“Why, child, I wasna expectin’ ye,” she said. “I heard ye was married, is it true?”
“Aye, ma’am, ‘tis true.” She waved her hand at Pietro and turned back to the old lady. “That’ll be him.”
Pietro started at this blatant lie and wished she might have filled him in on her plan ahead of time. He took a step forward but was rooted to the spot by Bella’s glare.
Granny Jinty craned her neck around to get a better look at him. He raised his hand in a half wave, not even sure if she could see it.
“He’s none so big as the lads described,” she said.
Bella shrugged. “He’s plenty big,” she said. “We’re on our way to his land, and wonderin’ if we can spend the night.”
“Has the feast happened already, then?” Granny Jinty seemed to shrink even more, her wizened face collapsing into a frown. “The lads promised to fetch me for it.”
“No, Granny, the feast has no’ taken place yet. We, er, just wanted to get on with things.” She turned to him and gave him a desperate look.
He hurried forward. Ah, so was he not supposed to hang back and be daft after all?
“There’s urgent business on my land, ma’am,” he said, turning to Bella for approval. She merely closed her eyes. “We had to be on our way before the feast.”
Granny Jinty got close enough for him to count the hairs on her chin, squinting at him with her rheumy eyes.
“But I thought the feast was—” she started.
Bella grabbed his arm and all but flung him towards the second hut.
“No, Granny,” she said loudly, backing away from the old lady. “If it’s quite all right wi’ ye, we’ll stay in the other cottage?”
“Aye, of course ye may,” she said, looking confused. “Here, take a light.”
Muttering to herself, she turned back into her own hut, returning a moment later with a lamp for them.
Bella let out a deep sigh and pulled him hurriedly into the other cottage, which was slightly larger than Granny Jinty’s but not the least bit luxurious.
A large straw stuffed mattress was on the floor, covered by a threadbare quilt. A spindle leg chair and a spinning wheel took up one corner of the room, while a tiny fireplace, basin and kettle took up most of one wall. A wooden chest covered by a square of needle worked linen was wedged in on the far side of the mattress.
Bella hung the lamp on a hook in the wall and they both stared at each other.
“Well, I suppose this is our honeymoon,” she finally said.
Pietro sat down on the mattress and put his head in his hands.
Chapter 10
They couldn’t have been in the woods performing the failed ritual for more than an hour, but when they returned to the castle, Mellie, Sam and Evie were all gone. Piper knew Mellie had classes, and Sam and Evie would have gone back to his house in the village, but she still felt abandoned.
She went straight to her room and slumped onto the bed, gazing up at Lachlan, who had followed behind her. He’d been quiet the entire walk back, shaking his head distractedly to every question she’d asked.
The whole walk home she’d wondered why the spell hadn’t worked, when it had worked so many times for Lachlan.
He assured her he’d done everything the same. The only variable was herself.
Maybe she had to do the other spell, the one that was tinged with evil and bad feelings. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to do it again, even with Daria’s nasty packet of human finger bones and the grimoire with the spell in it that caused her to say things she didn’t understand and fall into fearsome trances.
She was terrified it might send Lachlan back without her and she’d never see him again. That she’d disappear here in the present and Lachlan would never be able to find her. He’d spend the rest of his life trying to get back to her and she would never have existed. Would his memory of her cease to exist as well?
“Ye must stop,” Lachlan said gently, tracing his finger along her eyebrows. “Ye’re getting all scrunched up from worry.”
She tried to relax, but couldn’t. She wanted to keep moving, act. Get this taken care of once and for all.
“We should try the other way,” she said, heart pounding with the frantic decision. “Right now.”
“But how?” he asked, looking at her with pity in his eyes. “Ye dinna want to tell yer friends so they may help us find a way?”
She shook her head. “No, definitely not. What if they get sucked back with us?” She gasped when another thought struck her. “Lachlan, when you’ve done it your way, did anyone ever get sent with you? Accidentally?”
He swallowed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I dinna think so,” he said slowly, looking sick. “I canna be sure. I pray not.”
Piper wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into his chest, trying to calm down.
“We don’t know anything,” she said finally, her voice muffled in the folds of his plaid.
She pushed away to look up at him. He still looked stricken with the thought of what he might have done, if some innocent had been hurtled forward in time. It was a certain death sentence, and she shuddered at the thought of it.
When Evie and Sam had been mistakenly sent back, they’d barely made it home alive.
Lachlan’s first trip to her time had been a mistake as well, he’d been caught in the blast radius of Daria’s spell to send Brian Duncan forward, so the murderer could try to escape justice. It was pure luck that Piper was able to perform the necessary rituals to get him back.
“We have to stop,” she said, clutching him tighter to keep from shaking. “We don’t know what we’ve been doing, how many people might have suffered. I don’t think we should try again—” her voice caught on the tears she’d been holding back since they had failed in the woods.
Lachlan stroked her hair and smoothed his hand down her back.
“There now, lass, we willna think of it anymore tonight.”
He kissed the top of her head and eased her back down against her pillows. She curled into a ball and tried to push all thought from her mind.
