Dawn Marie Hamilton - Highland Gardens

by Just in Time for a Highland Christmas

  Was it to be here in the future alone or dare she hope Archie would agree to stay?

  He’d been especially attentive when he first arrived. Each time their gazes met, he gave her a secret smile that made her heart beat faster. Then yesterday, he questioned her about the past year. His frustration was understandable. He deserved a truthful answer.

  Today would be the day of reckoning.

  She kept busy during the morning at the inn, helping the women prepare for the feast and decorating a large fir tree with the children. A lovely tradition.

  Archie always seemed to be nearby, and she stole covert glances. If he couldn’t forgive her, she would probably never see him again after tonight. Her heart ached with the desolate thought.

  Loud voices outside the front door brought everyone to a halt. The door swung open and Archie’s sister Elspeth stepped in carrying a wee bairn. Mairi screeched and ran forward, enveloping the pair in a hug.

  A handsome, sandy-haired man crossed the threshold, carrying brightly colored wrapped packages. Must be her husband Finn. The other men approached him, one by one, grasping forearms in a warrior greeting. Finn’s eyes flared when Archie presented his arm. Finn pulled him into a manly embrace with much backslapping. “It’s good to see you.”

  “And I, you.” Archibald turned to Isobell, grasped her arm and tugged her forward. “Let me present my lady-wife, Lady Isobell.”

  Flustered, Isobell dropped into an awkward curtsy because of the jeans she was wearing. Finn bowed in a courtly fashion and brought her fingers to his lips.

  “We will have none of that, you scoundrel.” Archie grabbed her hand away before the kiss. Everyone laughed good-naturedly.

  He was jealous. Good. He should stay with me in the future. Then she would never need to tell him about her furtive activities of revenge.

  Mairi clapped. “Come. Come. Come into the other room.”

  They headed for the chamber Mairi called the parlor where wee lights on the decorated tree sparkled. Gifts were given round. Laurie placed a large box on Isobell’s lap.

  “What is this?” she asked.

  “A Christmas present from me and Patrick. Everyone, including the children, will change into traditional Scottish clothing for midnight service. This is something for you to wear.”

  “I am touched.” Inside the box, Isobell found a woman’s linen leine, an overdress, and a white-striped wool arisaid. She wiped a tear from the side of an eye. “Thank you.”

  Mugs of warm spiced wine were passed around and the adults enjoyed playing games with the children. Just before dinnertime, the front bell rang and Caitrina entered the inn, brushing snow from her shoulders. A large man with long black hair joined her, carrying more gifts. He towered over Patrick and Finn who hurried to greet him.

  “Douglas, come and meet my son from Scotland, Chief of Clan MacLachlan, and his new wife.” Iain signaled him into the parlor where they were introduced.

  Isobell shivered. The man’s direct gaze seemed to peer inside her. As if he kenned hidden secrets. And she had an awful one she didn’t want anyone here to ken. Especially Archie.

  Silly. How could Caitrina’s friend possibly ken what she’d done? She shook off the odd feeling.

  She pressed her lips together. Archie should be told the truth. She hated the way the secret was eating at her insides. Maybe he would forgive her, and they could go home together. Isobell sighed. Unlikely.

  Caitrina glared at Munn who was playing with the children on the floor. “Who brought the wee brownie?”

  “I am afraid it is my fault. I dragged him along with me.” Archibald laughed, something Isobell hadn’t heard since he became chief. He almost sounded happy.

  Caitrina’s face reddened, but a whisper from Douglas seemed to calm her.

  Isobell watched Archie interact with the others. The men were all powerful in their own right, though Archie was the one that made her heart flutter. She was almost disappointed when Mairi called them to dinner and they were seated in the eating chamber. Unlike the arrangements in the great hall at Castle Lachlan, where the family sat in a line along one side of the head table on the dais, looking out at those seated at the lower tables, everyone here sat around a large table, facing each other. Archie sat in the chair next to her. She looked away. Anywhere so as not to look at him with longing.

