Everlastin' Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

bedroom, and fatigue stopped her from looking
beyond the stone newel staircase to the tower.
    Descending the main
staircase in slow easy strides, she thought about making herself a
hot cup of tea and enjoying it while soaking in a hot bath—in her
private, Victorian claw foot tub. This brought a smile to her face
until she stepped down from the last stair and the absolute
stillness of the house closed in around her. A thin sheen of
perspiration broke out on her brow. An all too familiar tightness
settled in the back of her neck.
    Not a migraine now, she mutely groaned, gingerly massaging the
ache.
    A shrill cry unlike anything
she had ever heard, razored the air. A squeal of surprise erupted
from her, and in the silence that followed she could feel the wild
thrumming of her heart rise in her throat. The front doors at the
end of the hall seemed to zoom in on her vision, then as quickly,
fall back into the far distance.
    Pain drummed at her temples.
Once again she became overly conscious of the stifling stillness
within the walls. Air weighed heavily in her lungs. Her body
temperature rose. Breathing in hoarse spurts, she walked toward the
doors. Her passage through the greenhouse lessened the fever in
her. Passing through the last outer door, she stepped into the
cooling air of dusk, and slowly filled her lungs with it.
Surprisingly, there was a mist of rain, and she raised her face to
welcome its reviving chill.
    The cry rang out
again.
    She was about to dash back
into the house when a hand settled on her shoulder. Another squeal
was wrenched from her throat before she could stop it, and on
reflex, she slapped the broad chest coming around to her left. The
groundskeeper's face finally came into focus through the haze of
her vision.
    “Don't ever do that again!” she shrilled,
shucking off the man's hand and stepping back two paces.
    Lachlan chuckled low as he
raked his fingers through his thick shoulder-length hair. “Didna
mean to frighten the wits ou' o’ you, lass. I saw you give a start
at the call o’ the bird.”
    “That horrible sound came
from a bird?”
    “Old Braussaw.” Lachlan
pointed to a tall hedge. “There he is. See him?”
    Beth strained to discern
something within the shadows of the closing daylight, but couldn't.
“I thought someone had run over a cat.”
    “He's a paughty one, he is,”
he chuckled. “Peacocks truly have a terrible cry. You'll get used
to it.”
    “How can anything so
beautiful, sound so awful?” she asked, still trying to locate the
bird.
    Lachlan gave an airy shrug.
“They're maist vocal in the wee hours o’ the morn.”
    “Wonderful. My blood feels
like ice.”
    With a slow, utterly
charming smile, he tilted his head to one side and unabashedly
studied her features. “Tis no' so bad when you've been around them
a while.”
    Beth tried to smile through
her taut facial muscles, but found she couldn't. The man's perusal
of her made her uncomfortable. When she had met him earlier,
standing two steps above him on the staircase, she hadn't noticed
how tall he was. She did now. He was well over six foot. The top of
her head barely reached his chin, and his broad shoulders were
nearly twice as wide as her own.
    Heat swept from her soles to
her crown. It was all she could do not to fan herself with a
hand.
    “Feelin’ the walls close in
on you?”
    “No...well, a little.” Beth
tried to relax the tension in her body. “It's a bit spooky being
alone in such a large place.”
    Lachlan nodded. To her
disbelief, he clasped one of her hands with his and gave her a
gentle tug. “Tha', too, will pass, in time. Come, lass. Tis a full
moon this night. I've a place to show you as it rises.”
    “Well I....”
    Beth's legs began to move of
their own volition, keeping in stride with the man's long gait. As
he led her away from the house, along a pathway to the east that
was thickly canopied by tree branches, she couldn't help but dwell
on his warm grasp. He had large, powerful