Gelsey leaned in closer. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Only if I can ask one in return,” Kellan said.

“When you found me on the beach, why didn’t you just take me to the hospital?”

Kellan thought about his response for a long moment. “I don’t know. I guess I was curious. I wanted to know what happened, how you got on that beach and why. And I knew if I took you to the hospital, I might never see you again.” He kissed her, his lips brushing against hers. “I lost you once, I didn’t want to lose you again.”

“You lost me?”

“My turn,” Kellan said, quickly shifting the subject.

“Make it good,” she warned. “You only get one.”

“What really sent you out to that beach?” he asked. “It must have been something pretty upsetting.”

She shook her head. “Funny, it was then, but now, I barely think about it.”

“It or he? Answer the question,” Kellan demanded. “Honestly. Was it a man who did that to you?”

“I did it to myself. Up until that moment, I really didn’t like the person I was. I think there’s a bit of magic in you finding me on the beach. I’d like to believe there still is.”

Kellan slid his fingers through her hair and drew her lips to his. She went soft in his arms and on a sigh, she parted her lips to offer him a taste. Everything about her was perfect, Kellan mused. When he touched her, sex suddenly made sense. It meant something, something deep and reassuring.

Kellan knew the risk he was taking. She’d dropped into his life so unexpectedly and he suspected she’d leave in the same way. For all he knew, he’d wake up one morning and she’d be gone. And without knowing anything about her, he’d have no way to find her again.

Grabbing her waist, he pulled her close, then threw his thigh over hers, trapping her in his embrace. He reached for the buttons of the shirt she wore and slowly undid them, kissing a path from the first bit of exposed flesh to the last.

“Who are you?” he murmured, his lips pressed against the soft flesh of her belly.

Gelsey groaned, her fingers smoothing through his hair as he moved lower. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

She was the woman he wanted more than any other. She was the woman whose touch could send his need over the edge. And she was the woman who was becoming a part of his life he didn’t want to lose.

Kellan found the spot between her legs and gently caressed her with his tongue. Gelsey arched toward him, her fingers clenching his hair. He knew exactly how to control her release and Kellan took every advantage, knowing that it might be the only thing in their relationship that he did control. But was mind-blowing sex enough to keep her with him forever?

Her breath began to come in desperate gasps and Kellan knew she was close. He drew back and traced his way up to her neck. Her body was made for his touch, her skin so pale and smooth and her limbs long and lithe. He drew a deep breath and pulled her closer.

“Maybe we should go into the bedroom,” he murmured. Kellan got to his feet and reached down to help her up. But instead of taking a step toward the bedroom, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, her tongue teasing at his.

“Take your clothes off,” she whispered.

Kellan reached for the button of his jeans, but she was there quicker. She unzipped them, then pushed them down over his hips along with his boxers. Kellan stepped out of them, then pulled her body up against his, her shirt falling down around her elbows.

“Now that you have me naked, what are you going to do with me?”

She gazed up into his eyes, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. Then she grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the front door. The moment she opened the door, a huge gust blew icy-cold rain into the cottage. “It’s freezing out there,” he said. “And raining.”

“I’m used to cold and wet,” she said. Gelsey slipped out of her shirt. “Come on. Let’s go commune with nature.”

“Humans are not made for this kind of weather,” he said, motioning down to the erection that had grown so quickly the moment he’d kissed her.

Gelsey reached down and smoothed her hand along the length of his shaft, her touch warm on his already chilly flesh. “It will heighten the experience,” she murmured. Kellan reluctantly surrendered. There was obviously something in Gelsey that was fed by pushing the boundaries and taking risks. But how far would it go?

“All right.”

“You first,” she said.

With a shout, Kellan ran outside, his bare feet skidding on the brick walk. When he was nearly to the gate, he turned around to find Gelsey watching him from the doorway. The feeble light from the cabin outlined her nakedness so perfectly that he felt the breath slowly leave his body.

“Aren’t you coming?” he shouted, the rain stinging his skin.

“No! It’s freezing out there.”

Kellan ran back to the door and stepped inside, pulling her along with him. “I didn’t want to go out there in the first place!”

