“I’m not going to kill you,” Jordan said.

Danny reached out and smoothed his hand over her cheek, tucking a windswept strand behind her ear. “I know. But sometimes it feels that way.”

Jordan closed her eyes and turned into his touch, waiting for him to kiss her. When he finally did, his mouth was warm and demanding.

“Like now,” he whispered. “I feel like I’m going to die if I can’t have you.”

Jordan parted her lips as the kiss deepened and she felt her mind spinning with desire and her body pulsing with wild sensations. The kiss ended slowly, Danny nuzzling his face into the curve of her neck.

“You have bewitched me,” he said.

“And can you escape from the leanan sidhe?”

“Only if I find someone to take my place,” he said. “Another man to capture your fancy.”

“I don’t want anyone but you,” Jordan whispered back.

The wind freshened and her hair whipped around her face. Danny glanced up at the sky. “It looks like it’s going to rain again.”

Jordan laughed as a big droplet hit her face. “You do weave a good tale, Danny Quinn. You almost had me convinced.”

“How do you explain it then?” He took her hand and pressed it to his chest. “I can’t resist you. All I think about, day and night, is touching you, kissing you.” He wrapped his arms around her waist.

“If you really think I’m going to lead you to an early death then you’d better run away right now. Get out of this fairy ring.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

She chuckled. “I wonder why we don’t have any mythological creatures in the States? We have ghosts. But you have fairies and leprechauns and trolls and dragons.”

Danny grabbed her by the waist and drew her over to one of the trees, trapping her against it with his arms. He pressed his hips against hers and stared down into her eyes. “Can you feel it?” he murmured, his hands skimming over her damp clothes.

“What?” Jordan teased.

His lips were warm against her throat. “Your magic. I can’t stop myself. You’re too powerful.”

Jordan laughed. “I’ve come to realize that you will use any excuse to get lucky. Are you saying you’re under a spell now?”

“I am. And it’s your fault. You and your fairy ways.”

Jordan shook her head. “You don’t seem particularly intent on resisting me.” She took his hand and placed it on his chest. “See. It’s not as though you can’t control yourself.”

He moved his hand back to her breast. “It does that all on its own. I can’t control it.” He reached down and slipped his hand beneath her shirt, finding the warm skin beneath.

Jordan shivered at his touch, then mimicked his caress, slipping her hand under his jacket and sliding her palm up his chest. “Oh, no. I think it’s contagious. Maybe we should get out of here before something else starts acting up on its own.” She glanced down at the front of his jeans. “Oh dear, I think it might be too late.”

He cupped her breast in his palm and ran his thumb over her nipple, drawing it to a peak. Jordan sighed softly and closed her eyes and a moment later, his lips met hers in a deep, demanding kiss.

Suddenly, the skies opened above them and the rain came down in sheets. Jordan yelped and Danny grabbed her hand and they ran back to the car. By the time they jumped inside they were both soaked to the skin.

He pulled her across the console to continue what they’d begun outside. Jordan couldn’t stop touching him. Her hands shoved his T-shirt up, revealing the hard flesh of his belly. Impatient, Danny twisted out of his jacket, then yanked the T-shirt over his head.

The heat from their bodies fogged the windows and the sound of the rain on the roof was a counterpoint to their soft moans and sighs. Jordan pressed her lips to his chest. She was still fully clothed and he’d made no move to undress her, his hand still hidden beneath her shirt.

Slowly, she drew her tongue along his chest to his nipple, then circled it several times. It grew to a hard peak in the chill and Jordan continued to tease at it. He groaned softly, and ran his fingers through her hair, tangling in the rain-soaked strands.

Her hands drifted down to his belt and then lower, smoothing over the fabric of his jeans until she felt his erection beneath. Normally, she might have hesitated outside the privacy of the manor house. But they were all alone in the woods and the fairy circle had worked its magic.

Danny watched as she fumbled with the button of his jeans, holding his breath as if her touch were enough to send him over the edge. She glanced up to see him smiling, droplets still clinging to his thick dark lashes.

“I guess the fairies have spoken,” he said.

Jordan slipped her hand inside his boxers, wrapping her fingers around his hard shaft. “I suppose we ought to listen to them.”

“I’ve always wanted to make love in the rain. And we have this place all to ourselves. We could take our clothes off and lie down in the grass.”

“What if someone comes along?” Jordan asked.

“They’ll think we’re fairies,” he whispered, touching his lips to hers.

Jordan had never done anything so sexually spontaneous…except for almost everything she’d done with Danny. And what harm could it do? No one could see the spot from the road and there’d be no visitors in the pouring rain.

She wanted to try everything and anything with Danny. “All right,” she murmured. Jordan began to shed her clothes and Danny watched, a look of astonishment on his face. When she was completely naked, she turned and looked at him. “Well? What about you?”

“You really want to do this?”

Jordan nodded. “When in Ireland do as the fairies do.”

Jordan jumped out of the car, into the downpour. Though the air was cold, the rain felt warm on her skin. She ran, her bare feet slipping on the wet grass, until she stood in the middle of the fairy circle. Then she turned her face up to the sky, reveling in the utter and complete freedom she felt.

Danny joined her a moment later, completely naked and fully aroused. They met in the center of the circle with another kiss, this one deep and stirring, a prelude to the passion they were about to share.

