Again My Love (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 9)

by Diana Knightley

  “This is awful, what should we do?”

  She shrugged, “We will remain in our rooms until we ken he is gone.”

  So we went scurrying down the halls, and waited in her rooms all night. Lizbeth acted as if this was all completely normal, just life in the eighteenth century, but to me it was terrifying. I was at their mercy, a beggar for food, shelter, protection, and now evil men walked among us. I lay awake that night wondering if I should just hide forever in these rooms.

  But when I woke the next day, hungry, Lizbeth was already dressed. She said brightly, “Tis all finished, Madame Hayley. Liam and Sean and the other men have delivered Vile Mac from the castle. I am verra relieved, are ye hungry? We missed our dinner last evenin’.”

  Fraoch was already in the Great Hall, his hair slicked back and smelling like roses and sweat.

  “Would ye like tae go for a ride, Madame Hayley?”

  I said, “Yes,” because I was bored out of my mind, nervous from being cooped up last night, and desperate to do something besides this. Lizbeth was concerned, of course, but relented when I reminded her she would have the day off from guarding me.

  She steered me to the wall to speak in private, “Madame Hayley, if ye spend the day with Fraoch MacLeod, the other men will be thinkin’ ye belong tae him.”

  I chuckled. “Well, I don’t belong to him, because I’m married, but also, that’s probably a good thing, right? He’s a big strapping guy, he can be in charge of my chastity for once, give you a break.”

  She laughed. “I daena believe ye should be allowin’ Fraoch tae be in charge of your chastity.”

  I shrugged.

  My horse was light brown and she rode well and listened to me about things, so we got along. It had been a couple of years since I last had ridden, and of course she was unfamiliar, but I felt comfortable and confident riding her.

  About an hour into our ride, Fraoch told me about how war horses would bite during battles. I patted the neck of my horse. “Nicely done, you’re like a princess and a monster.”

  Fraoch began talking about the real monsters, alligators. And by the end of the conversation I had nicknamed my horse Gatorbelle.

  Fraoch and I talked, we talked and talked and talked. He taught me names for the trees and the hills around us — weird words with barks and guttural sounds. Words that had been all around me for days, but I hadn’t tried to learn them, because I wasn’t planning to be here long. But now...

  We passed by a pine that snagged in Fraoch’s hair and he twisted around on his horse. “Did ye see it draw against me, Madame Hayley? Twas an attack on my person.” He drew his sword and hacked at the tree branch until it was hanging broken then said, “Och, I was mistaken tae have fought it, I see now twas just a tree.”

  I laughed. “I read a book when I was young about a woman who lived at the very tip top of a redwood tree.”

  He looked up and down the trunk of the pine he had been whacking. “At the top, upon a branch?”

  We started our horses walking again. “Yes, she built a little cabin on a branch and lived there for months and months. She used a long rope to pull up her food. She said the tree swayed in the wind while she was sleeping.”

  Fraoch arched back looking up at the top of the trees around us. “Och, a movin’ house, I wouldna like tae be up so high.”

  “Me neither, but she didn’t do it because she liked it, she did it to protect the tree. To stop the loggers who wanted to cut it down. She was what we call a treehugger.”

  “Och, she liked tae hug the tree? Why would she want tae embrace the fire logs?”

  I laughed. “I guess it’s a little like men here sword-fighting the fire logs, people do crazy shit sometimes.”

  He laughed. “Aye, that they do. Madame Hayley, dost ye think the tree I fought is still standin’ in the time ye live in?”

  “I came here once, near here, with Kaitlyn. She was following a storm, looking for a vessel, and there were woods still, but also many fields. A few roads. So I doubt this tree would still be here though we could pick one close to the castle, and measure how far away it is, and when I get home I can...” I let my voice trail off.

  “Tae look for it?”

  “Yes, but — it seems too hopeful to say it, I don’t think they’ll... you know.”

  “They will come, Madame Hayley. Remain hopeful, ye only must wait for them tae return.”