  Iain stood and held up a glass of wine. “Thank you to our family and friends for being here just in time for a Highland Christmas. Congratulations to Archibald and Isobell on your nuptials. May you have many years of bliss as have Mairi and I.”

  “Here, here,” sounded round the table with a clinking of glasses.

  Isobell shifted uncomfortably, but smiled and nodded at the well-wishers, as did Archie.

  Iain sat and glanced at her in challenge. She lowered her gaze not sure what to think.

  During dinner Archie’s thigh kept brushing hers, and she bit the inside of her lip to avoid reaching over and touching him. Otherwise, dinner became a jovial affair of great food and good conversation, ending with pastry and a hot drink called coffee.

  Delectable food and drink—more reasons to remain in this time. If only she could convince Archie to stay too. She rubbed moist palms on her jeans. He would never forgive her. And he wasn’t staying.

  “Can we make snow angels?” Scott hollered over bantering voices.

  “Yes, please,” Young Iain begged too.

  Laurie urged the lads into jackets and the entire family trudged out into the snowy garden. Patrick flicked a switch. Light illuminated the area, making the snow sparkle. The lads fell onto their backs in the snow, waving their arms and legs. The imprints left behind were the images of angels. Laurie made a large one. Patrick’s even larger.

  If a once powerful warrior could display a playful side so could she. Isobell dropped onto her back to make an angel of her own. To her utter surprise, Archie threw off his plaide and plopped beside her in naught but his trews and leine. As they spread their arms to make angel wings their fingers touched. Their gazes met. A thrill shot through her.

  Archie’s eyes flared. He must have felt it too.

  She couldn’t let the moment pass without making one last memory with him. Isobell squeezed his fingers. “Come with me. I ken a special place.”

  Archie grabbed his plaide and they slipped away from the others frolicking in the snow. She guided him through the inn’s garden, along the well-trodden woodland trail, through the meadow and into Laurie’s garden and the privacy of the orchid room. Was doubtful the family or guests would visit on this most special of nights—Christmas Eve.

  “Why have you brought me here?” he asked.

  “Why do you think?” She hoped her smile appeared sensual.

  He raised a brow. She pressed against him, grasped his hands and pulled his arms around her, placing them on her bum. His response, a firm squeeze, urged her on. Stretching up onto the balls of her feet, she leaned in and kissed him as sweetly, as passionately, as her heart demanded.

  A rough sound erupted from deep within his throat, a growl, a demand, and the kiss intensified into a meeting of mouths and tongues, wet and wild. Isobell’s breath came from Archie and his from her. When the fever calmed, forehead resting against forehead, they gasped for air.

  “So, that is your answer, lass?”

  “Oh, aye!” She melted against him.

  He glanced around the small glass chamber then stepped away. He grabbed a cushion from one of the chairs and tossed it on the floor. Then another and another. Using all the cushions, he made a fine bed.

  Archie dropped onto the cushions, tested their comfort then offered an inviting hand. “Join me.”

  She fell on knees on the cushions beside him. Suddenly feeling shy, she tentatively touched his smooth cheek. She had no experience seducing a man.

  Archibald wrinkled his nose in the sweetest way. “What?”

  “You have been with so many other women. I dinnae ken…”

  “Nae so many.�
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  “But Da said—”

  “He said a lot of things that were not true. Aye?”

  “Aye.” She lowered her gaze embarrassed for having believed all the lies.

  Archie slid a palm over her hair and down an arm. “I will be gentle.”

  She didn’t want a sedate mating. She wanted it wild like the serving wenches at Da’s keep described. She grasped the bottom edge of Archie’s leine and ripped it over his head.

  His gusty inhale made her laugh. His intense gaze burned. She splayed fingers over his hard chest and licked her dry lips.

  The throaty groan that rumbled as he flipped her onto her back made her insides pulse. Before she had another thought, her sweater was tossed onto a chair and Archie suckled a pebbled nipple through the cloth of the lightweight cami top. He made her wet and needy. Urged her to the edge. Made her wild. Being a fair sort, he switched to the other breast and she bucked, feeling his burgeoning arousal.

