Page 12

Lorcan

I glanced at the clock on the wall. It would be a while until the mail arrived, and I yearned to feel the water over my head again.

I wasn’t so keen on a repeat of last week’s visions, but the water had always been calming as long as I could keep my head about me.

Once, my brothers and I had discussed our premonitions, and our mother chided us to never speak of them again.

We never did in her presence, but it confused us all the more, making it so we couldn’t understand or control them.

I often wondered if it had to do with my father’s family being witches, but that made no sense, as he had lost his powers when Runa turned him.

I shook my head, needing to get out of my thoughts, my thoughts of her.

I stripped my clothing off in the kitchen, throwing it over a chair, premonitions be damned.

There was no way I could have known when I built this home that the stretch of sand in front of me would become clothing-optional, but in moments like now, I relished this fact.

I stepped onto the front porch and felt the air swirling around my body, walking to the water’s edge and diving in.

I swam away from the shore, my strokes long and confident.

Diving just under the surface and flipping my feet like the tail of a seal, I could feel the current as it washed along my body, down my torso, wrapping around my cock before gliding down my legs.

I swam, weightless, the cares of the world gone.

My head broke through the water’s surface as I bicycled my feet. After that call from Briar, the only path forward became clear. I needed to leave this town for a while.

I glanced at the sun, realized it was time to go in, and returned to shore before walking toward my house.

My heart skipped a beat as I was steps away, and my feet stumbled on the path.

I needed to run, but I hadn’t decided fast enough.

Briar looked up, her eyes opening wide as they traveled up my body.

The sunlight glinted off the plant she held, its green leaves stark against the pale stone path winding to my door.

“Um…” Her eyes dropped again to my midsection, which now responded to being examined. Her cheeks reddened, and she spun away. “I’m sorry.” Her back was toward me, but I heard her thumbs as they fidgeted against the edge of the pot. “I didn’t realize…”

“Didn’t realize I lived at the edge of the clothing-optional section of the beach?

” I said with a laugh, although desire burned in my lower belly.

I could hear her heart pounding in her chest. What would she do if I pressed myself against her back?

I pushed the thought from my mind, wishing I could will my erection away.

“Didn’t realize you would be swimming.” The pitch of her voice was high with embarrassment.

“Let me go throw on some pants.”

“Sure.” She kept her back to me as I crossed behind her.

I returned with a pair of joggers slung low on my hips and cash in my hand. “How did the fundraiser go?”

Her smile was small but genuine, although she refused to meet my eyes. “Great. We didn’t quite reach our goal, but everything will work out.”

“I can make a larger donation.”

She shook her head; her gaze still not meeting mine.

The urge to lift her chin, to make her look at me, was sharp, but I held back, waiting, hoping she might choose it on her own. She didn’t.

“Briar… I’m over here.” Her throat moved as she swallowed, still not looking up. I kept my words gentle. “There is no need to be embarrassed. I’m sure I have nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“But—”

“No buts.” I dipped my head to find her eyes, catching them and smiling at her. “Thank you for the delivery, although I thought I was going to come pick it up.”

Briar’s breath hitched. I saw the slight twitch in her neck as she hesitated, her fingers tightening around the plant. “I needed to talk to you about the journal.”

My smile fell. “Set the plant wherever it will do best.” I waved my hand around the garden. “Then join me on the porch. Can I get you a drink?”

“You’re sure your girlfriend won’t mind me staying?” Her voice wavered as she asked the question.

“Is that what this visit is about?” I laughed. “This is a bachelor pad through and through.”

“Just had to check since you never got back to me about coffee.” She set the plant on a large rock. “Don’t forget to water it once a day, twice after you plant it.”

“Sure, and here.” I thrust the money toward her. “For the tea, the plant, and the donation.”

“Thanks.” She folded it and put it in the pocket of her long, loose skirt that accentuated her hips. I ached to wrap my hands around them and pull her to me.

“Why is the name Lorcan O’Cillian in my journal as the Marquess of Dún Na Farraige?” Her words were firm, and her eyes narrowed as she searched my face.

I gestured to the chairs and followed her as she sat down.

I looked at the chair close to Briar and stood by the wall.

I hadn’t known Lady Isobel had ever mentioned me by name in her writing, but I supposed it shouldn’t have surprised me.

She was forever scribbling in that book when I visited her in the Tower.

I forced a shrug, although my pulse quickened as I searched for the right words. “I don’t know. Do I look old enough to be the same man?”

Briar chuckled. She must have forgotten her embarrassment. “Well, Lady Isobel believed in vampires.”

