Page 84 of Hand-Fasting and Other Hazards
Lochlan’s gaze drifted toward the flickering lanterns along the garden path. “She found me that night. Cornered me, like she always did, throwing words like knives, cutting deep because she could. I ran to the greenhouse, where I always went when I needed a refuge. But this time she followed.” His jaw clenched. “She didn’t just want to hurt me. She wanted to destroy something I loved.”
Nia stayed silent, her stomach twisting.
“She ripped the orchids from the trees. Pulled vines down like they were weeds. Then she set it all on fire.” His voice was flat, but something in it sent a chill down Nia’s spine. “Thane tried to stop her, but it was too late. The fire spread too fast. It climbed the walls, scorched through everything, filling the air with smoke so thick I could barely breathe.” His fingers curled into his lap. “I tried to save what I could. I wasn’t thinking. I just—I had to save something. The orchids, my father’s book of pressed herbs, anything.”
Lochlan closed his eyes.
“The fire didn’t care. It crawled up my legs, burned through my clothes, my skin?—”
He stopped. But Nia didn’t need him to finish; she’d seen his scars.
“Thane pulled me out.” The words were quiet. “I don’t even remember him grabbing me. One second, I was running through fire. The next, I was outside on my back, choking on smoke, my legs burning, the greenhouse collapsing in front of me.”
His grip on Jade’s fur loosened and he exhaled slowly.
“I fought him.” He let out a bitter laugh. “I tried to get back in. He held me down, told me to stop.” Lochlan looked at her then, his golden-brown eyes darker in the dim light. “I left a few days later and never looked back.”
A lump formed in Nia’s throat. She didn’t know what to say. What could she say?
“And your brother just stopped by to say hi?” Her tone was dry, laced with disbelief.
“No.” Lochlan sighed. “He asked me to come back to Dover.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Anger surged through Nia, but she kept it in check. How dare his brother ask him to go back to a place that had caused him so much pain?
And worse—what if he did go?
The thought left her unsettled in ways she didn’t want to name.
Jade suddenly jumped off the chair, chasing after the ducks as they waddled toward their little cottage. Nia stood and moved to Lochlan, straddling his lap before he could say a word. She brushed his hair back, her fingers soft and gentle.
His eyes darkened, his breath hitching. “Nia…”
She kissed him once, then pressed her lips to his cheek, his neck. The scent of him—mixed with her own—was intoxicating. Beneath it was that underlying sweetness, it made her want to taste him.
“Do you need a distraction?” she whispered.
His hands gripped her thighs, pulling her closer. “I need you.”
CHAPTER 28
Nia
“THEIR SIGNS DON’T MATCH - AND IT WILL END IN HORROR.” —THEGREENWITCH1969
I need you.
The words echoed in her mind as Lochlan carried her up the stairs. She kissed him the whole way—slowly, purposefully, nothing like the desperate, frenzied encounters they’d shared before. This was uncharted territory.
When he placed her on the bed, still nestled between her legs, his movements were unhurried. He brushed her hair away from her face, his fingers lingering as they slid to her cheek, then down her neck. He paused at her pulse point, his thumb pressing lightly.
“Do you feel that?” Nia asked, her voice low, rough. “How wild my heart beats for you?”
He answered with a kiss—soft and searching.
