Page 22 of Rekindled (The MacTavish Heirs #5)
In which Catriona realizes that Lucas was always there.
Catriona…
I love my family.
I also want them to get the hell off me for five minutes so I can find Lucas. I want to stand together with him under the onslaught of questions.
“Sis, are ye truly… okay?” Michael looks like he’s in physical pain. “Do ye need a doctor? Maybe some time with Kenna on the couch?”
“No one uses a couch in therapy anymore, ye arse.” Rubbing my aching forehead, I search for Lucas. Ah, he’s bookended by my cousins Kai and Wallace. “Not to worry, my virtue is preserved.”
“Did ye ever have any of that?” Michael’s all mock sincerity.
“Not really, but neither do ye, ye arse.” I cut loose from him and head toward the staircase where I’d seen Lucas last.
My cousin Afton seizes my hand and she, Luna, Arabella, and my sister Maisie surround me. “If you’re not ready,” Luna says, “we understand. But the why and how of it is killing us.”
Standing on tiptoe on the third stair, I can just see Lucas. Short of throwing a serving platter over the head of everyone like a frisbee, I canna get his attention. Sitting down with a sigh, I say, “What do ye want to know?”
“We know that leather-faced piss jar took ye because of your skill with poisons.” Maisie sits down next to me. “Was he trying to make ye create something new?”
“The wily prick already created the poison, but he couldn’t figure out the antidote. He yammered on and on about how I was the only one who could figure it out, how beautiful my brain is.”
“Well, ye are pretty damn brilliant,” Afton says approvingly before frowning. “Did he have to… persuade ye?”
“Not like ye think,” I laugh, patting her hand. “I knew the family would come for me, so I worked as hard as I could on the antidote and stealing the data on the project.”
“We were so relieved when Da called Lucas in,” Maisie says. “I was worried he wouldn’t come, but he was here in just a few hours. From Siberia!”
“Lucas isn’t one for second thoughts.” I smile.
“When the castle was under attack, I was in the lab, trying to get what I could, and he strode in, looking like an avenging angel and scooped me up. His team was amazing, distracting Dubois’ guards so we could get out.
Unfortunately, his team’s equipment and vehicles were destroyed, so we had to hike out. ”
“Ye dinnae have any of your medication, did ye?” Arabella frowns.
“No. I had an episode.” It feels shaming to admit it, something that makes me weak. These girls are some of the very few that know about my injury.
“In the middle of the mountains?” Luna’s horrified.
“Lucas got me into a freezing cold creek, sitting with me until I could breathe. He ran six kilometers to the next town to break into their apothecary and get the meds I needed.”
There’s a collective sigh. “He’s an amazing tracker.” Afton squeezed my hand, “This is more than a rescue, the man’s devoted to ye.”
All the memories of our trek through the mountains keep looping in my mind.
The rescue. Lucas was there. Every moment of the hike, he was there, helping me, sometimes carrying me, the only man I could ever bear to see me so weak with those spasms. He took care of me.
Finding me clothes, getting us to safety.
Every moment of his solid presence, there for me.
Standing up decisively, I scan the room. “Lucas needs to tell the story with me. He’s the only reason I’m here.” They move aside with a collection of smirks, and I push through the crowd.
“Where’s Lucas?” I ask Duncan.
“I was just talking with the lad…” He scans the crowd. “He’s here somewhere, that’s certain.”
Skirting the room, I look through the forest created by the ridiculously tall MacTavish men and then step out onto the front entryway. My cousin Wallace is there, lighting matches and flicking them off the terrace and into the bushes.
“First, Mum is gonna kill ye if she catches ye setting fire to her roses, and second, have ye seen Lucas, by any chance?”
“Aye.” He puts his matches away and points to the front gate, “He just left.”
Hurrying past him, I watch the red glow of tail lights as he passes the gates and they close behind him. The red lights dim, and he’s gone.