Highland Sanctuary (The MacDaniels Book 1) Page 2

  Unfortunately, this was a different sort of trip, not like his past ones — vacations and trips of renewal. It could be said that this was an attempt to flee the terrors of the night. The tongues had yet to cease wagging at him back home. In fact, some said he was running away. Others said he was more guilty than the man that pulled the trigger. Loss was something terrible when it took the people you loved, but was even worse when it was your fault.

  The cottage belonged to a friend of an old friend — one that didn’t blame him for Morvena, one that did not believe he should be over her death less than a year after… Breaths began coming in short gasps as he slipped into his memories, the ones that would forever haunt him.

  His gaze drifted to his hands, the same hands that had been coated in her blood — the blood of his wife… A hit. His wife had been killed because of him, because of his job.

  Shaking his head to clear the memories, he brought himself back to the present. The hands gripping the steering wheel as if it was a life line, were no longer drenched in blood. He had scrubbed them enough to know that nothing remained. It took effort to remove his hands from their death grip. Focusing on the cabin once again, he reached to open the door. The middle of nowhere was as good a place as any to spend his suspension. His indefinite suspension…

  Alec scrubbed at his face, the 12 o’clock shadow rough against his palms. Even though Morvena had never followed him on his American vacations while she was alive, she haunted his every step since. If only he had been home more, then maybe she would still be alive. Maybe the baby would be too, even if it wasn’t his.

  Stepping out of the car, he grinned at the cool moist air. Not as cool as Scotland, of course, but still beautiful in its own rite.

  As he walked up the porch steps the top one creaked under his weight. He gave a sad grin. It would be harder for anyone to sneak up on him with a creaky step. You could leave the Yard, but the Yard never really left you. The skills necessary to be a good inspector became ingrained. They were never forgotten, although sometimes they just weren’t enough to save the ones you loved.

  As he opened the door he took a deep breath. It was like walking into a zone of safety once he crossed the threshold, as if the bad things were trapped just outside the door. Hopefully the nightmares would not follow him inside either. It had been so long since he had slept a full night… One day he might even be able to forgive himself, if he did not see it so often.

  Closing the heavy wooden door he let his hand linger on the old brass doorknob. It felt rough beneath his fingers, it’s age evident. Taking a deep breath he felt at peace. The smell of the cedar chair rails that lined the entryway brought peace to him. It reminded him of the cedar rocking chair his grandda’ had back home in Scotland. Alec could almost hear the steady rocking of the chair. Thump. Thump. Thump. As it glided back and forth, lightly striking the floor. Oh, how he missed his family when he was away from them.

  First, a call home was needed. It would do him good to hear his family’s voices. He took off his black leather biker jacket and threw it on the small black leather sofa. His midnight blue t-shirt was tucked into his blue jeans and when added with the boots he was wearing created the perfect bad boy image, it screamed for him to be left alone.

  Alec sighed deeply as he turned and went outside to sit on the porch swing. It groaned slightly under him. The wood was old and warped, but still good. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his brother Rory. Upon the third ring he was greeted with a gruff, “What!”

  Alec grinned at his brother’s usual way of answering the phone. It never was a question, but instead an unerring annoying demand to know who would dare interrupt his fishing from the famous limestone lochs of Assyant north of Ullapool towards Elphin. It was Rory’s forced vacation time. Every year the poor Constable was forced to take a vacation. Every year he spent it fishing. Alec could practically see the look of exasperation on Rory’s face at the ringer on his phone scaring away all the fish. It was some song about dogs if he remembered correctly. He asked, “’Tis that anyway to greet your eldest brother, lad?”

  He was answered with a laugh, “Should have known. Yer the only fool to interrupt a man’s business.”

  Alec smiled at their banter and asked, “A business ye say?”

  “Aye, a business…Not like that fancy car habit of yers,” Rory jousted.

  Alec laughed, “Rory, I miss ye somethin’ terrible when I’m gone. Yer the only one who can cheer me up.” He always enjoyed passing insults with his brother Rory.

