Read Selkie's Revenge for Free Online Page B

go of her hand.

Chapter 4
    An hour later, Mack watched Beth take a sip of the apple juice the nurse had brought her. He watched her swallow and was strangely grateful to see the delicate machinations of her throat as the juice traveled downward.
    Why was he still here with this woman? Shouldn’t he be gone by now? If he had any sense, he’d be gone. Out of this sad hospital, out of sad Beth’s life, and diving into his cherished waves for a much-needed distraction.
    Despite his previous intentions, he didn’t move a muscle, not an inch out of his seat.
    She needed company, and right now he was all the company she had.
    As if some twisted, sick-of-heart goddess of fate decided to intervene, a shadow darkened Beth’s hospital room doorway. And this time, it wasn’t the nurse with a juice delivery.
    Mack watched as a man lingered outside the open door, bearing flowers. He was a tall, bearded redhead who looked like a pirate, complete with gold tooth. He walked in with an extravagant bouquet of red roses, one that looked more expensive than most people’s rent.
    “Gerald,” Beth said, sighing. “You heard.”
    “Aye, lass. News travels quickly here in Kirkwall.” He grinned at Beth, giving her a jaunty wink as if he were about to launch into a drunken jig. “Nothin’ would keep me away, darlin’.”
    Darlin’?
    Beth looked between him and the redhead. “Machar Kirk, this is my neighbor, Gerald Finnegan.”
    Mack stuck his hand out and clamped onto her neighbor’s hand. Gerald gave it a halfhearted shake, but his gaze was locked on Beth, or on Beth’s chest anyway. Mack gripped his hand a little too hard, breaking the man’s concentration on her tits.
    “Beth,” Gerald said, “how are you really, love?”
    “Better, thanks.”
    Gerald piped up, looking at Mack. “Beth teaches my son, Colin, the piano. She’s brilliant with him, and he can be a challenge. Colin was good friends with Beth’s wee, well, I mean…”
    Mack cut him off before he brought up the topic of her son’s death and looked at Beth. “You play?”
    She avoided his gaze. “I teach music.”
    Gerald’s gaze drifted toward her nipples, outlined as they were under the sheets. “Please tell me you are on the mend, Beth, and coming home.”
    Beth chatted with her neighbor for a few minutes and Mack watched. He felt uncomfortable in his seat all of a sudden and got up to stretch his legs. As soon as he vacated the chair, Gerald Finnegan plunked himself into it, hovering around Beth’s bed like a patient shark.
    Mack didn’t like him. Not one bit.
    He frowned, surprised that he’d have such a powerful opinion of the man. Oh well, he did, and he didn’t like Gerald at all. There, he’d acknowledged it. Although why he should care was beyond him. He didn’t like Gerald’s golden tooth or his ginger locks or his bizarre need to ogle Beth’s chest at every opportunity.
    But at least she had people looking out for her. A rather good-looking person, in fact. Why, Gerald had a roguish charm most women wouldn’t be able to resist, although Mack thought he winked too much. Perhaps he had a blasted ginger eyelash stuck in his eye. Mack could walk out the door now and never look back, content in the knowledge that he’d helped a stranger in need and she was in good hands.
    And yet he wasn’t really aiming to win Samaritan of the Year when he’d rescued her. He just hadn’t wanted her to die at the hands of a finman.
    Look, this man is clearly her friend. She has people who love her. He’ll take care of her. Go to Leda .
    And yet, even as Mack considered it, his selkie intuition kicked in and he glared at the bouquet of roses now sitting on the window ledge. This man said he was a friend and yet he hadn’t bothered to bring her favorite flower. He allowed himself to read her mind for a moment as she eyed the bouquet.
    Most of the shadows seemed to have been swept out of her consciousness. Mack was glad to see that. He concentrated on