Read Online The Selkie by Melanie Jackson - Free Book Online

emerging Scotsman struck her as odd, the first of which being that he was actually wading nude in a very cold sea. She had known that he was without kilt and shirt, of course, but for some reason it hadn’t occurred to her that he would be completely without clothing. That he would look as naked as—as a newborn coming from a mother’s womb.
    How could he not feel the cold and wet? He didn’t seem aware of the sea’s freezing caress. It was as though he were impervious to the usual afflictions of men.
    The second thing she noticed, as the settingsun painted him in a backlight of glorious bronze, was that his skin looked smooth, flawless even, like the finest kidskin gloves, and that there was no hair on it, except for the locks on his head. None. He looked like an infant, except that no baby had ever moved as he did, with an undulating walk that was as graceful as an otter at play.
    Not an otter—a seal, her inner voice corrected.
    The final thing, and oddly the most incongruous, was the bit of silver Rory had in his hand. She watched in disbelief as he raised it to his lips and took a large bite from the flopping carcass, chewing on the fish with obvious relish.
    Some cautious part of her brain, still mostly untouched by Rory’s odd charm, and perhaps accustomed to the dark thoughts that went with a history of disappointment, uttered another warning about getting involved with such a strange man. But Hexy, in no mood for unhappy caution, told it to take its dire mutterings and go to Hell with them.
    Startled by a stray wave, which shoved at her rudely, she took a tumbling step back, nearly sitting down in the freezing surf as she turned an ankle on the edge of a submerged stone.
    Just as Rory’s movements had betrayed him to her searching eyes, so her own careless movement gave her away to him.
    “Dae ye plan tae run from me, lass?” he asked, tossing his fish aside. “But why? Yer drawn tae the sea as well, are ye not? And ye seem tae find me pleasing.”
    Hexy shouldn’t have been able to hear his voice, but somehow it carried to her over the sea and stroked her ears.
    She swallowed twice and cleared her throat, but found that she could not answer.
    “Listen now. The sea has a music tae it,” he said softly. “And the music is like the People. It was born wi’ us; we grew as it did, married with others, mingling our waters and blood, and we both gave birth tae new songs and new lives.”
    Rory drew closer, his great, dark eyes unblinking and filled with heat.
    “But then the waters and the People ceased tae thrive. Little new music was written, and what there was of it became sad. Still, the sea can renew herself and sae shall the People. And ye can be of help tae us both.”
    Part of Hexy understood what Rory was saying and wanted to run, or at least avert her eyes from his, which were fathomless in their depths. Another part wanted to rush forward and throw herself into his arms and maybe into the sea. But she did neither. Instead she stood calmly, ignoring her twinging ankle, and even offering him his damp shirt as he reached her side.
    “I think we know what happened to your last shirt,” she managed to say at last, amazed at the tranquillity of her voice and proud that she could still speak sensibly after the spell of his words had enfolded her. “Your kilt is safe enough, but I don’t know about your shoes.”
    Rory studied her for a long moment and then turned to look out at the sea. He nodded once at something there and then reached out for her with his hands and eyes.
    “Ye didnae run from me, but ye’ll not come willingly tae the song, will ye, lass?” His voice was whimsical, yet also deadly serious. “Yer resistance is strong. Someone gave ye a reasoned mind. This is new tae me.”
    She gave up trying to change the subject.
    “Yes, I have a mind. And I’m not going anywhere until I am certain it is where I want to go,” she warned him.
    “Then sae mote it be. I’ll just hae a talk