Haunting Beauty Read Online Free PDF

of the current that traveled through that small point of contact.
    He had the sudden desire to lean closer still, to press his mouth to the erratic pulse beating at her throat. To let his hands skim up and under the blue sweater to the soft curves it hid. For a moment, he considered actually doing it and the idea started a fire burning deep inside him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so caught up in a woman. She was blushing again; no doubt his thoughts were there in the heat of his gaze. A part of him was glad. As wrong, as inconvenient as this attraction was, he wanted her to know. Needed her to feel it, too.
    Flustered, she tugged her arm free and pulled down her sleeve, hiding the pink flower. “Ten percent of all babies are born with birthmarks,” she said coolly. But her breath hitched at the end, betraying her.
    “Not that birthmark.”
    He watched the play of emotion on her face. Hope, disbelief, and that heartbreaking anguish. She took a sip of her tea, shifting under his steady gaze.
    “Is this for real? Are you for real?”
    “I am.”
    She gave a small nod of acceptance and then asked, “So my father . . . he’s still alive?”
    “Aye,” he answered. “Living in Ballyfionúir.”
    “And does he know you’ve found me?”
    “Not yet. I wanted to be sure first.”
    “And you are now?”
    “Absolutely.”
    He paused for a moment, pulling his thoughts away from the light scent of her skin back to the matter at hand. He was here for a reason that had nothing to do with the way the sun spilling through the window turned her hair into a flame of a thousand colors or his need to touch it.
    “Is there anything at all you remember about your childhood?” he asked softly. “About Ireland or the night you left there?”
    She shook her head. “Nothing before my mom disappeared.”
    “Well, let me tell you a bit, then. You’re from a very old family, Danni. And from a place that’s filled with lore. It’s in the air, the water. Living here, you probably can’t grasp what that entails, but there are things that happen on the Isle of Fennore that happen nowhere else in the world.”
    A bemused smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “I come from an old family?”
    He nodded. “It’s thought that your ancestors—mine, too—were ancient Druids. Fearsome people. People who possessed powers uncommon to the ordinary man or woman.”
    The smile widened a little. “My ancestors were superheroes?”
    He smiled back, but knew it didn’t reach his eyes. “Have you never felt it, then? Never known something before it happened? Never felt that you were special?”
    Her smile faltered and she dropped her gaze to her tea. “No. I’ve never felt special.” Standing, she took her cup to the sink and rinsed it. Her back was straight, her chin raised, but he could almost feel the old wounds inside her open up.
    “Your island sounds like a magical place,” she said lightly, turning with a bright smile that cut him to the bone. He knew it cost her, that smile.
    “You should come see it,” he said.
    It was the opening he wanted, but still he felt reluctant as he reached in his envelope and pulled out the last item. It was a thick packet of papers secured by a rubber band. On the top sheet was an itinerary with a logo imprinted in the corner of a ship and airplane emerging from a bank of clouds. Written on the top was Danni’s name. Sean hadn’t wanted to buy the tickets before he met Danni, but his grandmother had purchased them already and insisted he bring them. She’d insisted on everything. So far she’d been right.
    He pushed the packet across the table and waited for Danni to retrieve it. She lifted the papers curiously, staring with a frown for a moment before her eyes widened in surprise.
    “Are these tickets? With my name on them? Tickets to Ireland? And . . . These are one-way, for heaven’s sake. For Friday. This Friday.”
    “I thought you’d want to leave as soon as