All The Time You Need

by Melissa Mayhue

  “And then?”

  “And then…”

  And then he’d held her, and gently stroked her face before he’d swept her off her feet, clutching her to his chest and carrying her to the ground. And then there’d been that kiss. Just a brush of his lips across hers, but she’d felt as if lightning had struck the ground under her feet when it happened. No one had ever made her feel that way. No one. It had taken everything she had not to run after him when he’d walked away. Run after him and knock him to the ground, demanding a real kiss from him. Because if that half-assed lip-brushing thing he did could set her on fire the way it had, there was no telling what a real kiss could do. And more than anything in that moment, she had wanted to find out.

  If only this Peter hadn’t shown up claiming his right to marry her. If only she didn’t have to leave this time. Maybe…But no. It wasn’t meant to be.

  All of that ran through her mind in the space of the breath she took as she paused her words. But in her mind was where it would have to stay. There was no way she was sharing any of that with Lissa. It would make her seem even more ridiculous than she already did.

  “And then I saw what I was looking for.” At least, she hoped she’d seen it. “In my time, the place where the remains of the passageway ended was surrounded by flowering bushes. I saw bushes just like those, all clumped together on the outer side of the wall. I think that’s where the exit must be. And now I think, I hope, I know where to find the entrance.”

  “Inside one of the storerooms,” Lissa said.

  “Yes.”

  “If you do find the way back, then you’ll just leave?” Lissa asked. “Without a word of farewell? How will I know that you’ve gone back to yer own time and not that something awful has happened to you? If there are Gordons within our walls, there could well be more of them without.”

  For the first time since she’d been here, the threat of another clan lurking just outside the castle walls, waiting to cause trouble, seemed real to Annie. But she couldn’t let even a real concern keep her from trying to make her way back home. Staying here, inside the safety of the castle walls, meant staying in this time and being forced to marry a man she didn’t even know.

  A dirty, scuzzy man she didn’t want to know, from the looks of him.

  “I’ll leave you a sign. In the arbor. I don’t know what yet, but I’ll make sure it’s something obvious that you can’t possibly miss. Rocks in a circle or something like that. All you have to do is cover for me at the evening meal so no one gets suspicious when I don’t show up to eat.”

  “Cover?”

  The tilt of Lissa’s head and her furrowed brow assured Annie that she’d stumbled onto another of the language oddities that her friend couldn’t understand.

  “Make an excuse for me,” Annie explained. “Something to satisfy them as to why I’m not at the meal.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Lissa said with a shake of her head. “But I canna tell a falsehood for you, my friend. It’s something I have made a point never to do.”

  Nor would Annie expect her to go against her moral beliefs.

  “Tell them I’m too distraught to eat. I can assure you, that’s no lie. Just the thought of marrying that disgusting, dirty man is enough to keep me from ever wanting to eat again. Especially if he’s at the table.”

  As if in perfect contradiction of what she’d just said, Annie’s stomach picked that moment to growl loudly.

  “Okay,” she conceded with a grin. “Maybe not forever. But I certainly don’t feel like sitting at the same table with him tonight.”

  Lissa’s smile seemed more one of sympathy than happiness. “That is a story I can easily carry for you. Doona forget, you’ll need the key to the arbor gate. I’ll bring it to you at the storerooms. Make sure you wait outside for me.”

  “Not by the storeroom,” Annie said.

  Her pacing back and forth in front of the building, or even just leaning against the wall as she waited, would look far too suspicious. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself when she had a real chance to find her way out of here.

  “At the edge of the fruit trees,” she countered. “Where we won’t be seen. I’ll wait for you there.”

  Lissa nodded and hurried from the room.

  With a nervous sigh, Annie looked around, trying to decide what she might need to take with her. The sun would be setting soon, and she’d once before dealt with trying to locate a hidden door in a dark storeroom.

  “A lantern,” she whispered, crossing to the fireplace to retrieve the one from the mantel. That was it, then. Everything she needed to get her back home.

  Everything except the answer to the most important question of all.

  How did she get here in the first place?

  * * *

  “I agree with Finn. That soft-handed whoreson hasn’t an honest bone in the whole of his body. You can tell it by the look on his face.” Jamesy shrugged as he spoke, one leg slung across the arm of the chair in which he sat. “But what are we to do about it? He clearly has the upper hand.”

  That was indeed the key question, and not having an adequate answer only added to the pressure building in Alex’s chest. They all agreed that Peter Gordon was lying. It was clear he’d tried to bluff his way through the meeting with Annie. But the Gordon laird was on his way to Dunellen, according to Peter, to support his son’s claim that Annie was to be his bride.

  As it had been from the first moment he’d heard the words, his stomach continued to churn, knotting itself ever more tightly.

  “It’s a ploy,” Finn said. “An attempt at a land grab, I’d say. Gordon made it clear enough that land is what he’s after as a dowry. He knows well enough there’s little silver to be had from any of the smaller clans.”

  “Of course he did,” Jamesy said. “What would you expect of a second son? He’s out to secure his own fortune because there’s sure to be none from his father.”