“We’ll get some rest and start anew tomorrow, aye?”
He lay down next to her and pulled her to him, stroking her hair and whispering endearments until she managed to shut off her troubled musings and fell asleep.
***
The next morning she awoke feeling so hale and hearty, she couldn’t even begin to believe that everything she knew could disappear at any moment.
Some time after she fell asleep, Lachlan must have taken off her shoes, but she was still in her jeans and sweater from the day before.
Lachlan was asleep beside her and she edged carefully out of bed so as not to wake him. He’d been so sweet yesterday and she felt mildly ashamed for not being braver.
Thoughts of what she was supposed to do persistently kept trying to crowd out her fresh morning good mood and she was fighting a mental uphill battle to push the pesky worries away.
She slipped on some shorts and a tank top and rolled her yoga mat out on the far side of the room, to do some poses in the frail sunlight that was shining through her window.
As she powered through the familiar moves, she began to feel more confident that things would all be fine.
However, she knew she couldn’t continue working out forever, and feared reality would crash in on her when she got to her final child’s pose.
“That is verra nice,” Lachlan said, startling her out of a downward facing dog.
She twisted around and sat down hard on her mat, feeling her cheeks heating up. How long had he been awake and staring at her scantily covered ass?
Prostitutes in his time wore more clothes than she was wearing now.
She laughed nervously as he rolled out of bed and joined her on the mat.
He leaned over and kissed her sweaty shoulder, licking the salt off his lips.
“Good morning,” she whispered, leaning in to let him kiss her on the mouth.
She was already loose and relaxed from her workout, this was the perfect way to end it.
He slid his hand up her bare thigh, running his finger under the edge of her shorts, smiling through the kiss when he realized she wasn’t wearing anything under them.
“It’s for ease of movement,” she said, embarrassed.
He laughed and pulled them down. “That was quite easy,” he agreed, continuing to kiss her while his other hand made its way under her top.
She melted backwards onto the mat and he spread her legs with his knee, positioning himself atop her.
Planting her hands on his chest she stopped his descent as he leaned down to kiss her. She ran her hands over his shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut.
He rolled onto his back, bringing her around so she was astride him. His hands slowly moved up and down her sides and she opened her eyes to look at him. His dark blue gaze met hers questioningly.
His rugged face was half hidden in his sleep tousled hair and she reached down and brushed it back, sliding her hands down the hard planes of his stubbled jaw. She gently touched the edge of his bruise. He smiled so sweetly that her breath hitched.
When she and Mellie had first seen him stumble out of the tower room wielding a battle axe, they’d both been ready to scream bloody murder and take off running.
Then the guileless smile that took over the fierce warrior’s face stopped them in their tracks, and they knew they could trust him.
He was the sun in her sky and she yearned to bask in his smile forever. She traced his dimple with her fingertip and leaned over and kissed him.
“There were times,” she started, not taking her eyes from his face, “that I thought it wasn’t real.”
She shuddered at the memories of the sleepless nights without him and he stroked her arms, took her hands in his and kissed them.
“It was hard for any of us to talk about what happened. We had to keep quiet about so much.”
A tear rolled down her cheek and he brushed it away with his thumb.
“Piper,” he said huskily.
She shook her head and continued. “There were times that I was scared you weren’t real.”
He pulled her down to kiss her deeply, parting her trembling lips with his tongue and holding her tight against his strong body, so she could feel his heart beating next to hers.
“I am real,” he said, shifting them effortlessly so she was underneath him again. “We are real.”
Pressing her hips up to meet him, he gripped her bottom and slid into her. She gasped and clung to him as he pressed his forehead into her shoulder.
“I love ye so,” he said into her neck, kissing her as he drove deeply.
She wrapped her legs around him and met his every thrust.
She wanted him. All of him, not just the slow building sensation that grew and radiated and would soon overpower her from the caresses of his body, but his heart and mind and soul.
She had never known such a hunger.
As they moved together, his breath warm against her throat, his hands sliding sinuously along her body, Piper wrapped her arms around his neck and held on, almost strangling him as she succumbed to the ecstasy he gave her.
Her skin felt like it shimmered all over, burning and then finally doused. He collapsed on top of her and rolled slightly to the side, taking her with him since she refused to let go.
She shook in his arms from her wild release and he held her tight, absorbing the tremors.
When she released her limpet grip and rolled onto her back on the mat, she made sure to keep one hand on him, just in case.
“I shall do whatever ye say, Piper,” he said finally.
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I’m just glad you’re here with me.”
He put his arm around her and leaning over, kissed her deeply, then looked into her eyes.
His were burning and darkest blue and they seared into the depths of her. She had to struggle to breathe against the intensity of her feelings.
She swallowed hard. “I like to do things, get things done,” she started hesitantly, trying not to get lost in his gaze. “I’m not a cold hearted person, but I’ve never been that troubled by feelings.”
She squeezed her eyes shut to keep more tears from rolling out. “But now, you make me feel …”
“What?” Lachlan asked softly, after she was silent for a long moment.