  “Well, dear brother of mine, Mum would love for ye to come back home. Ian will be back by the end of next week.” Of course, family was expected to help with the guests that would be arriving.

  “Aye, that lad just had to go get an education in London,” Alec joked, knowing they were all proud of Ian for getting his Business degree, as all the MacDaniels were required to attend college whether they made use of it or not. Their mother had even insisted that Rory take some form of classes to get a degree even when it was destined that he fish his life away. Ironically, it turned out their mother had been right. Despite their troubled youth as the town pranksters, each MacDaniel son, except Ian, ended up getting a degree that was geared towards law enforcement. Alec had ended up at Scotland Yard, Rory as a local constable, Tavish as a bodyguard for an exclusive protection agency, and… Danny joined the military. The loss of Danny had taken their family by surprise, but their mother refused to believe that he was gone. Just missing — missing in the desert.

  “That he did…Oh, Mum’s been fashed somethin’ terrible about how her oldest is neigh thirty and without a wife to show him happiness,” his brother warned.

  Alec groaned, their mother had decided a few months ago that Alec was done mourning and had taken it upon herself to find him a new wife. She had never liked Morvena, but refused to say so to Alec as she thought he loved her. “Not again,” he whispered, “I thought she was done when she tried to set me up with Mary from ole’ Duncan’s garage.” He lifted his legs and let the swing go hoping the rocking movement from the swing would soothe him.

  A laugh greeted his ears, “Aye, Mary!” His brother’s delighted revelry always seemed to come at his expense. “The lass dinnae even know the whole of it! She kept a tinkerin’ with the car and Mum was so fashed!”

  The memory brought a smile to Alec’s face as well. Mary had definitely ignored his mother and her host of mysterious car issues over a two month timespan. Two months. That’s how long it took her to give up on Mary. Had she found someone else?

  “Aye, that we all did. I’m just glad it’s ye she’s focused her matchmaking on, not me. I dinnae intend to settle down for a wee bit longer; too many fish in the loch.”

  Alec smiled knowing that Rory was not speaking of women, but instead the brown trout he loved so much. The smile was dimmer than it used to be though. Soon Rory would find a wife. Soon he would have a family. Then his other brothers would as well. Too much had been lost already. Between Morvena and his older brother, Alec was not sure if he would be able to find happiness again. Happiness came with too high of a price. “Rory, I need ye to do me a favor. I need ye to take the heat off of me.”

  “What do ye mean?”

  “Find someone, for Mum’s sake. Get ‘er to focus on ye, so I can grieve. I dinnae know if I will ever be ready again.”

  A deep sigh came through the phone. “Alec, the shootin’ was not yer fault.”

  “Dinnae,” he replied sharply. He could not handle one more person saying it was not his fault. Not one more person saying their condolences or telling him to move on. If they did he was going to punch something.

  Rory seemed to get the hint. “Well, lad, I’ve got to get back to my line as I believe I may be ignoring the wee fishes. Give us a call when yer flyin’ in and we’ll pick ye up.”

  “Aye, love ye, Rory, and catch a beaut’ for me.” Alec hung up feeling better about being so far away from home. Maybe he really just needed time to get away for
a bit, time to bask in the glow of silence. He looked out over the fields and sighed. The sun was just beginning to set and cast a beautiful golden glow across the tall grass near the tall pine trees. It was far different from home, but it was comfortable. He was about to go back inside when he heard a shrill scream through the woods on the right side of the house. He jumped up and listened. When he heard it again he took off towards the sound.

  Chapter 3

  Amy was furious. Looking up, towards the ground, she cringed. Rocky was fanatically barking at her, that kind of barking where he was so excited that he was spazzing out. “Hush!” Her demand to cease was met with even more enthusiasm as he began jumping around in circles, enjoying the game they were playing. The only problem she had with this came in the tiny, seemingly insignificant detail that this was definitely not a game and she was definitely not happy about it.

  Wailing around, she screamed in frustration before uttering a string of expletives as she hung upside down ten feet in the air because some idiotic poacher had left a trap out on her property. Her property of all places! The very idea made her blood boil. Poachers… She despised them. They had no business being anywhere near her or her land.

