Eternal Moon

Chapter Seven: Stacks of Secrets

"Am I making you uncomfortable, lass?"

He figured from the fact that she had already finished her entire glass of wine that she was. There was also the telltale blush that made her even more comely.

"Oh, no, I'm very used to getting such panty-dropping compliments from Scottish noblemen."

He had also learned that she reverted to sarcasm when she was flustered. Though, the term 'panty-dropping' was new. And intriguing.

"You don't receive compliments from men?" He had a hard time believing that.

She eyed her goblet as Effie refilled it. "Not of that ilk."

"What sort then?" He was genuinely curious, wondering if his seduction technique was outdated. Perhaps he had taken the wrong approach.

Jamie chuckled. "I mean, a man has never told me I was beautiful before. Not like that. Men have told me I was hot, they've told me they want to... sleep with me." Her gaze shyly met his.

If she was asking if he felt the same, his answer was a definitive 'yes.'

Kane suddenly felt a lot better about his odds of wooing this American lass. If he heard her correctly, men of this time were not very successful at romancing women. He didn't doubt it. In his time, a woman of her beauty would have been married off or snatched by a man of serious means who would probably go to great lengths to have her. Clans had fought wars over women in earlier times, and he suspected that he would have easily killed another for her hand. Hell, he'd been ready to take on another werewolf just the other day.

The belief was that the prize would be well worth the battle. As he gazed upon her, he had no doubts that were true.

"Did those attempts work?"

A pink flush suffused her skin again and she looked away momentarily. "Not really."

Even though she had answered in the negative, Kane found himself wanting to know about the men in her life. Did she have a beau? Just the idea filled him with jealousy he had never experienced, a furious desire to take down any competition. It was so deep he could feel his beast rise inside to the challenge. And the beast never threatened to come out unless he was experiencing intense emotion.

Even so, he had to ask, "Is there anyone waiting for you, lass?"

Her eyes met his and she shook her head. "No."

He internally breathed a sigh of relief. At least he did not have to worry about that.

"But you know I'm not staying here in Scotland." Did she look disappointed? "At the end of the summer, I'm going back to the States. No boyfriend, but I do have a family."

Yes, he conveniently seemed to forget that. "Aye. You've more family than just your parents?"

"Two brothers and a sister. My sister is still in high school, my younger brother is in college, and my older brother is in Austin, living with his girlfriend."

"Eldest girl then?"

Her lips curled a little. "Isn't it obvious?"

Aye, it was. She was spunky, confident, and unafraid of forging her own path ahead. He was starting to enjoy those traits.

"What about you?" she asked. "I know your parents are gone but don't you have any other family?"

He had no idea how to explain why he had no family left without giving away his most guarded secret. It had been a cruel fact of life that many children never made it to adulthood when he was young, but it was terribly uncommon now. She would have a hard time accepting that both his sisters had died so young and that Ian had died later on. Modern Westerners did not live with such death threatening them. But he had watched every person in his life die. As time marched on and he stayed frozen in immortality, his tenants were born, married, had children, and then died in an endless cycle that Sorcha had excluded him from five centuries ago. Everyone he loved and cared about had gone past him, and here he remained, stuck with nothing but his castle and his memories. Even Jamie would grow old. The thought filled him with a cold emptiness that made him squirm.