Angus Read online

  She was trying to be brave, he could tell, but the vulnerability beneath the steel was easy for him to detect. This was a woman who would hurt him easily, but she was near her breaking point.

  “Extradition? No.” He shook his head and then realized the door was still open. Stupid, Angus, stupid.

  He closed the door then turned to face her. “I’m not here for him or really to arrest you. I’m here to hire you.”

  “Hire?” she snorted and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “You’ve a pub you need a waitress for?”

  “No. I need someone to help me steal a jewel and, from what I’ve found, you’re the woman for the job.”

  The urge to scream almost overtook Maggie. If it wasn’t one thing from her past, it was another. “What?”

  “I need a particular jewel and I need your help getting it.”

  “No.” No way. Not in a million years for a million pounds.

  Determination stamped his facial features. This was not a man who would give up easily. “You’ve not heard my proposition.”

  “I don’t need to hear it. I don’t do that work anymore. My partner is…no longer in the business either.”

  Truth was Jack’s father and she had been the best in the business at one time. Their ability to crack any code was never questioned by those who wanted them for illegal purposes. But, they had been a team, one that had ended when he’d died and she had lost her magic.

  “We can help you with that.”

  “We?”

  “First, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Angus Lennon.”

  Not the complete truth.

  She hated that the voice was back. It had been the one thing that had gotten her out of the Dublin slums, but it had become the bane of her bleak existence later on. When people learned of it, they either became leery or wanted to use her.

  She rubbed her temple trying to push the thoughts away. It had been ripped from her the night Ian had died, and she had been glad for it. She definitely didn’t need it now.

  “Lennon?”

  He cocked his head to one side. “Yes.”

  It wasn’t the right name. The voice hadn’t been wrong, but she couldn’t figure out why. In the next instant, she remembered. Lennon…Scottish…

  “You’re not the one on the telly all the time.”

  He smiled then and she felt the full force of the grin. It made him look years younger.

  Much younger than he truly is.

  The words whispered through her. She pushed them away and prayed to the Goddess that they wouldn’t return. She didn’t need that ability…didn’t need the pain that came with it.

  “That’s Callum. My older cousin.”

  “And you want me to steal a jewel? With your money, you should be able to buy it.”

  He looked truly uncomfortable then. “We can’t, and I can’t explain why. But, we want to hire you for a job. I’m not here to arrest you or whatever you’re worried about. I’m just here to hire you.”

  He pulled out a card, then looked around. He grabbed a pen off an end table. It only took him a second to jot something down and hand the card to her.

  “That’s my mobile here. The number under it is what we are willing to pay you for the job.”

  Her heart almost stuttered to a stop. When she looked up at him, he nodded.

  “We’ve the money and it is very important we get this back.”

  “So it’s yours and someone took it? Why not go to the police?”

  “Hard to prove something disappeared from my family a couple of centuries ago.”

  She nodded. Since they were Scottish, she was sure much of his family’s things had been stolen from them during the clearances and she knew that many of the Clans still hated the memory. Many of them were still trying to break away from the UK.

  “I’ll have to think about it.”

  “I only have forty-eight hours before I have to return to Scotland. I need an answer before then.”

  She nodded. He hesitated, then said, “I promise we mean you no harm. I take it if you accept the job, you’ll be bringing the boy?”

  “I haven’t agreed yet.”

  He sighed. “I need to prepare things if he’s coming.”

  It was a strange way of saying it, but she still nodded. Even though every one of her Magickal senses were screaming, she felt safe with this man.

  “I’ll stop by tomorrow. Will you be here?”

  The fear was still thrumming through her blood and something there was telling her to run. She had never ignored it, not since she’d had that feeling before her husband had been killed.

  “It’s my day off.”

  Not really an answer, but he accepted it. “Goodnight, Maggie.”

  “I go by Harriet.”

  He shook his head. “I canna call you that. You’ve always been Maggie to me.”

  Then he slipped out of the door and shut it. When she didn’t hear him walk away, she approached the door.

  “You really should lock your door, Harriet.” She heard the amusement in his voice and had to fight hard against smiling.

  She turned the deadbolt and listened as his footsteps retreated. Closing her eyes, she fought the tears again. Maggie had been stupid, very stupid. She’d grown comfortable and hadn’t wanted to tear her son away from all he knew.

  Now, she needed to get out of New York…out of the United States. She sighed. It would mean a new identity for both of them, and that would cost money. She had some old passports for both of them that would work, but once she got out of the country, she would have to start all over again.

  With a sigh, she called Jack in for dinner and mentally started to make plans.

  Chapter Four

  Angus stared at the apartment building across the street and inwardly moaned. He wasn’t one for all nighters and sitting in a cold car watching a building wasn’t his idea of a good time. In fact, he was positive he would freeze his arse off. Just when he was ready to fall asleep, his mobile rang. He knew from the ring it was his brother, Logan.

  “A little late for a call.”

  “Canna sleep, brother.”