  Of course, she would not be in this mess to begin with if Rocky had not jerked the leash out of her hand. Therefore, it all came back to Rocky.

  The Hound from Hell.

  Her eyes narrowed. Upon him looking at her, he knew he was in trouble. His ears went down and his tail went between his legs. Yep, he knew he was in trouble all right. Rocky bounded a few steps away and sat down, still barking — quieter, but still barking. Stubborn little thing. Oddly, it was like he took after her in that regard.

  “You stupid mutt!” She glared offensively at the playful boxer. Shaking her fists at him, “When I get down from here I am going to skin you alive! When I’m done with that, I’m going to donate your fur to the Humane Society.” She scowled at him. “Just for the Hell of it!” Rocky hopped up, wagging his tail ferociously. There were times when she swore it moved at superhero speeds.

  Rocky knew she would never hurt him though, making all of her threats absolutely meaningless. Thinking about the day Finn died, her eyes began to tear up. The pup still missed Finn. When they visited his grave, Rocky would lay down and whine. It was as if he knew Finn was buried there, buried and never coming back. There was no way Rocky would ever come to harm at her hands, not when they both missed Finn.

  Ignoring him, Amy blew out a heavy breath as she tried to calmly assess her situation. She looked up at her left foot and reached to undo the rope around her ankle. Unfortunately, the poacher had not tied it correctly and the slip knot came loose before she could even grab it. She screamed as she fell, slamming her eyes shut as the air whooshed around her. It came as a surprise when upon hitting the ground it was somewhat softer than she expected and went “Oof!”

  Keeping her eyes tightly shut she waited; however, the pain did not come. The ground felt like it was moving.

  It was! She opened her eyes, looking at the clouds above, as the ground moved beneath her again. “Lass, what were ye doin’ hangin’ from a rope?” The deep voice startled her. Cocking her head to the side, she looked behind her at the source of the voice. Her stomach dropped at what she saw.

  Amy was lying on top of a beautiful man. In fact, he was the most beautiful man she had ever met. Her first thought was that he should be on the cover of a romance novel. Her second thought was that if he was she would definitely make the time to read it, and she was a woman that didn’t make time for much outside of work. His icy blue eyes caused her heart to speed up and her lungs refused to take in air. For the first time in two years she felt a spark of something. Not sure what it was a spark of, but she knew it was important to be wary of. Sparks were dangerous.

  Amy was drawn out of her reverie by his accent. “What did you just say?” Her voice sounded odd to her, whimsical and besotted. His eyes were so intense that they had her drowning in them. The brilliant blue reminded her of the sky over the ocean when she was out to sea, not a cloud in the sky, no worries, no drama. Just free, open, blue sky for as far as the eye could see.

  Dragging herself out his gaze, she noticed he was frowning at her. Even without knowing him at all, she could say that the frown looked foreign upon his face. In fact, there were permanent laugh lines around his eyes that confirmed it.

  “I asked if yer noggin’ is alright. Ye seem to be a bit out of it.” His voice was cautious, as if he expected her to be of some sort of danger to him.

  Amy felt mysteriously drawn to his lips and found herself casually wondering what they would taste like. However, common sense finally decided to make a re-appearance, just in the nick of time too.

  Ugh! Stupid. Has it really been that long? Hormones were screaming at her as she realized she was still lying on top of him. Rolling off of him she tried to cover her blush by getting angry. It was too much to be attracted to him with what all was going on in her life. There was finally a chance for her to save herself, so no one else got hurt, and here she was ogling at some guy. Some very very attractive guy, but still…

  Still in a crouch she frowned, “Dude, I don’t know where you think you’re at, but I sure as hell can’t understand what you’re saying.” She stood up trying to gain the advantage. “You need to learn proper English if you’re gonna’ hang around here.”

  “Alec.”

  “Hn?”

  “Alec, tis my name.” Alec frowned and pushed himself up off the ground. As he dusted himself off, she took a step back. He was tall. Tall and even more gorgeous than she though. “I am speakin’ English.”