  Land for peace. Peter Gordon had left no doubt as to what he expected and what he offered in return. Annie wasn’t of any value to him at all, other than to force the MacKillican hand. And while Alex didn’t want to be single-handedly responsible for a war between the clans, he couldn’t see a way around it at the moment. In order to secure the peace, he’d be forced to hand over Annie and a goodly portion of the MacKillican lands. His problem was that he wasn’t willing to hand over either.

  “There’ll be no land grant as a dowry from the MacKillican to the Gordon clan. I’ve three younger brothers of my own, as well as a sister. I’ll no’ endanger their futures to satisfy the Gordon lust for land.”

  “Even if it leads to a clan war?” Jamesy looked from him to Finn and back again.

  “Even if,” Alex said quietly. “This land was granted to my grandfather by the king himself. I’ll no’ be the one to give it away.”

  “Well then.” Finn slapped his thighs and rose to stand. “It appears we’re all of one mind. You can count on us, Alex, whatever comes. We’re here to serve as you need us.”

  “True,” Jamesy said. “Do you think it a good idea, before the laird arrives, that we should—”

  Whatever his friend intended to suggest was lost as the door to the laird’s solar slammed open and Lissa barged in.

  “I need to speak to you privately,” she said. “We’ve a problem.”

  Only one? His sister must not have been paying attention to the world around them lately.

  “These are my friends, Lissa. My brothers in arms. Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of them.”

  She waited for a moment, her eyes boring into him as her mouth twisted in that way she had about her that told him as clearly as words she was trying to make a decision.

  “Very well, then. If you insist. Annie is going to the arbor to try to find her way home.”

  “What?”

  Though his sister might see this as a problem, it was little more than another annoyance to Alex. There was no way Annie or any
one else was getting past the guards at the gate. He’d made sure of that.

  “I doona think that’s a worry we need to waste our time on. It’s no’ as if there’s any way she can leave the protection of Dunellen,” he said, dropping a reassuring hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Why now? Why are we going through this all over again? I thought the matter of her returning to the arbor was long settled.”

  Lissa slipped out from under his hand and crossed to the back of the room. “She’s determined to return to her own time because she won’t be forced into marrying Peter Gordon. And as to yer ability to keep her inside the walls, you’d best be thinking again, dear brother. She says there’s a passageway she discovered in her time that gives exit through one of the storage buildings at the back wall. After her adventure on the wall-walk with you, she’s fair certain she knows where its entrance is located. She’s on her way there even now as we speak.”

  He’d been wrong. If there was a way out of the castle he didn’t know about, then Annie’s determination to use it jumped to the top of his problem list.

  “Could I suppose you know where this passageway of hers is located?”

  Lissa lifted the key to the arbor gate from the hook that held it and turned back to him. “She wouldna tell me. Instead, I’m to meet her at the edge of the fruit trees to give her this. You’ll be able to follow her from there.”

  Alex watched his sister trace the outline of the key to the arbor gate with nervous fingers, and tried to determine why she would betray Annie’s confidence. It was a behavior he wouldn’t have expected of her.

  “Has something happened to convince you at last that our guest is not as she seems?”

  “No. Quite the opposite. If she goes to the arbor, I believe there’s every possibility that she will find the way to return to her own time. It’s just that…” Lissa paused, her teeth worrying at the inside of her cheek.

  “It’s just that what?” Alex encouraged.

  “It’s just that she’s no’ supposed to leave now. I’m sure of it, though I canna convince her. She’s a purpose here that she’s no’ yet fulfilled.”

  “What purpose?” Finn asked.

  Lissa shrugged one shoulder and sighed. “That I canna say. Only that I believe she belongs here at Dunellen, now, no’ in the time she came from.”

  It was no more than he should have expected from his sister. Once she made up her mind, there was no convincing her otherwise. As for him, no matter where Annie had come from, he couldn’t afford to have a passageway through the castle walls exposed to the Gordons or anyone else. His only reason for following her was to see to the security of Dunellen.

  “Jamesy, find Morgan to set more men upon the wall. Tell him they need to stay well out of sight and to keep a keen eye out for anyone who might approach from any direction. They’ll want to be alert for any who might be lurking in the forest, as well. Watching. You have that?”

  “Aye. But what about you?” Jamesy asked. “What do you think yer about?”

  “I intend to follow Annie, just as Lissa asked me to do.”

  No matter how innocent the woman seemed, no matter how much he wanted to believe her, the truth of the matter was that all that she had done up to this point could well be part of a master plan. The issue of her marriage to Peter Gordon could easily be no more than a ruse to serve as a distraction while she slipped outside the walls to lead more of the Gordon men inside.

  “I will accompany you,” Finn said. “You shouldna go alone.”

  “No, my friend. No’ this time. The more of us there are, the more likely we are to draw attention.” Alex headed toward the door to follow his sister. “You’ve no call to fash yerself over it. I’ll take every precaution. I need you upon the wall, to watch for any movement below. Once you spot where the passageway is, I’d have you and Dog keep guard over it to make sure no one but Annie or me comes back through that way. Can I count on you for that?”