“I know,” she said. “But I wanted to see how far you’d go for desire. Now I know.”

“This was a test?” he asked.

She slowly slid down along his body until her hands rested on his waist. He watched as she drew her tongue along the length of his shaft, the warmth causing a rush of desire to race through him. The feel of her mouth on his cold body was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. Every nerve in his body was alive, his skin prickled with goose bumps and shivers skittering down his spine.

Kellan closed his eyes and leaned back against the door, losing himself in the feel of her mouth surrounding him, drawing him in deep and then drifting away. And when it was too much to take anymore, he pulled her to her feet and spanned her waist with his hands.

In one smooth motion, Kellan picked her up and wrapped her legs around his hips, pressing her against the door until he was positioned at the damp spot between her thighs. Slowly, he entered her, inch by inch until he was buried deep within her warmth.

“You were right,” he murmured, his mouth pressed against the curve of her shoulder. “It does heighten the senses.”

He drove deep and then withdrew and Gelsey gasped. “Now you can take me to bed,” she whispered.

“I think I’m fine right here.”


KELLAN LEFT EARLY in the morning, after he and Gelsey shared a quick breakfast together. He’d promised to help Riley with some painting at the cottage that he and Nan had just purchased in Ballykirk. Riley had hoped to have the place ready by the end of December, just in time to move in after their New Year’s Eve wedding. Before leaving, he extracted a sleepy promise from Gelsey that she’d meet him for lunch at the pub.

Though Gelsey curled back up under the covers, she wasn’t able to sleep. Her mind was spinning with all the possibilities that life now offered. She’d start a new job next week. She was excited at the prospect, but she was also a bit scared. She’d never held a job before. Would she actually know what to do, how to behave? What if people didn’t like her? Worse yet, what if someone recognized her?

With a curse, Gelsey sat up in bed and pushed her tangled hair out of her eyes. How hard could it be to sell face creams and body lotions? But obviously Maeve didn’t sell much from her shop. What if she too turned out to be a sales failure?

The first thing she needed to do was find something appropriate to wear. She couldn’t go to her first day of work wearing Jordan’s and Nan’s hand-me-downs. She’d just have to make a quick trip back to Winterhill. Looking around the bedroom, Gelsey searched for something to write on.

She found Kellan’s sketch pad on the floor next to the bed and flipped through it for a clean sheet of paper. The pencil that he’d been using last night wasn’t on the floor or on the top of the nightstand. Gelsey rolled onto her stomach and pulled open the bottom drawer.

She pushed aside a rusty old tin box and searched the drawer. Then she opened the box, hoping there might be a pencil inside. Gelsey’s breath caught in her throat as she recognized the objects in it. “Oh, my,” she murmured, pulling out a length of braided yarn.

In a single moment, she was taken back to that day, running through the meadow with Kellan chasing her, the old biscuit tin clutched in his hand. Time seemed to stand still as she pulled each item out of the box and examined it. These were all her magic talismans, bits and pieces of life that she’d kept for the powerful memories they held.

The day he’d chased her hadn’t been the first day she’d seen him. She’d watched him from behind the rocks before, fascinated by his quiet confidence and beautiful face. He’d been her first crush, the very first boy she’d ever wanted to kiss and she’d done just that.

Gelsey smiled at the memory. She’d buried the tin just for him, hoping that he’d find it and touch something that she held dear. It was such a silly idea from a silly young girl, but now Gelsey had to wonder if the magic she believed in back then had actually worked.

She pulled out a shell and held it up to her ear, listening for the sound of the sea. If she could only go back to that time in her life, back before everything had turned upside down. Where had she gone wrong? Had there been a single event that had put her on the path she’d taken?

Her parents’ divorce hadn’t helped, but plenty of children survived that. Was it the endless supply of money? Had she faced her fears and insecurities rather than trying to hide them beneath a party-girl veneer, perhaps she’d have more to show for herself at age twenty-seven.

Gelsey groaned, tipping her head back and closing her eyes. All that time lost. All that money spent. And she still felt like a seabird buffeted by the wind and unable to find a place to land. What if things didn’t work out in Ballykirk? What if this was just another disaster in a long line of disasters?