“So, he doesn’t know he’s in the crypt?”
“God no, Evelyn,” Piper said, horrified. “Geez.”
“We did manage to find out what the exact date was when he was captured, though,” Sam said, wrangling the conversation back to pertinent facts.
“He’s from 1729,” Piper said. “1729. Don’t you know what that means?”
“That he’s from a very long time ago?” Evelyn said.
“1729 is before the Scottish Uprising, before they were crushed by the English, back when they still had all the clans,” Piper huffed impatiently.
“Oh, come on, there’s no way you knew all that before this morning,” Evelyn said.
“Well, Sam knew.” Piper threw him a radiant smile. “He’s amazing.” Sam looked up from his book with irritating false modesty.
“Of course, it’s his country’s history,” Evelyn said. “I mean, does he know when our civil war was?”
“I wouldn’t even know that offhand, would you?” Piper asked. Evelyn scowled and struggled to remember.
“1861 to 1865,” he said, trying and failing not to smirk.
“Oh my God, you’re insufferable,” Evelyn said, chucking a feather quill that had been being used as a bookmark at him. It fluttered harmlessly to the floor less than two feet away.
“Do you need to Google it to see if I’m right?” he asked.
“Oh, shut up.”
“He’s a leader of his clan. He’s a laird.” Piper spoke loudly, giving each of them a pointed look. “We really have to figure out how to get him home.”
“He’s a leader of his clan and he was caught rustling cattle?” Evelyn couldn’t help sounding incredulous.
“Stealing cattle was practically a noble profession back in his day,” Sam said.
“And there was the matter of my family breaking the marriage bargain. We probably deserved it.” Piper pinched the bridge of her nose. “We just need to figure out the stupid curse and get him home before we change history.”
Evelyn went through her pile of manuscripts until she found the little leather journal she’d started the day before. Having to hold it practically right in front of her nose, she found out it had been written by a young woman named Edwina Macauley, who was a houseguest at the manor in the year Lachlan had been before arriving in this time. It was more in depth than the dry ledgers she’d gone through yesterday, and some of it was fascinating, from descriptions of gowns, to the daily visitors, trips into the village, a picnic where a traveling minstrel had stopped to entertain them on the way. There was a grisly description of a fox hunt, in which Edwina herself had participated.
Just as Evelyn was about to take a break to keep from going blind, she saw an entry that was written in an even tinier, more scribbly handwriting than usual. Edwina was clearly agitated about something. It turned out a man had been caught trespassing on the grounds, a dangerous, wanted criminal who was known in the lands to have committed murder and theft. Edwina had heard that this man had killed no less than ten people, including a poor defenseless crofter’s family, as thanks for giving him food and shelter while fleeing to the border to wreak havoc on England.
Edwina’s handwriting degraded into a blotted ink stain on the bottom of the page as she finished her entry about the murderous outlaw her hosts had captured and were keeping locked in the barn. Evelyn found herself becoming more and more alarmed as she read, fearing that Lachlan would burst in on them at any minute and cut off all their heads with his axe.
“Where’s that ledger we were looking at before, the one that mentions the prisoner disappearing,” Evelyn said breathlessly, her heart pounding.
Piper flipped through the books they’d put aside as already read and walked over and handed it to her, unable to let herself toss such an old book. She crouched down next to Evelyn’s chair and looked at the journal Evelyn had been reading. Evelyn hurriedly turned the pages of the ledger to the same date as the one in Edwina’s diary. The dates coincided but still didn’t make sense.
“What did you find?” Sam asked, getting up to gather around, looking apprehensive when he saw Evelyn’s disquiet as she compared the two texts.
“What day exactly was it in Lachlan’s time when he got caught here?” Evelyn said. Piper and Sam looked at each other. “You didn’t ask him the exact day?” She threw up her hands incredulously.
“Why, Evie? What did you find?” Piper was beginning to get scared at the way Evelyn looked and her abrupt manner.
