Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1

by Bethany Claire

  He shook his head, taking my order for a dismissal of his ability to make love due to his injuries. “Nay, lass. I am well enough to bed ye. Thinking of doing so was the only thing that kept me from succumbing to the icy cold that tried to lure me into death. I doona care if me shoulder bothers me. I need to be inside ye, Adelle.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. You will be. Take off your clothes and go get in the bed.”

  He laughed but obeyed. I had to restrain from reaching out to smack his beautiful rear end as he took of his clothes. There was age to his body, no doubt, but I wouldn’t have wanted him any other way. To me, it only added to his masculinity.

  “Ye are a bossy wench, are ye no?”

  I didn’t answer him, only grinned wickedly and nodded, as I slowly untied my laces. I reveled in the way his jaw dropped with every increasing inch of skin that revealed itself to him as I slowly removed my dress.

  I gave him a moment to gaze upon me, the adoration in his eyes enough to make me feel as if I was the most beautiful woman on earth. I moved across the room to blow out the last candle. As darkness engulfed the room, I slipped inside the bed with him, straddling myself atop him to care for his tender shoulder.

  I leaned forward, my bare breasts pressing up against his chest. I kissed him, moaning as he dug his fingers deep into my hair and tugged my head backward, exposing my neck as he kissed me along my collarbone.

  I squirmed astride him and when he could stand it no more I raised up so that I could descend upon him. We moved together gently, both of us absorbed in the newness of one another.

  It didn’t matter that the candles weren’t lit, the room was ablaze with our love for one another.

  Chapter 24

  We were married in the great room of Conall Castle on New Year’s Day surrounded by all of the people we loved most in the world. The vows were simple, but I’d never meant anything more than the few words we spoke to one another.

  “I doona know where life will take me, but I choose ye to be at me side. From this day forward, me soul belongs to naught but ye. I now bind meself to ye in the present and for all the times to come. Together we are now one.”

  I didn’t know where the vows came from and I’d undoubtedly messed up the accent badly, but Hew didn’t care and neither did I.

  As he leaned in to kiss me, baby Ellie Adelle Conall, named in honor of Eoin’s mother, Elspeth and myself, squealed as if she’d been pinched. Our pups howled loudly in response.

  A happy chaos surrounded us, and it was just as we wished it.

  I had been right. It proved to be the best Christmas that Conall Castle had ever seen.

  Love Beyond Hope

  Chapter 1

  Austin, TX

  Present Day

  Two thoughts flashed through my mind as my trembling fingers gripped at the letter and the set of keys my husband extended in my direction. The first was that if Brian said one more word, I planned to take off my shoe and ram the pointy end of the heel deep into his skull. The second was that I was so ashamed at my own stupidity, I was nearly just as inclined to ram the heel of the other shoe into my own head.

  How could I have let so many months pass with him making the most ridiculous excuses to stay away from home without catching on? What a silly, desperate fool I must have been to make it so easy for him to break his vows. I’m sure he’d been thrilled to marry such an unassuming, trusting wife.

  Now that I knew, over a year’s worth of clues seemed blaringly obvious. While we’d never truly been happy, I never thought him capable of such a betrayal. He was an ass to be sure, but a cheat, a liar? I’d not seen this in him.

  I had time to come to terms with his affair, weeks of lawyer negotiations and packing my belongings quickly made me glad to be rid of him, but what had me shaking with anger and unshed tears was the revelation of the new information I held in my hand.

  “Are you really so surprised? What else would Bri have done with the house after she moved? She left too quickly to sell the place, and it’s not like she had that many friends. Why shouldn’t I have used it?”

  I squeezed the key so tightly that its ridges buried deep into my hand, indenting the skin. I was sure he could see the steam coming out of my ears, but I refused to scream at him as he expected. Brian would call it another one of my “ginger” moments and be sure to tell me it was another reason I’d driven him into the affair. I would not give him the satisfaction.

