novelraw Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I didn’t expect to see ye this morning. Are ye feeling any better?” Alex’s deep voice echoed behind Emma as she shoved her bag into the cubbyhole behind the counter.
“I’m fine, thanks.” She wasn’t anywhere near fine but she wasn’t about to relay her restless night to Dr. Alex Mackenzie or anyone else. She hadn’t slept, just stared at the ceiling and burned with a mixture of humiliation and anger until the sun poked through the crack in her shutters.
“Ye look worse than ye did last night. The dark circles shining beneath your eyes remind me of those raccoons ye have in the States.”
“Thank you so much. With that silver tongue of yours, I’m amazed you’re still single.”
Moira choked on the tea she’d just sipped, sputtering as she set her cup on the counter and grabbed a tissue to press against her mouth.
“Ye need to be nice to me.” Alex leaned in closer and raised his clipboard to hide his whisper from Moira’s ears. “Ye’re going to be the death of poor old Moira.”
She wasn’t in the mood to be nice—especially not to any males. Torin’s pleading face sprang to mind, souring her disposition even further. “I’m not here to be nice and socialize. I’m here to work and help the children.”
“Yer a fiery lass. I’ll give ye that.” Alex chuckled as he tossed the clipboard onto the desk and scooped a stack of charts off the counter. “Since ye say yer doing much better, I’ll treat ye to lunch at the local pub.”
“Great,” Emma grumbled to his starched white back as he disappeared into exam room three. “That’s all I need, another man willing to do me a favor.”
“Would ye like some tea?” Moira whispered at her elbow. “Perhaps ’twould help ye feel better to have a bit of tea in your stomach before we get too busy. Ye don’t look well at all. And we could talk, if ye think that would help.”
Talk? Who was Moira kidding? The elderly woman was about to explode with curiosity. Her nosiness whistled like a screaming teakettle and it was a wonder a pair of twitching antennae hadn’t sprouted from the middle of her graying curls. “I’ve already had some coffee this morning, Moira. Thanks anyway.”
Moira’s shoulders sagged with a disappointed shrug. “Ye know sometimes a good talk can do ye a world of good.” Shuffling through the loose papers scattered across the desk, her mouth flattened into a thoughtful line. “And if it’s man troubles that’s disturbing your life, old Moira might understand more than ye know. I was young once, ye understand.”
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose and pressed against the inside corners of her burning eyes. If she wasn’t so tired, Moira’s nudging would be amusing but right now the prying old woman only succeeded in rubbing her fur the wrong way. “I’ll be fine, Moira. I’m going to have everything settled within a few days.” A few days. It shouldn’t take much longer than that to figure out what the hell Torin needed from her, give it to him and send him wherever it was he wanted to go.
“Aye. Well, I’m here if ye need me.” Moira waddled around from behind the counter with a long-spouted watering can. Waving the green spout toward the sparkling plate glass window of the waiting room, she nodded with a knowing grin. “It appears your friend from yesterday is here and has decided to stake his claim. Ye might want to reconsider lunch with Dr. Mac.”
“What are you talking about?” Emma shrugged into her lab coat as she wound through the multi-colored chairs scattered across the waiting room.
“He’s donned regular clothes today. But even my old eyes can still pick out the fine figure of a guardian warrior.”
Across the parking lot, Torin sat on a bench beneath the branches of a sprawling oak. In place of his kilt, his bulging thighs stretched the limits of a dark pair of fitted jeans. A snug black T-shirt also strained across his expanse of chest. His well-muscled arms flexed when he crossed them over his body while he tapped the toes of a pair of fine leather boots with an impatient rhythm.
In spite of herself, Emma ached for him. Heat surged through her body, threatening to stir glowing embers of need into a full blown inferno of desire. Damn him for making her feel this way, for making her want him all over again. He’s only using you. He just needs you to get back to his fairyland beyond those stupid veils he mentioned. She had to keep the truth at the forefront of her thoughts. It had only been sex to him and she was nothing more than a means to his desired end.
“Ignore him. He’ll be gone in a few days.” Turning from the window, Emma straightened her collar with an irritated yank. She swallowed hard and tried to ignore the stirring of hurt and disappointment squeezing through her. What the hell was wrong with her? So they’d had sex. So what?
“Wondrous, passionate, mind-melding sex,” whispered the imaginary demon on her shoulder.
“I doubt that from the stubborn look on his face,” Moira observed. “Who is he?” Her gray head bobbed side to side as she stretched on tiptoe to improve her view while watering the trailing ivy overflowing from the window box.
“He’s no one important.” Emma tossed over her shoulder before slamming the door to exam room one.