  I said, “Ugh. I’m not at all a waiting kind of person. I manage, I control, I make shit happen.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw him smile.

  Fraoch asked, “What did ye mean by ‘lookin’ for a vessel’?”

  “There were these storms. We saw them on the weather channel.”

  His brow drew down, so I explained, “In the future we can predict when storms are coming.”

  “Och, twould change the world.”

  “It would, wouldn’t it? I never really thought about what a big invention that is, predicting the weather. But back to the story — Kaitlyn learned about storms over Scotland, over Castle Balloch, so we got on a plane and flew here in the year 2018, I think it was.”

  “Ye flew like a bird?”

  “No, in those planes I was telling you about.”

  “Och, in the carriage in the air.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Tae find the magic vessel.”

  “No, these vessels aren’t magic — they seem magic, but it’s got to be science. It’s just way, way, way in the future kind of science and I don’t understand it at all. Like I said before, the vessels aren’t from my time. They’re as weird to me as they are to you.”

  “Och, tis the work of the devil. We should stay away from them.”

  “Well, maybe not that weird. I think it’s just something we haven’t learned how to do yet, we should try to understand them.”

  “Ye claimed there tae be storms over Bràghad Albainn?”

  “Bridalban-what?”

  “This area is the seat of the Earl, where the Castle Balloch stands on the strath of the Tay.”

  “Oh, yeah, right. Because of the storms Kaitlyn went to investigate, to find the vessel if there was one. We flew by plane and landed in Edinburgh, hired a car and drove, that’s like a carriage without horses, to the grounds of Balloch. In my time it’s called Taymouth Castle.”

  “Draws its name after the river.” He looked thoughtful as he picked our horses’ paths around a boulder.

  We had been on an incline for a while, heading higher and higher into the hills. The trees had given way to open areas, covered in grass, with large outcroppings of rocks. Above us spread a cloud-filled sky. The day had turned cool. A wind was rising.

  He pointed back over a gorgeous valley. “See the castle? And there is the Tay beyond.”

  “What a beautiful view.” I shivered from the wind.

  He said, “The tartan ye have wrapped there, around yer skirt, ye can pull it up and wrap it around your shoulders.”

  “Oh, true.” I pulled the fabric from my belt and wrapped it around myself for warmth.

  I watched him as he looked out over the vista — his face was worn, older, manly. Rough-hewn was the description I kept coming to, his eyes distant as he looked out over the landscape, taking the beauty in. His body was big and strong and even unmoving like he was now, he was in motion, a firm hand on the reins, powerful arm bent, ready for action, eyes sweeping the landscape.

  He belonged here, as strong as the mountain, at home on the ridge, in the high sky and the fresh air, wrapped in wool, astride a horse, armed with a sword — this was his country, though to him, his belonging was to a different time. This was foreign to him — different mountains, different trees, borrowed people.

  We began to ride again. “Madame Hayley, have ye heard the story of Balloch Castle?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Sean told me Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy evicted all of the clan Gregor from these lands and built the castle here tae prove his strength.
Sean said he was a brutal, violent man, so I expect he was.”

  “What year was this?”

  “I have heard it said that the first brick was laid in the year of our Lord, 1550.”

  “That is so long ago.”

  “Aye, but the story goes, whilst making his way down the strath of the Tay, Sir Colin Campbell heard a blackbird sing. He stopped and looked around at the alders and redwoods growing in the woods around him, the river runnin’ by, the loch glistenin’ in the sun. That night he dreamt he should build a castle there in that same place.”

  “Where he heard the blackbird sing?”

  “Aye, from the notes of a blackbird song a violent man built a castle that protected the clan Campbell through many a battle and now houses ye, Madame Hayley, tis a remarkable history.”

  “It really is.”

  His body rocked back and forth as he rode, a subtle shift of his shoulders, his feet tense in the leather stirrups. We spoke of stopping for a rest and directed the horses to a small stream and tied the horses to a tree and found a warm place to sit on an outcropping of rocks. Fraoch passed me some bread he had packed in one of the saddle bags.