  She made a face and pointed a finger at him, “I said proper.”

  “Lass, yer missin’ a tool or two…”

  Anger boiled deep in her gut. How dare he… “Excuse me? Did you just imply that I’m not all there?” She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow, daring him to confirm it. At his arrogant nod her temper became strained. Amy uncrossed her arms and balled her fists at her sides. Her mouth opened as if to say something then closed thinking better of it. This would definitely be much more fun than letting her anger get the better of her. A smile graced her lips and before he could realize what she was doing she pushed him back. Then the dog got underneath his feet, tripping him.

  As he landed on his back on the hard ground he looked up to see her towering over him. Good. Now she had the advantage. Don’t show fear, she told herself. Act like a Siren. Yeah, Siren’s are all powerful. In what she suspected was full on Siren mode she leaned forward just a bit. Placing one hand on her hip, tossing in a bit of sass, she narrowed her eyes. With the other hand she pointed a long, thin finger at him. Appear threatening, it will keep him from getting involved.

  “Let me tell you somethin’, bud, around here I am definitely not the person you want to mess with.” She used the finger that had been pointing at him and jerked it towards her head, “I can assure you that everything’s fine upstairs.” How dare he imply otherwise! “And, just so you know, the rope was from a poacher trying for game.” Taking a step back, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know where you’re from,” Seeing his mouth open, as if to answer, she slung out her hand really quickly to make a halting motion, “and I really don’t care. This is your only warning to stay away from me, got it?”

  Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away, only making it a few feet before realizing that Rocky wasn’t following. He was standing right beside the guy, not moving an inch. The man turned his head slowly as Rocky whined and faced the seventy-five pound dog, which promptly licked him on the cheek. Amy whistled a shrill whistle which caused Rocky to turn his head towards her. Slapping a hand against her thigh, he then bounded off towards her. She watched with narrowed eyes as the guy pushed himself up off the ground.

  Staring in her direction, he shook his head. “As if bein’ here wasn’t enough, I had to go meet a loon,” he muttered just loud enough for her
to hear. He shook his head again as he began walking back in the direction he had run. “I should have stayed in Ullapool where no loons are runnin’ amuck, although,” He paused and turned his head to glance once again in her direction, “here they have quite bonnie loons.” He smiled despite the obvious soreness from her landing on him and taking him to the ground with her.

  There was no fit response to his antics. Her mouth opened and closed. No words were good enough, so she turned and fled with Rocky hot on her heels. While fleeing the scene, Amy muttered all the way back to her one bedroom cabin. “How dare that jerk think I’m freaking missing something upstairs!” Rocky barked at her heels, still animated from the excitement of meeting the stranger. Amy looked down at him, “This is all your fault you crazy mutt.” Rocky wagged his tail at her in hopes of being rewarded for playing the game so well and reached up to lick her hand. She jerked her hand back rapidly, “Just because I got stuck with you doesn’t mean that I have to like you. In fact, I don’t like you not one little bit. You’re just lucky that I feel sorry enough for you to feed you daily.” That was far from the truth. Amy actually liked the dog very much, but felt better not admitting it to anyone, not even herself.

  The footfalls echoed loudly as she stalked up the four steps to the door, making each and every stomp count. Rocky pushed past her inside and after she entered she slammed it shut. A few pictures on the wall rattled and one fell. She heard glass shatter and grimaced. She went and picked it up almost crying when she saw which picture had fallen. “Oh no…” It was a picture of her mother, father, brother, and her at her Boot Camp graduation in Great Lakes, Illinois. She was in her dress whites and her parents were both casting proud looks at her. It was the only picture she had of them all together. Her parents had been killed six months later, but her brother had neglected to tell her for another year after they had died. He said he had wanted her to be able to concentrate on her job over in Iraq instead of mourning for them. Each time she had called or emailed he’d say they were out or that they couldn’t figure out the computer. Both were highly plausible, so she hadn’t worried… Finn was always the big brother, always protecting her, even if it cost him… Even if it cost him his life. Best not to think about that now. The time would come soon that he would be avenged.