Evelyn handed her Edwina’s diary and pointed to the entry that described the day the murderous fiend was captured on the manor’s land. She then jabbed at the much dryer account in the ledger, both having the exact same date.
“This can’t be right,” Piper said, handing the diary to Sam and showing him where to read. “It has to just be some hysterical eighteenth century lady who’s bored or easily frightened. There’s no way that is about Lachlan.” She looked from Evelyn to Sam. Sam finished reading and furrowed his brow. “You can’t believe that,” Piper said.
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought so, no,” he said slowly.
“We haven’t locked him up, we haven’t forced him to stay upstairs. If he were this bloodthirsty monster this woman describes we’d all be dead by now and he’d be long gone. It isn’t about Lachlan.”
“Okay, calm down, Piper.” Evelyn stood up and pushed Piper into the armchair.
She walked around the room to stretch her legs and try to get her mind straight and workable again after so much reading. Piper made a good point. If Lachlan were indeed a murdering bandit outlaw, why were they all still alive with him still docilely waiting upstairs and not long gone. However, he clearly believed them about this no longer being his own time. What if he saw them as his only possible way back and was keeping them alive to help him.
She glanced at Piper, who was oddly attached to Lachlan and didn’t know whether or not she should share her next thought. If he was a killer, they couldn’t unleash him back on his own time. She looked at Sam, wanting to see what his thoughts were and the look on his face told her he’d come to roughly the same conclusion. Only Piper was completely convinced of Lachlan’s innocence. She sat ramrod straight in the armchair, shaking her head, Edwina’s diary lying open in her lap, the ledger next to her.
“I’m going to go talk to him.” Piper snapped the diary shut and placed it disdainfully on the arm of the chair. Sam resolutely stood up to go with her. “Alone,” she snapped.
Evelyn and Sam exchanged looks, Evelyn silently trying to ask him if this was a wise idea. He raised one shoulder and gave a noncommittal shake of his head.
“I’ll go with you,” Evelyn said as casually as she could. “I’ve never properly met him yet, you know. We just scared the hell out of each other.”
Piper glared at her for a second then softened a bit. She turned and stalked out of the room. Evelyn stood there dumbly, looking to Sam for guidance.
“Go,” he hissed. She went.
She caught up with Piper in the kitchen, throwing together sandwiches, slapping meat slices onto bread, stabbing the butter knife into the mustard jar and smearing with a vengeance. Evelyn helped by pouring some lemonade into a thermos and counting out a dozen or so cookies and placing them on a tray.
“That diary is wrong,” Piper finally said, covering the stack of sandwiches with a cloth and setting them next to the cookies. She scowled at the giant tray and pulled a basket out of the cupboard, transferring the food to the basket for easier carrying. “It may be right about the prisoner being a murderer, but it’s not about Lachlan. For one thing, it said they locked him in the barn. Lachlan was in the tower.” She put her hands on her hips and stood there waiting for Evelyn to concede this point.
“That is true,” Evelyn said, thinking about the disparities in Edwina’s accounting of events and the terse description from the daily ledger. The ledger had said the man was put in the tower room where Lachlan had appeared, but the crazy killer was loc
ked in the barn. “Maybe they were two separate instances.”
“They were two separate instances,” Piper said firmly, hoisting the basket and heading for the stairs. “Another thing,” she said when they had to pause to catch their breath on the third floor landing. Evelyn took the basket for the rest of the journey. “They knew Lachlan here, someone from his clan was supposed to marry someone from this one. They were practically family.”
“Piper, they were keeping him locked up,” Evelyn reminded her.
“They were just waiting to collect the ransom. They ransomed each other all the time back then. Nobody took it personally.”
“I have no words for that,” Evelyn said. They’d finally made it to the fifth floor and started for the tower hallway. Lachlan was sitting in the doorway on a sad looking spindle chair. He stood as soon as he saw them, bowing slightly at Piper. Piper introduced them, speaking slowly. She was clearly nervous in the huge warrior’s presence.
