I couldn’t bring myself to bite my tongue. “Why wouldn’t they just call those who were expecting and tell them themselves?”
The corner of Adwen’s mouth turned up in a peculiar smile, and I could tell then that despite his need to leave and see to them, he truly wasn’t all that worried. “They doona have phones with them nor anywhere near where they’re traveling.”
“Are they traveling in Antarctica?”
Aiden walked over to join us while we were talking and suddenly jabbed me in the ribs as if I’d said something very rude.
Adwen just laughed, ignoring me completely as he turned to talk to Aiden.
“I know that I havena met ye yet, but ye seem a good enough man. Could I ask ye a favor? ’Tis no a small one, and I doona know if yer wife would approve of it.”
His question piqued Aiden’s curiosity and immediately he gave his permission. “Aye. What do ye need?”
I stepped back and watched the two of them as Adwen shifted uncomfortably between his feet. I couldn’t wait to hear what he said.
“We are here because Jane and Grace received word that their parents were coming from America for a visit. They dinna ask if they could come, only told them when and where they would meet them. The lassies are no that close with them, but I guess their parents have decided that long enough has passed since they’ve seen them. They’ve never met me nor Eoghanan, and while Jane understands why I must go, she worries that they will think she made me up if I am no there.”
The oddities of these people seemed to grow by the second. They’d rented a castle for an obscene amount of money, Aiden was convinced they’d arrived here by crawling out of some sort of cellar that didn’t exist, they knew the man who was haunting me in my sleep, and now, it almost sounded like Adwen meant to suggest that Aiden step in and take his place.
Aiden must have come to the same conclusion for his entire face pinched up uncomfortably in confusion. “I’m sorry, I doona understand what I can do to help with that.”
“I’m asking that ye pretend to be me for the evening. Jane is fine with it, and the others willna give way to the truth.”
I almost refrained from speaking up, but if he didn’t want me to hear anything, he should’ve asked when I wasn’t around. “I’m sorry but how will that ever work? Even if they believe it now, it’s not like Aiden will be around every time you see your in-laws. That’s sort of a ridiculous thing to ask him.”
“’Tis the only occasion I’ll have to see my in-laws for some time and, from what I’ve heard about them, they both keep themselves in a state no unlike the one Aiden was in the night we arrived.”
Aiden looked like he’d just been asked to save the world. His face lit up with excitement, and he lifted his chest like he was ready to start the charade right away.
“Hush, Gillian, and mind yer own business. If that’s true, then I’ll have no problem doing as ye’ve asked. As far as my wife goes, she willna mind. If I know her at all, she’ll enjoy watching the spectacle. I’m in.”
CHAPTER 9
“Gillian, just what exactly are you looking for? You look sort of crazy, and I’m worried that you might fall out of the window if you lean any farther out.”
Grunting, I clicked off the flashlight and pulled myself back inside before closing the window and twisting to look at Anne. She wore sweats and had her hair pulled up casually and had a frozen pizza she’d just warmed in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. She was all prepared for our grown-up sleepover. We planned to eat way too much food, drink way too much wine, eavesdrop on Aiden’s charade as much as we could and, despite my profound objections, summon the ghost of Orick using some sort of scary-ass book Anne picked up in Glasgow.
“I feel crazy, Anne. I really, really do, but I’m telling you, I just can’t shake the feeling that something is way off with these people. I think Aiden was right about them that first night here. It doesn’t make sense that they don’t have a car, and what sort of car service do you know of that brings people all the way out here?”
Anne glared at me and shut the bedroom door as she set down the wine and pizza. “I don’t know of any, truthfully, but that doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Have you gotten into Aiden’s pain pills or something because you’re starting to sound a lot like him? If you have, I’m not letting you into this wine. I can’t handle that sort of crazy tonight.”
“No.” I walked across the room and grabbed the corkscrew off the table, working away at the wine bottle while I spoke. “I have not been into the pain pills.” The cork popped out of the bottle, and I paused to take it off of the corkscrew before pouring us each a hearty glass. “You know how Adwen had to leave? Well, I started questioning him about a car, and he kept insisting that he would walk down into the village where someone would pick him up.”
Anne swallowed a big swig before shrugging her shoulders at me, annoyed. “So?”
“So?” I sat my glass down so I could swing my arms about in aggravation. “So? Who does that? Who walks all the way into the village in the mist and the rain?”
“People who like walking.”
I shook my head, frustrated that she didn’t see the oddity in his behavior. “I like walking, but not in the rain. It was just too weird so I insisted that he let me drive him and guess what? The whole way there he acted just as stressed as he could be—like he didn’t really need to go to the village at all.”
Anne laughed and moved to fill up her glass.
“Please don’t tell me that you’re suggesting he didn’t need to go into the village because he actually needed to walk around to the side of the castle and leave through some secret cellar.”
I looked down at my glass as I answered her. “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”
“Oh, come on, Gillian. You looked already. I looked too and didn’t find anything. Aiden just made that up or dreamed it or something. You remember how out of it he was that night.”
“I do remember, but you can’t deny how weird these people are.”
