All The Time You Need

by Melissa Mayhue

  But that didn’t mean she was willing to roll over and admit her own guilt.

  “You’re no better than me, then. At least I pretended out of fear.”

  Silence greeted her for the better part of the next five minutes, and she began to think Alexander had drifted off to sleep again.

  “Fear, eh?” he said at last. “That’s what motivated yer actions? And what is it that you think was behind my deceit?”

  Maybe the old man simply wanted to know what his son wouldn’t tell him. “Curiosity?”

  Another snort sounded from the bed. “No’ even close. Love motivated me, my girl. Alex needed to unburden his cares, and I allowed him the opportunity to do exactly that.”

  Annie lay quietly on her pallet, considering Alexander’s reasoning long into the night, long after she heard his breathing change to the deep, slow cadence of sleep. Only then did it occur to her to wonder about why her patient might do any of the things he did. After all, if Alexander had pretended to be oblivious to the world with his own son, had he done the same with others in the room? Maybe even with her?

  Her mind scrambled through a series of moments she could only hope he’d actually slept through, with her adventures of this afternoon leading the parade. If he’d heard some of those things, she really would have to consider that the events of this night couldn’t get any worse.

  “Doesn’t matter,” she whispered, turning on her side and pulling her blanket up over her head.

  She was going to put this whole horrible night out of her mind. Tomorrow she would speak to Alex again, trying out the new approach that had occurred to her this afternoon. Knowing what she now knew about him, it should be a foolproof plan.

  Chapter 11

  Time travel really needed to come equipped with a proper etiquette manual, one designed especially for moments like the one confronting Annie right now.

  Alexander strode down the long hallway ahead of her, accompanied by his two friends. It was the perfect time to speak to him, before he reached the great hall and began his day. If only she could get his attention. She could hardly yell out his name or a random Hey you! And while she might not know for sure the proper form of address for the laird of a clan, she was pretty sure that neither of those were the appropriate way to address him.

  Maybe she could call to him like she would to any stranger walking ahead of her whose attention she needed to attract. Treat him like someone who had just dropped his wallet on the sidewalk. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was as good as anything else she could come up with.

  “Excuse me? Sir?” she called, hurrying forward as her plan seemed to work.

  Alex stopped mid-stride and turned to face her.

  “Sir?” He shook his head and actually smiled. “Yer mistaken, my good lady. There are no sirs here. None of us have yet earned ourselves a knighthood.”

  “Yet,” Jamesy repeated, his ever-present grin lifting the corners of his mouth.

  Alex cast a glare in Jamesy’s direction. “Suppose you and Finn go on ahead. I’ll meet you in the great hall when I’ve finished here.”

  Jamesy dipped his head in acknowledgment, though the smile did not fade from his lips. “As you command, my laird. We’ll await you there.”

  “What is it you’d have of me this day, my lady?”

  “I’ve a request,” Annie began, trying hard not to let Alex’s smile throw her off her stride.

  The laird didn’t smile all that often, but when he did, it had some serious impact. And if his smile wasn’t enough to rattle her, there was always the fact that he stood so close that only a small movement on her part would have her actually touching him.

  A vision of him shirtless, water dripping down his chest, wandered through her memory, and her mouth dried, forcing her to lick her lips.

  “Do continue,” Alex said, his smile appearing only a fraction strained.

  “It’s the fresh air,” she began again, almost forgetting why she was speaking to the man. “Your father needs fresh air. And sunshine. He needs to spend some time outside to aid in his recovery. I was thinking, if we could only take him to the arbor—”

  “No,” Alex interrupted, holding up one hand as if to emphasize his denial of her request.

  This wasn’t at all how Annie had imagined this conversation going.

  “But you told me you’d see to it that I have everything I need to care for your father. I need to take him to the arbor for sunshine and fresh air. How can you refuse me…him?”

  The last traces of Alex’s beautiful smile disappeared as the muscle in his jaw tightened. Annie didn’t take this new expression as a positive sign.

  “First off, my father can do nothing but sleep, so traveling with him seems no’ to be a productive use of his time or yers.”

  “But he does,” Annie argued. “You’re wrong about that. He’s awake much more than you might think.”

  She briefly considered telling him that his father had been awake for his whole visit last night. But only briefly. The only thing that line of discussion would prove beyond a reasonable doubt was that she had been there in the room, and she seriously doubted that little tidbit of information would do anything to make Alex more agreeable to her request.

  “Much more,” she added at last, deciding against saying anything else.

  Alex shrugged. “For the sake of argument, let us say that my father is awake for long periods of the day, as you claim.” His expression clearly indicated that he believed no such thing. “You say he needs fresh air and sunshine to help him heal.”

  “Exactly,” she answered, a small thread of excitement growing in her chest. “To help rebuild the strength he’s lost.”

