Page 8 of Desiring the Highland Laird
Moira looked her over, a small smile on her lips which sent a strange sensation through Evie, as though the woman scrutinized her.
“I know your face,” she said.
Evie’s pulse quickened at the odd phrasing. “I’m sorry?”
“Clan Sinclair,” she said. “I know the look of you anywhere. I knew you’d come.”
Evie shifted from one foot to the other, a sense of unease flickering through her. “Do I know you?”
The woman chuckled. A faint grin flickered over her lips. “Not yet. Where are your sisters?”
A tingling sensation skittered over the base of her neck as she gaped. How did she know she had sisters?
“My…sisters?”
She waved away the thought. “No matter. I’ll see them in time. Time is all I have. I’ll leave you be to browse.”
Evie watched her walk away as an eeriness pressed through her. The woman disappeared toward the back, leaving her to her own devices. It was the strangest conversation she’d ever had.
Evie walked around the shop, trying her best not to disturb any of the pieces. There was an old chair in one corner with a side table that had seen better days, on top of the table, an antique lamp made out of solid brass.
Moving deeper into the shop, she sensed a power somewhere within her reach. A humming power thrumming through her, calling to her. A power she could not ignore. She glanced around, looking for it.
On the far wall was a glass case. She headed there, her senses prickling as she moved closer. Inside the case were small items. Some she recognized. Others she didn’t. Celtic symbols such as a cross, knotwork, and other things she didn’t know.
Then she saw it.
A smooth stone in an odd shape with jagged edge pieces that seemed to be part of a puzzle. As if it was broken off from a larger piece. On it was carved a strange looking arc with another arc through it, appearing to be part of a larger symbol. Perhaps the missing pieces?
She peered at it through the glass, her heart ramming hard in her chest. She was certain this was the item calling to her. But why?
“Och, I see you’ve found our most unusual collection,” Moira said, a smile in her voice.
When she spoke, Evie jumped. She was so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t heard the woman approach. She pressed a hand against her racing heart but tried hard to maintain her composure.
“Yes,” she said at last. “What is it?”
She paused next to her, looking into the case. “Bits and pieces that were brought from all over Scotland.”
Evie glanced back into the case. She pointed to the stone that caught her attention. “What can you tell me about that one?”
Her smile widened. “That one. Aye, you’d be interested in that one.”
Another strange response. Evie gave her a sideways glance, unsure what she meant. “What’s the symbol on it?”
“It’s one point of a triquetra with a circle going through it.”
“A triquetra?” Her brows drew together in question.
She grinned. “It’s a tri-pointed symbol with overlapping and interconnecting arcs. That is one of the pointed arcs.” She looked back at the stone.
Evie stared at it long and hard, unable to deny the burst of desire she had coursing through her. It was the oddest sensation, too. As odd as the shopkeeper. She had no idea what or how or why she felt that way about a simple little stone.
The woman turned away and picked up something, then showed it to her. “It looks like this.”
She glanced down at the object in the woman’s hand, which looked like a pendant. The triquetra indeed had three points that arched and overlapped. A circle went through the middle of it. She glanced back at the stone. The woman was right. The one point on the stone mimicked that of the pendant in her hand.
“Is the stone for sale?” she asked.
