"No." She brushed the hair from her face and eased out of Brady's hold to sit beside him. "I couldn't see his face, but it wasn't him. This guy wasn't as husky or solid. His frame was slimmer. Except..." She was unsure how to explain it to them and have it make sense. "He gave off the same vibe, though. Vengeance. Purpose.""Her premonitions are rooted in the present." Fiona rose to her feet and sighed. "Which means this person is on the island right this second." She looked at Kaida. "Did you get the impression he was after us?""Not necessarily. He's definitely dangerous and I sensed he was arriving for a reason, but it didn't seem specific to us or anything."Ceara's gaze drifted as if she were thinking. "We can assume if you got a vision of him it has to pertain to us in some way. How is the question. You projected into that hotel room and got the premonition just now for a reason. Yet if it's not the same man, I'm not connecting the dots.""Is he a hunter?" Brady's mossy eyes
"All I'm saying is, you're acting out of character in regards to her." Riley stepped over a log on their trek through the dark forest on the way to the clearing. "What happened to my bookworm brother who calculates every angle before making a decision?"Brady sighed and glanced several yards ahead at the women, but they didn't seem aware of the quiet conversation between him and his brothers. "I'm right here. The same guy.""You look like Brady, walk like Brady, sound like Brady, but you don't behave like him. Has she cast a spell on you? Because the brother I know would never tear through the woods in the middle of the night based off a bad dream. Or nearly break in a door to get to a woman. Or crash into a house on a rampage to rescue said woman. Or roar like a lunatic and beat at a wall until his knuckles bled" "Fine. I get it." He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated to no end. "Turned out, I was right, though. She was in danger.""True, but that's not my point. I'm no
Hard to say when it had actually happened. Perhaps as a boy when she'd first come to him in dreams, surrounded by buttercups and under the sun's golden rays. Maybe it was the second he'd spotted the real her from his office window, standing on the sidewalk while leveling his foundation. Or it could've been the moment he'd kissed her in the lighthouse, knotting years of memories and opening his eyes he hadn't realized were closed.Regardless of when, the truth smacked him upside the head now. He'd been on the brink before with other women, had waded in that particular pool a time or two, yet hadn't fully engaged his heart. But he'd been fooling himself. All along, and without even realizing it, he'd been waiting for her.For Kaida. A restless soul just searching for a place to belong. Intelligent, adaptable, determined, and intuitive Kaida Galloway.Unimaginable heat filled him, shoving drafts out of the corners and cold from the cracks. Throat tight and pulse tripping, he succumbed.
With Brady holding her hand, Kaida stepped into Meath Mansion and through an elegant foyer. The breath backed up in her lungs as she glanced around. The whole place screamed something courtesy of Daddy Warbucks. From the winding marble staircase to the vaulted ceiling to the crystal chandelier, it oozed money. Boatloads. Old and new fortune. It was like standing in a museum with the art pieces and fancy vases. And just as cold. Everywhere she turned, there were hallways and rooms off the entryway."Wow, Brady. When you said mansion, you weren't exaggerating."He grunted, but any reply he might've given was cut off by his brothers exiting a room to the left of the staircase.Tristan pocketed a cell and handed a piece of paper to Brady. "That's the new alarm code. Memorize it. I just got off the phone with the security company. We now have to give that code when changing anything in our plan. I also informed them no one but us three are allowed to make any alterations." He strode fo
At his repeat ministration, she whimpered and clenched his strands. Holding him to her, she wrapped a leg around his, desperate to cease the throbbing at the apex of her thighs. A groan, and he circled her navel with his tongue, then kept going. Lower, lower.Parting her thighs, he settled between them. Unable to breathe, to think, she ground her hips and silently begged. As if knowing just what she needed, he closed his mouth around her, and she bowed."Brady," she breathed. "Oh God." She chanted his name over and over until her lungs burned from the effort. Never letting up, he groaned like he loved the sound of her calling for him. The vibrations rumbled through her core and sent her on a one-way ticket to the edge of bliss. Gripping the pillow, she came, convulsing with her head thrown back.While she was still experiencing aftershocks, he rose over her and nipped her chin. Passion clouded his eyes and his lids fell to half-mast. In his gaze was sentiment she'd never witnessed
Brady groaned and rolled over in bed to avoid the stream of sunlight smacking him in the face through the balcony doors. Smiling like an idiot at the rosemary scent clinging to his pillow and recalling the previous evening's events, he reached for Kaida. Except the sheets were cool. Frowning, he pried his eyes open and found a folded piece of paper on her side of the mattress.Stole one of your t-shirts. I'm downstairs.She'd put a smiley face at the end of her note, which was entirely too adorable. And it didn't make him grin. Much. He rose and relieved himself in the adjoining bathroom, then threw on a pair of sweats and his glasses to go in search of her.Best damn night of his life. Would've been the best morning of his life if she were still in his bed.The sound of muttering voices and the scent of coffee led him to the kitchen. He propped a shoulder against the frame, mostly out of sight, and grinned wider at finding Kaida on a stool by the island next to Riley, bare feet on
Once he finished a shower, he threw on a pair of gray slacks and a white button-down, then stared at the bed. Kept staring. The sheets were rumpled from their love-making, her scent lingered in the room, and recollection of their passion flooded him until suffocation loomed.All he wanted was more. More memories, more time together, more...everything. Interesting, because he'd never thought himself a sadist.The sisters had arrived by the time he'd made it back downstairs and were helping his brothers set out the food in the formal dining room. They hadn't dined in or used this space since their uncle had left the island nine years ago. Brady had almost forgotten what it looked like.Walnut wainscot paneling would've made the interior dim or moody if not for the elaborate chandelier over the massive ten-seater Palais Royale and the bay window facing the eastern side of the grounds. The space was still as ostentatious as he remembered. Monet on the walls, a Copenhagen china set too
Kaida, mouth agape, stared at the leather-bound journals Brady had placed on the table in the library. Wearing white gloves, he'd retrieved them from a high glass-encased shelf and had lined them in order. Fifty-two in all. Some bindings were cracked, the pages yellow with age. Others looked new and barely touched.Amazing. So was the room. While Brady had been busy, she'd strolled around, fighting a bookgasm. They had first editions of most of her favorite classics and newer titles. Volumes and volumes of fiction, non-fiction, encyclopedias... Heaven. And those were just the books. Vaulted ceiling with a mural of angels. A fireplace she and her sisters could walk inside. Intricate accent carvings and a bar in the corner.Heck, all she'd need was a bathroom and she could move in, never to see daylight again."Okay, we have two problems." Brady held up his gloved hands. "First, these are delicate. We're not going to be able to touch most of them without protection and the pages are b