“Peace will never be mine.” His gaze shifted around her, and for just a moment he stiffened, but it was so fleeting she wasn’t sure if she saw it. “And there isna a place in this wretched world I could hide from…” His voice trailed off and he lifted the glass to his lips again.
Whatever he had been about to say, he’d changed his mind. Laura left the whisky and took the money, his words unsettling her. As she turned back to the bar, she found Charon watching her. She walked to the register and put in the pound notes as Charon stood silently beside her.
“Who is he?” Charon whispered.
The feel of his warm breath washing over her neck as he leaned close made her sway toward him. Laura caught herself before she actually touched him and let Charon know just how much she wanted him. “He said his name is Ulrik.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“The same as anyone,” she said, and faced Charon. “He came for a drink. He looks … haunted.”
Charon closed the short distance between them. “What do you mean?”
“Look into his eyes,” she said while struggling not to notice the heat radiating off Charon, or how his arms brushed against her. Their fingers connected, and Laura found it impossible to slow her breathing. “It looks as if he’s seen everything, suffered every pain, and endured every agony. He appears to be a man who wants to hide, but…”
“But what?” he urged when she paused.
She shrugged and looked away. Charon was distracting. She couldn’t get her thoughts in order, not when her blood had turned to lava and her heart pounded in her ears. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it.”
“He has the look of a man who is searching for trouble.”
Laura put her hand against Charon’s chest to stop him when he would have gone to Ulrik. It was a mistake as soon as she did it.
Charon stiffened, his gaze jerking to hers. For just an instant, Laura could’ve sworn she saw desire in his dark depths.
“I don’t think so. Let him have his drink. Let him have the entire bottle. He was looking for somewhere to rest, let him have his time.”
Charon’s dark eyes lowered to his chest, and Laura realized she was still touching him. She could feel the beat of his heart beneath her palm. But it wasn’t his heartbeat that made her stomach flutter. It was the way his eyes watched her with such hunger that she forgot to breathe.
It had been two weeks since the night he returned with his torn shirt. Several times she caught him rubbing his chest as if it pained him.
Things had returned to normal. Except on the rare occasions she got too close to him. Or touched him.
Like now.
Even when she told herself to move on, there were times she didn’t think she could. Times like this, when they stood close and he looked at her.
Times when they touched.
“All right,” Charon finally said. “I’ll leave him be.”
With no other reason to keep touching him, Laura let her hand slide from his chest. She cleared her throat and took a step back. “Are you ready for tomorrow and your meeting at Dreagan?”
One dark brow rose. “Aye. Because you’ll be with me, remember?”
“What?” she asked, her mouth hanging open. “I thought we already talked about this.”
“I made a decision. You kept talking.”
“Charon, I … I’m not good in front of people like that. You can charm them. You don’t need me. I’ve already told you this.”
“But I do need you.”
The words were whispered in that dark, seductive voice she’d heard him use on women before. It made her stomach clench with excitement.
And pleasure.
She was putty in his hands, her body on fire, waiting for him to touch her. Her nipples puckered and she had to grab hold of the bar to keep herself upright.
“You’re coming,” he whispered as he walked past her.
For several seconds, she couldn’t move. Not because she had to go to Dreagan with him, but because his nearness always caused her heart to skip a beat.
When Laura turned around, it was to find Ulrik staring at her. He lifted his glass in a toast. She shook her head at him as her mobile phone vibrated in the pocket of her pants.
“Hello?” she answered it as she turned her back on the bar.
“Are you ready for our date?”
As soon as she heard Ben’s voice, she shook her head. “Weren’t you just here?”
“Aye. I’m waiting for you to agree to tomorrow night. Dinner with me. Sushi, perhaps?”
“Yes,” she said with a laugh. “Tomorrow night sounds fine.”
She felt bad for making him repeatedly ask her out, but he simply hadn’t taken no for an answer. His persistence wore her down.