  “No,” I said the word calmly and slowly released my breath so that it didn’t come out as a loud sigh of frustration. “I’m not surprised at all, I’d just never given it much thought. What I’m surprised about is how you thought it was okay to keep this letter from me. This is not addressed to you.”

  He chuckled once before speaking, and I ground my heel into the floor to keep myself from ripping it off and attacking him.

  “You’re right. It isn’t, but we were married when it came in the mail and what’s yours is mine, yes? Besides, Leah and I needed somewhere to go. It’s not like we could come back here when you were always sitting in the house waiting on me.”

  My face could not have grown any hotter, but still I did not raise my voice. “You can justify anything can’t you? Bri would strangle you herself if she knew you’d been staying there.”

  Turning from him, I walked across the room to swing the last of my belongings, all thrown messily into a large duffle bag, over my shoulder so that I could make my way out of the door. I’d not even read the letter yet. As soon as I saw Bri Conall’s handwriting and the key tucked inside the envelope, I knew that my friend had left her house in my care. The date at the top showed just how long Brian had kept this from me.

  There was so much more that I could say to him, so much more I wanted to say, but I knew none of it would do any good. He would never see the kind of man he was, and I was tired of him, of everything really. I only wanted to get out of this house without saying another word. I didn’t ever want to see him again.

  “I wasn’t the only one who cheated. Maybe you didn’t do it in person, but in mind you did. Every time I held you, I could see him behind your eyes. It’s too bad for you really. He didn’t want you either. That’s why you ran to me, isn’t it?”

  He spoke to my back and I didn’t respond. If only Brian would let me be and not say anything else, I might be able to make it out of the room and to my car without bursting into tears. I knew he wouldn’t be so kind.

  “She’s nuts. She rambles on in the letter about you coming to visit her at the castle and how much you would love the seventeenth century. Bri’s completely out of her mind. No wonder you two were such good friends.”

  I kept my back to him as I reached for the door handle, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as he chuckled once more. “Goodbye, Brian.” I didn’t look back as I walked out the door, started the engine, and pulled out of the driveway as quickly as I could.

  In the rearview mirror I could see his mistress, Leah, pulling into the driveway, replacing my spot in our home so quickly it was as if I’d never been there. I couldn’t bring myself to feel any hatred toward her. Only pity. God help her, the poor girl had no idea what she’d gotten herself into.

  * * *

  As much as I didn’t want to spend the night at Bri’s old home, especially after learning what Brian used it for, it relieved me to be able to cancel my hotel reservations. Classroom teachers made little. As a teacher’s aide, I made even less. I couldn’t move into my new apartment for another week, and with no family to stay with until then, I had no choice but to reserve a room at the shabbiest of hotels.

  If it meant saving a little money, I could push away the memories that would flood me in Bri’s old home—Brian’s lovenest. Memories of nights spent with Brian when we’d been dating, before he sold the home to my friend. Memories of helping Bri paint and work away in the old bachelor pad until it was beautiful and perfect, just as she wished it. It’s not as if I planned on sleeping much anyway.

  The
flowers on the front porch that she tended to so carefully had long since died, and an uncomfortable pang knocked on my heart at the thought of how much I missed Bri. I still didn’t fully understand what happened to her. She was the classroom teacher, and I worked directly under her. She was also the closest friend I’d ever had. When she disappeared after accompanying her archaeologist mother on a dig in Scotland, it’s no stretch to say that I lost it a little.

  When I finally found her after flying to Scotland, it was clear that she’d fallen madly in love. I saw how much her new husband, Eoin, adored her, and I couldn’t blame her a bit for leaving everything behind. I would’ve done the same.

  I’d experienced love like that once, but it hadn’t been with Brian. What he said to me was true. The loss of the man that came before him, Jep, led me to settle for Brian.

  I understood the love thing. What I didn’t understand was why Bri lied to me about it. She lied so confidently, weaving a story so detailed that I truly did want to believe her, but I couldn’t. People do not, and she did not, travel through time.

