The Parting Glass (Caitlin Ross Book 4) Read Free Page B

the base of the porch steps. No more than a foot remained between us. “Are you Caitlin Ross? If you are, I was told you could help me.”
    “Help you?” My voice came out hoarse with both fright and, curse it, longing. I found myself wondering what it would feel like to have his big, strong arms wrapped around me. It had been too long since I’d experienced that sensation. “Help you what?”
    “I’m looking for someone. A man named Stonefeather,” he said.
    All at once my conversation with John and what Sage had told me in the restaurant came flooding back into my consciousness. He might be pretty to look at, but my first impulse on seeing this stranger had been fear. 
    So I did the only thing I could do. I raised my fist, still clenching my keys, and drove it straight towards his gorgeous, twilight blue eyes.
     

 
     
     
     

    Chapter Two
     
    M y fist flew through the space where the stranger’s head had been a mere moment before; I hadn’t thought such a large man could move so fast. I stumbled forward, carried by the momentum of my swing, and fell down the steps. At the same time, I felt his huge hand close on my wrist. He bent my arm behind my back and I fell to my knees under the pressure; a shock of pain ran through my left hand as it scraped the pavement. His hand closed tighter, forcing my fist open, and I heard my keys clatter to the pathway.
    “Nae, we’ll have nane o’ that!” he drawled in what I now recognized as a Scots burr.
    He gave another shove, pushing me farther into the cement walk. I tried to heave myself up despite the agony in my arm. Much more stress would break it. My efforts came to nothing. He was too strong for me.
    “Now we’ll be having a word about Stonefeather.”
    I didn’t answer him. Instead, I mustered some energy, threw it at him, and felt his shock as a powerful surge of electricity jolted through his body. He released me and leapt back with a muffled oath of pain and surprise; he hadn’t been expecting true magic. I scuttled away from him on hands and knees, my right arm still burning. Then I jumped to my feet and ran down the street to my own front gate. I heard him coming after me and threw a shield in his path, blocking him.
    “Ye feisty wee bitch!” he swore. “I just need tae ask ye a few questions!”
    “I don’t know where Stonefeather is,” I cried without looking around. I fumbled at the gate, trying to find the latch.  All at once, it gave and I tore up my front walk and plunged up the stairs to my door. Now my hand grasped the knob; safety lay only seconds away. “I don’t know where he lives and I don’t know where he hangs out.”
    I rattled the doorknob: locked. I had left my keys back there with my opponent. Warily, I turned around. My shield, not designed to hold for long, had dissolved and the stranger stood at the foot of my walk, just outside the gate. A devilish grin stretched his wide mouth into a parody of a human feature.
    “Ye’ll be wanting these, I think?” He shook the keys, making them jingle.
    I cursed. “Throw the keys here. But if you move you’ll get more than you bargained for.”
    “Hell’s Bells, woman. If ye’d let me explain….”
    “You couldn’t have any explanations that would interest me. Now throw the keys over here.”
    He looked at me for a long minute, blue eyes blazing with some unidentifiable emotion. Then he tossed the keys in my direction. They landed at my feet. I bent to retrieve them, praying the stranger would be gone when I looked back up. No such luck. He was still standing there, his face still twisted into that inscrutable expression.
    I didn’t like to turn my back on him to open the door, but I had no choice. I fitted the key in the lock and turned the knob. Before retreating to the safety of my own house, I risked a glance back over my shoulder. Our eyes met a final time.
    “Ye’ll be seeing me again,” he said.
    “Not if I can help it,” I snapped, slamming the door. For a