Lachlan bowed and nodded to Evelyn and then bestowed on her the most dazzling smile she’d ever seen on anyone, ever. She had to blink and almost had to take a step back. She glanced over at Piper who was gazing at him completely slackjawed.
Evelyn shook her head to clear her mind of the effects of the smile, and really looked him over. He was rugged and chiseled, his skin tanned and a little wind burned, his dark hair almost hit his shoulders and had just the faintest bit of a wave in it. Evelyn had seen plenty of men with long hair before and they were constantly messing with it, way worse than women, brushing it out of their faces or flinging it behind their shoulders, but Lachlan seemed completely unconcerned with it. It was just the way they did it in his time, she supposed. Or, maybe it helped keep them warm. His eyes were steely blue and she struggled to keep her mouth from hanging open like idiot Piper’s. He was gorgeous, hotter than the sun, there was no doubt about it. Evelyn wrapped herself in her hardened strip club sensibilities to protect herself against his charms. Somebody needed to keep their wits about them here.
He held out his hand to invite them to have seats in the tower room, and Piper went in without a second thought. Evelyn only paused for a moment before edging past him into the room, looking up to try to gauge his height, which she could only put at pretty freaking tall.
He held the heavy plank door open for them as they passed. The muscles in his outstretched arm were positively rippling. When they were inside, Piper chose a chair nearest the window, the weak sunlight shining through and glinting off the dark auburn highlights in her hair, which she coyly shook out a little bit, then brushed behind her ear. Evelyn turned and saw the Highlander waiting for her to sit and she quickly plopped into a straight-backed chair by a little writing desk. He propped open the door with the chair he’d been sitting on, probably for eighteenth century propriety’s sake, and then sat on the edge of a small bed, the only other piece of furniture in the room besides a rough hewn table with a pitcher and basin on it.
Evelyn handed him the basket of food and was almost knocked off her chair by another one of his smiles. He thanked her and opened the basket, offering a sandwich to Piper and Evelyn before setting one on a napkin beside him.
“I thank you, miladies,” he said in a strong Scottish accent, his deep voice practically causing a vibration to run through the room. Piper beamed.
“Lachlan, I must ask you a question, if I may?” she started, pulling at the hem of her sweater.
“Of course,” he nodded.
Piper continued to fiddle with her sweater, then finally looked up at him plaintively. “We were reading of an account written by a girl who lived here, or maybe was a guest?”
“Aye?”
“Her name was Edwina Macauley,” Piper paused and looked hopeful. Lachlan swallowed a bite of his sandwich and nodded some more.
“Aye, I know of the lass. Her aunt is related to the Campbell’s by marriage. I believe after the poor girl’s mother died she lived with them for a time, then was sent over to the Glen’s here for a bit of polish until they could figure who to marry her off to. I haven’t seen her since she was about fifteen. She’s here now … I mean, was here then?” He looked confused for a moment and Evelyn had to feel bad for him.
A few days ago to him, that girl Edwina had been here. Evelyn watched him as he thought this through, waiting for the truth of it to hit him. And, there it was. His bronze skin visibly paled and he put the half eaten sandwich down. He just realized everyone he knows is dead, Evelyn thought. Piper realized the same thing and jumped up from her chair by the window and sat next to him, gingerly patting his arm.
“We’ll get you back, Lachlan. We will.” Piper shot Evelyn a look but Evelyn didn’t know what to say. She didn’t feel confident that they’d find a way to get him back. It was so farfetched that he was even here in the first place.
“We should get back to work on that, Piper,” was all she could say.
“What question about Edwina Macauley did ye have for me?” Lachlan asked, straightening his back like the soldier he was.
“Just if you knew her is all,” Piper said and stood up. Lachlan immediately shot up as well and led them to the door. Evelyn went out and waited by the steps at the end of the short hallway. Piper placed her hand on Lachlan’s arm again and leaned into him, her eyes filled with emotion. He leaned over to hear what she wanted to say.
“I wish you’d come downstairs. You’d be so much more comfortable.”