  His voice was serious. He wasn’t the type of man who joked around a lot, but he rarely had a heavy tone. He could always see the beauty of things. Logan was the artist, the dreamer. He’d always looked at the world differently than Angus. While Logan was a person who always saw a cup as half-full, Angus had wondered what particles were in the water. He had those odd hours that a lot of artists had, but something in his voice told Angus he hadn’t been painting.

  “What’s bothering you?” Angus asked.

  “I truly don’t know. It’s confusing me, keeping me off balance.”

  That wasn’t good. Not for Logan. Angus knew his brother well enough to know that something like this could harbor a bad situation—probably for all of them. If someone had the Sight, it was definitely Logan.

  “Have you been having dreams?”

  “I’m not the McLennan who has the dreams.”

  Angus ignored the remark. After two centuries, Angus was sick of having this argument with his brother. Logan was never going to accept that Angus didn’t believe in them.

  “Have you talked to Phoebe about it?”

  The newest member of the family had taken to mothering them all and Angus was man enough to admit that he loved it. The others had tried their best to deflect her attention, but she was a woman who needed to take care of others, and they were now hers.

  “No.”

  Of course not. Even though they all accepted Phoebe, it was still difficult to share their life with her. It came from centuries of keeping the truth from everyone. It was almost impossible to break the habits so ingrained. He was about to tell his brother to go talk to her and leave him alone when he caught a movement. A normal person wouldn’t see anything, but then, Angus wasn’t normal. It was as if shadows were moving along the pavement toward the steps that lead to Maggie’s walkup flat. There was nothing good ab
out them.

  “I’ve got to go, Logan. Talk to Phoebe.”

  “What about the woman?”

  “Dinna worry. She’ll be on the jet when I return.”

  He ended the call and slipped his phone into the middle console. The shadow still moved, up the stairs…and there was something in him that told him this thing was out to get Maggie. Rage burned low in his gut. Angus could barely keep the anger down. In one moment, the shadow was there at the door to the building, then it seemed to melt away.

  Anger and a protectiveness that he didn’t understand curled in his gut. “Fucking hell.”

  He knew it was on its way to Maggie. Angus didn’t know what the bloody hell it was, but he had to get to Maggie before it got to her. He rushed to the door, pulling out the tools he used to pick locks. He made quick work of the cheap lock and took the stairs two at a time. By the time he reached the top floor where Maggie lived with her boy, he heard the screaming. The vibrations of it left him dizzy. His legs felt weak and he was amazed people weren’t coming out of their flats to check out what was going on.

  She screamed again and he almost fell.

  Bloody hell.

  He ran down the hall, trying to keep his balance. The door was broken and laying on the floor and there was a massive man standing in her living room. It was the shadow he’d seen earlier, but at the moment, he looked like a normal man. Well…as normal as a giant looked. Angus wasn’t small by any means, but and found a massive man standing in her living room. He turned toward Angus the moment he stepped into the room. Shit.

  There was a good chance he was going to get hurt.

  He glanced around the room looking for Maggie and found her standing in the kitchen. Before he could ask about the boy, he saw a small face pop out from behind her.

  “I told her you would come, Sir Angus.”

  It was all he could say before his mother shoved him back behind her. The massive man was now walking toward him. He apparently saw Angus as the bigger threat. From the look on Maggie’s face, he was probably wrong.

  Angus waited until she looked at him. He shook his head and the temper he saw flare in her eyes shocked him. It also sent a pulse of heat dancing through his blood. He always liked a woman with a backbone and from what he had seen; Maggie had one made out of solid steel.

  The man reached him and tried to grab him, but years of training with a survivor of Culloden meant Angus knew how to fight dirty. Angus faked him out, grabbed him, and punched him in the nose. Blood spurted out, but both men ignored it.

  The big man connected with Angus’ jaw. Stars formed in front of his eyes as pain radiated from the location. Before he could recover from the first hit, the behemoth landed another hit with his fist on Angus’ lip.

  Blood fucking hell.

  Then, the bastard grabbed him by the collar and was pulling him toward the window. There was no doubt in his mind that the attacker would throw Angus out the window. Angus dug in his heels and pulled back, trying to stop the bastard. Suddenly, there was a rush of energy that hit both of them. It burst through him, revving his blood, and giving him a renewed sense of drive against the attacker. He hit the guy square in the nose and watched as he stumbled back, apparently unable to catch his balance. Angus knew he hadn’t hit the man that hard but he fell back and out the window. The resulting crash hurt his ears, as it sounded as if something much more dangerous had been broken.

  The man fell straight down. Angus rushed to the window and watched as the man hit the pavement. For a moment or two, Angus was positive the man was dead, but in the next second, he shuddered, then shook his head. He gave the window an evil glance before jumping up and rushing off.

  Blood fucking hell just didn’t cover it.

  He turned around and faced her. Maggie was staring at him as if he was a freak.

  “I think you have some explaining to do.”

  But she said nothing other than his name. Or he thought it was his name. The room spun and tilted.

  “Mr. Lennon? Angus?”

  “I might need to have a lay down.”

  Or—he thought he said that. Nothing seemed to work as he stumbled forward and started to fall. Then, his world faded to black.

