Dark Enchantment Read Online Free Page B

cobbles. But then a sudden silence would fall. As the story went, this signified that the headless coachman had reined in at some poor soul’s front door, there to impart death and destruction with two resounding knocks—
    Two loud thumps on the driver’s side window jerked Arianna upright in her seat. With a squeal, she scrambled over the gearshift, almost impaling herself in the process. Her body plastered against the passenger door, she stared at the windows, blinded the dark and impenetrable curtain of rain. But then, even as the wind continued to shriek and rock the car, the rain suddenly stopped. Abruptly. As if someone had reached out and shut off a spigot.
    Arianna had always prided herself on her keen sixth sense, which went instantly on red alert whenever she was in danger. And, right now, she felt like a porcupine, the hairs on her arms and legs bristling as that precognitive spidey sense wailed like a fire alarm.
    At that moment, an eerie whistling sent her exhausted brain into overdrive. What was that? The haunting nicker of spectral horses? Or, maybe, the creak of phantom carriage wheels? With sweeping brushstrokes, her overblown imagination began to paint a hideous portrait on the canvas of her mind. It was of the hell-spawned coachman, with his severed head tucked beneath one arm, his other hand... jiggling the door handle?
    A bit back scream held Arianna’s throat in a chokehold.
    Over the clamor of the storm, she heard a voice. It sounded male and very angry. “Oscail an doras! Anois!”
    The strange utterance was foreign and compelling. It struck a chord of terror within her. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” Had the words been a black magic incantation? she dared to question. A diabolical spell conjured in a devil’s tongue?
    Arianna grappled madly for strands of reason. As she did, she became aware of a strange glow reflecting off the dashboard. With visions of alien abduction invading her beleaguered brain, she stole a cringing peek into the rearview mirror.
    Headlights. On low beam. You idiot!
    “Open the door, I said. Now!” Same voice, but in English this time…English with an Irish accent.
    Hello-o-o-o… Irish accent? Might the man have been speaking Gaelic? You think?
    Cursing her own stupidity, Arianna lifted a leg over the gearshift and slid back into the driver’s seat. She was reaching out to unlock the door, when…
    “Open the bloody door!” the man bellowed. “Or I’m coming in after you!”
    Poised just above the lock release, her hand jerked to a halt. Now, there was no way she had touched that button— knew damn well she had not. And yet, in horrified disbelief, she heard the tumblers disengage. She made a mad grab for the door handle, but, too late. She could feel it being wrenched from her grasp. “No!”
    Rampaging winds surged into the car, tearing at her long, blonde hair, and effectively blinding her to the masculine arms that were reaching for her.
    A third degree black belt in Tang Soo Do karate, Arianna believed she was well able to defend herself in any situation. Now, however, as this man’s long fingers wrapped around her upper arms, she could feel a strange sort of paralysis coming over her. Muscles weak, energy sapped, she felt herself being hauled out of the small foreign car as if she weighed no more than a matchstick. Strangely, as soon as he released her to stand beside the back door, strength flowed back into her body.
    Standing spread-legged against the buffeting wind, she caught only a glimpse of the dark-haired stranger as he ducked his head inside the car. After a cursory look around, he pulled back out of the vehicle…all six feet, several darkly masculine inches of him.
    Too pissed off at being manhandled to properly appreciate the view, Arianna braced for battle as the guy turned to face her. Her jaw dropped, heart tripped, literally stumbled in her chest.
    She stared at him. “You can’t be real,” she choked out in a whisper. And yet, there he was.