Stranded By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance-Highlander Forever Book 2

by Preston, Rebecca

  “Has anyone been swimming with the creature?” Nancy asked, thinking of her drysuit and her fins. She could probably do a decent job of keeping up with it, especially if it was as curious as people seemed to be saying it was.

  “You’d have to pay me a fortune to go swimming in that icy water,” Anna said flatly, and Donal chuckled, taking her hand in his. But Maeve looked thoughtful.

  “No, not that I’ve heard of. She tends to keep to herself, most of the time, unless she’s needed. People are usually a little frightened of her.”

  “With good reason,” Malcolm said darkly. They’d told her a little about what had happened a couple of years ago, when a group of witch-hunters had made an assault on the castle, trying to capture Donal and anyone else they could get their hands on. The monster had made swift work of the forces who had tried to attack by sea… which had been very handy for the castle, but not so good for the men on the boats, none of which had been seen or heard from ever again. Some wood had washed up on the beach later, visibly chewed on, but aside from that… nothing. Nancy thought of the gentle face she’d seen, those inquisitive, intelligent eyes. Like the eyes of her father’s old Labrador — kind, gentle, but watchful. The old dog was the sweetest animal imaginable, but she knew that the animal had been trained to deal a certain way with burglars or trespassers. Perhaps Nessie (it felt strange thinking of the creature as ‘the monster’) was the same way.

  “Talk to Maggie about the creature,” Malcolm recommended. “She has a special bond with it.”

  “She seems to know a lot about the Fae,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “Why doesn’t she live in the castle here, if she’s such a scholar?”

  Donal chuckled. “She’s not a scholar, though I’m sure she’d be delighted to hear that said. She’s Fae herself.”

  Nancy’s eyes widened. The little old woman she’d met… she was a faerie?

  Maeve was nodding. “Her father was human — a shepherd who lived nearby. Her mother was a Gruagach. A friend of my adoptive family’s, actually,” Maeve said, smiling.

  Nancy’s head spun — it was difficult to get a handle on how time worked between the Land of the Unaging and this world.

  “She’s a powerful creature, despite her humble appearance.”

  “And Kaitlyn? Is she a Faerie too?” It would explain a lot about the plucky girl’s attitude — but Maeve chuckled.

  “No, she’s all human. A firecracker and no mistake, though. She’ll do great things,” Maeve said thoughtfully, her eyes gleaming. “I have a suspicion the Sidhe are keeping an eye on that one. If she doesn’t beat down their door someday, I’ll be most surprised.”

  Once lunch was finished, Maeve made her goodbyes and left — there were things in the castle to attend to, it seemed. Donal ushered Anna away when the woman made the mistake of yawning — Nancy chuckled to hear them bickering as they headed out of the hall, Anna arguing that being pregnant didn’t mean she was suddenly made of glass, Donal insisting that she rest before he tied her to a bed and made her rest. There was a lot of love between those two, for all that they seemed to be at one another’s throats half the time. It reminded her a little of her parents, of the odd disparities between them that nevertheless were overcome by their love for one another, and she felt a pang of homesickness.

  Putting it aside, she took a deep breath and looked up at Malcolm, who seemed to have been assigned to keep an eye on her. He was smiling down at her, and she glanced down, feeling a little self-conscious.

  “It’s amazing to have you here, truly,” he said gently, a broad smile dancing across his face. “I can’t believe there are two women from the future here.”

  “It feels fairly strange, still,” she admitted, hesitantly. “I keep expecting that I’m going to wake up and find myself back at home.” Or worse, still stuck in that cave, she thought to herself with a shudder… but she didn’t give voice to that thought. Too morbid for such pleasant company. And as if he sensed she was ill at ease, Malcolm got to his feet, glancing out across the crowded hall. People seemed to be finishing off their meals and drifting off to their afternoon tasks, and a small host of servants were already hard at work clearing the tables.

  “Who are the guys in black robes?”