For the first time, she nodded in agreement. “They are weird and the whole thing with the painting is super bizarre, but so what? They’re paying you a ton of money to be here, and they will leave the day after tomorrow so just suck it up and don’t worry about it right now.”
I placed both hands over my face and exhaled as calmly as I could.
“Fine.”
“Great. Now, why don’t you tell me just exactly what you were doing hanging out the window when I walked in here?”
“Oh.” I glanced over at the still open window and the flashlight lying on the end of my bed. “I was watching for Adwen, trying to see if he would walk back over here from the village.”
Anne didn’t say anything, only shook her head and sat down her glass of wine before moving to open the door and step out into the hallway.
I stood and followed her out of the room. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not going to do anything other than stand there and watch, but you need to go downstairs and give a quick welcome to Jane and Grace’s parents so we can get back up here and eat our pizza.”
“What?” I backed back into the room. “I don’t need to do that.”
She smiled and gave a funny little giggle that made me wonder if she’d started in on the wine a little before coming to my room.
“You’re right, but it will give us a chance to see how Aiden’s faring. I’m very curious.”
* * *
The moment we walked into the small sitting room that lay off the grand dining hall, I knew it was a mistake. The group was deep in a heated conversation about Cooper, and they all hushed immediately when the old man spotted Anne and me lingering in the doorway.
Sweat hung visibly on Aiden’s brow, and I could tell he already regretted his agreement.
“Can we help you with something?”
It was the old man who spoke and, immediately, I didn’t like him. His glare, his tone, his posture—everything about the
way he carried himself screamed that he believed himself to be above me, and he didn’t appreciate my intrusion.
“I just wanted to welcome you to Cagair Castle. I hope you have a lovely visit with your daughters. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything.”
The man turned away from me, not bothering to thank me or address me further as he spoke to his daughters as if I weren’t there.
“Why would your contractor feel the need to come and welcome us to the castle? In truth, I’m rather surprised to find you’ve hired a woman. I assumed it was a man.”
I started to protest, but Jane stood and spoke up before I had the chance.
“Yes. Yes, she’s a she and she’s done a wonderful job, don’t you think. She came to welcome you because she’s polite, Father. Why don’t you extend her the same courtesy?”
The old scrooge turned and nodded at me in apology before opening his mouth to start in on Anne.
“And who is that? Surely not someone you’ve hired. She’s dressed so slovenly.”
“She’s the cook.” Jane stared right at us, clearly pleading with her eyes for us to go along with whatever she said.
“The cook? Then, why is she dressed like that?”
“Because she...” Anne put great emphasis on the word as she spoke up, making it evident she didn’t appreciate being talked about like she wasn’t there. Anne always spoke her mind, but I had a feeling that the wine made her even braver than usual. “...is off-duty. Now, if you’ll excuse us.”
She pulled at my arm as we stepped away from the doorway, and I could hear her seething the entire way as I followed her back up to my bedroom.
Once the door was closed, she let loose on me.
“What an awful, horrible man. Why, I’d like to shove this soon-to-be-empty wine bottle right up his ass—not that there’s room since he’s so full of shit.”
I allowed my eyes to bug out of my head in the shock I felt at her manner of speech before I collapsed into a fit of giggles that nearly brought me down to the floor.
In a short moment, she joined right in along with me, and I knew whatever anger she had before was now gone.
“He was terrible but Jane behaved even more strangely. Do her parents think that she owns this castle? Why else would she say I was the contractor?”
Anne pulled on the chair tucked into the crook of my desk and took a seat as she answered.
“You know, downstairs I didn’t know what to think about any of it, but you must be right. Okay, I think I’m on board with you now. The whole thing is creepy—you deserve far more explanation than they’ve given you, no matter how much they are willing to pay.”
I raised my glass to hers so that we could clink them together. “Agreed. I’ll talk to Jane about it in the morning but, tonight, let’s just enjoy some girl time.”
Anne pointed to the old book she had laid open on the table with a smile that sent dread running through me.
“And let’s summon the spirit of that gorgeous dead man who keeps haunting you.”
“I’m going to need more wine before I have the courage to get started in any of that business. Would you mind going over to close the window, Anne? The rain seems to be blowing a bit horizontally.”
Wine glass in hand, Anne moved over to the window, leaning out of it to breathe in the wet air.
“It smells so lovely, and the wind actually feels kind of nice. Do you want to go run around in it?”
I snickered from across the room. “You’re quite the lightweight aren’t you, Anne?”
She didn’t answer me, and I assumed she couldn’t hear me with the way she had her head hanging out the window as she tossed her head back and forth trying to catch raindrops with her tongue.
I turned away from her to grab a slice of pizza just as she let out a horrified shriek.
“What is it?”
I ran over to her as she pulled herself back inside, wide eyes and shock on her face.
“There’s a man out there, Gillian.”
“A man.” Instantly I thought of Adwen and anger surged through me. I moved over to the bed to grab my flashlight. “I knew it. I knew that lying rat didn’t need to go to the village.”
Anne shut the window and ran over to follow me as I walked toward the door.
