Teaser #7

We get another teaser, Angels.

Are you ready?

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ EVEN IN DARKNESS

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Deep in the night, my bladder screamed at me, demanding that I get out of bed, even though it felt like I’d done the same thing ten minutes before. Blearily, I pulled off the covers and padded down the hall to our tiny bathroom. The cottage where we lived was originally Sarah MacKinnon’s mother’s home and it was a great size for one person. But the bathroom was minuscule, and felt even smaller now that I had a huge belly. With my eyes still closed, I wedged myself between the sink and the toilet and emptied the thimble that had become my bladder.

The baby shifted and I placed my hand over my stomach instinctively, feeling a bony knee or elbow move underneath my palm. A moment later, a swift kick underneath my ribs had me gasping for air. Damn, that hurt. Groaning, I hurried to finish up, thinking that maybe the baby would settle down if I got back into bed. When I stood to pull on my panties, I felt a pop and then a gush of fluid running down my legs. It felt like I was peeing all over myself, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I knew what was happening, but I had no idea what to do. Should I stay in the bathroom? Should I call for Aiden?

This is it. Oh my goodness.

My heart rate kicked up with excitement and panic while I waddled sideways, then turned and tried to bend down to get a pad out of the cabinet under the sink. It was impossible. I simply couldn’t bend like that, especially not while I was streaming a river around my feet. I wanted to be self-sufficient and I didn’t want to wake Aiden because it could be hours before labor started, but I couldn’t go back to bed now. Hell, I couldn’t even leave the bathroom. Tears of frustration started to well up and I swallowed hard to keep it together.

“Aiden?” I called softly. His gentle snore told me he was completely out of it. I tried again, with more volume. “Aiden, honey?”

Two heavy footsteps echoed down the hall and then he was there: naked, tousled, his eyes wild and afraid. “What’s happened? Are ye hurt?” He swept his gaze over my body until he saw the puddle on the floor.

“My water broke,” I explained, like that wasn’t obvious.

His eyes snapped up and held mine. Deer in the headlights doesn’t begin to explain it. My confident, assured, strong, and resourceful husband simply stared at me.
All that childbirth preparation we’d done flew out the window as his brain clawed its way back from a dead sleep.

“Um, could you get a pad out for me? I can’t bend down to reach it,” I said, wondering how it was that, even dripping all over the floor, I was the voice of calm here. “And I need some new panties.”

“Right,” he said, then hovered in place for a second, trying to decide which to do first: head to the dresser or squeeze past me to dig through the bathroom cabinet. Before he made up his mind, I put my hand on his arm and gave a shaky laugh.

“Aiden, it’s happening. We’re having a baby.”

His eyes glistened with tears and he grabbed me in a hug. I clung to him, feeling my own eyes water. When he pulled away, he seemed to have come back to himself. He cupped my cheeks in his hands and kissed me lightly.

“I love you,” he said. “Dinna fash. I’m here.”

Grinning, I let the moment linger before I reminded him, “Still need those panties.”

And then he was off, streaking down the hall like he’d been shot out of a cannon

Teaser #6

He sucked my earlobe into his mouth, then nibbled it with his teeth.
“Did I hear something about a shower?” he said, his voice like melted wax. The hand that was wrapped around my waist ventured lower, eliciting a moan from me, but a knock at the door cut off any hopes of following through on Aiden’s suggestion. “We should have told them to come at noon,” he said.

“Too late now,” I said, disentangling myself from him with regret. His eyes roamed over my body for a moment and he groaned with desire.

“You’re so beautiful, Lindsey. I want to spend the whole day in bed with ye, just touching your skin, tasting your lips, feeling your body against mine.”

Warmth rushed over me at the longing in his words. I wanted that, too. It had been forever since we’d just held each other.

“Yes. Yes. More yes. Tomorrow, maybe. But right now, we have guests.”

“Aye,” he said, his voice laced with disappointment that tugged at my heart. I wanted to grab on to him and never let go, but there simply wasn’t time. Instead, I turned to the dresser to pull out a pair of jeans and he left to answer the door.

Teaser #5

Yesterday Cyndi posted this teaser on her FB page. Enjoy!
A swift ride through the countryside is what I need, I thought.
Frustration sprang up like a geyser in my chest as the buckle on ...the saddle resisted my manipulations. A vicious Gaelic curse shot from my lips, and though I knew no one was around to hear, and even if they had been, no one in our group understood the language. My language, my native tongue. The thought made me pause, breathing hard, my hand coming to rest on the underbelly of the horse.

Three hundred years. So much had changed from those days on the misty moor of the loch surrounding Eilean Donan Castle. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply and let myself pretend I was back in the stables at home, that the sharp tang of the horseflesh in front of me belonged to Eachann, the brown stallion I’d grown up with. He’d been a spitfire and no doubt. I’d loved him fiercely from the time I was no taller than his breast, barely more than a bairn myself. The summer before Da fell ill, he’d placed me atop the stallion.