  It was dusty, so I brushed it off. It was also dry, but I didn’t want to mention it.

  I chewed and chewed and chewed.

  He chewed and chewed. “Is the bread tae yer likin’?”

  I burst into laughter spraying breadcrumbs all over my skirt. “It’s so dry!”

  He rubbed his jaw. “Aye, tis verra much stiffer than when I bought it.” He added, “A day ago.”

  I teased, “This, sir, is five-day-old bread.”

  He laughed and leaned back then grew thoughtful. “Tis a much harder life than ye are used tae, Madame Hayley?”

  “It is.”

  “Tell me something ye do that we canna do?”

  “Let’s see. Well, here’s the first thing: when I’m hungry I can go buy food. There are stores, like markets, that have hundreds of things to eat, so many choices. Bread, so much bread. Also, meat and fruit.”

  “Madame Kaitlyn said she might be able tae have oranges every day if she wanted them.”

  “So true. Your scurvy would be cured right up. Actually you’d never have had scurvy.”

  He shook his head. “Twas so painful I thought twould end me.”

  “You’re still here, and now you know — eat your fruits and veggies. I’m sure Katie told you to.”

  A wind rose, dropping the temperature about twenty degrees colder. I needed a parka, possibly mittens and a beanie, but all I had was a shawl.

  We climbed on our horses and began the long descent back.

  A distance from the castle, he pulled his horse short. “Dost ye need tae ride on m’horse? Tis verra cold.”

  My teeth chattered. “Y-y-yes.”

  He held my reins so I could climb down and then pulled me up behind him wrapping his tartan around us both, bundling me against his back. “Hold on tae me, Madame Hayley.” And we rode very very fast until we drew near the castle, but then walked the horses the rest of the way.

  Ten - Hayley

  Fraoch stayed at the castle for dinner again. He got along well with the men, Liam and Sean especially, and sat at their table, while I sat with Lizbeth at a table full of women.

  There were a lot more men in the Great Hall and through the hallways and around the bathrooms, and as the day turned to night, many of them became staggeringly drunk. That meant I had to not drink too much because being On Guard Around the Barbarians was a thing I had to become used to in my new life here.

  I wondered how Kaitlyn had managed her safety. Lizbeth explained, “Och, Kaitlyn has Magnus accompanyin’ her, but even Magnus was nae always enough. Tis much easier when ye have a husband tae protect ye — without a husband it is a trial tae keep yourself from bein’ a conquest tae every knave in the castle.”

  She teased, “We should have married ye tae Fraoch first day so he could do the protecting on ye.”

  I blushed to my hairline. “Marry Fraoch!”

  And then I found my eyes settling on him down the table. The curl of his arm as he lifted his mug, his broad shoulders. The booming laugh and the cocky attitude. He was like a cross between a retired football player, full of swagger and bravado, and a lumberjack, full of independence and quiet, sometimes, plus that kilt.

  They were all wearing them of course, but his was wearing so well — shit. What was I doing?

  He turned to see me looking at him and his brow lifted in a laugh. The other men joined him.

  I looked away kind of pissed.

  I was Madame Hayley. A contemporary woman running a small family temp agency with a real estate hustle on the side. I did Cross Fit twice a week. I got my nails done. I drank mixed drinks and went to AA meetings occasionally because I was a modern woman and was trying for moderation.

  I took a swig of beer.

  I was not to be trifled with.

  And definitely not by an almost homeless eighteenth century scalawag with a missing tooth. Even if he had been kind of swoonably hot when I pressed against his back on the horse earlier.

  But there were lots of hot men in the world, and this one was not for me.

  He came for my mug. “Would ye like another drink, Madame Hayley?”

  “Oh, um, sure.”

  He went to the cask in the corner and when he returned, asked, “Would ye go for another ride with me on the morrow?”

  “Um, yes.”

  “Good, I will see ye then.”

