She shrugged and swung her body forward as she sprang from the bed. “Perhaps. Silva, ye do know that ye are back in yer bedchamber now, aye? With only me to hear ye speak, ye doona need to use the accent.”
My passable-at-best Scottish brogue had become part of my identity for so long that I always found it difficult to slip back into my real skin.
Few people knew the truth of who I was. Silva Broun, keeper of a seventeenth century Scottish territory in the northernmost part of the Highlands was truly a twenty-first century American who fell in love with an extraordinary man and out of her own time.
Chapter 2
“You’re right.” Smiling in Olivia’s direction, I relaxed my neck, rolled my head from side to side and shook out my shoulders. “It’s necessary so much of the time that it just sticks. Sometimes I feel as if my American accent is the one I’m faking.”
Olivia laughed and shook her head. “No, I can assure ye that yer American accent sounds much more genuine. I doona know how no one has ever questioned yer Scottish one.”
“They have no reason to. The truth wouldn’t even occur as a possibility to most people I know.”
“What about Raudrich? Both his best friend and his wife are time travelers as ye are. How did he never see it?”
“For most of the time that I’ve known Raudrich, his life has been in chaos. When we first met, he’d just lost his brother. Then Ross passed away, and not long after, Raudrich’s sight began to fail as a result of him being separated from the other members of The Eight and he was forced to leave here. I don’t think he had the time or energy to question anything outside of what was going on in his own world. I don’t blame him for that.”
“Ye are right.”
Olivia sighed and took a step forward to wrap her arms around me. She was twenty years old, but she still seemed like such a child.
“Silva, may I tell ye something?”
“Of course you can.”
“I’m coming with ye when ye leave here.”
Olivia wasn’t going anywhere, but I saw no need to shatter her dreams without first hearing her out.
“You are? Does your mother know this?”
Olivia groaned, stepped away from me, and dramatically threw herself backwards on the bed.
“Why does she need to know? Did ye ask yer father’s permission for everything ye did when ye were my age? Most of the women I grew up with are already married with three bairns hanging off them. When my own mother was my age, I was six years old.”
I shuddered thinking about Leanna’s situation—not that it was unusual in this time, but my new stepmother was only six years older than myself, and she’d already birthed seven children. The fact that five of them still lived put her in the lucky minority of most mothers in this time.
“No, I didn’t, but I did at least inform him of my plans most of the time.”
“Ah-ha.” She sat up and held up one finger as if to let me know that she had me exactly where she wanted me. “Ye just said most. Most of the time ye spoke to him of yer plans. Not all. Most of the time, I do tell my mother things, but I doona wish to tell her this.”
I mimicked her earlier motion and threw myself backwards on the bed.
“How do you even know you want to come with me? I’m not even sure where I’ll go.”
This was so true that every time I thought about it, panic seized me. All I knew for sure was that I couldn’t stay here. Not where every corner reminded me of Ross. Not when I could see the pity in the gaze of every villager each time I spoke with them. It would be difficult to leave my father, but at least now I knew he was okay, in love, and with his hands so full with his newly acquired children that he’d hardly notice my absence.
“I doona care where ye go. It has to be better than this. Why doona ye take me to the future? There is nothing I’d like to see more.”
I sighed and ran my palms over my face before rolling to bury my head into the pillow. Part of me longed to return to the twenty-first century, but it was the one thing I couldn’t do. It was the only promise Ross had ever begged me to make.
“You know that I can’t do that.”
Olivia stared at me and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. I couldn’t bear to hear her accusation one more time so I quickly held up a hand to stop her.
“Don’t. Don’t say that he knew about the stairwell at Cagair Castle. We didn’t keep things from one another. If Ross had known, he would’ve told me.”
Until just a few months prior, I’d believed that the only way to travel back and forth between the centuries without Ross’ magic was to find another with magic, and that always seemed far too risky. But not long after Raudrich returned to The Isle of Eight Lairds, a woman showed up—a modern woman, from my own time—who’d traveled back via a magical stairwell in the castle she called home.
I’d never been so shocked to learn anything in my entire life. It was then that the two of us decided to travel to The Isle with Griffith MacChristy as our escort. We both had reasons to confront Raudrich. Sydney wished to understand why he’d so abruptly cut off contact with her, and I needed to beg him to choose another to be laird.
While I was entirely confident that Ross had no knowledge of such a stairwell, Olivia believed otherwise.
“Fine. I willna say it, but ye know deep inside that ye think it possible too. Otherwise, ’twouldna make ye so angry every time I mention it. If he dinna know there was another way for ye to get back, why would he have made ye promise to stay here?”
“He didn’t want me to search for another person with magic. Time travel is dangerous, Olivia. It hurt like hell when we came back. He was only worried about my safety.”
Seeing that she needed to change the subject, she sighed and moved on. “Then where will ye go? Unless ye wish to move into the cottage with Mother, yer da, Gavin, Madie, Saundra, and little Davy, ye only have tonight to decide.”
