Free Shades of Doon by Carey Corp Page A

instant. Tempted to melt into his warmth, I forced myself to pull back and paste on a serene smile.
    Jamie’s hands framed my face, a furrow appearing over his left brow as his dark eyes searched mine. His thumbs swept over my cheeks in a gentle caress. “Are ye all right?”
    I took his hands in mine. “I’m fine.” I glanced over to where Duncan held Kenna close. “ We’re fine.”
    Duncan ran a hand over the back of Kenna’s hair. “Where’ve ye been, woman?”
    Kenna shrugged, glancing pointedly in my direction.
    “Yes, where have ye been?” Jamie squeezed my fingers. “Eòran said you disappeared from the village hours ago.”
    I disconnected our hands, stepped back from him, and forced a casual tone. “Somehow we ended up in Alloway. I’m not sure — ”
    “You what?” Jamie roared.
    “Modern-day Alloway?” Duncan demanded.
    I lifted my palms. “Settle down! We weren’t hurt. I had the rings with me, and we crossed back over the bridge. No problem.”
    Jamie scrubbed a hand over his mouth, a million questions battling in his turbulent gaze.
    “Jamie.” I grasped the hard muscle of his bicep. “I’ll explain everything, but can we not do it in the middle of the road? I’m starving. We haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours.”
    His eyes flew wide. “By the Saints, lass! Ye’ve been gone for an entire day of modern time? What took ye so blasted long to get back?”
    So much for giving it to them in small doses. I sighed at my own stupidity. Kenna shook her head and then gave me the “watch and learn” look.
    “Duncan.” She leaned into his chest and gave a little shiver. “I’m cold and tired. I promise we’ll explain everything over a nice cup of tea back at the castle.”
    Duncan and Jamie exchanged a nod and then helped us up onto their mounts. Jamie swung up behind me and told me to lean back and relax. His way of saying he’d hold off his questions — for now.
    He wheeled Crusoe in a circle with one hand on the reins, his other arm tucked around my waist, holding me close. The horse gave a snort and then trotted forward with a rhythmic sway. Snuggled into Jamie’s warmth, my head resting on his shoulder, his delicious stormy scent filling me with every breath, I tried unsuccessfully to keep my mind from going to the dark side. What if it happened again? What if next time I couldn’t get back? And I was separated from everything and everyone I loved, forever?

CHAPTER 8
    Mackenna
    D uncan’s massive chest pressed against my back as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Let’s keep going . . .”
    Mabel bristled in her stride and tossed her black mane, causing me to focus more on the beast beneath me than the hot boy behind me. Duncan straightened and tightened the reins to bring his steed into instant submission. He murmured to her in a soothing voice that sounded infuriatingly similar to the one he occasionally used on me, and she obeyed.
    The horse loved him. Me, she tolerated only when absolutely necessary.
    Now that I had no concerns of Analisa poaching my boyfriend, Mabel had become my new nemesis. Whenever Duncan wasn’t looking, she yanked my hair with her teeth, slapped me across the face with her tail, or nudged me into the filthy hay in the corner of her stall. One time I swear she bit my butt, but when I said as much to Duncan he’d defended her saying she didn’t have a jealous bone in her body. On that we could agree. Mabel didn’t have a jealous bone, she had two hundred and five of them — a fact I’d looked up in the castle library just to be sure.
    “ . . . could bypass the castle and be to the hunting lodge by nightfall.” It took me a minute to realize that Duncan’s two thoughts were connected and he that he was suggesting we not go straight back.
    Around the bend in the lane stood the village of Doon, and rising into the distance beyond, our destination, the Castle MacCrae. Home . . . I tested the word out. It felt foreign, like when Mario Rosetti