  “Depends,” Malcolm said, following her eyes. “Scholars like black robes. Some of the herbalists wear them, too, though they tend to sew pockets into them for gathering the tools of their trade. The servants usually wear white aprons, though there are a few trained witches who insist on wearing white as well — something to do with humility, or being a servant of the Fae, or something. Best practice is to ask people,” he said with a grin. “Though as a general rule, anyone in armor and a helmet is a guard and a soldier. Speaking of which—”

  The table closest to them had been populated with a raucous group of soldiers for most of the lunch hour. Now several of them had left, headed back to the walls for their shift, or the courtyard for training, Nancy assumed. It was fascinating to think about how the castle must run — the various schedules and jobs people had to perform, all the moving pieces that came together to make a seamless whole.

  One of the soldiers headed over to their table, his helmet under his arm, and something about the way he carried himself made Nancy suspect he was in charge, somehow. Sure enough, he clasped Malcolm’s hand in his and Malcolm turned to her, grinning.

  “This is Brendan. Captain of the Guard and one of Donal’s oldest friends.” The way he stressed ‘oldest’ made Nancy suspicious — and sure enough, Brendan’s jaw tightened with irritation. Malcolm grinned at him cheekily. “What? At least I didn’t tell her about how badly you wanted to be tanist —”

  “Shut it, Malcolm,” Brendan said through gritted teeth. Nancy couldn’t help but laugh — there was something so brotherly about the way the men bickered.

  “This is Nancy,” Malcolm explained. “She came to us the same way Anna did.”

  “Aye, is that so? Fascinating.” Brendan studied her.

  He was a dark-haired man with matching dark eyes, intense and brooding, with a seriousness to his demeanour that made her feel like she had to stand at attention. No wonder he is Captain of the Guard, she thought. It made her a little nervous, if she was honest — she much preferred Malcolm’s company. Even if he technically outranked Brendan, his sense of humor made him feel much more approachable.

  “How was your journey here?”

  “A little strange,” she admitted. “I nearly drowned.”

  “In the Loch?”

  “Not exactly. In a flooded quarry I was diving in.”

  “Fascinating,” Brendan said again, still scrutinizing her. “Women from the future are brave, it seems.”

  “I think most women are brave, actually,” Nancy said sunnily. “But thank you.”

  “I’ve got to whip these men of mine into shape,” Brendan said, glancing over his shoulder at the rowdy group of soldiers who were finishing off their meals. “But it was good to meet you, Nancy. I’m sure we’ll speak again.”

  “Good to meet you, Brendan.” She felt an odd impulse to bow or curtsey or something and resisted it. Just because she was back in time, didn’t mean she was going to start behaving like a maiden from a storybook. “Do you have duties to attend to?” she asked Malcolm, worried she was keeping him from something important.

  “No,” he said, almost too quickly. “No, I’ve plenty of time free to show you around. If you’d like,” he added hastily. “If not, I can just show you to your room and —”

  “I’d love to see the whole castle.” She laughed, flushing a little. There was something very pleasant about the warmth of his attention. He was a good-looking young man, clever and funny — and she knew he was only being polite, that his attention had more to do with being a good host than it did with finding her company pleasant, but she’d take whatever she could get, at this point. There were worse ways to spend an afternoon than with a handsome copper-haired man with a delightful Scottish accent.


  He led her out into the main hall, then turned back to her. “Well? What would you like to see?”

  “I don’t know.” She bit her lip, thinking. What she really wanted was to go back and visit the Loch Ness Monster again — but she had a feeling that Malcolm wouldn’t be too keen for a swim. Even though it was summer, the waters of the Loch were rather cold. “How high up can we get in the castle?”

  “Good question,” Malcolm said with a grin. “All the way up, if you know the way. I hope you like stairs,” he added, tipping her a wink over his shoulder as he headed for one of the spiral staircases.

