Kate Hoffmann - Kellan

“Open the box,” she said, the musical tone of her voice ringing in the still summer air. “I put it there for you.”

Kellan heard his brothers behind him, calling his name. “Who are you?”

With a laugh, she came closer and dropped a kiss on his lips. “I’m a dream,” she said. “Close your eyes and I’ll disappear.”

Kellan glanced back to see his brothers quickly approaching, but when he turned to the girl again, she had already run from him. This time, Kellan decided not to follow.

“You’re letting her get away,” Danny called. “Go after her, Kellan.”

“She’s not a fairy,” Kellan said when Danny and Riley reached him. He touched his lips, still warm from her kiss. “She’s just a girl. A silly old girl.”

They watched her retreat together, then Kellan grabbed the tin from beneath Riley’s arm. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

“I thought Danny said it might be cursed.”

“Do you believe everything he says?” Kellan asked. “Riley, sometimes you’re as thick as a post.”

He tugged off the top and peered inside. The tin was filled with a variety of items-a seashell, a few pretty stones, a necklace made of flowers, braided string.

“Aw, it’s nothing but junk,” Riley said.

Danny swore. “I was hoping it might at least be worth a few quid.”

“I think we should bury it again,” Kellan said. If they did, she might come back for it. He could hide in the rocks and watch for her. Catching a fairy was powerful luck, wasn’t it?

“I’m not climbing back down.” Danny started off toward home. “I’m hungry. And Ma will have lunch for us soon.”

Riley followed him, a dejected look on his face. “I thought it would be treasure. I thought we’d be rich.”

Kellan sighed softly, then plopped down onto the grass. Crossing his legs in front of him, he reopened the tin and carefully picked through the contents. There were jeweled buttons and a penny whistle, a scrap of lace and three pieces of butterscotch candy. Why the girl had decided to bury it in the sand, he didn’t know. But he couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Who was she? Would she return to the cove or was she really a visitor from another world? For the first time in his life, Kellan felt an odd attraction, a strange fascination with a girl.

Would he ever understand the opposite sex? The girls in school were annoying. Though they were constantly following him about, whispering and giggling, they were all uninteresting to his eyes. And his two older sisters, Shanna and Claire, were a complete mystery and a royal pain in his arse. But this…this lovely creature was magical. He closed his eyes and lay in the grass, letting his imagination wander, back to the kiss she’d given him.

He’d never kissed a girl. He was nearly fifteen years old and though most of his friends had enjoyed the experience at least once or twice, Kellan had never taken advantage of his opportunities, until now.

He grinned. If he ever saw the fairy girl again, he’d do it even better. He’d grab her and kiss her, right on the lips, and see what she had to say about that. Now that he knew exactly what he wanted in a girl, what he’d been looking for, everything made sense.

She had to be…extraordinary. He’d settle for nothing less. Someday soon, maybe she’d come back to the cove, looking for her tin of treasures. He’d find a proper place to hide it until then.

THE WEATHER WAS unusually warm for late November. Kellan Quinn stared out at the sea from his spot above Smuggler’s Cove. He walked over to the rocky edge of the cliff to look down at the narrow strip of beach where he and his brothers used to play. He hadn’t been down the path in years, not since before he left for university.

But the little beach, sheltered from the wind, would be a perfect place to think, to find some solitude and clear his head. Life in Ballykirk had turned into a whirl of activity since his younger brothers had both found mates, and though he was happy for them, lately he’d felt like the odd man out.

Riley would be getting married in just over a month and though he and Nan had planned a simple New Year’s Eve ceremony at the village church and a reception at the pub, it promised to be the biggest social event Ballykirk had seen in quite some time. Both Danny and Kellan would be standing up with Riley, which didn’t sound like much. However, Kellan had learned that serving as a groomsman meant that you were at the beck and call of the groom until he left for his honeymoon.

Kellan still couldn’t get over how quickly things had changed for the Quinn brothers. Riley and Danny had both fallen for American girls in the space of a few months. Of course, everyone assumed Kellan would be next and to that end, they’d started to put interested single girls in his path. But he knew better.