“Everything,” she said, opening her eyes and taking him in, this big stranger who had her heart. “All of it. Good and bad. It scares me.”
“I shall protect ye,” he said.
Piper laughed and brushed his hair back. “You can’t protect me from my own feelings.”
“Aye, I can.” He smiled down at her. “I will.”
His kiss swept her free of her worries, fortified her with the strength of his love.
“Can ye show me what the village is like in this time?” he asked, coming up for air.
She sank back with relief at the suggestion, a perfect distraction to their drama.
“Yes, most definitely,” she said. “Let’s do that.”
She scrambled up off the yoga mat and rushed to get dressed, giggling when he quailed at having to wear his modern clothes again. When he was all zipped up she reached around and brazenly gripped his behind, causing him to break out in a surprised grin.
“You’re very handsome, Lachlan,” she said, stepping back and admiring him. “We can get you some more clothes, maybe something looser, though I like looking at you in those tight jeans.”
At the clothing shop in town, Destiny's eyes nearly goggled right out of her head when Piper came in, followed by Lachlan in all his massive tight-denimed glory.
After they finally stuffed him into a changing room with an armload of clothes, it looked like Destiny was going to have apoplexy if she couldn’t get to her phone to tell someone about the hot stranger from the castle who was in her shop.
The villagers, bless them, were the biggest lot of gossip hounds Piper ever knew, and having grown up in the small Texas town of Dilbert, that was saying a lot.
When she had first moved to Scotland, there was a tiny smattering of attention, and a few articles were published about her, the American heiress. It wasn’t until she’d recently given away nearly half her fortune that the media really came down on her. She’d been dubbed a hero, an anti-hero, a saint, a crazy person, and embarrassingly, Britain’s Cutest Philanthropist.
For a short time the village had swarmed with people hoping to get a story or picture, but the people of Castle on Hill were tight lipped around strangers. To the best of her knowledge none of them had ever sold any pictures or stories about her. Still, they loved talking amongst themselves, and she wasn’t sure she wanted them to know too much about Lachlan, just yet.
With a sigh, Piper started to do damage control.
“He does war reenactments on the property,” she explained in an undertone. “He’d wear his kilt all the time if he could.”
Destiny nodded. “Men can be fair crazy,” she said.
They both gasped when he came from behind the curtain in a pair of cargo pants and no shirt. Between his powerfully chiseled chest and the scary looking stitches in his side, Piper had to grab Destiny’s arm to keep her from falling over.
“Well, those fit quite well,” Destiny sputtered. “And they’re on sale.”
Piper laughed and tossed a shirt at Lachlan, who rolled his eyes and returned to the changing room.
They bought a few new shirts and Lachlan wore the cargo trousers out of the store. He was delighted with all the pockets, and hardly complained about the snug fit. They walked to Maclean’s Bookseller, where they were going to meet Sam and Evie.
Sam’s new employee, a bespectacled boy with flaming red hair, waved at them from the register, then hollered across the store for Sam. He emerged from the rows of books, followed by Evie, who looked flushed.
Piper could tell in a blink that Evie still hadn’t told hi
m. He was solicitously letting her go ahead of him, with his hand resting lightly in the small of her back, but his actions in no way screamed anything other than sweet boyfriend. Certainly not new dad-to-be.
She scowled at Evie, who gave her a nearly imperceptible shake of the head and a slight look of dismay.
“What are you going to do now?” Evie asked after hugging the stuffing out of Piper, and squeezing Lachlan’s forearm anxiously.
“We’re going to get lunch, right?” Piper glanced over at the ginger sales boy and hustled them all out of the store.
“I’m so glad Padma doesn’t work there anymore,” Evie hissed into Piper’s ear as they walked to the pub.
Sam and Lachlan were following behind, deep in their own serious looking conversation.
“I’m not going to encourage your craziness,” Piper said. “And I’m also not going to nag you about why you haven’t told Sam yet.”
Evie sighed, then groaned. “I don’t know why he hasn’t guessed yet,” she said irritably. “I throw up roughly every half hour. Morning sickness, my ass. Mine goes all day.”
“You’re a piece of work, Evie.”
Evie shrugged. “There’s plenty of time. What happened yesterday?”
Piper explained how the spell hadn’t worked, and her newfound reasons for not wanting to try again.
Evelyn clutched her stomach in dismay at the mention of people getting inadvertently sent to another time.
At the pub they sat in a secluded booth and ordered sandwiches with the amount of gravitas as if it would be their last meal. Piper pushed away the thought that anything she did could be the last time for her. Unless Evie’s paradox rants were absolutely true, it seemed it was only a matter of time before her entire existence unraveled.
She tried to relax and concentrate on soaking up the time she had with her friends. Her mood actually started to lighten as they chatted about inconsequential things, and even the service was better than usual.
The waitress brought out complimentary salads along with six different dressings. She kept freshening their lagers and teas without being asked, and little bowls of pickles and crisps kept appearing as she hovered around their table. When she leaned over Piper to give Lachlan some fresh napkins, Sam huffed irritably and dropped his fork with a clatter.
Reunited (Book 2 of Lost Highlander series) Page 8
