there were hopes and dreams that waited this night, if only she dared to accept them.
But Kiera had never had time for dreams. Life was too full of adventure to sit still and let empty images slip through your head. She was always on the move, always exploring the next village and valley, putting together adventure tours for one of Europe’s best known travel companies.
She was determined to have her own company by the time she was thirty. If she kept building her client list, she might succeed sooner. And building a company didn’t come through idle imagination.
As she stood at the window, she saw a movement in the trees beyond the garden. Something blended into the restless shadows beneath the oaks at the far end of the village. Kiera’s breath checked as she saw the movement come again.
And then the shape—whatever it was—folded back into the shadows.
Probably just a fox. She’d seen two since her arrival. Or maybe it was no more than her imagination. She’d been jumpy from the first moment she’d set foot on English soil, jumpier still when she’d walked along the road and climbed the fence onto Draycott land.
Odd, she’d half imagined there had been a man in the woods. The sense of being watched had grown as she’d crossed the meadow above the moat.
She glared out at the darkness. There was no one in the trees beyond the garden now. No reason for the little hairs to stand up along her arms.
Yet the feeling that she was not alone grew stronger. The darkness seemed to reach out to her.
Kiera reined in her errant thoughts. She had escaped. She was safe now. No one in this hotel or in this country knew her connection to the Draycotts and she meant to keep it that way. She would make her plans well. There would be no mistakes the following night.
And after that she would be done with the Draycott family forever.
IT HAD TAKEN Calan less than an hour to find her.
Her prints had led him straight to a small dirt road and the tire tracks of a parked car. It had been easy enough to follow the car’s unique scent, crossing two small hamlets until the car stopped in a village with an isolated hotel at the far end.
Her room was on the north side, facing a garden full of lavender.
He saw her light and the blurred movements inside. Then her patio door opened, and he caught her scent. Cinnamon and pine trees. Mountain hills after rain. There was strength to her body as she leaned against the door, staring up at the moon.
Lost in thought.
Stubborn. Angry. Confused.
All those emotions clung, carried in her scent, clear for him to read. She was alone in the room, too.
The thought pleased him.
He stepped closer, silent in the shadows, his head raised. Every time she took a step her fragrance drifted toward him like a gentle touch. She was restless. He could almost feel the nervous energy slide from her as he stood, silent and watchful behind a row of topiary plants.
She turned slowly in the moonlight. Her arms crossed over her chest. “Is…someone out there?”
He didn’t move. Wind stirred his fur. Her eyes were trained on the spot where he waited, motionless.
“Hello?”
She blew out a breath and leaned her forehead against the door frame. Exhaustion seemed to grip her. He saw her shoulders slump.
What weight did she carry? he wondered. What fueled this kind of anger and regret?
He wanted to turn away. He needed to make one more effort to trace the attackers’ car, which he’d lost near a major highway exchange on the far side of the valley.
He had to put her out of his mind before this strange attraction pulled him any closer.
Yet he didn’t move.
Moonlight brushed the patio outside room fifteen. He felt the sharp twist of muscles, tensed to hunt. One leap would bring him closer.
One more leap and she would be sprawled on the floor beneath him.
Dazed. Submissive.
Open to whatever he chose.
A low growl began at the bottom of his chest as hunger drove sharp nails through every nerve end. He wanted in a way he had never wanted before.
But submissive was not how he pictured her or needed her.
He looked up at the sound of a latch closing. The glass door was shut now, the curtains drawn. Her smell remained, drifting out in a subtle torment to his senses.
And then he saw her silhouette as she tugged off her robe. Slowly her body was revealed in shadows that burned into his memory…
Hunger blocked all logic, all control.
He fought the urge to hunt and possess. Muscles twisted, claws dragging through the soft earth.
Slowly control returned. Hunger was shoved deep. Loyalty to a friend made him turn, slip through the lavender. Then he vanished into the night.
CHAPTER FIVE
IN THE MIDDLE of the quiet hotel patio, Kiera leaned forward and tried vainly to read the paper. No luck. Her eyes kept blurring.
Too much coffee the day before.
Too little sleep on top of the excess coffee.
She smiled absently
