“Would you like a tour of the place? Aidan asked Rhianna.

She looked into Aidan’s hazel eyes, which held deep green and gold tones. Tiger eyes. “Yes. That would be nice.”

Plus, she might discover the ins and outs of the place for when she left. While he may have come to her aid in regards to the sorceress, Rhia had no delusions that she wouldn’t eventually have to find her way back to camp and contact the TV crew.

Takeshi jumped up and put himself in front of Aidan. She laughed. “Looks like someone would like to come along.”

Aidan moved his hand forward, signaling the dog to come along. “This is the living area,” he started. “As you can see, it’s kind of just one big room but there are separate designated spots for the kitchen, living room, and bar.”

She nodded, then looked up the center of the space to a stained glass skylight window far above them. The hues of red, gold, green, and blue reflected off the walls. “What’s up there?”

“A library. It’s the only room that’s situated aboveground and has a window.”

With a sweeping glance, she noticed a fairly new TV and a stack of movies sitting on a table. It occurred to her then that lights were on. “You have electricity?”

“Yes,” he said. “It’s generated on the island and stored in large battery cells.”

“Interesting. How does it work?”

He smiled. “I’ll show you when we get to that area. Since I live here alone, I do everything myself. I have nothing but time, and I love to tinker with things.”

They kept walking. “The sleeping and bathing quarters are down that hall.” He pointed to the right but continued forward.

Next they came to a large area where the floor was cut away, revealing a lower level. She peered over the railing. A circular staircase wound down to the next floor. The space around the stairs was filled with stuff sitting on tables, and chairs, and on the floor. An easel with paints and brushes was set up, and there was a workbench with pieces of metal, nuts, bolts, and other tools, including a ban saw and table.

“My goodness. How did you get all that in here?” she asked. “And . . . well, where did it all come from?”

“You’d be surprised what washes ashore. Some of it came from abandoned ships, too, and other things came from Amazon.”

She jerked her head around to stare at him. “Really?” Given where and how he lived, she had assumed he didn’t have modern access to things, especially the Internet. It was a quite naive guess on her part. “Can I go down there?”

He held out his palm. “Be my guest.”

Together they tromped to the bottom of the deep room. She looked around, taking everything in. “The room looks as if it’s carved out of the stone.”

“You’re very observant. That’s exactly how it was formed. A little at a time, over several centuries. As my collection grew, so did the room.”

She walked around, noting the antiques intermingled with present-day items, including several examples of assembly line machines on timers. Her jaw dropped, and then she snapped her mouth closed. She’d never seen anything like it in her entire life.

“Wow, this is . . . just wow!” she said. “How did you learn how to make all this?”

He shrugged. “I read a lot of books.”

“I can’t wait to see your library, then,” she said on a laugh.

They leaned toward each other, and their eyes met. A warmth swept over her, and she looked away, a thought occurring to her. “Has anyone ever seen this before?”

“No.”

The straightforward answer made her nervous—he wasn’t used to being with people. Wild...the word flitted through her head. Like the wild dog she’d first thought Takeshi was. She eased as nonchalantly as she could to the other end of a counter filled with metal parts. Here she was, alone with a shape-shifter. She couldn’t believe she was even using that word. Why wasn’t she huddled in a corner shaking in her shoes?

Because he’d been nothing but kind to her. And his voice was quiet and soothing and sexy.

She blinked at that last part.

“Come this way and I’ll show you where the electricity is generated,” he suggested.

She nodded and followed him down some damp stairs and into another large, open area. She studied the room. “This one is only partially man-made,” she noted aloud. “On the other side it looks like a natural cave.”

“Very good.” He smiled. “This is located near the waterfall, where another hole in the earth allows water to flow into a subterranean pool. I use a microhydro power to generate power.”

“Hydro? So you use water to make electricity?”

He leaned his massive shoulder against the wall. “Exactly. And I also pump the water to the kitchen and bath.”

“It looks like you have the perfect setup here.”

“If you have to live on an island in the middle of the ocean, you can’t get much better than this.” He flashed her another smile.

“I think you’re right about that.”

They turned together, and he waited for her lead the way back to the living area, or so she presumed. As they went, she noticed the echo of their footsteps off the walls this time. She retraced her steps to the staircase and ascended to the living floor.

As she returned to where they had started, she made a mental note of everything. There were probably a lot of things that would surprise her in the world and what she’d encountered today would surely rank among them. And as kind as Aidan seemed, she may only have one chance to get out of here and make her way home.

“So . . .” She turned to him. “Now what?”

He shrugged. “You should stay here tonight. Tomorrow I’ll get your things so you can contact your people to pick you up.”

She nodded. She hated giving up on the whole If You Dare thing, but given the circumstances, she didn’t see an alternative any longer. As unbelievable as this whole day had seemed, she could feel deep in her gut that Aidan wasn’t lying to her about Theodora and her kidnappings. She was dangerous and obviously running the show.

Rhianna swallowed, hard. She had come here to figure out why her great grandfather had disappeared. Now she had a pretty good idea.

* * *

“Where will I sleep?” she asked. “I’d like to freshen up.”

Aidan twisted to peer at her. “You can have my room,” he said over his shoulder. Since he never had guests, he’d had no need for a guest room. His was the only bedroom. He could easily sleep on the couch.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.” She licked her lips nervously.

He looked at her and felt completely out of his element, even though he was in his own home.

A series of tapes, movies, and videos skated through his head as he searched for the right response. Well, she was putting him out. But he hadn’t had much practice in dealing with people. Sure, he spoke to his brothers, four times a year he traveled to the mainland, and he had a few ham radio and computer friends. The satellite communication system he’d bought had been worth every penny. He occasionally chatted with an old angel named Seth, as well, and every once in a great while he fought a demon or two, but that was the extent of his experience with communication.

“I’m tough. I can handle the sofa,” he said with a wink. It was beyond true. Back in the beginning when he’d first come to the island, he’d slept on the ground and used whatever he could find on the island to make himself as comfortable as possible. “Don’t worry about me.”

Her brow furrowed, and she nodded slowly.

He could handle just about anything. But the thought of a female in his bed . . . ? That was a different matter.