He smiled down at tiny Piper and had to resist the urge to touch her face. Instead he just patted her hand. “Perhaps I will. But ye should not be worrying about me. I do thank you for all yer help.”
“I do worry, though,” Piper said.
He shook his head at her and smiled. “I must stay and hope that what is done might be undone.” He shrugged and leaned in closer. “I cannot in all honesty say that I would ever regret coming here, though.”
Unable to withstand it anymore he reached out and stroked her hair, wondering how he could have ever thought it strange to see such short hair on a highborn lady. He now thought it was perfect on her.
Piper sighed in confusion. She was supposed to want him to be able to get home, it was the only way, the only outcome, but every time she saw him she hoped a tiny bit more that they would fail in their endeavor.
“Oh, Lachlan,” she whispered. He straightened and stepped back, freeing her from the spell she’d fallen under due to his proximity.
“Go on, Lass.” He retreated into his tower and Piper fled down the hall, almost crashing into Evelyn who was tapping her foot impatiently by the steps, agog at what she’d just seen.
“What in the hell, Piper,” she hissed.
“Shut up,” Piper replied, her cheeks burning. She scampered down the steps and away at an alarmingly fast pace. Evelyn stared after her in disbelief, then scurried to catch up, afraid of getting hopelessly lost again.
When they returned to the office, Piper explained her reason why Lachlan couldn’t possibly be the murderer in the diary.
“He knew her,” she said with finality. “He knew Edwina Macauley when she was a kid.”
“So?” Sam asked. He put down a large piece of yellowed and tattered parchment he’d been poring over and scrubbed at his eyes.
“So, don’t you think she’d have recognized him? They knew who he was when they nabbed him. He wasn’t in chains in the tower. She wouldn’t have gone on and on about a scary ruthless killer like she didn’t have a clue who he was, if she had a clue who he was!” Piper said.
Sam looked at Evelyn, who just shrugged. He looked at his watch and groaned.
“You know what I know right now?” he asked, standing up and stretching out his back. “I know I’ve got a pounding headache from reading all these papers, and my back hurts and I’m hungry.”
Piper instantly went from defensive to contrite. “Sam, let me get you a sandwich, I’m so sorry.” She turned to leave but he motioned for her to stop.
“Why don’t we all drive into town instead
. Get some fresh air and show Evelyn some more of the sights. I only took her to the shop and the pub last night.”
“I’d love to get out for a little while,” Evelyn said eagerly. Just being back in the stuffy library room filled with unread papers oppressed her. She would have happily hiked to the village through a foot of snow if she had to. Piper wilted and frowned.
“Well, the thing is, I told Mellie to come this afternoon to help me sort through more stuff. She’ll be here any minute.” Piper looked torn. She really wanted to continue trying to solve their dilemma, but wanted to be a good hostess. Poor Evelyn looked positively miserable, and Sam was about to blow his stack if he stayed cooped up in this room much longer, it was obvious. She sighed. “You two just go on and have a good time. This room is sucking the life out of all of us.”
“Piper, you should come,” Evelyn said, worried about her. This crazy old castle was going to drive her insane. “When was the last time you got out of here?”
“I’m fine,” Piper waved off Evelyn’s concern. “You know, we have to get Lachlan back, but besides that, I have to get this place ready for visitors. That plan can’t fall to the wayside just because of a little cosmic disruption, right?”
Sam rolled his head around, trying to work the kinks out of his neck. He looked at Evelyn and shook his head in defeat.
“Fine,” he said. “You’re right.”
Chapter 10
The weather outside wasn’t as bitterly cold and windy as the day before and Evelyn unbuttoned her coat on the way to the car. She tilted her head back to soak up what there was of the sun and reveled in the soft, pine scented breeze.
“Is it actually nice out or am I really getting used to it already?” she asked, loath to get in the car. She felt like she really could walk to the village, it was so nice, and her legs were so cramped from all the sitting and reading. She was longing for a good workout. Sam laughed.
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