Enchantment & Bridge of Dreams by Christina Skye Read Free Book Online

couldn’t let her go—not this way. Not yet. She was either his sweetest dream or his worst nightmare, and he had to find out which.
    Kacey gnawed at her bottom lip. Her body shook, from the cold and the struggle to control some dark, nameless yearning.
    But she was losing. Nicholas could feel it in the quiver that ran through her shoulders.
    â€œ Now, Kacey.”
    â€œOh, all right. Yes, damn you. Yes! ”
    His smile was dark triumph itself. But when he took her hand and tried to pull her back toward the house, Draycott found it was going to be a little more difficult than he’d thought.
    Scowling, Kacey dug in her heels. “On three conditions,” she shouted against the wind.
    â€œName them,” he yelled back.
    â€œFirst, we call New York and verify my credentials. I want no more questions on that score.”
    â€œDone.”
    â€œSecond, you move my things—such as they are—into the gatehouse.”
    Draycott’s response was slower this time. “Very well.”
    â€œThird, you give me the gatehouse key. No, make that all the gatehouse keys.”
    The Englishman’s eyes darkened. “I can’t do that,” he countered flatly. “There are reasons—”
    Kacey spun about and began to stride over the downs toward the village.
    â€œOh, all right, damn it! One of us has to be sensible about this.”
    Muttering darkly, Draycott searched for her boots and bent down to shove them on her feet. Scowling, he shrugged out of his coat and pulled it over her head. In the process, his arm encircled her shoulder. Her breast grazed his rib.
    They froze, while the rain hammered down on his makeshift tent. For long breathless moments neither moved, caught in the warmth and darkness beneath.
    Her hip nudged his thigh; her chin brushed the naked skin at his neck.
    Draycott muttered a curse.
    You think you’re safe, but you’re not, Kacey Mallory, his eyes warned from the darkness. I’ll have you. I’ll have you every way there is to have a woman. You couldn’t stop me if you wanted to. And you don’t.
    Somehow she heard his silent challenge, attuned to him as she had never been to any other man. Not now, her jade eyes answered. Not ever, Englishman. You can look forever, but you’ll never find me.
    With a little gasp, Kacey broke free and stumbled forward over the grass, knowing no danger could match that of being caught in this man’s arms.
    Almost immediately she slipped in the wet grass and fell to her knees. Without a word, Draycott swept her up into his arms and strode forward across the glistening sweep of lawn.
    Somehow her hands slid around his neck; somehow her fingers combed through his wet hair.
    Kacey felt him shudder.
    And then the shuddering was hers.
    The gatehouse before them, Kacey raised wild, dazed eyes. In the darkness, the towers stood stark and forbidding. The house seemed almost to watch them, a thing of power and tangible will.
    Determined to hold sway forever over these ancient acres. In spite of whatever frail, hapless humans might stumble across its shadowed paths.
    Kacey frowned, trying to ignore the chill tendrils of fear that swept down her spine. Trying to ignore the angry power of Draycott’s tensed shoulders beneath her hands.
    How did I ever consider this place comforting? she wondered as the brooding Englishman carried her beneath the stone arch into the silence of the abbey’s watchful, waiting walls.
    Â 
    T HE STORM PASSED ON TO the north soon after their return. In careful silence, a white-haired butler showed Kacey to a room on the gatehouse’s second floor. After reminding her to lock her door, he walked downstairs. A few moments later she heard him lock the ground-level entrance door.
    Somehow the sound did little to reassure her.
    She walked slowly to the bed and was asleep by the time her head touched the large and ornately embroidered feather pillow.
    Twice she came awake