When it came to romance, Kellan Quinn was a realist. The chances of finding lasting love were slim at best. Though he’d turned thirty last year, he really hadn’t ever come close to marriage, or enjoyed a long-term relationship. Perhaps it was because he’d never found a woman who could hold his attention. A woman who was more interesting than his career.

His reputation as an architect was growing with every project he completed and he was usually at the top of the list for any major historical renovation in Ireland. Though it wasn’t really cutting-edge architecture, Kellan enjoyed doing his part to preserve pieces of Ireland’s past.

Sixteen-hour days didn’t leave much time for a social life, but he did manage to date occasionally when he stayed at his flat in Dublin. There were women who were happy to have him warm their bed, no strings, no expectations. But the relationships lacked an emotional component, existing purely for physical release.

Kellan drew a deep breath of the damp air. Riley and Danny had found their perfect matches. It was as if both women had just dropped out of the sky and into their beds. Had they been searching, waiting, wondering?

The wind buffeted his body and Kellan pulled his canvas jacket closed. In the past few days, a strange restlessness had come over him. Something was about to change. He could feel it inside, like the sky darkening before a storm.

He’d had an offer to do a project in France and he’d been considering the opportunity. It would mean moving to Brittany for a year to supervise the renovation of an old armory into a World War II museum. Maybe it was time for a change. Maybe he needed something new in his life…just like his brothers.

Raking his hands through his windblown hair, Kellan walked to the rocks and searched for the way down. The descent was easy once he found the right path. As he clambered over the jagged traverse, he noticed something odd lying on the beach.

At first, it looked like a pile of debris and seaweed. But as he got closer, his heart started to pound. It was a body! He made out a long, slender arm and the unmistakable curve of a woman’s hip. Kellan jumped down the last five feet and ran over to her, almost dreading what he was about to discover.

But the moment he touched her, she jerked, then sat up, brushing the damp strands of hair from her eyes. She looked at him through eyes so pale they were almost colorless.

“Are you all right?”

A tiny frown worried her brow, but she made no attempt to speak.

“What are you doing down here? How did you get here? Were you in the water?”

She reached out and smoothed her sand-covered palm over his cheek, her gaze studying the details of his face. And then, without warning, she leaned forward and touched her lips to his. She tasted of salt water and smelled of the ocean breeze.

The kiss was so surprising, he jerked back. But she was determined and slipped her hand around his nape, pulling him closer, drawing him down into the sand with her. Kellan normally exercised a great deal of self-restraint around women. But the moment her lips touched his, his control dissolved into an overwhelming need.

Her lips parted on a sigh and he took the chance to taste, his tongue delving into the sweet warmth of her mouth. She responded immediately, writhing beneath him as if trying to get closer. Her body trembled and when he finally drew back he realized it wasn’t from the impact of their kiss but from the cold.

“Are you all right?” he asked again. “What’s your name?”

Her eyes fluttered and then closed as she went limp in his arms. Kellan grabbed her chin and turned her head. She was still breathing, but just barely. Cursing, he scrambled to his feet and picked her up, hoping that she’d regain consciousness. She was dead weight in his arms, like a rag doll.

Kellan looked up to the top of the cliff. The only way to get her up was tossed over his shoulder. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but there was no other option.

The dress she wore was barely enough to keep her warm in midsummer much less late autumn. Just a thin layer of green silk. He shrugged out of his canvas jacket and struggled to get her into it, buttoning it up once he had. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you should count yourself bloody lucky I came along.”

He bent down and grabbed her thighs, her body folding over his shoulder. The path was narrow but navigable, even with a passenger. He had to be cautious of her head, careful not to bump her against the rocks. When he finally reached the top, Kellan set her down in the grass and took a deep breath.

Her eyes fluttered again and for a moment she opened them. “Can you stand up?” he asked.

Her lips curled into a sleepy smile and she shook her head and closed her eyes again.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with you?” he muttered. “If the hike home doesn’t kill you, it will probably kill me.”

He couldn’t leave her here alone. But he could probably run home and fetch his car in less time than it would take to carry her. The hike to the road was only about half a kilometer. Home was nearly five.