"Steady, lad," he’d said firmly as I’d wiggled into place. With one hand on my knee to keep me still and another wound loosely in the reins, he’d made clicking sounds to the horse, who began a slow walk out toward the road. The warm summer breeze seemed fresher atop the great beast and I sucked in great lungfuls of it, pride at my new station streaming within me like a sunbeam through the forest.

"Can we go faster, Da?" I’d pleaded, ready to push the boundaries and feel the earth pass swiftly beneath me. My father had taken me on rides before, tucked up tight against the wall of his chest, but this was the first time I’d been atop Eachann myself.

To my disappointment, my father chuckled. "Nae, Aiden. Not today."

"But—" I started to protest, but he cut me a sharp glance that stilled my tongue.

"Nae," he said again, with a decisive shake of his head. "I’ve answered ye and should box your ears for asking again, but I won’t this time. Still, ye need to learn that nae means nae, and good reason for it, too."

"Sorry, Da," I said, dropping my eyes to the soft brown fur underneath my hands.

"There is a time and place for everything, my son. Someday, ye’ll be a grown man and riding Eachann will be tame compared to the other delights—and challenges—that lie before you. But there’s plenty of time for that, so take this day for what it is, and enjoy what the good Lord’s given ye, aye?" His smile shone through a thick, red beard, causing my heart to leap in my chest.

"Aye, Da," I’d replied, my cheeks stretched to their limits from the sheer joy of being with him.

Longing for what I’d lost surged within me—my father and his larger-than-life persona, my mother and her tender touch, my brother Duncan whose fists were always at the ready, and wee Willie who worried over his elder brothers’ brawling. Thinking of my family back then brought to mind the family I had now.

Lindsey MacRae Book Four Exclusive

It's Lindsey MacRae's Birthday Today!! Hooray!

As a special treat for all of you I have an exclusive sneak preview of Between 4 (holy crap). See it here first!

         “What can I get for ye?" 

“Whisky, neat.” 

The man had the audacity to laugh. “You’ll have to be more specific, I’m afraid. We’ve dozens to choose from.” 

Torag studied him for a moment, then came to a decision. “What’s your name?” 

The bartender looked momentarily taken aback, but then shrugged. “Kevin. Why?” 

“Well, Kevin, I’m new to whisky,” Torag lied. “What would you recommend?” And just like that, Kevin’s round face broke into a joyous grin and he launched into an impressive dissertation on the many nuances of whisky. Torag responded in all the right places, inserting a “Really?” and “Wow, I had no idea” from time to time, just to keep him talking. Kevin set up four shot glasses on the bar in front of him, then plied him with tasters of whisky from the four regions of Scotland, having scorned blends in favor of the more patriotic single malt scotch. Torag dutifully sipped from each, proclaiming that Kevin was right about the differences in each.

“You sure know a lot about whisky,” Torag said, trying to sound delightfully dim. “Have you lived in Orkney long?” 

“All my life,” Kevin declared with pride. “Only been to the mainland once. Wife’s never even been that far.” 

“Incredible,” Torag replied, then asked for a glass of the 12 year GlenMorangie. As Kevin poured, Torag’s heart pounded heavy in his chest, but he forced his voice into a casual tone. “So you must have been around during that power surge a while back, right?” 

“Boy, was I! The whole island was blacked out, not a damn thing worked. Cracked a standing stone right in half, it did.” 

“Is that right? Where was that?” 

“The Barnhouse Stone, out near Malcolm’s place.” 

Torag’s pulse raced wildly and he paused to take another sip to hide his interest. “Malcolm a friend of yours? What’s he think of the cracked stone?” 

“We go way back—cut teeth at the same time, we did—but I wouldn’t say we’re mates. He goes his way and I go mine. So I can’t say as I’ve asked him what he thinks, but I wouldn’t put it past him to chalk it up to that damn prophecy.” 

Everything inside Torag screamed for him to jump over the bar and shake this fat little man by the throat until he spilled every last detail he knew. Instead, he asked for a refill to keep Kevin occupied. 

“Prophecy, huh? A prophecy about what?” 

“Och, I dunno. Some such nonsense he got passed down from his Da and his Da before him. Started back at Culloden times, if I recall. Showed it to me when we were kids, though his Da would have been spitting mad if he’d known as only MacRaes were allowed to see it.” Kevin rolled his eyes and waved his towel over the bar like he was swatting a fly. “Says something about a blood sacrifice and crimson globes, whatever the hell that means. Freaked the hell out of me anyway.” With a rueful shake of his head, he schooled his expression into one of pity. “MacRaes never have had it easy, what with Malcolm raising those kids on his own now. Wife passed just last year. Cancer, it was. Poor man.” 

Yes, poor man indeed, Torag thought to himself, and began formulating his plan.