  Her groan was louder than Archie’s, and they both laughed.

  “I want you so much it hurts.” Her breathy admission made his eyes flare.

  “Me too,” he said.

  They stripped off the rest of their garments and dove back onto the cushions together, falling in a tangle of limbs. Happiness a visible aura around them.

  She had thought she wanted wild, but Archie’s tender loving awed her. Teased her. Drove her off a precipice into a wondrous place of vibrant pleasure.

  “What about you?” she murmured after her heartbeat slowed to normal.

  “I am with you, sweetling.” He stretched over her, slid between her thighs, and thrust. Her cry of joy was captured by a kiss. Their pace became frantic. In a quick move, he rolled them over without leaving her. “Ride me like you ride Dealanach Dubh.”

  Passion spiraling, she did. He panted, dug clenched fists into the cushions, cords bulged in his neck. Still she rode him hard. The coil within her tightened, snapped, and she tumbled over the precipice once again. His scream as his seed pulsed deep within her womb shook the glass windows.

  Isobell dropped, limp, over Archie’s chest, their hearts racing together, a secret smile on her lips. She would never forget this moment. When alone in this future place, she would hold the memory close to her heart. She blinked several times so not to shed a tear.

  Archie covered them with his plaide and they cuddled for the longest time. “Isobell, I want you to come home with me. I ken that I cannot give you all these beautiful things.” The wave of his arm encompassed the wee chamber, but she kenned the meaning—the luxury of this time. “But I will love you all of our days and nights.”

  “I dinnae want things. I want to go home with you, but I cannot.”

  “Why? Make me understand.”

  “Please. Just stay here with me.” She used her eyes to sway him.

  “Tell me why you believe you cannot come home with me.” Archie thumped a finger against his chest.

  “Because you will never forgive me.”

  “I already have.”

  “Nae. You dinnae understand.” She sat up, clenching the plaide to her chest to cover her nudity. “You dinnae ken the extent of my activities with the reivers.”

  “Make me understand.”

  “I was the one who tended Maclay after his fall from the cliff and brought him back to health. I was the leader of the reivers.” There she said it. She spoke the truth.

  Archie’s impassive stare made her feel clammy. Torturous moments passed. Finally, he pulled her into strong arms and tucked her head against his shoulder. “I am verra sorry you felt the need to hurt me.”

  What? “Why are you not yelling? Pushing me away?”

  “You did what you believed you had to do—though it was based on lies. Because you thought I had done the same against your father and your clan.”

  “Aye.”

  “Your father has a lot to answer for.”

  “And you are willing to forgive me?”

  “I already have.” He pinned her with an intense look. “You will give up your thieving ways.”

  “Those days are over.” She glanced at her lap. “I cannot tell you who or where the reivers hide.”

  “Honor among thieves, aye?”

  She raised her gaze to his. “Aye.”

  “You will come home with me.”

  The sweetest command she ever heard. “Aye.” She felt his smile against her hair.

  “You will need to make amends to those you wounded.”

  “How?”

  “Perhaps through works of charity.”

  “I can do that.” And she would. “I can help those who were hurt.”

  He pulled her down beside him and they snuggled close. “I love you with my heart, my soul, my life, forever.”

  “And I, you.”

  He kissed her, and everything within Isobell calmed. She was home in his arms.

  Archibald shook her awake several hours later. “We have company, sweetling.”

  A grinning Munn stood over them with Caitrina at his back. The faerie held the gift box from Laurie. Munn carried her sword and Archie’s claymore.

  “You missed midnight services.” Caitrina gave them a kenning smile. “It is time for you to return home.”

  The two fae creatures turned their backs so Isobell and Archie could dress with dignity. Isobell donned the gifted garments. Their family and new friends were waiting in the garden when they emerged from the orchid room.

  After tearful goodbyes, Archibald clasped Isobell’s hand. “Are you ready?”

  “Aye.”

  A grave expression crossed his handsome face. “Forever?”