“It didn’t look like Adwen.”
“It’s dark outside, Anne. How could you tell?”
“I know it’s dark but I’m telling you, I don’t think it was Adwen. Maybe it was the ghost—maybe we summoned him.”
I shook my head and brushed past her. “It’s not the ghost. We haven’t even started to try and summon him yet. Are you coming with me or are you staying here?”
Anne shook her head so hard that water droplets from the rain scattered around the room.
“No way. I’m staying here. If it’s Adwen, I think it’s best that you have that confrontation on your own and just tell me about it later, and if it’s the ghost…well, I don’t think I can take that. So, you’re on your own.”
“That’s fine. Just save me some pizza. I’ll be back with that lying creep in tow in just a few minutes.”
I left her and marched down the castle’s back set of steps as my frustration grew with each step downward. I would go out the back doorway, so as not to impose on the other group of liars in the front of the castle.
The wind blew so fiercely that I had to pull the door with all of my might to get it to open. When it finally did, I fell backward a few steps, catching myself on the wall as I looked up to see a tall shadow standing in the doorway.
Every ounce of breath left my body in one fell swoop as shock and fear paralyzed me.
Jane was right. Adwen wasn’t heading toward the imaginary cellar.
My ghost stood not two feet from me.
CHAPTER 10
The lass looked terrified but, even as the color drained from her cheeks, he knew she was the very reason he felt pulled to walk down the secret set of steps. He didn’t know her, not her name or why she dressed so differently from Marion, but he’d seen those fiery locks of hair before.
Even without the memory in his mind, he knew she was why he was here. It was an overwhelming connection he couldn’t explain. Whether it was from a memory lost to him or it was still to come, he knew the lass standing before him would hold his heart.
He wanted to reach for her, to pull her against him and into an embrace so that his fingers could wind their way up into her locks of hair. Perhaps she was the witch whose den Marion suspected he would wander into, for with eyes so green, he felt she bewitched his very soul.
He still didn’t understand what happened to him in the stairwell. He walked down the steps but, instead of finding a tunnel or a room, he was swallowed by a watery wall he couldn’t make sense of. He thought it killed him for sleep found him quickly—a dark, strange sleep that seemed like it would go on forever until he woke inside the same stairwell as before.
Eager to avoid the same unconsciousness once more, he fled the steps, crawling back out onto the lawn as if nothing had happened. Confused and eager to find shelter from the rain, he looked for the nearest door of the castle. Just as he neared it, the door flung itself open to reveal the woman he stared back at now.
“I’m sorry, lass. I dinna mean to frighten ye. ’Twas the door nearest me. I only meant to escape the storm.”
He watched her as she opened and closed her mouth as if the words she wanted to say wouldn’t come, and he wondered for a moment if she were mute.
Slowly, so as not to frighten her, he took a step closer. The lass had fallen backwards from the weight of the door but caught herself with the wall, and she still held herself up against it. He extended his hand toward her, hoping to help pull her upright. The movement startled her, and he stepped back into the rain at the shock of hearing her voice.
“No, no, no. You just stay back. Are you…I’m going to touch you, okay?”
Her words surprised him both in meaning and in tone. She w
as breathless, shaking all over, but still her eyes held a curiosity and fearlessness that he admired. He nodded his permission and closed his eyes as her hand reached toward him. She gently placed her palm on his chest, her fingers resting on the side of his neck.
It took his breath away and tightened the muscles of his stomach as he forced his eyes to open as she spoke.
“Holy mother of God. You are not a ghost, are you? You’re not dead.”
He stepped toward her again so that he stood underneath the overhang and out of the rain as he leaned into the doorway.
“No, lass. I am verra pleased to tell ye that I am no a ghost, and I am no dead yet. I must ask ye though, do ye know me? Did ye think I was dead?”
He had to remind himself to breathe as he waited for her answer. He desperately wanted to hear her say yes. He wanted her to know him in the way he wanted to know her. If she was the life he’d forgotten, he could walk into the future unafraid whether he remembered or not.
“If I did know you, wouldn’t you know who I was?”
His heart sank at her answer.
“No, I’m afraid that I wouldna. I took a fall many moons ago, and I canna remember anything before that. I was saved by a cave dwelling lass and just this eve have left her company to go in search of who I was.”
He didn’t know enough about people to read the girl’s expression, but she looked more shocked to him now than she did when she first laid eyes on him.
“Are you serious, or are you just another part of the crazy that has invaded Cagair Castle over the last few days?”
He didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Aye, I’m verra serious. No, I doona believe that I am.”
The woman’s eyes softened toward him. Slowly, she waved him inside.
“Okay, then. It must be very hard for you to not remember anything.”
Once he stepped inside, she reached around him and closed the door, bumping into his chest as she did so. She stilled, and he didn’t miss the way her breath caught at the impact. He didn’t know if she was frightened or if she felt the same exquisite thump of her heart as he did—he very much hoped it was the latter.
Love Beyond Dreams (A Scottish Time Travel Romance): Book 6 (Morna's Legacy Series) Page 5
