Megan broke free, catching Jack by surprise. “You’re leaving?” she cried. “But why?

“Because I must, lass. Destiny is calling me.” He smiled at her. “But Maine has a wonderfully rugged coast, I’ve heard, much like Scotland’s. I’ll still be close enough for you to visit.”

Jack slid back the bolt of his rifle, emptied the chamber and magazine, and put the bullets in his pocket. He slid off his backpack, took off his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves as he walked over to where the dragon was sleeping.

He visually inspected the horse-size creature from nose to tail, noticing the slime oozing out from under its scales like sweat. It was a decidedly strange-looking animal, now that he was seeing it close up. It looked…well, it looked exactly like a nightmare should look.

The beast had pointed ears about the size of a man’s hand, with two short appendages between them similar to giraffes’. Its head was shaped like a horse’s, only its snout flared to huge nostrils. It had scales for skin, like a fish or snake, which directly contradicted the slime. Unless the foul-smelling stuff was a form of sweat, and the beast was already sick at the time of the break-ins.

Jack took hold of its nose and peeled back its lip to see inside its mouth. The gravely ill dragon never even opened its eyes. Jack sat down beside it, placing his hand on its side where he thought the heart should be. Feeling a strong, powerful thump, he slid his hand along its torso, stopping at its distended belly, and felt a violent, gurgling rumble under the scales. He wiped his hands on the straw before turning to the silent threesome watching him expectantly.

“Okay, Gregor,” he said, “I need you to find me a few things in the forest.”

When Gregor nodded, Jack looked at Camry. “How did you and Megan get here tonight?”

“By snowcat. It’s parked a couple hundred yards away.”

“Good. I need you to go to my house and get a few things. Under my bed is an old leather satchel. Could you get it and some of the old wool blankets in the closet in my bedroom?”

Camry nodded.

“And while you’re there, grab the six-pack of beer out of the fridge.” He eyed the dragon, then sighed. “I think we may be in for a long night.”

Camry ran out of the cave. Jack rattled off a list of plants that Kenzie should be able to find in the woods in the middle of winter. “You might have to dig in the snow for some of them. Will you recognize the plants I just named when you see them?”

Kenzie also nodded, grabbed the empty bucket, and strode out the cave entrance. Jack wiped his hands on his pants again as he walked over to Megan, and took hold of her shoulders.

“I intend to go to my grave claiming I’m not a shaman,” he told her. “But I do seem to…know stuff.” He pulled her into his embrace. “Thank you for trusting me with your family secret.”

“My father and Robbie would have told you before we got married,” she said into his shirt. She leaned back and looked at him. “We are still getting married, aren’t we?”

“Well, I don’t know,” he said, giving her a lopsided grin. “I’m still waiting for you to propose to me.”

“For me to propose? But I’m a traditional girl. You have to do the asking, and I’m supposed to decide whether or not you deserve me.”

Jack choked on a laugh. “Traditional?” he sputtered. “There isn’t one traditional bone in—”

She grabbed his cheeks and squished them together to shut him up, and pulled his head down to give him a kiss that was anything but traditional. In fact, it was downright hot. And needy. And really quite demanding.

Deserve her? Hell no, he didn’t deserve her, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to tell her that.

A loud, rumbling groan came from the bed of straw, and Megan finally broke the kiss and buried her blushing face in his chest. Jack held her tightly against him and chuckled. “You want to know what’s really wrong with William?” he asked, gently rocking her back and forth as he eyed the restless dragon.

“What?” she asked into his shirt.

“William Killkenny is paying the price for his crimes. He’s got a bellyache.”

She popped her head up and blinked at him. “A bellyache? You mean he’s not dying?”

“I’m not saying he couldn’t,” Jack said. “If he truly is from the ninth century, then he’s not used to modern food, especially doughnuts and candy bars. Not only has he stuffed himself full of refined sugar, he’s taken in a fair amount of modern chemicals and preservatives, which his ancient system doesn’t know how to digest.”

“Then how are we going to cure him?” Megan asked, looking as if she already knew the answer and didn’t like it.

“We clean out his innards.”

She backed away, shaking her head. “Oh, no. We are not giving him an…”

Jack burst out laughing. He walked to the fire, grabbed a stick, and lifted the pot of boiling water out of the flames. “No, I think we can avoid that particular procedure. We’ll just steep some herbal tea, get it down his throat, and wait for nature to run its course.” He laughed at her horrified expression. “Hey, that sort of thing doesn’t make you queasy, does it? Because in about three months, you’re going to be experiencing it firsthand—although on a decidedly smaller scale.”

She lifted her chin. “I’ve been babysitting little Angus for Robbie and Catherine all fall, and I’ve changed dozens of diapers.” She got a sudden gleam in her eyes and stepped toward him, lowering her voice. “But let’s not tell Camry exactly what we’re doing, okay? Let’s just surprise her.”

Jack grinned broadly. “Oh, don’t worry, we won’t tell Camry. Or Kenzie.”

Chapter Twenty-five

I t was late the next afternoon before a very silent Camry stopped the snowcat in front of Megan’s home, and an equally silent Jack and Megan climbed out. But just as soon as Camry drove off—speeding straight down the camp road toward Main Street—they both burst out laughing.

“When I’m ninety years old,” Megan chortled, “I’ll still remember the look on Cam’s face when she finally realized what was happening.”

“She sure can move fast when she needs to,” Jack said, his arm coming around Megan’s shoulders as he guided her up the porch stairs.

“We are sooo going to pay for this,” she said, turning the doorknob, only just now realizing that she hadn’t locked up when she’d left in such a hurry yesterday. Was it really less than twenty-four hours ago? It seemed like a lifetime, she was so tired. “Do you think they’ll be able to get the smell out of the snowcat?” she asked with a giggle.

Jack pulled her to a halt just as she started to open the door. “Whoa. You won’t get the smell out of your house if you go in there with your clothes on.”

“You want to undress out here?” she squeaked, looking around.

Jack started peeling off her jacket. “The only other person living out on this point is the chief of police,” he drawled, tossing her jacket in the porch corner, then grabbing the hem of her sweater. “And I’m pretty sure it’s his sworn duty to protect your modesty,” he continued as he pulled her stinky sweater over her head.

Megan shuddered when the foul smell brushed over her nose. Since he was doing such a fine job of undressing her, she decided to do the same for him. But he captured her hands when she tried to unzip his jacket, and held them to his chest.

“If I go in with you, I’m not leaving until tomorrow morning,” he told her, his steel blue eyes locked on hers.

She wiggled free and unzipped his jacket. “I imagine your house is quite cold by now,” she said, slipping the jacket off his shoulders. She let it fall to the porch and immediately started undoing the buttons on his shirt. “And I have this really big hot water heater, so we can scrub each other silly without worrying about running out of hot water.” She sent his shirt after his jacket. “And I’ve always wondered what it would be like to sleep in a real bed with you.”