  “Aye. Forever.” She smiled, and his features softened.

  Buoyed by a fated love, chief and lady-wife retreated from the garden, hand in hand, and walked just beyond the gate.

  “I am scared,” Isobell said, feeling the pull of the knoll.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Munn stepped toward the gate to follow Isobell and his chief. If he didn’t hurry, he’d be left behind. His place was with the clan in the past.

  Caitrina grabbed an arm and held him put. “They dinnae need you for their happily-ever-after.”

  “But—”

  “This match is complete. A wee bairn will arrive in late September.”

  “Ach. I need to be there to protect the chief when he is called to war.”

  “We will ensure he sends others.”

  “Who can take his place?”

  “Stephen will lead the chosen lads.” Caitrina smiled. “We are off to other realms. ’Tis time to prepare for the next match.”

  “Tell me who the couple is.” Munn glared at Caitrina. “I want to help with the final match of the queen’s challenge.”

  The annoying faerie laughed. “I have decided to let you help. ’Tis Stephen and—”

  “But you just said he will lead the lads.”

  “True.”

  Munn released a put out sigh. “With whom must he be mated?”

  “I had planned to tell you, but I have changed my mind. I will disclose the information when the time is right.”

  “Whatever.”

  “You have spent too much time in the future. You sound like the humans.”

  Munn shrugged. “A match for Stephen is impossible.”

  “Really?” Caitrina peered down her nose at him.

  “Aye.” Munn clenched his hands on his waist. “Stephen will be traveling far from Castle Lachlan and the Sithichean Sluaigh.”

  “Who claimed there is only one time gate?”

  * * *

  Archibald landed in a crouch on the green grass of the Sithichean Sluaigh as the sun’s rays filtered through the trees onto the knoll. He took an unsteady breath. Home. He was definitely home. His favorite horse and Dealanach Dubh hoofed the snow just beyond the mound.

  He tensed with panic. Where was Isobell? He spun around then released a relieved breath when she appeared at his side and stumbled into him.

&n
bsp; “Dinnae ever want to do that again,” she said as he righted her and she brushed dust from her arisaid.

  Thank the good Lord. “Neither do I.”

  “Do you think ’twas naught but a dream?”

  “’Twas real. We must keep this secret forever.”

  “Aye.” She nodded earnestly. “Look. Dealanach Dubh.”

  She ran to the stallion and wrapped her arms around his neck. The sight warmed Archibald’s heart.

  “How do you think they came to be here?” Isobell asked when he joined her.

  “I would imagine it has something to do with the fae.” He shivered. He couldn’t help it. The thought of fae magic still made him uneasy. “Shall we go home, sweetling?”

  “Oh, aye.” She frowned. “What will we tell the clan?”

  “You were called away to care for your ailing aunt in Glasgow where you had been living for the year before we wed. I went to fetch you.”

  “You think they will believe us?”

  “They will not question their chief over such.”

  “What if one of the reivers is caught and accuses me of… You ken?”

  Archibald gently squeezed her hand. “Nary a one will believe a thief over the wife of the clan chief.”

  She nodded. He lifted her onto Dealanach Dubh, leapt onto his mount, and they navigated the trail toward home. Cresting the final ridge, they took in the sight of Castle Lachlan.

  “Beautiful,” Isobell said, her voice laced with admiration. “Looks like one of those Christmas castles Mairi has on display at the inn.”

  “We must never mention seeing them.”

  “I ken.” Her eyes misted. “I will miss them.”

  “As will I.”

  They rode to the stable where a signal was flashed to the castle. Holding hands, he and Isobell descended the slope to the beach. He helped her into a currach, joined her, and they were pulled over the partially frozen slush to the opposite shore where they were greeted by the Lèine-chneas and escorted into the castle.

  In the great hall, servants scurried to and fro, readying the chamber for the holiday feast.

  “Good Christmas morn,” Aine greeted.

  Archibald eased anxious muscles. ’Twas still Christmas. By the way Aine acted, they must not have been gone a lengthy time so it must still be the same year.