The Third Fate Read Online Free PDF Page B

her stomach announced rather loudly, gaining glances from the nearby table.
    “ Excuse me. Does this happen to belong to ye?”
    Paige looked up into gorgeous blue eyes. Downright mesmerizing they were, and she gaped a moment before laying claim to her senses. A large, roughened hand was stretched before her, her silver cross in the palm.
    “ My necklace!” she exclaimed, realizing quickly that her voice carried much too far. “Oh! Thank you! Where did you find it?”
    “ Right here,” he pointed to the floor behind where she had been sitting.
    Those hands. Paige believed one could tell a great deal about a man from his hands, and these hands told their own story. Calloused and large, these hands were strong from work. Nails short and neat, palms wide, knuckles large-ish, and fingers long proclaimed a manly sort. She liked him at once.
    “ I just noticed it was gone a few minutes ago and have been searching all around me. You can’t know how grateful I am. Thank you again!”
    She made to take the charm, but he motioned for her to turn around, clasping the necklace around her neck.
    “ Grateful enough to have dinner with me?” he asked playfully, holding her gaze when she turned to face him in astonishment.
    “ You… want to have dinner with me?” she asked incredulously.
    Close your mouth, Paige. You’re gaping like an idiot.
    “ Aye. And I wouldn’t mind if ye told me yer name, lass,” he grinned, his thick burr telling.
    “ Oh, excuse me,” she blushed. “Paige. Paige Kinnell. And what are you called, Teuchter?” she inquired curiously, slipping absently into the local dialect of Scots often referred to as Glasgow Patter.
    He chuckled softly.
    “ I haven’t heard that term for some time. You’re so confident in your assessment, then, that I’m a Highlander?”
    Her blush deepened, cheeks now a deep rosy shade.
    “ I…I…went by your accent. I meant no offense.”
    His chuckle continued.
    “ None taken, lass. It’s Cael.”
    “ Cael?”
    Her blank look prompted him to clarify.
    “ Cael Maccinnis,” he stuck out his hand, which she shook once the flash of comprehension crossed her face.
    “ You’ll have to excuse me. I seem to be slow on the take today,” she explained ruefully. “I’m not usually this dense. Honest.”
    Shared laughter lightened the mood.
    “ So, lass, how about that dinner?”
    Her soft smile and lowered lashes hinted at her discomfiture.
    “ Eating dinner would be nice…”
    “ Then it’s settled. We’ll eat together.”
    Ending up at a West End eatery the pair talked of their shared love of history, especially pertaining to the Druid religion and culture prior to Rome’s invasion. Their partiality for preserved texts on the subject, discussions on Pliny the Elder’s writings, Tacitus, and the Medieval Tales of Ireland passed the hours far too quickly, and Paige was struck at how chance had intervened to introduce them.
    “ It’s like the Fates have brought us together,” she joked.
    The instant and serious expression that darkened his handsome face unnerved her.
    “ Maybe they did, indeed, Paige Kinnell.”
    The look was replaced with a smile, and Paige had all but forgotten about it when he touched her hand. The flash in her mind – the knowing - startled her, and she jerked her hand away. With an embarrassed whisper she apologized, not sure how to explain – or even what to say.
    “ I…I’m sorry. I…I got a pain in my arm all of a sudden,” she lied.
    His gaze held hers steady, and she almost convinced herself that he knew exactly what had happened. In spite of the ridiculousness of the thought, Paige half wondered if she had conjured her dream lover. He was too perfect, too like the man in her dreams of the last nights.
    Maybe it was a premonition!
    Tamping down her overactive imagination, she chided herself for indulging childish notions that she was different, in touch with another world somehow.
    “ It’s all right, lass. I don’t