No Holds Barred Page 6

  And she couldn’t fault the argument he’d made. Or the bait he’d used. Offering the opportunity to put Patrick Lightman back behind bars had been the perfect lure. He had to have known she would jump at it. She suspected that he was very good at his job.

  But if Duncan Sutherland thought he was going to have everything his way every time, he would be in for a surprise.

  The rain was pouring down now, the thunder crashing overhead. The details of their exit from D.C., while pushing the speed limit through a series of small towns in Pennsylvania and New York, were coming back. Duncan had kept the music loud and tuned to a station that played and replayed the top twenty. The fact that only a few of the songs were familiar to her told her that she’d been working too hard. It had been after midnight when they’d reached the castle, but Aunt Vi had greeted them at the door and hustled them off to waiting beds.

  She’d slept like a rock until now. Nearly 5:00 a.m. according to the illuminated dial on her watch. Throwing the covers off, she crossed to the sliding doors that led to one of the castle’s many balconies and opened them. The rain was growing softer already and the lightning had dimmed to erratic flickers in the slowly graying sky. Even as a child, she’d loved the storms that rushed in over the mountain lakes, unleashed their fury, and then blew away. They seldom lasted long.

  But then, few things in life did. Everything was temporary. The important thing was to live in the present the best way you knew how. And Duncan had given her the opportunity to do that on a couple of levels. She enjoyed solving problems, the planning, the execution, even the point at which you claimed success and then could put them behind you. For years now, she’d structured her life around projects. Finish college, get into Georgetown Law, make law review. Since she’d worked for Abe, it had been one case after another.

  This was the first break she’d had in a long time. Not that it was a break, really. She had two projects to work on. Find something that would put Patrick Lightman back in jail, and decide what to do about the intense, almost primitive attraction she and Duncan were feeling for each other.

  She knew what she wanted to do about Duncan. And every time she got near him, she wanted to do it on the spot. No other man had ever tempted her that much or that urgently. But keeping her heart unentangled and fancy-free had been part of her game plan from the time she’d first noticed that boys weren’t so scruffy and annoying. During her college and law school years, she’d enjoyed a few relationships with men, but she’d never let them intrude on the rest of her life. If she and Duncan—what was the word he’d used? Explored—that was it. If they decided to explore what they were feeling, things were bound to get messy. Not only was there the family angle, but an attraction as consuming as the one she and Duncan were feeling might not be easily corked in a bottle.

  Placing her palms on the balcony railing, she stared out over the garden as the sky slowly lightened. In the distance, she could see the dark gleam of the lake, quiet now and smooth, and she could see the stone arch. Two floodlights had been installed as part of the tightened security on the castle after a man going by the name of Nathan MacDonald had planted a bomb behind some stones in the arch.

  Of course, she and her sisters had buried something very different there—a metal box that contained their goals and dreams. Piper grinned at the memory. It had been years since she’d even thought of the box that their mother had once kept her jewelry in.

  When they were just kids, it had been Adair’s idea to write out their goals and dreams on slips of paper, put them in the box, and by burying it behind loose stones in the arch, tap into the power of the legend.

  Piper’s addition to the scheme was that they each use different colored paper to ensure privacy. Then Nell had assigned the colors—yellow for Adair, blue for Piper and pink for Nell. For years they’d made a habit of sneaking out of the house late at night, digging up that box and slipping in new goals. The last time they’d done it had been on the night that their father had married Beth Sutherland.

  Something stirred at the edges of her mind. If she hadn’t thought of the box in years, she certainly hadn’t thought of that night. But little flashes were coming back to her now. She and Nell and Adair had snuck out of the castle close to midnight with a bottle of champagne and pads of their appropriately colored paper. They’d raced a storm to the stones—and won. They’d toasted their success and their father’s wedding with the champagne, and then at Adair’s suggestion, they’d all agreed to write down an erotic encounter involving their ideal fantasy man.

  That part she remembered. But with all the champagne she’d drunk that night and the fact that she’d buried the memory for so long, the details of her fantasy were fuzzy. She knew one thing. It had been the first and only time she’d ever written anything about a man and buried it in the stones. She felt a little stir of unease.

  Hours earlier on that same day, she’d met Duncan’s eyes beneath those stones and she’d felt things she’d never experienced before. Had she been thinking of him when she’d written out her fantasy? Turning, she paced into her room. He’d certainly been on her mind that day. But she’d managed to avoid him. And he and his brothers had left to fly back to their respective colleges shortly after the ceremony. So she probably would have thought of anyone but him when she was composing her erotic fantasy.

  Or she might have been thinking only of him. A mix of emotions moved through her—anticipation, excitement, panic. Lots of the other goals she’d tucked into that box had become a reality—starting with the medals she’d won in her elementary school’s yearly spelling bee and right up to and including her law degree at Georgetown.

  Before she decided exactly what she and Duncan would explore, it would be good to know what she was dealing with. Discovery was essential before you built a case for trial. Gathering all the facts was equally important in making any intelligent decision. Ignorance could come back and bite you hard.

