Page 19

I t was official.

Not only did Jesse not understand women in general, he most definitely did not understand this one in particular.

He watched Destiny marching across the parking lot ahead of him, her back rigid with irritation.

After learning the clerk at the hotel had told Destiny his last name, he was ready to bet the farm that her whole attitude would change.

Especially in light of what had happened between them only a day earlier.

It had changed, all right. But in a totally opposite direction from what he’d expected. Instead of clingy, needy, ready to move into his house and take over his life, she’d gone into full off mode: stand off, put off, and pissed off.

Obviously she was upset about her sister. He’d tried to talk to her last night, but she was having none of it. None of him. She wouldn’t even open her door for him.

And today?

Today she wouldn’t shut up about going back out to that canyon to find some freakin’ ley line energy vortex thing she’d read about on the internet. He understood better than most how many truth-is-stranger-than-fiction things actually inhabited the world, but he also recognized the abundance of New Age wackos in fantasyland writing blogs on the internet. He couldn’t spend valuable time chasing down worthless leads. As it was, they’d be arriving in Denver with no time to spare to make their connecting flight to New York for the hop over to Scotland.

“I’m supposed to find her there,” she’d argued.

“Did you have a vision that told you that? Specifically? That we’re supposed to search the desert with a fine-tooth comb to locate some doorway?”

“Not exactly,” she’d admitted.

“Look, Des, your sister’s not out there,” he’d tried to reason.

“I know that.” She actually clicked her tongue at him. “That’s why I want to go back. To follow her. And you’re supposed to go with me.”

She’d exhausted his patience as he tried to push her toward their SUV. “Following her is exactly what Robbie and I are going to do, babe, if you’ll just stop making life difficult and get your stubborn little butt in the car.”

She hadn’t taken the whole thing very well, as evidenced by the fact that even now that they’d arrived at the airport, she was still angry.

It wasn’t bad enough the problem with the part for the hatch had cost them half a day; now, thanks to Destiny’s stalling, they were running late to meet the plane.

Jesse hated being late anywhere, but he hated it especially much when it could cost him his connecting flight.

Still, he couldn’t say he minded watching her stalk off ahead of them, her back stiff, that perfectly rounded little ass swaying as she made every attempt to ignore him as if he didn’t exist.

Destiny wasn’t like the other women he’d known. There was something special about her. Something that made him want to try harder, to do more. Something that made him want to see her smile, to feel her touch. To simply enjoy watching her walk ahead of him.

Robert ruined the moment, shoving an elbow into his ribs. “If I dinna ken the truth of it, I’d swear you’d been at that bottle of Nectar again, my friend. Yer wearing that same goofy grin.”

Jesse chose not to dignify Robbie’s teasing with any response. He knew from experience it would only encourage the big Scot.

They’d reached the end of the terminal, nearing the gate for their boarding, when Jesse remembered the keys to the rental car.

“Dammit. I forgot to drop off the friggin’ keys.”

Robert shrugged. “We’re already past time for being on board. You’ve no much of a choice. Leave them with the lass at the gate. She can drop them in the box for you.”

True. And if they didn’t want the responsibility, he’d simply have Peter overnight the keys to the rental company once they got home.

Ahead of them, Destiny suddenly stopped and turned back to where the two of them followed. As she approached, her face was an unreadable mask.

She sidled very close to him, her body almost touching his, before she lifted her gaze to meet his.

“This is your last chance. Won’t you please reconsider and come with me out to that canyon?”

Her eyes glittered suspiciously. More tears coming? Or an all-out tantrum?

He had to be firm. “No, Des. That’s not happening. We’ve been all through it. We’re doing this my way.”

She was so near the fruity scent of the shampoo she’d used this morning wafted into his nostrils. So near he’d only need to lean down a few inches to capture those pouty lips.

As if he couldn’t stop himself, he placed his hand on the back of her neck, edging her ever so much closer.

Close enough he could feel the tremble in her body.

“Are we clear on that now?”

“Crystal clear,” she whispered.

She smiled then, placing her palms on his chest and sliding them down and to his sides, causing his muscles to jump in response to her touch. Farther down she trailed her fingers, slipping into his pockets, the heat from her hands burning through the fabric as she eliminated all space between them.

“I’m sorry, Jess,” she whispered, rising up on her tiptoes and luring him in for the kiss he’d only briefly considered before.

Another radiant smile and she backed away, giving them both space to breath.

“I have to run to the ladies’ room before we hit the plane, okay? I’ll only be a little bit.” She traced her fingers down his cheek before turning her back and heading up the terminal toward the restrooms.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, trailing behind Robert to the nearest bench, where they waited.

The physical attraction between him and Destiny was undeniable, and after what they’d shared before leaving Denver, he’d allowed himself to think she might be feeling something more for him. But she was so god-damned hot and cold. A Fury one minute, a sex kitten the next. Was any of it real or was it all a well-calculated act because of who he was?

He was, after all, a Coryell. If she were like all the others, no matter how she really felt, she wouldn’t want to piss him off for too long and ruin her shot at having her own walking, talking private bank account.