“In his letter, Raudrich invited me to visit The Isle. I’m sure if he was genuine in his invitation, I could ride back with him.”
“Ride back with him?”
I’d forgotten that he’d only just arrived when I bumped into him in the woods.
“He’s here. He came to see Griffith settled and to reassure the people of the village once again that all is well.”
Olivia grinned mischievously and wiggled her eyebrows at me. “I know why ye wish to visit The Isle.”
Shaking my head, I rolled back over and scooted up until my back leaned against the headboard. “I should’ve never told you about what happened at the wedding.”
“Told me? Ye brought me to the wedding. Ye had to tell me something when ye dinna return to our room that night.”
Images of the stranger I’d found comfort with that night flooded my mind. His strong muscles, dark eyes, his lips that felt like velvet against my skin—I shuddered with need just thinking about it.
As if she could read my mind, Olivia’s mouth fell open. “See? That is why ye wish to return to The Isle. Ye wish to see him again.”
“Liv,” before I could say another word, she placed both hands on my shoulders to stop me.
“What did ye just call me?”
Confused, I struggled to decide if she looked angry or thrilled.
“Um…I called you Liv. Did you not like it? I don’t have to call you that again. It’s just a nickname.”
Her eyes were as wide as I’d ever seen them. “A nickname? Is this something from yer own time?”
“Not really. I’m sure there are lots of people that go by something other than their real name here.”
“Aye, but they doona call them a nickname, and I’ve never had one.” She smiled and gently shook my shoulders. “I love it. Please doona ever call me anything else.”
I laughed and held out my hand to shake hers. “Agreed. Okay so, Liv, back to what I was saying…even if I wished to see that man again, I won’t be finding him at The Isle. He was from the future, like me. I think he was ju
st good friends with Laurel and somehow she arranged for him to come down for the wedding. I’m sure Sydney passed him through the stairwell at Cagair.”
Olivia made no effort to hide her disappointment. “So ye’ll never see him again?”
“Nope. I’ll never see him again, and that’s just fine by me.”
“I doona believe ye. I saw the look in yer eye when ye stumbled back into the room after the sun was up the next day. Ye looked happy for the first time in ages.”
I had been happy—happy because I’d just had some of the best sex of my life with one of the most handsome men I’d ever seen. And he’d been so kind. Perfect, really. For the night, he’d been just what I needed, but I didn’t have the heart to tell sweet, innocent Olivia that sometimes what you need for a night isn’t what you need for forever.
“It doesn’t really matter, does it? He’s in the future. I’m here in this time now. I’ll never see him again. Besides, I don’t even know his name.”
Chapter 3
The Isle of Eight Lairds
* * *
“A little bit higher please, Marcus. Just three more inches, and I think I’ll be able to reach it.”
Holding onto both of Kate’s ankles, Marcus stood on the tips of his toes so that Kate could reach the high hook with her one hand.
“You do know that I could do this with magic and it wouldn’t require you treating me like a jungle gym, right?”
Grunting as she slid the picture hook over the nail installed earlier by Maddock, Kate answered him. “Yes, I know, but this is so much more fun. And it takes longer, which means you’re stuck here with me for the afternoon.”
Marcus never felt “stuck” when he was with Kate, but his concern for the woman standing on his shoulders did make it difficult for him to enjoy the time spent with her.
Ever since Paton—one of the eight druids sworn to protect The Isle—had hurled himself into the land of the faeries to save Kate’s life, she’d been working herself to the point of exhaustion remodeling and decorating the castle. Not that the castle wasn’t in need of it. Decades of being inhabited by men had taken its toll on the once glorious hallways and rooms. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Kate seemed to be trying to renovate Murray Castle at a speed that would send her to an early grave if she didn’t slow down soon.
“I can’t reach any higher without levitating off the floor, which I might be able to manage if you want me to try it.”
The thought of testing his magic out in such a way piqued his interest more than any other task he’d performed all morning.
“Nope. I…” He glanced up to see her reaching. “I think I’ve got it.”
She relaxed on his shoulders as the painting slid into place.
“Okay, you can set me down now.”
“Thank God. Druid or not, your bony feet hurt my shoulders.”
Just before he lowered Kate to the ground, Laurel’s voice boomed at them from the doorway. “What in the world are you two doing? Marcus, put her down. What if she fell and broke the one hand she has?”
Kate laughed and bent to place her palm on top of Marcus’ head for support, crouched down to slip to her butt and then slowly crawled off him.
“Calm down, sis. If I broke my hand, Marcus and the other guys would heal it.”
“Yes, but they wouldn’t be able to do that for days—not until Raudrich returns from Allen territory. With him and Paton away…they can’t risk the use of such strong magic.” Laurel’s words drifted as she took in Kate’s expression.
Still helping her steady herself, Marcus winked reassuringly at Kate.
“He’s fine, Kate. He’s the power to withstand anything that old asshole of a faerie tries to do to him. The choice was his. You hold no responsibility for his actions.”
“We don’t know that he will be okay. We can’t know that.”