  And there was no time like the present to find out exactly what her fantasy had been all those years ago. Turning back into her room, she found sweats and shoes in her suitcase and pulled them on. For a second, she thought of running down the stairs to the foyer and disarming the security system Vi had shown them.

  But there was a quicker way to the stone arch. She wasn’t enamored of heights, especially if she had to climb down instead of up. But after the summer when the Sutherland boys had been focused on playing pirates on the cliffs and she’d discovered her fear, she’d worked on it by frequently climbing down to the garden from her balcony. Of course, her sisters had been with her then to silently cheer her on. And it had been a while since she’d practiced…

  Her stomach took one, queasy roll as she threw her leg over the railing. Then she used the thick vines covering the stones to climb down. By the time she reached the ground, she was breathing hard and grinning in triumph. Then, in the growing morning light, she raced to the stone arch to find the metal box she and her sisters had buried their dreams and fantasies in.

  5

  AS PIPER REACHED THE CLEARING, the eastern sky was lightening and just the rim of a red sun could be seen peeking out over the tips of the pines across the lake. The stone arch that Angus—Eleanor Campbell MacPherson’s husband—had built lay at the far end of the garden. It was about ten feet long, eight feet or so wide and the ceiling arched to about ten feet. The fact that it had stood for more than two centuries testified to her several-times-great grandfather’s engineering and construction skills. It had even withstood a lightning strike about a month ago.

  It didn’t take Piper long to find the box. The stones that concealed it in the niche were loose, as if they’d recently been replaced. By Adair, no doubt. Her older sister had been living here at the castle for more than six months. It was a good possibility she’d dug up the secret container they’d stored their fantasies and dreams in. It was about the size of a cigar box, made of metal, and it had a little padlock about as secure as one that came on a young girl’s diar
y.

  In fact, it had, if she remembered correctly. One of Adair’s. After wiggling the box out of its niche, she sat down on the flat rocks that formed the base of the stone arch and placed it in her lap. Just looking at it jogged a few more details loose. Nell had wanted to know how erotic their sexual fantasy could be.

  “No holds barred.” That had been her answer to her baby sister. And she’d been thinking about Duncan when she’d said it. It was coming back to her now. Once they’d exchanged that look while their parents had spoken their vows, she hadn’t been able to quite put him out of her mind.

  She couldn’t put him out of her mind now. The chemistry between them was so strong, so primal. The stuff that sexual fantasies were made of. As she ran her hand over the box, she could have sworn the metal grew warmer. She examined the tiny padlock and saw that it had rusted through, so she removed it.

  Lifting the top, she found the contents just as she remembered—three separate compartments, each holding different colored paper. Picking up the folded blue sheets on the top of her pile, she opened them.

  The heading read My Fling With My Fantasy Man: Sex on Demand.

  She felt her heart skip a beat. Then and now. Those were the words that said it all when she’d imagined the sexual fantasy that she wanted to bring to life with Duncan Sutherland. Oh, she might have buried the memory away, but if anything, it had just grown stronger.

  At nineteen, it had described her ideal sexual fantasy period. She’d been in her sophomore year of college, and all her friends had been raving about the benefits of having a friend they could call on for sex on demand. Buddy sex was what they’d called it. It was convenient, no fuss and no bother.

  Piper skimmed the first page. She’d gone way beyond what her friends had talked about. And like any good prelaw student, she’d defined her terms and embellished them as she’d argued the benefits. Sex on demand with a willing partner was simple, straightforward and didn’t require all the time-consuming trappings that went along with dating and romance. It further prevented complications from spilling over into the other more important aspects of your life—like your work, your goals, your dreams.

  The “sex on demand”—she was finding that aspect on the page in spades. She recalled just how fast her pen had moved over the blue paper trying to capture all the images she’d had in her head of having sex with him anytime, anyplace and in any position. By the time she’d finished skimming the second page, her heart was racing and her whole body had heated. She’d even written about making love with Duncan in that cave he’d rescued her from.

  An image of doing just that flashed brilliantly into her mind. It was followed by another—the two of them standing in the alleyway at the back of Abe’s office building. They’d come very close to having on-demand sex right on the hood of her car. Earlier that day, when they’d been in her apartment kneeling together on the floor, she’d imagined having sex with him right on that petal-strewn sheet.

  She couldn’t seem to look at him without thinking, here and now.

  What if she could have sex on demand with Duncan—no holds barred? The idea thrilled her.

  And why not?

  She pressed a hand to her heart to make sure it didn’t beat its way right out of her chest. Coming up here to the castle with him certainly hadn’t been something she’d planned on. But a girl was a fool not to take advantage of the opportunities that life offered.

  Then a thought struck her and an alarm bell jingled at the edge of her mind. She shifted her gaze back to the subtitle and skimmed the pages again. Discovery—that’s what she’d come here for. And good discovery triggered questions. In this case a couple of very big ones.

  The alarm bell went from jingle to clang. What if what she’d written down on these pages was influencing, perhaps even dictating, what she was feeling now for Duncan? What if the stones and the legend were playing some kind of role in making her want Duncan so badly?

