The Witch Of Stonecliff

She didn’t believe a word he said. He was too smug. Too smooth. Too unperturbed by all that was happening around them.

“I can see you’re not convinced,” Kyle said, a light chuckle touching his low, gravelly voice. “Tell you what. Why don’t you come with me, show me the way to the lodge? I’ll tell you everything you’ll ever need to know about me, and hopefully set your mind at ease.”

Eleri nipped at the corner of her mouth, giving his offer serious thought. Not because anything the man could say would sway her opinion, but perhaps something she’d say would sway his. “All right.”

“Excellent idea,” Warlow cut in. “We could all benefit by knowing our tenant better. You’ll no doubt be busy getting settled tonight, but perhaps you’d join us for dinner tomorrow evening?”

For the first time since she’d met him, Kyle’s smug expression fell away, leaving his features blank. Warlow’s offer had caught the man completely off guard. The whole thing might have been funny, had she not suspected her own face looked remarkably similar.

What the hell was Warlow doing? The less they had to do with this man, the better. Yet he was inviting him for a meal? Perhaps he’d forgotten Brynn was away just now, forcing them to eat the housekeeper’s cooking.

She’d add dinner to the list of things to warn Kyle off. After all, he might not get the chance to wind up dead at the bottom of a bog if he succumbed to food poisoning first.

* * *

Kyle stared at the white-haired man behind the desk, not sure how to the respond to his offer. In reality, returning to the main house—invited in, no less—was exactly what he wanted and yet something about this man’s invitation left him uneasy.

Oh bloody hell, who was he fooling? His stomach had been in knots the moment he’d crossed the bridge from the mainland onto the Isle of Anglesey in Northern Wales. His fragmented memories flashed across his brain like a confused silent film.

He was exhausted. Even the light cat and mouse game with Eleri was wearing on him. He needed to get the hell out of there. “Thank you, I’d be happy to.”

Eleri snorted beside him, but Kyle didn’t glance at her, his attention fixed on Hugh Warlow. He’d swear something glinted in the older man’s pale blue gaze. The hair at the back of his neck prickled. Did he know him? Recognize him from before?

Warlow handed him the keys and a copy of the lease. “There is one more thing, and I hope you don’t find me deplorably rude. I couldn’t help but notice your injury.”

Kyle went cold. Absently, almost without control, his fingers moved to the thick ridge of scar tissue peeking out from his collar.

“I was in an accident.” The gravel rasp in his voice seemed more pronounced all of a sudden and a thin line of sweat dribbled between his shoulder blades.

Warlow’s eyes tightened. “Must have been a terrible recovery.”

Months of painful recovery and the black fear he lived with since that day swirled inside his head. “It’s behind me now.”

“Yes, of course. I won’t keep you.” Warlow waved him away, sinking into the chair behind the desk.

Kyle turned from the man, his gaze shifting to Eleri. She’d moved to the door, watching him with narrow-eyed curiosity. The hostility tightening her features had gone. Good God, he must have looked as rattled as he felt.

He forced a grin. “Shall we be off, then?”

Eleri nodded and left the study. Kyle followed her outside, letting out the breath he’d been holding. He’d made it through. Whatever suspicions they had about him weren’t enough to keep them from accepting his money. He hadn’t even really had to lie yet. For all their reservations, they had never thought to ask if he’d ever visited Stonecliff or Cragera Bay before.

But maybe they remembered him and already knew he had.

Chapter Two

“Get in,” Kyle said, yanking open his car’s passenger door. Nervous energy hummed through him, making his skin itch.

Eleri didn’t move, eyeing the opening like a wary animal gauging a potential trap. “You want me in your car?”

“I don’t see how you can show me the way, otherwise,” he told her, forcing a grin while rounding the vehicle to the driver’s side.

Still, she hesitated as if instinctively sensing something about him wasn’t on the up-and-up. The knots tangling his insides squeezed tighter.

“You know what people say about me.”

Oh he knew, all right. Probably better than anyone else. “I’ve heard the rumors.”

He slid behind the wheel, not giving her a chance to argue further, and waited for her to get in.

She slipped into the seat, closed the door behind her with a thunk and positioned herself as far from him as their tight quarters would allow. Hell, he’d have guessed he was the one rumored to kill people if he didn’t know better. Irritation prickled the hair at the back of his neck.

He switched on the engine, shifted gears and started back down the drive toward the road. He glanced at Eleri stuck to the door, gripping the handle with one white-knuckled fist as though she were waiting to spring out of the moving car if need be.

“Be careful, love. You press any harder and you might fall out.”

Eleri scowled. “You ought to be worried about yourself.”

“Me?” He lifted his hand from the gearshift to tug on his seatbelt. “I’m safe and secure.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She shifted to face him. Her mouth stretched into a smile as hard as her glare. “Aren’t you worried about your safety? They pulled twelve bodies from The Devil’s Eye, and you’re alone in the car with the woman who put them there.”

“Is that a confession?”

“No,” she snapped. “That’s what everyone believes. You do realize you’re the ideal victim? A single male, late twenties to early thirties. No attachments. Just like the other men who vanished from this place. You might as well have ‘prey’ written across your forehead.”

Cold settled in the pit of his stomach like an icy brick. Still, he kept that unconcerned smirk in place, his shoulders loose. At least, he hoped he did. “What makes you so sure I’ve no attachments?”

Eleri snorted and turned away to look out the passenger window. “Why would anyone come here if they had somewhere else to be?”

“I have attachments.” He shot her a brief glance before turning his attention to the winding drive through the windscreen and away from her scrutinizing stare.

“Are you married?”

“No, but I have family. Parents. Siblings. People who would look for me if I should up and vanish.”

“Is that a warning? In case my murderous impulses overwhelm me?”

Was it? Maybe. He glanced at her as the car approached the gateposts. This was only the third time he’d seen her, and only the second time up close. He tried to imagine the delicate features of her face pinched tight with effort and concentration. The slender fingers of one hand tangling in his hair, jerking his head back, while the other pressed a cold blade to his throat.

A shudder rippled through him. She watched him, arms folded over her chest, a smug smile pulling at her mouth.

She hadn’t been the one to wield the knife. He knew that for certain. So how did she fit into the murders?

“Which way?” he asked.

“Turn right. The same way you came.”

He nodded and she stayed quiet as he steered down the narrow road, thick woods rising up on either side of them. Despite Eleri’s silence, Kyle could feel her gaze boring into him as she studied him, measured him. Cool sweat sprang to his skin, that all too familiar anxiety beginning to build.