  “Then, as I see it, you and I have no argument at all.” Alex’s beautiful smile returned, only partially masking what appeared to be his sense of having won their disagreement. “Though you may not be aware of it, we’ve plenty of the same fresh air and sunshine available right here within the safety of Dunellen’s walls, just beyond the doors of the keep. So you see, Mistress Shaw, we all get what we want. You can provide for my father that which he needs to heal, and you can do it without a single risk to anyone’s safety.”

  Of course there was sunshine and fresh air right outside their own door. And how stupid of her was it not to have considered that this would be his counterargument. Damn! She’d thought of every angle in plotting her request except plain old logic.

  “So your answer is still no?” she asked, knowing the answer, but feeling the need to say something.

  “It is, my good lady,” he replied. “And now, if you’ve no further problems I can solve for you, there are people waiting for me in the great hall.”

  Annie nodded mutely, waving a hand to encourage him to go as she tried her best to hide her disappointment. She had no one but herself to blame for her failure. It was time she recognized that Lissa had been correct in her assessment of Alex’s response to allowing her outside the castle walls again.

  “Too bad the whole place isn’t a heap of stones like in my time,” she muttered as she headed back upstairs.

  She stopped, her foot on the third stair, her mind replaying her initial visit to the castle grounds.

  In her time, she’d only had to pick her way through the rubble that had once been buildings and defensive wall and she was beyond the castle grounds and on the pathway to the arbor. That was it! There’d been the remains of a small building that backed onto the wall. A building that, now that she thought it over, must have contained a passageway through the thick defensive wall. She clearly remembered the low archway she’d gone through to come out on the overgrown path.

  With or without Alex’s permission, there might yet be a way for her to get to the arbor to search for how she could return to her own time. She’d simply need to wait until no one would be around to watch her and then she could do a little exploring.

  Simple enough. Go exploring and hope like heck that the archway had been built in this century, not some
time in the intervening seven hundred years.

  * * *

  In spite of Annie’s ridiculously transparent requests, the woman never failed to make Alex smile. Like now. He made no attempt to hide the grin he wore, though he had been careful to mask his amusement until he’d turned his back to her.

  Even now he could see her in his mind’s eye as if she still stood next to him, her cheeks pink with the heat that had colored them the moment she’d realized her argument made no sense at all.

  Analise Shaw amused him. She intrigued him. She made him desire to know her better.

  Much better.

  A desire that must go unanswered, since it appeared she was to wed a Gordon.

  He rounded the corner into the great hall to be greeted by knowing grins on the faces of his two friends.

  “What?” he asked.

  Finn shrugged, dropping to sit on a bench at one of the tables. “Nothing, really.”

  “No’ unless one was to ask what could possibly have put that silly expression on yer face,” Jamesy added, taking a seat next to Finn.

  Alex hadn’t realized he still wore his Annie-induced grin. A lesson, that. He’d need to be more conscious of keeping his feelings disguised where the woman was concerned.

  “Though we’ve all a good enough idea of what put it there,” Jamesy continued.

  “Or who,” Finn said, all traces of his earlier humor gone. “What’s she wanting of you now? Still asking for another foray outside the walls?”

  Alex jerked his head around to stare at his friend, realizing too late his reaction was all the confirmation the two men needed.

  “She wanted to take my father to the arbor,” he said at last. “She claims he needs fresh air and sunshine to aid in his healing.”

  “So, it’s for yer father’s health, is it?” Jamesy shook his head. “The truth of the matter is that unless we choose to accept the whole of her story, we know nothing of this woman. Nothing of her real purpose in being here. Mayhap you should think upon why it is she’s so anxious to make another visit there. Pray God you dinna grant her request.”

  “Of course I dinna agree to any such thing,” Alex answered, offended that Jamesy would think him so foolish.

  No need to share with his friends that he’d been so busy being charmed by Annie that he’d not had the presence of mind to question her true motives in wanting to go back to the arbor.

  “You’ve no need to fash yerselves over anything Mistress Shaw might request. Until the rider returns from the Gordons with the information we need, I’ll no’ be allowing her to go traipsing off into the woods, whatever her reason.”

  “Since you’ve thwarted her latest attempt, should we no’ prepare ourselves for what she might try next?”

  As much as Alex hated to admit it, Finn’s question held merit. If Annie were simply here for her own safety, if his father’s health had truly been her only reason for the request to leave the castle walls, watching her would be a fruitless waste of time. But if she was other than what she presented herself to be?

  “Aye, we’d be best served by keeping an eye on her activities,” he said. “But best we keep it subtle. Perhaps limited to the three of us?”

  Though he’d be the first to admit that the idea of his friends spying on her rankled something deep inside of him.

  “The four of us,” Finn corrected. “Dog is a good watcher and no’ one who’s likely to be suspect. Probably best we leave you out of it for a time as well, Alex. To allay any suspicions she might have.”

  “Agreed.” Alex held in the sigh he felt gripping his chest. “You’ll see to the arrangements, then?”

  Finn nodded and rose from his chair, Dog at his heels as he slipped out of the great hall.