  She felt panic surge and shoved it down. She’d never solved one problem in her life by panicking. And it wasn’t like she’d actually kissed Duncan in the stone arch. All she’d done was lust after him—very imaginatively and in great detail.

  You had to actually kiss someone beneath the stone arch before the legend kicked in. She could argue that major distinction to any jury of her peers and win.

  And sex on demand with Duncan was perfect as long as it had no strings, no expectations—all the good points her college buddies had raved about with “buddy sex.” It would be the perfect arrangement for them while they were here. She could make that case to Duncan. And she couldn’t imagine him having a problem with it.

  A sound, a bell jingling, had her glancing up and she saw Alba, the dog her aunt had brought home from a shelter, approaching. They’d met briefly when she and Duncan had arrived the night before. If Alba had been sent to find her, that meant that her aunt Vi was up and Duncan might already be up, too.

  She folded the sheets of blue paper, carefully tucked them back into the center compartment, then set the now useless padlock back in place. Then she put the fantasy box back where it been for the last seven years. She might not have figured out what she could do about the rest of her problems, but she’d definitely decided what she wanted to do about Duncan Sutherland.

  * * *

  WHEN DUNCAN WALKED INTO THE kitchen, he found himself greeted by the scent of freshly brewed coffee and a warm hug from Viola MacPherson. Now she was his mother’s sister-in-law, but he would always remember her as the warm, loving woman who’d baked cookies and applied first aid on that long-ago summer when he and his brothers had spent nearly every day at Castle MacPherson while his mother researched the MacPherson family in the castle’s library.

  Minutes later, he was seated at the table in the sun-drenched kitchen and she was setting platters of scrambled eggs, bacon and her homemade scones in front of him. Then she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down across from him.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for Piper?” he asked as she loaded a plate for him and then one for herself.

  “You’ll starve if you wait for her. Eats like a bird. From the time she was a little girl, she’s been a grazer. When she finally comes in from the stone arch, she’ll go for coffee first and pick at half a scone. Then she might have a banana.”

  “She’s out at the stone arch?” He was halfway out of his chair when Vi signaled him back down.

  “She’s safe enough. I sent Alba to her. Our dog may be deaf, but she senses things.”

  “Cam told me about Alba’s talents.” His brother’s theory about an intruder visiting the castle’s library for six months had been largely due to Alba’s barking in the middle of the night. But the security on the castle, and especially the library, had been tightened since then. And he’d taken the time to check it out last night.

  “She hasn’t sensed anyone visiting the library lately, I take it.”

  Vi shook her head. “Things have been very quiet here since you delivered our last bridegroom and saved the day. No lightning strikes. No bombs. The most exciting thing we have planned all weekend is a photo shoot tomorrow morning.”

  As he dug into his eggs, Duncan reviewed the theory that Cam had given him, picturing it in his mind—someone sneaking in after everyone had gone to bed, making himself at home in the library and taking his—or her—time to search it thoroughly. It spoke of someone who was very patient. But it also indicated someone who had good reason to believe that he would find what he was looking for. Cam’s theory was that the intruder had been searching for the location of Eleanor’s sapphires. Then two things had happened. First, Adair had found one missing earring, and for the past month access to the library and the castle had been shut down. Not only had the intruder’s easy-come, easy-go nighttime visits been cut off by a new security system, but Cam and Daryl had installed cameras and added laser light technology to the alarm system in the library.

  Whoever the intruder was, he couldn’t be happy with either development.
And he was probably trying to find another way to gain access to the castle and the library. That’s what Duncan would do. So there could very well be a storm brewing from that direction.

  “How long has Piper been out there?” Duncan asked as he reached for his coffee.

  “Probably since first light. Although I hope she got some sleep first.” Vi sipped her tea. “From the time they were little, all three of them used to make midnight visits to the stone arch to share secrets, make plans, dream dreams. They even used to write their goals down. They buried them in a box in the stones so that they could tap into what Adair always called the ‘power of the stones.’ They used to leave from Piper’s room because they could easily climb down from her balcony.” Vi’s smile held a hint of nostalgia. “They didn’t think I knew about that part.”

  “You kept pretty good track of your girls back then,” Duncan said. And she still did. When he’d called the castle last night to let Vi know they were coming, she’d already been aware of the incident at Piper’s apartment and the resulting media storm. He reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m going to keep her safe. And we’re going to find out who’s targeting her.”

  “I know. I talked to Daryl after I spoke with you,” Vi said. “He thinks that getting her out of D.C. was a good idea.”

  The instant she mentioned Daryl’s name, a pretty blush rose in Vi’s cheeks. Duncan smiled at her. “It’s always good to know that the director of the CIA’s domestic operations unit thinks I’m on the right track.” Duncan lifted her hand to examine her engagement ring. “Daryl has good taste.”

  Vi sighed. “It is lovely, isn’t it?”

  “I was talking about you, but the ring is lovely, too. Have you and Daryl set a date yet?”