And he was beginning to realize that when it came to Destiny, he just might be fool enough to let her get away with whatever she did. Just to keep her close.

“Shit,” he muttered again, disappointment clouding his thoughts, though whether it was disappointment with what she might be doing or with himself, he’d be hard-pressed to say right now.

Robbie was back on his feet within minutes, pacing as he alternated glaring first at his watch and then down the hallway where Destiny had gone.

“How long can the woman possibly take?” he growled. “At this rate, we’ll miss our connection in Denver.”

Jesse was beginning to feel concern himself. She had been gone for an excessively long time. What if all the Nuadians hadn’t left after all? What if they’d been followed to the airport? He’d gotten sloppy thinking they were out of danger.

“I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight.” He rose to his feet to follow, but Robbie stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

“Give me the auto keys. I’ll explain to the gate attendant about getting them to the rental agency. With that out of the way, we’ll no have that to slow us down when the two of you get back.”

“Good idea.”

Jesse reached in his pocket to find it empty.

“Son of a bitch,” he bit out, turning to stare down the hallway. “She took my keys.”

A small thrill of excitement threaded in around what should have been anger. She’d tricked him, all right, but not because she was trying to stay on his good side because of who he was. Her little act had nothing to do with how she felt about him at all. She’d only been after his keys because she was so determined she was right. There was hope for her after all.

At the moment, though, it was hard to feel relief that she honestly wasn’t like all the other women he’d known, when all he could think of was what kind of danger she was facing.

“What now?” Robbie shook his head in irritation.

They really only had one choice.

“You go deal with the pilot. I’ll have her back as soon as I can. Get hold of Peter. Have him reschedule our flight to Scotland.”

“How in the world do you think to find her?”

Jesse didn’t bother to answer as he jogged away, his stomach tightening with fear as his mind rapidly flipped through a variety of scenarios, all of which ended badly for Destiny. He had to get to her and fast.

Tracking her wouldn’t be difficult because he knew exactly where she’d be headed.

He had only to make his way out to that canyon in the desert before she could do something really stupid.

Like get herself caught again.

Destiny glanced down at the speedometer and eased her foot off the accelerator. At this rate she’d find herself on the side of the road getting a ticket from one of Arizona’s finest long before she reached the canyon.

Besides, she couldn’t go fast enough to escape her own guilt demons so she might as well slow down.

Guilt for having tricked Jesse. Guilt for stealing his car.

“So I misled him a little bit,” she reasoned out loud. Being that close to him, forcing herself to concentrate on snagging his keys while she was kissing him, surely that had been harder on her than on him. It wasn’t totally dishonest. She’d really meant it when she’d told him she was sorry.

And it wasn’t really like she’d stolen anything. Jesse would come after her and get his car back.

Or she hoped he would. He was supposed to be there with her. She might not have seen that specifically in her vision, but that had to be what her father’s words had meant.

“ A circle within a circle. Travel the line with the man who wears the mark.”

The words had come to her again last night as she’d slept, along with a confusing jumble of desert and woodland scenery, as if she’d sat through someone’s home made vacation videos.

It was only later this morning as she’d scoured the internet looking for more clues that the words had finally clicked for her.

The Faerie Paths, the ley lines, must be the energy source the Nuadians had used to escape. They were also her route to follow after Leah. They had to be. And Jesse Coryell was the man who wore the mark. His tattoo being a match to the carving on her mother’s stone necklace was too much of a coincidence not to be another piece of the puzzle.

She’d tried to convince Jesse they needed to pursue these Faerie Paths in the desert, but her visions being so nonspecific only supported his case. He’d made up his hard head that they were doing things his way.

His way meant leaving her behind to sit and chew her fingernails while he chased off all over the world hoping to end up in the right place. In spite of what he thought, she knew that her way was better.

So at the airport, when she’d overheard his comments about still having the keys in his pocket, she’d known what she had to do.

Leaving the paved highway, she bounced along the rough excuse for a trail until she came to the end.

Climbing out of the vehicle, she considered taking the keys with her, ensuring Jesse would have to follow.

But this was too important.

Instead she left them easily visible in the seat. If he was only after the car, he could take it and go.

But if he was there for more than just the SUV, if he came for her, because he was supposed to be there with her, because he wanted to be with her, he’d follow her up the side of that rocky outcrop and down into the canyon beyond no matter what.

With that decision made, she began the steep ascent.

She’d barely reached the summit when she heard the noise below.

Dust billowed around the quickly approaching car and hung in the air as he pulled to a stop.

Jesse jumped from the driver’s seat, making a beeline to the parked SUV.

She knew he’d found the keys when he opened the door.

She knew he’d made his choice when he slammed it just as quickly, hard enough for the sound to echo off the rocks around them. He started up the incline after her.

Damn, he moved fast!

Gravel skidded under her feet as she scrambled to make her way down into the canyon before he could catch up to her.

“Stop right there,” he yelled from somewhere behind her.

No way. Not now. She was too close.

“Destiny! I’m warning you!”

His voice sounded nearer, so she picked up her speed, almost running.