  Something like a snort sounded from Finn. “You know you can, Alex. No one but the two of you will pass through that doorway. On that you can wager any amount of silver you like with no worries.”

  Alex nodded and slipped out through the door to follow Lissa.

  He was wagering on Finn’s ability to do as he said, but not silver. He was wagering the safety and security of every man, woman and child housed inside the protective walls of Dunellen.

  Chapter 16

  The last rays of light were fading as Lissa hurried from the shelter of the trees toward Annie.

  “Here,” she said, holding out the key Annie would need to get inside the arbor. “I’ll have a tray waiting in our bedchamber when you return. I’m guessing you’ll be hungry after missing the evening meal.”

  Annie clasped Lissa’s hand, a bubble of guilt building in her chest, urging her to throw her arms around the woman who had become such a good friend to her.

  “Thank you. For everything. I don’t know how I would have managed here without you to believe in me.”

  Lissa drew back, staring up into Annie’s gaze. “That sounds suspiciously like someone who thinks she’s saying her final farewell.”

  “I guess it does,” Annie agreed. “I have to be honest with you, Lissa. If I can find my way home, I won’t be returning to our bedchamber tonight.”

  “But you canna leave us yet. I doona want you to leave. And what of Da?” Lissa asked. “He hasn’t returned to himself as of yet. He still needs yer care.”

  “I’ve done everything I can for your father. It’s up to him now. He’s already so much better than you know. He’s going to be fine. I have not one, single doubt about that. Now, as for you, you should hurry. Get back inside before you’re missed.”

  Or before this goodbye dissolved into something much more emotional than Annie could handle right now.

  With one last hug, Lissa turned and hurried back the way she had come, back into the stand of fruit trees.

  Annie watched the spot where her friend had disappeared for a moment longer, willing herself to stop the silly emotional reaction she felt overtaking her. She didn’t have the luxury of time to wallow in sentimentality right now. She needed to find the passageway and get back home before she ended up married to a man she didn’t know and didn’t think she’d much like.

  With renewed resolve, Annie opened the door to the third storeroom from the end and slipped inside to begin her hunt.

  Two steps inside the room and she stumbled, her foot caught in a pile of cloth. As she kicked the impediment away, the scent of grain filled her nostrils, resulting in a violent sneeze. Followed by several more.

  She wiped at wet, itchy eyes and attempted to breathe shallowly as she scanned the room. Damn, but it was dark in here. Almost as an afterthought, she remembered the lantern she carried and quickly lifted the shielding so that the candlelight shone out.

  “Duh,” she chastised herself, as she carefully stepped over the empty grain sacks at her feet. “Much better.”

  Wooden barrels lined the walls and piled high on top of them, cloth sacks, some folded neatly, some simply tossed inside. It didn’t take long to realize that the season was her ally. If she were in here at the beginning of autumn, all those sacks would be full and likely too heavy for her to lift out of her way.

  At the back wall, she began to shift the barrels out of her way. Perspiration quickly beaded on her forehead from the physical exertion, but she couldn’t afford to take a break. As she struggled with a partially filled barrel, a noise from behind her drew her attention and she jerked around, heart pounding.

  Stupidly, she’d left the door open a crack. Enough, apparently, that the wind must have caught it, because she could swear it was open wider than it had been before she’d started moving things around. She hurried to remedy that problem, crossing to close the door tightly, before returning to her search.

  No openings were visible in the roughly plastered wall, not even when she lifted the lantern up high to cast its light over the cleared area.
r />   “It has to be here.”

  Unless it hadn’t been built yet. Unless it wouldn’t be built for heaven only knew how many centuries from now.

  Shaking her head, she pushed away that line of thinking. She couldn’t afford to give up until she’d exhausted every inch of wall. Without the opening, she might never be able to find her way back to the time she’d come from.

  She set the lantern down and went back to work.

  When she shoved the next barrel away from the wall and leaned in for a closer inspection, she discovered the first sign. There, low down, where the wall met the floor, she spotted a small gap. Following it with her fingers, she could feel, though still not see, the fine line marking the doorway.

  Squatting down, she tucked her fingers under the bottom and pulled for all she was worth. Her reward was a small movement beneath her hands and a shower of dust as the door began to give way. One more good tug and—

  Success!

  A stale, musty odor met her as the force of the door letting go tossed her over onto her bottom. It was a tumble well worth the effort of getting back up to her feet.

  She retrieved her lantern and held it high over her head as she stepped through the door. A whiff of spider web against her face almost made her drop the lantern and head back to the keep, but she reminded herself of what fate waited there. Since the idea of marrying this thirteenth-century Peter was much worse than anything she could possibly encounter in this dark, damp tunnel, she forged ahead.

  “Only ten feet,” she whispered to encourage herself. “The wall can’t be more than ten feet thick. I can stand anything for ten feet.”

  Logic gave way to emotion as the eerie echo of her own voice ended up being more unsettling than the quiet had been. Pressing her lips tightly together to prevent another such attempt, she began moving slowly, scanning the floor for anything that might be waiting there to jump out at her. With her eyes fixed on her feet, she made her way forward, one step after another, until a solid wall loomed ahead of her.