Page 78 of Single Desire
Four days came and went. It was a time of rising temperatures, of rising heat…of rising passion.
Ready to ignite at any time.
For Alec and Maura were equally aware of the other. Having tasted of the other merely sharpened their hunger. And living together under the same roof, knowing the other slept at night with but a single wall between them…
Tension simmered, smoldered.
Alec called himself a fool a hundred times over. Why hadn’t he insisted that Maura marry him if she wanted to continue her search?
Yet if she despised him for it…
He couldn’t stand the thought.
Nor did he want her under those circumstances. If she stayed, it must be of her own free will.
Nothing less would satisfy either of them.
Thomas Gates had sent a note that the unexpected arrival of his sister and her children had delayed his trip to Ireland—to McDonough lands. Alec wondered if he’d reacted too hastily in engaging Thomas. No, he decided. He needed the truth.
So it was that his mood was unsettled.
Maura, however, was utterly driven. Intent. As if she could not wait to be away from him. But not for the reason Alec believed.
It was no longer just because of her promise to her father that she wanted so desperately to find the Circle.
It was for Alec, too.
She dreaded what might happen if she did not. Fear clutched at her. She feared for Alec’s safety. She had to find the Circle so the curse that bound their families together would finally be broken.
She couldn’t bear the thought that something terrible might befall him.
She relived the night he’d come and sat on her bedside. The immeasurably gentle way he’d caressed her cheek. Every time she thought of it, her heart turned over.
She reminded herself that when she found the Circle, she must return to Ireland.
And never see Alec again.
All the more reason to resist him.
All the more reason to deny her own traitorous longing.
The search now renewed, she was grateful for Alec’s help. He knew Gleneden as no one else did. But four days of searching in the hall and outside turned up nothing.
Maura was undaunted. Even though the servants had emptied the shelves in the library, she returned there one morning. Alec came upon her sliding her hands over the paneling beside the fireplace.
“Looking for hidden passages? Secret stairways?” he inquired.
She shot him a murderous look.
“Maura, for heaven’s sake, have done with it!”
She spun around to face him. She was insistent, her conviction unwavering. “It’s here,” she cried. “I just haven’t figured out where.”
“My ancestors were honorable people.”
“And so are mine. Certainly none of mine were pirates!”
“Well, let me think. Suppose you are right. Why would my pirate ancestor—provided I do have such a rogue in my lineage—have hidden such a treasure? Wouldn’t he display it? He certainly wouldn’t hide it.”
