Sea's Sorceress Read Online Free PDF Page B

breathe,” he said. This time when his mouth met hers, Skye gave her no choice but to ride the torrent with him.
    “That’s latent magic talking. I can feel it rippling through you. It’s intoxicating.” But she had slipped the leather tie out of his hair and threaded her fingers through it.
    “Not only magic. This is more, so much more, Rhia. It’s the first day I saw you bundled in Maggie’s arms. The day I found you asleep on the grass outside the dance. You were five and a handful. It’s every second in between then and now.”
    She smiled. “I remember that. Da was so worried. I had wanted to see the stones for myself but couldn’t find my way back. You came for me. Knew where to find me. You should go.” Still she held on tight.
    “Come home with me,” he whispered.
    “We can’t. I can’t. Not yet.” But she pulled him in for another kiss. One more.
    “Mmm. I’m only kissing you, Rhia, but no, I’m not leaving yet.”
    “I need to write the payroll for tomorrow.” She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist.
    “You need time to think.”
    “You’re my best friend. I don’t want that part of us to change. I don’t want to lose you to a failed romance.”
    “You won’t lose me. I’ve always been here for you. That will never change.”
    “I’m going to hold you to that promise. Remember.”
    “Let me stay while you work on the books. I worry about you being here alone late at night.”
    She eyed him dubiously, but one corner of her mouth titled into a smile. “I have the feeling I won’t get much work done if you stay.”
    “I’ll go then, but be careful.”
    “I keep a pistol in my office under the desk. Anybody who tries to break in won’t leave happy. Go.”
    “Kiss me good night.”
    Her fingers linked around his neck, pulling him closer. She whispered, “I’ve loved you all my life. What took you so long to catch on? Goodnight.” Then she pressed her lips to his.
    How had he missed this? How could he have been this close to her for so long, only to realize now that he loved her? What a fool he’d been.
    “Goodnight, Rhiannon.”
    She stepped back and headed out into the dining room, to her office.
    Skye watched her leave and then locked the back door behind him on his way out.
    * * * *
    Skye eased the lorry onto the patch of gravel serving as the driveway outside his cliffside home. His watch said almost midnight, but he still wasn’t tired. Residual magic rippled on the edge of his skin. Longing rolled through him as he thought of Rhiannon. With it came the vision. He got out, slammed the door and unlocked the house, flipping on lights as he made his way to his studio.
    He needed to work, to paint.
    And the idea swirled through his head. Rain and wet stones, velvet. He knew he could capture that moment on canvas. So focused on the task, he left the keys hanging in the door. With mad purpose, he mixed paints into shades he only imagined.
    He’d sketch it out first. The line of her neck, the arch of his shoulder. Soft here. Dark there. Until the witch and healer took shape on the bitter field of white. Brush in hand, he began to fill in the shades of night, the grays of weathered stone.
    Stroke. Smudge. Sweep.
    At two, he was still working at a fevered pace, anxious to get the details down before they fled his vision. At three he put the brush in cleaning solution, left the finished painting on his easel and crashed on the cot in his studio.
     

 
    Chapter 4
     
    The tinkling sound of her mother’s wind chimes hanging on the front porch kept Rhiannon company while she used her key and slipped into the dark house. She had lost count of the nights spent working late at the pub. Tonight she’d stayed ’til nearly one making up for lost time, working on the books, writing this week’s payroll. So many little details, as soon as she finished dealing with them, it was time to start again.
    Feeling like a thief in her own home, she snuck around