Halfway down to the canyon floor, he reached her, his fingers closing around her forearm like a band of steel.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. Unlike her, he didn’t seem the least bit winded. “Don’t you realize this little stunt of yours has only delayed our getting to your sister?”

“I knew you’d come.” Well, she’d hoped he would anyway.

“Damn straight. You saw to that by running off with my keys. Not to mention the rental car I’m responsible for.”

“Well, you’re here now.” She pulled against his hold without any results. “We’ve got to go down there and at least try. I told you about the ley lines, the Faerie Paths.”

“Yeah, wacko New Age bullshit you found on the internet,” he grumbled, not releasing her. But not dragging her back up the mountain, either. “I asked you before if you’d had a vision about this. About coming out here in the middle of nowhere and finding some mysterious energy pathway?”

“And I told you, not exactly,” she admitted. But her visions had told her to travel the line with the man who wore the mark, and though she had no proof to convince him, she felt sure she was right on this. This was where she’d find the way to rescue her sister. “Give me half an hour to look around. We’re already late. What harm is half an hour going to do? Besides, I feel certain that if Scotland is where they’ve taken Leah, we’ll find a way to get to Scotland from right out there.”

The internal debate was evident on his face, his jaw muscle working, tightening and releasing, as he obviously considered her request in spite of his irritation.

“Fifteen minutes, then. What about just fifteen minutes?” she bargained.

“It’s a big canyon floor, Des. Where would you even begin?”

He hadn’t agreed to her request, but he did release his hold on her arm.

She scanned the terrain below them. Something shiny caught her eye, as if the sun glinted off a piece of metal. Searching for the source of the twinkle, she noticed something even more interesting.

“Over there.” She pointed to her right. “See that outline? That’s not a natural feature. Someone has gone to the trouble of lining those stones up in a circle. That’s where we start.”

“Fifteen minutes. But that’s it. And you promise never to pull this kind of crap again.”

“Deal.” She’d agree to whatever compromise she could get out of him as long as it got her what she wanted right now.

He didn’t look happy, mumbling something about taking chances on getting caught as he followed along until they reached the level ground of the canyon floor. Once there, he moved in front of her, leading the way to the circle of stones.

There were maybe twenty-five of them, none any larger than a loaf of bread, all laid out in a perfect circle.

“A circle within a circle.” She whispered the words from her vision, trying to figure out what they could mean as she followed the outside perimeter of the stones, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

Slowly, hesitantly, she stepped inside the circle, murmuring the words to herself again. “A circle within a circle.”

This time she walked the perimeter inside the circle and waited after one full circuit.

Nothing.

“A circle within a circle,” she said aloud, looking straight at Jesse. “What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But you have about five minutes left to figure it out and then we’re out of here.”

“Thanks so much for the news flash, but pressure’s not exactly my friend right now,” she muttered, not really expecting him to hear.

If walking the perimeter hadn’t worked, maybe she needed to cut through it. Nearing the center, she felt something. A pull or a pressure, she couldn’t be sure which. She crossed over again, this time searching the surrounding cliffs for anything that might give her a clue.

Once again, near the center, she felt something, though she’d be hard-pressed to describe what it was.

Did she need to concentrate on where she wanted to go? Say some magic words? What was she missing?

She remembered the sun glinting off something, which had originally caught her eye, and made her next crossing more slowly, directly through the center of the circle, searching the ground at her feet.

Barely halfway across, she spotted the source of the reflection, lying near the exact center of the circle.

The large, shiny hematite stone from her mother’s necklace. The one with the symbol carved into it.

Leah must have left it behind, like Hansel and Gretel dropping their bread crumbs.

“Look at this! I knew it. We’re on the right track.” She held up the stone as Jesse approached.

When he reached her, he fastened onto her arm, spinning her around to face him. His expression surprised her as much as his words.

“Didn’t you even stop to consider what I’d think when you were gone? Didn’t it ever occur to you I’d worry?”

She’d just made this wonderful discovery and all he could think about was what happened at the airport? She was about to tell him how petty he was being when he spoke again.

“I thought at first they had you. And then, all the way out here, all I could think of was Dermond or that other damned Fae waiting out here for you, dragging you away, just like yesterday. I didn’t like the way it made me feel, Destiny. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

“Oh!” She blinked against the stupid emotional tears she felt forming at his little speech. He’d been frightened. For her. He really did care for her. “That’s the sweetest…” She lifted her hand to his arm, caressing the hard muscle, running her fingers up and under the sleeve of his black T-shirt, right onto the tattoo that tingled under her fingers.

Tingled and pulsed. Or was it the air around them pulsing?

She looked down at his hand on her arm, her hand on his. They’d completed another circle.

“That’s it! A circle within a circle. We’re the circle within a circle.”

The hair on her arms stood on end as some sort of energy engulfed them, surrounding them in a shimmer of colors, like vibrating curtains of liquid rainbow. A wind that hadn’t been there moments before swirled violently around them, whipping the ends of her hair against her face in tiny stinging lashes.

“Hold on!” Jesse ordered, crushing her to him just as the ground beneath their feet disappeared and the world around them exploded in a shower of multicolored sparkles.