  She followed, braced for a marathon of stair-climbing. And she wasn’t disappointed. She quickly lost track of how many steps they’d climbed up — it felt like thousands, or millions, one hand on the railing, the other bracing herself against the central column of the spiral stairs. Malcolm was coming up behind her — the most chivalrous option, she supposed, thinking that at least if she lost her footing and fell down the stairs, he would be able to catch her. There was something nice about the prospect of falling down into his arms, she had to admit — and she grinned a little to herself, flushing, glad he couldn’t see her face. What an unexpected perk of getting lost in a cave and nearly dying — the company of a handsome young man.

  “Nearly there,” Malcolm said cheerfully as they passed yet another landing, and she took a deep breath, her heart pounding hard. “One more flight.”

  When they stepped out onto the rooftop, she couldn’t help but gasp. There they were, nothing but a low wall separating them from the open air. She ran to the edge of the wall, leaning on it with her hands as she stared out across the lake, the exertion of the climb forgotten as the wind whipped through her hair.

  “You can see the whole lake!” she called, absolutely thrilled by the view. It was beautiful — miles and miles of unbroken, dark lake water, tiny waves visible across its surface as the wind stirred it up. And beyond it, for miles and miles, rolling hills, gently tinged with purple and broken up by broad swathes of trees. Most of the lake was surrounded by forest, and she stared out at it. If she’d had any lingering doubts about where she was, this sight had absolutely banished them.

  “That’s the village,” Malcolm said, pointing. He’d come up behind her on the roof, standing quite close — she could feel the warmth of his body behind her as he raised his arm to point out the village. It was on the shore of the Loch, some distance away — she couldn’t make out many details, just a road and some buildings. The road followed the Loch around, heading back toward the castle, and as she followed it with her eyes, she uttered a shout of triumph.

  “There! There — is that Maggie’s house?”

  “Aye, it is,” Malcolm grinned. “About halfway between here and the village.”

  “So the village is an hour’s walk or so? Can I go and visit sometime?”

  “Aye, of course. All in good time,” Malcolm said gently, teasing her. “You can’t do everything in a day, you know.”

  “I know, I know. This is — this is amazing.” She turned to him, full of joy — and felt the strangest impulse to throw her arms around his neck. He smiled down at her, and they were silent for a moment until she cleared her throat and turned back to take in the view. “Wow. The Loch’s huge, isn’t it?”

  “Very big, and very deep,” Malcolm agreed. “It’s not Scotland’s largest — that’s Loch Lomond — but Loch Lomond doesn’t have a faerie burgh at the bottom of it, so I’d say we win.”

  “Where is it?” She scanned the surface of the water as though there would be some sign of the burgh from this far up. Malcolm pointed at a spot a few miles from the castle.

  “There, or near there, anyway. They put the Castle here on purpose, so we’d be as close to it as possible. But it’s a good way down.”

  “How far? Do you know?” It couldn’t be too deep — not if both she and Anna had survived emerging from it and then swimming to the surface.

  “Not sure. It’s not the Loch’s deepest point, we don’t think,” Malcolm explained. “It’s quite close to the shore, all things considered… but it’s still much further down than anyone is able to swim.”

  “Without equipment, anyway,” Nancy agreed… then shivered as the wind picked up her hair again, throwing the blonde strands around.

  “We’d best go in,” Malcolm said, offering her his arm. “Anna caught a dreadful cold her first week here, I wouldn’t want you falling ill the same way. Let’s find you a room to call your own.”

  She hesitated a moment, peering over the edge of the wall still, searching for something… and Malcolm laughed.

  “C’mon, lassie. The monster will still be there after we’ve gotten you settled in.”

  She could get used to being called ‘lassie’ by Malcolm, Nancy decided, grinning a secret little grin to herself as they started down the spiral stairs again.

  Chapter 13

  Malcolm showed her to one of the upper floors, where he claimed there were a number of comfortable rooms clear that she could stay in.

  “These have the best views of the lake,” he explained, grinning at her. “I suspected that might be something you were interested in.”

  She nodded, beaming.