  Anxious to read her letter, I turned the key and stepped inside the entryway. To my surprise, the place was immaculate. Well, at least the front part of the house was. Most likely, only one area of the house had been regularly used, and I would stay clear of that room.

  I dropped my bag in the doorway, carrying only the letter into the living room with me as I slowly made my way around the room turning on the lights and lighting a few candles.

  Once the room was properly lit and the smell of pumpkin-scented candles wafted sweetly through the air, I went into the kitchen and started water heating so that I could steep a large cup of tea. I was in desperate need of anything to soothe my frazzled nerves and angry heart.

  It had been weeks since I’d slept properly. Now that the divorce was final and I was gone from Brian’s life, all of the stress, sadness, anxiety, and insomnia of the past days seemed to hit me at once.

  After the kettle whistled and I poured the steaming water over a large cup filled with several tea bags, I all but collapsed onto the oversized sofa that sat in the middle of the living room. I reached out and felt for a coaster. After placing the cup of tea on it, I propped pillows up behind me so that I could sit up to read the letter.

  I was incredibly curious to read its contents. I’d not heard a word from her since the wedding. She’d not even taken the time to say goodbye, slipping away during the middle of the reception. I was angry with her for that, but I supposed Bri had her reasons. And she did leave me a house which certainly counted for something, not that she could’ve known just how much I would need it. Or perhaps she had, and that was the very reason she left it for me. She’d never really liked Brian.

  I didn’t need to open the envelope. Brian had already done that, and the rumpled edges showed just how many times he read it through himself, clearly trying to make sense of Bri’s words.

  It was short and, while I could easily see that the handwriting was Bri’s, it looked hurried, as if her idea to write the letter had been a last minute thought before she returned to Scotland. The first part of the letter was what I’d expected, an apology for leaving so suddenly and an explanation that the house was now mine to use as I saw fit. She spoke of how much she loved me, how much my friendship meant to her and, as Brian said, she spoke of how much she loved life in the seventeenth century and that she believed I would love it, too.

  After that, she changed subjects quickly, only writing a few sentences at the bottom of the page. She’d not even bothered to sign her name.

  “The house is yours while you need it, Mitsy, but when it comes time for you to get away and you’re ready to start a new life, come and find me. You’re welcome here. You will need the help of the innkeepers you met in Scotland. I’m not going to bother trying to tell you what happened again. I know you didn’t believe me last time, and I don’t expect you would believe me now…not until you experience it. Call them when you’re ready.”

  I flung my feet over the edge of the couch and turned, suddenly needing a large gulp of tea. I stared down at the odd words with fascination. She didn’t even state it as if it were a question that I would need to leave here, she wrote it as if she knew that I would. Not only that, it suddenly seemed to me that perhaps she didn’t intentionally lie. She actually believed what she said.

  That changed things and made me worry for her even more. Even after I found Bri and she told me the elaborate tale, even after I met Blaire, the woman who so closely resembled her that I was certain they had to be related in some manner, I still could not believe my friend’s story. There was a reason she felt the need to lie and, frankly, I was so glad to know that Bri was alive and not murdered and laying in a ditch in the middle of Scotland that I decided to let it go. Begrudgingly, I’d accepted the fact that I would never know the truth of what happened to her after she disappeared, but if she truly believed that she’d traveled back in time then something terrible happened to her.

  Her brain was addled, disturbed, and I owed it to her to find out just what and who had done this to her. Not that I didn’t need to get away from this place for personal reasons, I certainly did, but a trip to Scotland to find Bri once again and try and talk her out of her delusions would be the perfect excuse to leave. Better to help someone out of a problem than to wade in the self-pity I felt at my own.

  Moving back to the front doorway, I reached into my duffle bag to withdraw my wallet and cell phone where I’d saved the phone number for the strange innkeepers I’d tracked down during my search for Bri. They’d been nearly impossible to get ahold of, and I was not altogether sure that I’d be able to reach them again. I got the impression that their phone number and address were not readily available.