They tumbled down into the soft grass, their limbs tangled together. Jordan had never felt anything like it. It was so completely natural to touch him like this. He rolled her over beneath him, his hips resting between her thighs. “We don’t have a condom,” he said, cursing softly.

“We don’t need one,” Jordan replied, pulling him into another kiss.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. She’d always been careful about birth control, never leaving it to the moment when it was needed. And she was glad that there would be no barriers between them this time. He pulled her thighs against his hips and entered her in one smooth motion, taking her breath away.

He buried himself so completely that Jordan wasn’t sure she could take anymore. Danny gazed down into her eyes, smoothing the rain from her face with his hands and kissing her softly. The air around them was alive with electricity, the leaves of the trees rustling overhead.

Slowly, he began to move above her, his gaze still fixed on hers. Jordan could see every moment of pleasure etched across his handsome face, every surge of desire and every determined denial. He drove himself close, then retreated and waited for her, moving against her until he felt her release coming.

Here, in this spot, there was nothing but her desire. The outside world didn’t exist, the problems of the day had disappeared, everything in her life had been reduced to this perfect joining. He withdrew and slid against her, teasing at the damp folds until Jordan cried out beneath him.

And then he was inside her again, taking her over the edge, the spasms enveloping her body until she couldn’t think any longer. Everything had become sensation: pure, powerful pleasure that raced through her body like a current.

A moment later, he dissolved into his own orgasm, his body driving into hers one last time before he lost control. She whispered his name, urging him on until he was completely sated.

With a sigh, Danny pulled her on top of him, their bodies still joined. He stared up into the sky, the rain splattering in his face. “We have to be gone in the head to be out here in this rain.”

“I love it,” Jordan said. “I’m not even cold.”

“I’m freezing,” he said. “And I have grass in places I won’t even mention.”

A low rumble sounded in the distance. At first, Jordan thought it was thunder, then realized it sounded more like a car. “Someone’s coming.”

Danny shook his head. “It’s just a car passing by on the road. They won’t come out in the rain.”

Jordan got to her feet and raked her hands through her hair, letting the deluge wash all the dirt from her naked body. Danny watched her, an appreciative smile on her face. “You are a mysterious creature,” he said.

She began to dance, swaying slowly from side to side and-

“Don’t worry, Mildred, it’s supposed to be here somewhere. A little rain won’t hurt ya. Come along now. Step lively.”

Jordan spun around to see an elderly couple, decked out in rain gear, stepping into the grove. A tiny scream slipped from her lips and she looked down at Danny. He was already leaping to his feet.

He grabbed her hand and they ran for the car, but not before the couple caught sight of them. Jordan slipped once and Danny steadied her before racing on.

“Look, Mildred, I told you we’d see fairies. Didn’t I tell you?”

“Freddie, those are no more fairies than you and I are. Fairies don’t drive around the countryside in a Volvo.”

Laughing, Jordan and Danny jumped in the car and quickly made their escape. As they swerved down the narrow lane, the car spitting up mud as it gained speed, Jordan pressed her hand to her heart, the laughter making her breathless and dizzy.

They’d made love in a warm, soft bed, on the sofa in the library, on the worktable in the kitchen. But it all seemed so ordinary, so controlled, compared to what they’d just done. Never in her life had she completely surrendered to her desires-until now.

“Are we going to drive all the way home stark naked?” Danny asked. “Or would you like to stop and get dressed?”

She glanced over at him. “Oh, let’s have some fun. Forget the clothes.”

“You’re a woman after my own heart, Jordan Kennally. You know that, don’t you?”

I hope so, Jordan said to herself. Because she wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less.


“I’M LOSING MY MIND!”

Danny heard Jordan’s shout from the breakfast nook, where he was replacing the hinges on the old wooden door. He frowned, then decided to see what had set her off. No doubt she’d just finished her daily report to her father.

There were times when Danny was ready to hop on a plane, fly across the ocean and beat the shite out of the man who made Jordan’s life so miserable. How hard would it be to convince him to let Jordan go? Right now, it seemed as if her father kept her employed simply to torture her.

Parents were supposed to support their children, not torment them. He’d always taken his parents for granted, but after hearing about Jordan’s dysfunctional family, it was clear that he needed to be much more appreciative of what he had.

Danny found her standing in front of the bookshelves, staring at the neatly arranged shelves of books. She’d spent most of the previous day unpacking the crates and arranging the volumes in the library. But now, she stood in front of her work, shaking her head.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s gone,” she said. “It was here yesterday and it’s gone today. I counted out each of these books, matched them up with the packing lists. The Shakespeare plays have thirty-seven volumes. And now there are thirty-six. There’s a spot empty right here, where A Midsummer Night’s Dream belongs.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I’m not imagining this. It was here yesterday and now it’s gone. The set isn’t worth anything if it’s incomplete.” She turned away from the bookcase and began to pace the room. “We have to get rid of these brownies,” she said. “We-we need an exterminator.” She reached for the phone book on her desk. “Like those ghostbuster guys in the movie. You have to have someone in Ireland who takes care of these things.”

“Of course we do,” Danny said. “And they’re all scoundrels and cheats. They’ll take your money, sprinkle a few herbs around the room and laugh all the way to the bank.”

“What am I supposed to do? I didn’t mind it at first, but this set cost five hundred pounds. I’m going to have to replace it.”

“Unless we found the person who stole it.”