  “Of course, the downside is that the stairs are a bit of a climb every day…”

  “Oh, that’s fine,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’ve got strong legs.” Besides, it never hurt to get some exercise in. Without her scuba gear, it was likely she wouldn’t be swimming nearly as much as she’d been accustomed to… climbing stairs was a good substitute for that exercise. But she had to resist the urge to giggle and blush as Malcolm glanced down at her legs — then back up to her face, clearly embarrassed that he’d looked. Well, she didn’t mind at all. She was glad she was still wearing the leggings she’d been wearing under her drysuit the day before — though that felt like a thousand years in her past.

  That reminded her. Clothing was maybe a problem. “I don’t have any other clothes,” she told Malcolm reluctantly. “Do you think there’s anyone who could lend me a set until I can figure out a way of earning some money to buy my own?”

  “Of course,” Malcolm said, looking a little confused. “You’re our guest, Nancy. You don’t have to worry about paying for things.”

  “I’d like to,” she argued, frowning a little. “I don’t want to just — take advantage of your hospitality. I want to find a way to contribute, you know?”

  “Fair enough,” Malcolm said thoughtfully, smiling at her. “But until you do, please don’t feel like you can’t ask for anything you might need.”

  “Alright,” she agreed, smiling at him and thinking that there were more than a few things she wouldn’t mind asking of Malcolm. But there was no time for that, she told herself sternly. She had things to do. Like choosing a room and figuring out what on Earth she was doing here, and whether it was even possible to get back. Room first, she decided. The rooms he showed her were all lovely, but the one she liked best was right on the end of the corridor, with the most unobscured view of the lake. She could see a huge section of it from her window, watching the waves form and break on its surface, imagining the huge shape of Nessie circling just below the surface…

  “This one is perfect, Malcolm.”

  “Are you sure? The others are larger, and this one —”

  “Perfect,” she insisted, grinning. “I don’t take up much space. See?” She sat on the bed and tucked her knees up to her chest.

  Malcolm laughed. “If you’re sure. I’ll leave you to settle in,” he said, heading for the doorway. “Let any of the servants know if you need anything, of course. And I’ll look into finding you some clothes.”

  “Thanks, Malcolm,” she said, smiling at him. “It’s a pleasure to be here.”

  “It’s a pleasure to have you here,” he replied, smiling that rather fetching smile at her.

  Then he was gone, politely closing the door behind him, and she was alone in her own little
room. Nancy stared around the room, trying to give herself a minute to catch up. Her own little room… on the upper floor of an honest-to-God medieval castle. It was unbelievable. It was... possibly the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her. She grinned so widely that her cheeks ached, allowed herself to utter one excited little squeal, then took a deep breath to calm herself. Time to get acquainted with her room.

  She had nothing to unpack, though she did notice there was a big chest of drawers — she’d be able to keep her scuba gear here once she picked it up from Maggie. Then again, that wasn’t exactly a priority — with only half a tank of air left, she wasn’t exactly going to use it all up immediately. Better to keep it for a special occasion, she thought, frowning a little. It was likely that the next dive she took was going to be her last.

  That didn’t bear thinking about, so she moved on. Did one brisk circuit of the room — a chest of drawers, a bedside table, a bigger desk with a chair at it, and a single-sized bed (maybe a little larger — it wasn’t as if seventeenth-century Scotland had factory-sized mattresses, after all.) There was also a little fireplace, which pleased her. Nancy always got cold easily and knowing that she could light a fire made her feel a lot better about the prospect of staying here.

  Through a wooden door in the far wall of the room, there was a little room with a tub, she assumed for bathing and she made a note to fetch a bucket of water to wash her face a little later. Did they have buckets? Surely, they had buckets. She wished fiercely that she knew a little bit more about history… but then again, she supposed she didn’t have to know much about it to live here. She’d ask Anna if she had to. Anna had explained over lunch that back in the future (God, that was a strange sentence to think) she had been quite an expert on medieval times — especially sword fighting and medieval martial arts, which was quite a useful coincidence. Nancy wished her own skills were half as useful.