  He left to return to the men.

  Lizbeth met my eyes. “He is layin’ a claim tae ye,” she said with that blasted twinkle in her eyes. “Imagine how much he would be claimin’ and layin’ ye if ye were nae married tae the man in the future?”

  “That’s why I’m not telling him. It’s much better this way. If only Kaitlyn would freaking hurry up.”

  Eleven - Kaitlyn

  The first days were quiet and introspective and there was sleeping to be done. Magnus and Quentin spent many hours discussing our safety and protection.

  Quentin was worried about Hayley’s vessel — if she wasn’t here, then she jumped with the vessel that had been loose on the floor of the arena.

  Why didn’t she jump with her own?

  And if she dropped it, or if someone grabbed it — who?

  They most assuredly would have jumped, probably to Florida, the year 2020.

  Quentin hadn’t seen whoever it was, but maybe the ‘whoever’ got here first.

  Because none of them landed at the same time.

  What if someone from the future was right now walking around Fernandina Beach, spying on us, watching us... It had happened before with General Reyes. So we were worried.

  Magnus guarded a lot. He and Quentin made plans. More men were brought in for guard duty.

  Archie and Ben played together all day the second day. They had moments of tears or drama, but for the most part they ran and played together and chased and banged stuff.

  And Emma had an idea — we moved a big mattress into the tiny office we barely used, and when the day and the boys were wearing down, we put a baby monitor in there.

  After Archie fell asleep on my chest, the little spider monkey, sucking his two fingers with me singing softly to him, my lips pressed against his sweaty forehead, Magnus very gently, because my ribs still hurt, carried him into that tiny office and deposited him onto the mattress beside an already sleeping Ben.

  I whispered, “It’s like a little pile of puppies.”

  Emma high-fived me. Then she high-fived Zach. “Our bed to ourselves!”

  Zach was practically giddy.

  I kept the monitor close because if I heard a shift I would rush to Archie, making sure he didn’t get scared. But earlier he napped and when he woke up, came and found me. He knew right where I’d be.

  Twelve - Kaitlyn

  Magnus and I went to our room. We brushed our teeth and I waited until I had a mouthful of lather before I said, as I
liked to do, something along the lines of, “Mumphyleyfeeewll.”

  He lifted his brow and smiled, pulled his brush from his mouth, and said, “I ken ye do, mo reul-iuil.”

  I squinted my eyes. “Wait, what did you think I said? Just to be clear.”

  “That ye love me, that ye canna wait tae hae yer way with me. That ye have been conspirin’ all day tae have some time with me and now tis here and ye canna wait.”

  I grinned. “Yep, you’re exactly right.” When I leaned over and spit he plunged a hand into my panties and poked and tickled while I giggled and squirmed. “Aye, I was right in my thinkin’. Ye are wantin’ me.”

  I said, “I am, and if you aren’t careful, Master Magnus, you’re going to get me started on this bathroom counter again and all that work to get Archie happily asleep in another room will be for naught.”

  “Och, naught, I prefer ye naughty on our mattress made for a king.”

  He lifted me by my arse so I would wrap my legs around his waist, then used my butt-cheek to turn off the bathroom light, both of us laughing, and carried me down the hall to our bed.

  “Is this hurting your side?” My lips were pressed to his.

  “What side?”

  I giggled as he sat on the bed and dropped my feet to the floor in front of him. He leaned over for the lighter and lit the two scented candles beside our bed and then clicked off the lamp. He lifted my shirt up and off.

  “Dost your side feel painful?” He trailed his fingers over my bruise, causing shivers, then he kissed the center of my sore place, a full mouth kiss with tongue and oh god — what side?

  I pulled his boxers down his legs and tossed them over my shoulder. I knelt in front of him and took him in my mouth, but only for a moment because that was plenty, this had been a long day of conspiring to have the bed to ourselves, and I wasn’t going to spend a second of it in his pleasure at the expense of mine. I pushed him back on the bed and climbed on.