Laurel stepped up beside him and moved in to pull her sister close. “You’re right, but we have to believe that he will be okay. It’s all we can do.”
Sighing, Marcus turned to leave the two sisters but was stopped by Kate’s voice before he reached the doorway.
“Oh, no you don’t. We’re not done yet. And I don’t want to talk about Paton.”
Dutifully, he turned and went to lean against the new and suspiciously modern-looking kitchen island. “I really don’t think I have the strength to let you stand on my shoulders for another half hour.”
She dismissed him and jumped to sit on top of the island. “We’re done decorating for the time being. Right now, I want to talk about you.”
“About me?” Nothing she could’ve said would’ve filled him with more dread than that.
“Yes. You. We’re,” Kate paused and elbowed Laurel to rally her sister’s support, “worried about you.”
Marcus laughed and crossed his arms defensively across his chest. “You two are worried about me? You,” he nodded his head toward Laurel, “have finally got your mojo back and only come out of your writing cave for a few hours a day and you,” he looked at Kate, “are decorating yourself into a breakdown. You guys have to see how ironic it is that you two are worried about me.”
They shrugged in unison and Marcus smiled. They never seemed to be able to see how similar they really were.
“Sure,” Kate acknowledged, “we both have our problems, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be worried about our friend.”
Laurel took a step forward and continued where Kate left off. “She’s right. You had quite the active dating life back in Boston. We’ve been here for quite a while now, and you’ve had exactly no prospects and just as much action.”
The center of his forehead began to throb as his brows pinched together. He would lose his mind if this became a theme around the castle. When Laurel and Kate set their minds to something, there was no deterring them.
“Ladies, I love you both, but please leave this alone. I don’t need you concerning yourselves over my sex life.”
“Ha.” Laurel laughed. “That implies that you have one.”
He jerked up from his relaxed stance and stared down at her. “You’re one to talk, Laurel. Before Raudrich, how long had it been again?”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and continued. “That is entirely beside the point. Listen. As you know, Pinkie has moved to The Isle and is—now that he’s finally over his paralyzing fear of the place—working the castle grounds. As you also know, he has a daughter. I have to say, her mother must have been a stunner of a woman because you sure wouldn’t think one of Pinkie’s offspring would be so pretty. The girl is gorgeous, and she’s rather taken with you.”
Marcus had seen the girl a total of three times. On each occasion, she’d said nothing, only stared at him with wide quiet eyes before turning to run away.
“I thought she was frightened of me.”
Laurel smiled and wiggled her brows. “She’s not scared. She’s into you. I think you should pay her a visit.”
“Pay her a visit? Laurel, you’ve got to be joking. She’s a child.”
“She’s not a child. She’s eighteen.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath. “I’m thirty. If she was a few months younger, back home, I’d be arrested for ‘paying her a visit’.”
Slipping off the island, Kate stepped in between the two of them, grinning like the Cheshire cat. “But not here! Here old guys marry young girls all the time.”
Laurel quickly moved to stand beside him as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder and gaped at Kate in horror.
Patiently, the two of them watched and waited for Kate to hear her own words. Slowly, she scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Oh my gosh, I just heard it. Ugh, I didn’t mean to imply you should do that. It’s creepy. It’s gross. Not right at all. But…in my defense, it is kind of true.”
Frustrated that the two people closest to him thought that he was so desperate that it required him resorting to
dating teenagers, he turned to leave the room.
Laurel quickly called after him. “Where are you going?”
“Anywhere but here. You two are crazy. Don’t worry about my sex life. I’m fine. I promise.”
He wasn’t going to tell them his secret. He didn’t want his memories of that night—of her—to belong to anyone but him.
The night of Laurel’s wedding had been the best night of his life. Spent with a mysterious woman who’d been in as much need of a release as he was, he treasured each memory of that night like a precious jewel.
There was so little in his life that was now only his. The Eight shared almost everything, but that night was his special secret.
A memory he would keep only for himself.
Something he could live off for years.
Chapter 4
Allen Territory
* * *
For hours, Olivia talked me ragged. By the end of our conversation, I knew what I needed to do. The Isle of Eight Lairds made the most sense for so many reasons. For one, besides Allen Territory, it was literally the only place in Scotland where I actually knew anyone. I had no doubt that even if Raudrich’s invitation to stay at the castle had only been out of politeness, he would at least help me find decent lodging somewhere in The Isle’s main village. With any luck, he might even help me procure some sort of work to keep me busy.
Second, there were already twenty-first century women—Raudrich’s wife and her sister—on The Isle. This was the most important factor because not only did it mean I had the opportunity to make friends with people who might understand me, it also meant that I could tell Raudrich the truth of where I was from and he wouldn’t think I was insane or try to burn me at the stake. The only downside to telling Raudrich was that it would mean betraying my husband’s secret. Ross and Raudrich had always been close, but I knew with certainty that Raudrich never knew of Ross’ magic. I imagined it might be somewhat hurtful for Raudrich to now learn that his friend had kept such a huge secret from him.
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