Desired by Shadow (A Shadow Walkers Novel) by Cynthia Luhrs

shut frustrated he hadn’t found his rescuer yet. The men were checking homeless shelters and hostels thinking she’d turn up. The rain had turned to ice, and with the temperature dropping fast, she wouldn’t stay out on the streets and chance freezing. If he didn’t have to be in Wales, he would have stayed behind and looked for her himself instead of getting ready to set sail. Never would he forget the look of terror in her eyes. Staring at him like he was Satan himself come up from Hell to take her soul. Puzzled, he tried to figure out why. The lass wasn’t afraid when she rescued him. It was only after he’d introduced himself that her pretty face drained of color and she bolted like a rabbit with a hungry fox on its trail. Women loved him.
    The more troubling question was who had made her so afraid?
    He was offering a bonus to any of his men who found her. Ringing Monroe, he’d asked him to have the cops in the city on the lookout for her. But not to publicize it; he needed to keep this quiet. Maybe ‘twas his fate to have this contrary woman run from him when all other lassies would run to him.
    Turned wraith all because one woman didn’t find him pleasing. Bloody fucking lovely.

Chapter 9

     
     
    The tarp was thrown back, startling Maggie out of what could only be called a dead-to-the-world slumber. Couldn’t believe they’d caught her unaware. Hard to remember the last time she’d slept this soundly. She had to talk fast.
    “What have we here, lads?” The seaman leered down at her.
    “I can explain. I needed to leave Scotland. I want to work—cook, clean, sew, whatever. Please, don’t turn me in.”
    “Lass, you’re on a smuggler’s ship, and the captain frowns upon stowaways. You can tell him the tale shortly.”
    A smuggler’s ship? There were still pirates sailing the seas? Maybe this was a nightmare? The sailor helped her up as she blindly reached for the small backpack. Couldn’t be without it, the pack and its meager contents meant a fresh start. Pain radiated down her shoulder and her hand was swollen and throbbing. Maggie stumbled, seeing four blurry men when there were only two moments ago. Hands reached out, steadying her. “Thanks.” The words were garbled, her throat dry and fuzzy.
    “Take the wee lass to Captain Robert.”
    No way. What were the odds? There were plenty of men named Robert. Had to be just as many who were pirates named Robert, right? This couldn’t be his ship. Bruce called him “the pirate,” but certainly this was coincidence. If Maggie got out of this alive, she was having a serious talk with the Universe about what she’d done to piss off the fates.
    The turns twisted and meandered around until they reached the end of a passageway and the sailor knocked at a closed door.
    “Enter.”
    The voice was warm, sexy, and masculine and made her want to curl up inside it, safe and sheltered from everything bad. The door swung open and Maggie was shoved into the room. Shapes came slowly into view in the dim light as her vision cleared. And what did she see but long, jet-black hair framing a model’s face.
    His face . Freshly showered, kicked back in a chair drinking a cup of tea looking none the worse for wear other than a raw rope print around his neck. The dangerous man she’d rescued at Edinburgh Castle stalked towards her.
    Fate had a seriously twisted sense of humor.
     
     
    Dante/Import Export was in chaos. “Where is she? How the hell did she escape?” Bruce yelled at his men gathered in the kitchen. Maggie had been discovered missing at breakfast. The door to her room still locked from the outside. His men searched the townhouse from top to bottom without finding any clue to her whereabouts. Solien would be furious. Bruce quailed, thinking about what would happen when the demon found out. She was supposed to be dead by now.
    “Uh, sir? I think I know where she went.”
    This statement was uttered by a timid voice behind him. Turning around, his gaze