Free Shades of Doon by Carey Corp Page B

lapsed into his native Italian. I couldn’t remember the last time a place had felt like home. Not my studio in Chicago, or the house in Arkansas that my dad had uprooted me to at the start of senior year. Maybe before that, in my old house in Bainbridge, Indiana . . . but even then, only when Vee was there with me.
    It was the same way with Dunbrae Cottage. My aunt Gracie’s death had left a void, as if the magical spark had ebbed away, leaving cold wood and plaster behind. Home wasn’t a place, it was the people I loved — my royal best friend, the amazing boy at my back, and friends who were more like family than actual blood relatives. Because of them, I belonged here and, in time, I hoped I would feel the truth of it.
    At the bend, the road forked leading to the village on the right and the start of the high road into the mountains to the left. As we approached, Duncan slowed Mabel to a walk. “Hmmm? Which shall it be?” The intimacy of his voice, pitched low and close to my ear, sent shivers rippling across my neck.
    Why would he want to go to the hunting lodge if our best chance of figuring out what had happened to Vee and I was joining the brain trust back at the castle? I leaned back against him and slightly off to the side so I could look up at his face and ask. He prefaced his answer with a pained smile. “To pretend —even if just for a little while — that nothing could ever separate us again.”
    He looked out toward the village with a frown. “Because I’m half mad with the need to lock you away in a tower where ye’ll be safe.” His dark, imploring eyes fastened on mine, starting a butterfly chorus line in my stomach. Although I never fancied myself as a cloistered princess, I could indulge in a little cosplay for my prince’s sake. “Humor me and say we’ll go — if not at present then soon.”
    “Okay. Soon.” I promised, before straining upward to plant a kiss on his jawline. He responded by tipping his face down to capture my mouth with his. The kiss wasn’t sweet. It was rough and desperate, like we were both trying to hold on to the other person to keep the moment from slipping through our grasp. Which happened anyway as the horse beneath us reared up.
    Duncan immediately broke off the kiss and pulled at her reins. Ears pinned flat, she bared her teeth and tossed her head in annoyance. “Mabel!” Duncan admonished. “What’s gotten into ye?”
    Her tail swished back and forth as she snorted, stamping her feet. Her owner looked at me with chagrin. “Mayhap, she’s a wee bit jealous o’ you.”
    “Ya think?” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. In her defense, she did have him first. But she was going to have to deal with the fact that he was mine too. And I wasn’t going anywhere — at least, not if I could help it.
    With a sigh, Duncan reluctantly steered Mabel toward the village of Doon. “I guess I’ll just have to content myself with sleeping at your doorstep.”
    Just like at the cottage in Alloway, when he’d slept in the hallway in front of my room . . . I’d nearly forgotten about that.At the time I’d assumed that he’d been trying to keep me on lockdown because he was following orders. “Why did you do that? Sleep in the hall in front of my door at Aunt Gracie’s?”
    “I desired to be as close to you as possible.” He chuckled softly. “That was a wretched night.”
    “Because the floor was so uncomfortable?”
    “Nay. Because you weren’t nearly close enough. Plus, it was the first time ye’d been out of my sight since our reunion. The separation was so unbearable, I couldna sleep.”
    “I was out of your sight when you took a shower at my apartment.” That had been unbearably torturous for me, but I wasn’t about to admit to it.
    “That was wretched too. There wasn’t enough cold water on the planet to numb me to your presence.” He guided Mabel around the outskirts of the village, clearly in no hurry to catch up to his brother and Vee. “I