Selkie's Revenge Read Online Free PDF

jostle his bundle, conscious of her racing heart.
    And all too aware of the mad thumping of his own.

Chapter 3
    Sometime later, Mack watched the woman revive in the hospital. The doctor had confirmed there was nothing physically wrong with her, despite her fall into the drink. She was just a little dehydrated. Still, he’d agreed with Machar that it might be a good idea to let her rest in the hospital and get some fluids in her. She’d slept for a couple of hours, which Mack had been pleased to see. God only knew she needed some peace and quiet after the scene at the beach.
    Her eyelids fluttered, and he got a glimpse of pretty blue irises peeking out from under light brown lashes. Mack felt a sucker punch to his gut and frowned at the uncomfortable sensation.
    No doubt he was still winded over the impromptu rescue. He didn’t like being without his weapons. While he’d bundled the woman in his father’s car, his dad had retrieved the bow and arrows for him as his family had looked on with anxious faces. He felt better now, but only marginally.
    He allowed himself to take in her figure, covered as it was by sheets in the hospital bed. It was a lovely, pear-shaped figure, his favorite type of figure if truth be told. She was too distracting by half. Full hips and small, but sweet, breasts. Still, there was a certain gauntness to her cheeks that led Mack to believe she’d recently lost some weight. Her wrists and neckline were too delicate for his liking. She looked like she needed a good meal. A few, in fact. Biting his bottom lip, he pondered whether she was getting all the proper nutrients, until the sting of his gnawed lip brought him back to reality.
    In her daze, she began to mumble. In a soft voice, she said, “Luke. Where are you?”
    For the first time, Mack was struck by her accent. She didn’t have the brogue of an Orcadian. Hell, she wasn’t even Scottish. The woman sounded American.
    More than ever, Mack wondered who she was and how she’d ended up on an Orkney beach.
    He ran a hand over her bobbed, blonde hair, removing a few strands from her eyes. It was then he noticed she was missing some hair. Not a lot, just a couple of spots behind her left ear. The spots were no bigger than an American quarter and were camouflaged by her other hairs. But as he tucked her hair behind her ear, he couldn’t miss them. His heart went out to her. Had she lost her hair from stress or a medical problem?
    As she woke more fully, he removed his hand from her head, not wanting to scare her. She opened her eyes and looked around. As she took him in, and her surroundings, her eyes grew wider. Once again, panic flitted through her eyes. “Where am I? How did I get here?”
    Mack tried to calm her. “You’re safe. I found you on the beach. You were … in distress.”
    Out of nowhere, her face crumpled and she let out a cry of anguished fury. “You have to take me back there!” She leaned over, grabbing at him, bunching her hands up in his shirt. “You have to take me to Luke.”
    For the first time since he’d saved her, Mack was getting tired of hearing the name Luke. Who was this man who drove her to distraction? He couldn’t be anyone good to leave her like this. “You can’t go back there. It’s not safe.”
    The woman made a frantic attempt to leap out of the bed, almost knocking over several instruments in the process, but Mack held her down. “The hell I won’t. I need to get to Luke!”
    As he pinned her to the bed, Mack reached his breaking point. “Look, love. No man who beckons to you from the sea is good for you. It’s only bad news if you go back there.”
    “Please.” She fought in his grip.
    Mack swore. “I can’t return you to the beach. By St. Winifred’s knockers, woman, are you trying to top yourself?”
    Still enraged, unseeing, she continued to struggle. Desperate to calm her, Mack began to sing an old selkie song. The voice of a selkie was like the call of a siren to many a human,