Grey waited, his hands still firm and steady on her shoulders, for Grace to decide which was more important to her, him or a satellite that held the key to future space exploration.
What he was asking of her was unfair, but it was also important. What she chose now would tell Grey if her heart was someplace out of this world or with him.
“I’m not going back, Jonathan,” she said. “And Gu Bràth is the safest place I can be right now. Callum can get the disks, I’ll work with Podly from here, and then you can hand-deliver it to AeroSaqii yourself.”
Ian gave a shout of relief, clapped his hands, and rubbed them together. “That’s a good lass.”
“Grace,” Jonathan said, staring at her, then darting a look over her shoulder at Grey. “Dammit, MacKeage. I’ll rebuild your damn ski lift if it’s destroyed. Grace’s project is worth millions of dollars.”
Grey heard only half of what Jonathan said. He was still reeling with relief that Grace had chosen him over her life’s work. He spun her around and embraced her so fiercely he heard her squeak.
It was only then that the guilt set in.
What was he doing?
Eight hundred years ago this is how it would have been; the woman he’d chosen for his mate would suppress her dreams, her wishes, and her hopes—all for him.
Grey was ashamed of himself, considering the heated lecture he had given his men yesterday. He was being selfish, demanding that his hopes for the future take precedence over hers.
“Grace,” he said, leaning back to see her face. “I—”
Morgan suddenly burst into the shed, nearly falling on the path of melting ice. “The Grange Hall is on fire,” he said, out of breath. “And they’re needing every able-bodied man they can get hold of to help put it out before it spreads to Hellman’s store.”
Grey let go of Grace and started giving orders. “Morgan, tell Callum to hook the large sled to the snowcat, bring it over to the hotel, and load it up with whatever men are available. Ian,” he said, turning to him. “Find us some tools. Shovels, axes, whatever will help.”
“But the lift,” Ian said lamely, already moving to do as he was told.
“It will be here when we get back,” he said, taking Grace by the hand and leading her toward the door.
He stopped and looked back at Jonathan. “You’re staying here, Stanhope. But know this. Just as soon as we get back, we’re going to the crash site. Then you and your disks are getting the hell off my mountain. And you’re leaving alone.”
Once outside, Grey turned Grace to face him. “I want your promise to stay here,” he said. “Ian will stay with you, and the two of you can work on the lift if you want.”
He waited for her to nod before he continued. “Promise me you’ll be watchful, Grace,” he demanded, gripping her tightly to show he was deadly serious. “You’ll be safe here as long as you keep close to Ian.
I’ve already warned him about the men who may be after you.”
She nodded again, and Grey pulled her into his embrace, rocking her back and forth like a child. “Did you mean it, lass? That you’re really staying?”
“I meant it.”
He leaned back. “What about your work?”
“This is the age of technology, MacKeage. With my computer and a good link-up, I can be thousands of miles away from anywhere and still be able to work. I’ll free-lance.” She glanced toward Gu Bràth, an impish spark lighting her eyes. “Do you think it will spoil the look of your castle if I put an antenna on the roof?”
With a laugh born of pure joy, Grey lifted Grace off her feet and set his mouth firmly over hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her own laughter sending a surge through his body that felt more like contentment than passion.
And Grey knew then why he was here.
Grace Sutter was the other half of his soul, and it had taken a storm and eight hundred years to find her.
And the real journey was only just beginning.
Chapter Nineteen
Working with Ian MacKeage was like being in a fourth-grade science class. The man had more questions than a ten-year-old. All he knew about electricity was that when he flipped a switch, a light came on or a motor started. Grace was careful to hide her amusement while she patiently answered Ian’s questions.
“Electricity runs through a wire the same way a truck travels down a road,” she told him as she stripped a foot of casing off the end of the wire she was holding. “The energy we’re using runs only in one direction, then returns back to the circuit through another wire.”
“It makes a loop?” Ian asked, squinting to see what she was doing.
“Yes. But the switch is what interrupts the electricity’s journey, shutting it off. When you flip a switch, it allows the energy to travel, making the lightbulb glow.”
“That makes sense,” he said, nodding while he scratched at his beard. “So we’re going to run electricity through this lift cable?”
Grace smiled at his quick reasoning. “Sort of. Remember that truck traveling down the road I spoke of?”
“I do.”
“Well, if a bunch of trucks are traveling in only one direction and the first truck suddenly sees that the bridge is out and has to come to a screeching halt, what will happen?”
“An accident,” he said, giving her a narrow-eyed look. “All the trucks will pile up behind the first truck and not be able to move anywhere.”
“That’s right. And that’s what we’re going to do with the lift cable. We’re going to cause an energy accident by creating a dead short.”
Grace bent the wire to make sure it didn’t touch anything, then she began stripping the casing off the other strand of wire that was its twin.
“The energy will be diverted into the ground, where it will hit a dead end,” she continued. “Only, instead of dented fenders, this accident will produce heat that will melt the ice.”
Furiously scratching his beard now, Ian looked over at the ski-lift cable where it entered and exited the shed. Still narrow-eyed, he looked back at her.
“That cable isn’t covered with plastic like this one is,” he said, nodding toward the wire in her hand.
“Does that mean if I touch it I’ll get burned?”
Grace shook her head. “No. We’re going to put low volts into the cable. We’ll create the heat by pushing high amps through it instead.”
Ian’s harsh frown should have hurt his face.
Grace patted his arm. “It’s complicated, Ian. Simply put, we’re going to move energy through the cable very slowly and eventually stop it dead, causing an accident that will create heat.”
Ian shook his head and shot her a crooked glare. “Ya said something earlier about causing a fire,” he said gruffly. Grace nodded. “We’re going to convert this line to two twenty in order to get the amps we need.
And that can be dangerous. The plastic casing could melt and start a fire.”
Or the generator could blow up, but Grace was not willing to voice that possibility aloud. “Jonathan should have been back by now,” she said instead, glancing out the shed door toward the end of the hotel where the generator was. “It doesn’t take that long to splice a couple of wires.”
Ian walked to the door and looked out. “Maybe the bastard’s gone to look for those disks by himself,”
he said, turning to smile at Grace, looking for all the world as if he hoped Jonathan had. “And I wouldn’t cry none if he gets lost and freezes to death.”
Grace ignored Ian’s gruesome hope and carried the wire she’d prepared over to the lift cable. She studied the entire system, trying to decide the best—and safest—way to create her dead short. She needed for this to work without involving herself in the accident.
Grace rubbed her throbbing forehead. Lord, she was starting to think in terms of trucks and accidents, not scientific equations. Either she’d been away from her lab too long, or her mind was not on her work because it was focused on Grey.