  Chapter Five

  Maggie screamed as she watched Angus crumble to the floor. For that split second, everything seemed to move in slow motion, like a movie scene. Then, fear flashed, pumping through her blood. She rushed forward, falling on her knees beside him. Slipping her arms beneath his body, she rolled him over. It took her more than a little effort. Damn, he was heavy. He was long and lean but apparently he hid his bulk well. She leaned over him. Relief rushed through her as she felt his breath against her cheek.

  “Mr. Lennon, oh, please, wake up.”

  Years ago, she wouldn’t hesitate to use her magic but now she couldn’t depend on that. Until the intruder had broken into her apartment, she hadn’t been able to access her power. And what had happened had been an accident. It might help or it might hurt. She didn’t want to even take a chance on it.

  “He’ll be fine, mum.”

  She glanced at Jack and realized her vision was wavering. The stress of the day, coupled with the panic that had her heart beating out of control, almost overwhelmed her. Maggie never cried. Not even when her husband had been killed.

  “Oh, Jack, nothing is ever going to be fine again.” It came out of her in a near sob. She covered her mouth in mortification. She was not some little shrinking flower.

  “So, you don’t need any help from me?” Angus asked in a weak voice, although she heard the sarcasm.

  She looked back down at him as relief filtered out through her body. Blood was pouring out of his split lip and there was a good chance he would have a shiner on that eye. But he was okay.

  He tried to sit up and winced. “Bloody hell.”

  “Stay,” she ordered.

  “I’m not a bloody hound.” His voice was stronger and filled with male irritation.

  “You took a big hit, so you might have a concussion.”

  He ignored her of course. Men always did.

  When he rolled to his feet like nothing happened, she blinked. The hit he took would have knocked any man down, no matter the size. Now he acted as if he hadn’t been hit at all.

  She stood and motioned him over to her kitchen, as she tried to calm her nerves. Another sign she had stayed too long in one spot. Maggie O’Conner was known for having nerves of steel. Of course, that was before that last job went bad…and she had Jack. If anything happened to him, Maggie didn’t know if she would want to live.

  She grabbed a clean towel and wet it down. When she touched his lip, he drew in a quick breath and muttered curses.

  She shook her head. “Men are all the same. Babies every one of you.”

  “You’re welcome by the way.” Then his eyes narrowed. “Your eyes are different.”

  He said it as if he was accusing her of a crime.

  “Yes, let’s discuss my eyes. I know that’s what is really important here.”

  His gaze roamed over her as if trying to discern if she were hiding. “There’s some red in you hair.”

  She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. When his gaze drifted down, she realized she was standing in front of him in a nightgown and nothing else. Bloody hell.

  “Stay here.”

  Without waiting for agreement, she went to her room and grabbed a robe. She was tying the sash as she walked back into the living area. Angus was standing where she left him, but leaning up against the counter as Jack talked.

  “So, you understand, Sir Angus, you have to protect my mother. You need her.”

  “Is that true?”

  “Yes.” Jack motioned him closer and whispered in his ear. He whispered something so Maggie couldn’t hear it. When Angus straightened, he looked…stunned.

  “Keeping secrets from me?”

  Jack turned around with a smile. “Everything will be okay. You’ll see, mum.”

  Then,
he hurried past her back to his room. The silence in the room was almost deafening.

  “What was he telling you?”

  Angus shrugged. “Nothing much.”

  Oh, she hated a man who kept secrets and this man was swimming in them. “Then you shouldn’t have a problem with telling me what he told you.”

  His eyes narrowed as he studied her for a long moment. She felt as if she were a specimen in a jar being observed for scientific research.

  “I donna want to break a trust with the lad.”

  Dammit, she hated that it made her feel lower than a slug even though she knew all she was doing was trying to protect her son. But, from the look on his face, Lennon wasn’t going to budge. She sighed and let go of the aggravation.

  “Thank you.”

  He frowned. “For what?”

  “For apparently stalking me. If you hadn’t, I would have lost that fight for sure.”

  He nodded in acknowledgement as he continued to watch her. “Why didn’t you just use Magick on him?”

  How did she answer that? She knew why she didn’t. Four long years and she hadn’t felt the sparkle of her power within her. But now…it was a little hum beneath her skin and running through her veins. Maggie didn’t even know what that meant.

  “Mum doesn’t use her Magick anymore. Not since my Da died. She says that it was payment for a sin,” Jack announced as he walked into the room, dragging his suitcase behind him. “You better pack, Mum. Sir Angus is going to take us away.”

  “Is that so?”

  He nodded and stepped up beside her. She squatted so they were on eye level. She studied those amazing eyes that were so much like his father’s. Most people wouldn’t notice the worldly knowledge a boy his age shouldn’t have.

  “And why do you think we need to go with Mr. Lennon?”

  “He’s here to save us and save them.” He looked over to Angus. “I hope that was okay to divulge, Sir Angus.”

  She looked at her stalker/rescuer. “More secrets?”

  He shrugged again. Lord, he must drive people crazy with that laid back attitude. It wasn’t real. It was all a ruse so he could observe from a safe distance. She would rather a man be upfront.