I scoffed as I leaned against the doorframe. “But we’re smarter than that now, aren’t we?” As much as I wanted to sit next to her, I feared reaching out for her hand and digging myself in deeper.

The smile faded from Briar’s face. “We are. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a unique name—and it’s one you carry. If you know something about Lady Isobel that you can tell me, it would really help. This was all my mother wanted. It’s the last thing she asked of me.”

Her words tugged at something deep inside me, but I had left that world behind. Indeed, I was the Marquess of Dún Na Farraige—but so were my brothers and father.

I crossed my arms, my fingers gripping my upper arms as I clenched my jaw.

I took a deep breath before forcing the words out.

“My family was involved. But if I give you the information I have, do you promise that will be the end of it? I’m not proud of my O’Cillian heritage, nor do I want to remember it.

As soon as I learned how dark and twisted the family was, I walked away from my research and never looked back. ”

Briar’s eyes widened. “Dark and twisted? What do you mean?”

I scrambled to find something I could say. “Let’s just say that my family could be violent and leave it at that.”

My throat tightened as I spun a half-truth that resembled my story but wasn’t entirely accurate.

I couldn’t tell her the truth—that it was me Lady Isobel had written about.

But I couldn’t let her keep struggling when I had the information to help her.

Something made me want to soothe her pain.

Maybe helping her finish her mother’s project would let her move on, and as much as it would hurt me not to see her, I could go back to being anonymous.

Ice crept through my heart as my lips begged to feel hers just once before we parted.

Briar straightened as she met my gaze. “I understand. I won’t ask for anything else if you tell me what you can and where to start looking.”

A smile touched my lips. “Well, I already told you who to contact.”

A flicker of worry crossed her eyes even though her voice remained steady. “You did. And I’m trying my best to come up with the money to travel to England, but this is the worst possible time. I know Amy would watch the garden center, but I need to find the money for flights and make a plan.”

I nodded. “It’s not exactly a quick weekend getaway, is it?

But… I have some journals that belonged to him.

I’ll see if any of them mention her.” Of course, I knew they did, but did they also out me as a nine-hundred-year-old vampire?

The thought of her finding out sent a chill down my spine.

I rested my head on the wood and closed my eyes.

I needed to get away from this, away from her, because once she knew me, she would see there was nothing to love, nothing but the pain I caused her family.

Briar’s voice broke through my thoughts, soft and worried. “Are you okay, Lorcan?”

I raised my head and forced a small smile. “I’ll be fine. I was just trying to remember where they were. I promise to drop anything I find off at the garden center.”

Her lips parted in a smile, the shadow of worry lifting from her face. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me.”

In a flash, I made my decision. I wouldn’t allow myself to fail her family again. “But you only have a week.”

“A week?”

My voice dropped. “I’m going away for a while, but you’ll have the week to read Lord O’Cillian’s journals and ask me questions. If I can answer them, I will. If I can’t… I’ll put you in touch with the people in England who can help.”

A list of names flitted through my mind, each more problematic than the last. Who could I trust her with who wouldn’t drain her blood the moment they met her?

This wouldn’t be the most straightforward task, especially if I wanted to stay out of whatever mess Cormac and Conall had going on.

If I was right, my brothers were across the Irish Sea, and I no longer knew the London factions.

Would someone asking about Lady Isobel tip my brothers off?

“But the old man saltbush…”

“I’ll get someone to care for it.”

She squared her shoulders, an uncertain smile playing over her lips. “Thank you, Lorcan. I promise—one week. After that, I’ll only speak to you when you come to order some random plant.”

“Thank you, Briar,” I mumbled. “And I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”

“About getting coffee. I really—”

She wrapped her arms around her stomach. “You’re right. I wish there had been more, but what can I do?”

“Maybe…” There was so much more, but I couldn’t tell her.

She stood, and I swore I could see tears in the corners of her eyes. “Please don’t, Lorcan. Whatever you have going on, just don’t lead me on.”

I stepped toward her, laying my hand on her arm. “Maybe when I return, things will be different—you’ll see the world differently.”

I’d find a way to tell her what we had planted in the media then. I’d give her just enough of the journals to show that Lady Isobel was friends with Lorcan O’Cillian, but nothing more. The last thing she needed was to be involved with the Clan O’Cillian. I couldn’t allow history to repeat itself.

She bit the inside of her lip. “I don’t think I will, but thank you for your help.” She walked down the garden path, her shoulders hunched as she turned the corner and disappeared from view.