  I clicked the call button as quickly as I could, not waiting a moment so that I could change my mind. The phone rang once and then was answered by the unmistakable voice of the innkeeper herself.

  “Why, Mitsy, how are ye, dear? Jerry and I have been expecting a call from ye any minute. I suggest that ye start packing up yer things, though ye willna need much once ye get here.”

  My mouth hung open. How did she know who called? I doubted that she had caller ID in the little inn. How did she know that I planned on coming there? I’d yet to say a word on the phone, and I didn’t know what to say now. “Um…hi. Why would you expect a call from me?”

  The old woman at the other end of the phone laughed softly before speaking again. “Well, dear, I know a large number of things that I doubt ye would expect me to. Best ye get yerself here and then I will tell ye more. Though I’m sure ye willna believe a bit of it until ye see it for yerself.”

  She was certainly right about that. “Ok…uh, is Bri there? May I speak to her for a moment?”

  I knew she would tell me she wasn’t there, but obviously she was. How else would the woman have known that Bri suggested I come there?

  “Ye know that she isna here, love. She’s a far time away from here to be sure, but ye will see her soon enough. She told me to tell ye when ye called that she doesna wish for ye to pay for yer plane ticket on yer own. She knows your budget is limited. I’ve already called the airline and purchased a ticket for ye. Yer flight is at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. All ye need to do is check-in at the counter. Yer rental car has been arranged as well. I suppose since ye found yer way to our inn once before, ye are capable of doing it again. We will see ye soon. Safe travels, Mitsy.”

  She hung up the phone, and I stared at the wall in confusion. Thank God it was summer. As long as I didn’t stay gone for more than a month, I wouldn’t have to make arrangements with work.

  It seemed that by this time tomorrow, I would find myself on a flight headed to Scotland.

  Chapter 2

  McMillan Castle, Scotland

  July 1647

  Baodan McMillan glanced in Niall’s direction, the two brothers’ eyes locking at the suspicion he knew they both felt at their mother’s words. She was leaving McM
illan Castle, the home she’d known for over three decades.

  He could make no sense of it, the sudden announcement. She fell ill nearly a month ago and, with each passing day, she grew weaker. It did not sit well with him that his mother had decided to find a home elsewhere. The people in their territory would not understand it, and he wished to be near her so that he could help care for her during her sickness.

  Leaning across the dining hall table, he wrapped his fingers around both her hands, squeezing them gently. “Are ye saying that ye wish to go on a journey, Mother? Ye must know that ye are too weak, but surely it would do ye some good to escape the castle walls for a while, aye? If ye wish, I shall take ye for a ride so that ye may spend the afternoon away from the castle tomorrow.”

  Baodan glanced up to see Niall nod at him across the table, showing his approval at the suggestion. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Eoghanan, his youngest brother, whose red hair and pale face were so different from his own dark brown wavy curls or Niall’s ink-colored tendrils. It labeled him as the outcast he was. He looked down angrily, and Baodan knew he would speak up in disagreement.

  “No, Baodan. It willna do for her to only leave here for a short while. She needs to reside elsewhere. She wishes it.”

  Boadan’s teeth ground together as he gripped the edge of the table with his free hand. “I doona think that is for ye to say, Eoghanan.” He started to continue but stopped as his mother pulled on his hand.

  “I willna allow ye to speak to him so, I doona care how old ye are. He is right. I shall be leaving to reside elsewhere for the foreseeable future. I leave in the morning.”

  Baodan stood, unable to sit calmly. How could his mother allow Eoghanan to influence her so? Of all her sons, she heeded the words of the one who had betrayed him, causing him to lose the person dearest to him. He paced the room, circling the table where his mother and two brothers sat. He knew he would be unable to change her mind, but he’d be damned if he allowed her to make the journey without him. “Where is it that ye plan on going, Mother? Ye do know how unusual this is of ye, aye? Who will care for ye?”