  As for himself, Alex would be keeping in the forefront of his mind the necessity of viewing their guest more suspiciously. Maybe she’d really been embarrassed to be caught in a nonsensical request. Or perhaps she was simply artful enough at the task of spying that she only made it seem that way. As before, everything with Annie came down to purpose. Whether she was victim or villain, he simply couldn’t say for sure. Not yet, anyway. What he needed to remember was that, no matter how appealing Annie might be, she was still a danger until they knew for certain her true purpose in being at Dunellen.

  Chapter 12

  “That took long enough,” Annie muttered, slipping out of the kitchen and into the small herb garden behind Castle Dunellen.

  For the last several days, she’d been unable to find a single moment to herself. Someone always seemed to be there, always watching. If she didn’t know better, she could almost believe she actually was being watched. But that was ridiculous. Why would anyone think she needed around-the-clock surveillance? Being so far out of her own element was obviously making her paranoid.

  Another good reason to find the hidden exit through the castle wall and get herself back to her own time.

  Wonderful smells wafted up as her long skirts brushed against the beds of herbs she passed through on her way to the row of small buildings beyond the garden. It was a soothing experience, something like trying every single tester in an aromatherapy shop.

  The experience was something to file away in her memory. A garden like this should be easy enough to duplicate around her grandmother’s cottage. It would give her something to do with herself if she got back home.

  “When,” she corrected aloud. “Not if. When.”

  Though, in all honesty, it would be if unless she could find the opening through the wall that had existed in her time. Would exist in her time.

  “Stop it!” she hissed under her breath.

  The last thing she needed was to doubt herself at this point. Right now she needed all the positive vibes she could muster.

  Passing beyond the garden and through a long line of trees, she reached the row of buildings that backed up to the wall. This was it. These were the buildings where she needed to start her search.

  A second later, something cold brushed against her hand and it took everything she had not to scream as she jumped away.

  Finn’s big dog stood at her elbow, looking for all the world as if he were grinning at her.

  “Geez, Dog. Way to scare a girl half to death,” she grumbled, not at all pleased with the way her voice wavered.

  Apparently she should add courage to the list of things she needed right now.

  As casually as she could manage, she turned to survey the path she’d just taken to make sure she was still alone. Dog and his master were seldom far apart.

  “You out here all by yourself, big boy?” she asked, scratching the big dog’s head as he leaned into her.

  She waited where she was until she’d assured herself that no one followed. Only then did she approach the first building to begin her search.

  “Okay,” she said, her courage bolstered by the sound of her own voice. “You need to stay out here while I—”

  The admonition to Dog was unnecessary, since he was already trotting away, headed through the fruit trees back toward the herb garden.

  Good. This was one time a distraction wasn’t welcome. Not even a friendly distraction like Dog. She’d have to hurry. Already the sun rode low on the horizon. She’d be lucky to have another hour of light left to search.

  One last check to make sure no one was around and she slipped inside the door, closing it behind her. The instant the door closed, she realized the one thing she’d neglected to consider.

  “Well, damn,” she muttered.

  Why hadn’t she thought to bring along a candle? What a careless mistake on her part. She’d known from having asked Lissa that these were all storage buildings. And even if she hadn’t asked, she could see for herself that there were no windows. Any fool should have realized that even in the middle of a bright, sunny day, there’d be no light in the interior of the buildings. But she wasn’t just any fool. She was rapidly on her way to becoming a world-class fool.

  Not that a candle would have helpe
d without a way to light it.

  “Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a box of matches.”

  Or better yet, a flashlight. If she were going to wish for small conveniences from her own time, she might as well wish for something good. Especially since they were all equally unattainable.

  With a sigh, Annie opened the door a crack, allowing a small shaft of mellowing light to creep inside. It didn’t matter that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. She wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. At the very least, she could feel her way to the back wall to hunt for a door.

  Her new plan might have worked if she hadn’t tripped before she’d taken three steps. Fortunately for her, her fall was short, broken by a stack of bags. Grain, from the smell of them. A few more minutes of feeling her way around told her that they were stacked against barrels that formed a solid wall along the back of the small building.

  Annie stepped back to the door and opened it fully. The interior was completely filled with the barrels. Unless they were empty and she could hoist them around—something she very much doubted—there’d be no reaching the back wall to check for a doorway.

  Outside the building, she pulled the door shut behind her and stepped away from the building, frustration tightening her chest. If all the buildings were filled like this one, her wonderful plan had no chance to succeed. She couldn’t very well escape through a door she couldn’t find.

  As she walked from the first to the second building, a motion caught her eye and she glanced up to see a butterfly flitting into a space between the two storage rooms. In her time, she’d think of this as an alley, though that didn’t seem quite appropriate. It didn’t go anywhere. The space was just about wide enough for two people to walk down side by side, though it wasn’t very long. Only the length of a single room, the weed-filled space ended at the wall.

  The sharp bite of urine stung her nose as she neared the wall, giving her a good idea of what the area was used for, whether or not it was the intended purpose. With one hand pressed against the stone, she bowed her head and studied the ground at her feet, knowing this was getting her nowhere.