Sworn to a Highland Laird

by Sky Purington

  “Beats the shit out of me.” Jim shook his head as well, obviously confused. “One sec I was with Linds, the next here.” He frowned as he looked around, rubbed his throat and eyed Adlin with uncertainty. “I saw the light through the forest, you two, then the next thing I knew I had a damn knife to my throat.”

  Adlin made a disgruntled sound that might have been an apology before he sheathed his blade and Milly made introductions. Though Adlin might know who Jim was, her friend certainly had no clue who the Scotsman was.

  “So where am I exactly?” Jim looked around again. “Because this definitely isn’t anywhere near your house, Milly.”

  Leave it to Jim to take all this in stride as she sat him down and warily told him the whole story. He never said a word but listened until she was finished.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. Really?” In typical Jim fashion, he crossed his arms over his chest and glanced from her to Adlin. “Time travel? Medieval Scotland?”

  “He’s taking this verra well,” Adlin commented, handing the skin of whisky to him.

  “Thanks...I think.” Jim continued eying Adlin, clearly not sure what to make of him.

  “Go on and drink it, lad,” Adlin urged. “’Twill not harm you.”

  “No.” Jim gestured at Adlin’s blade. “But that might again.”

  “Och, nay.” Adlin shook his head. “My apologies. I thought you meant Milly harm.”

  “Right...Milly...my ex...who you think is your one true love,” Jim muttered as he took a deep swig, his eyes never leaving Adlin.

  “I dinnae think but know.”

  Adlin sat beside Milly which put her between them.

  She gave Jim a lot of credit for not choking on the whisky because of its taste. Instead, he wiped his mouth and gave a nod of approval. “Damn good.”

  “Aye.” Adlin grinned and nudged Milly, apparently finding humor in the whole situation. “It seems he has good taste when it comes to both lasses and whisky.”

  “Yup.” Jim winked at Milly. “Always have.”

  She sighed, shook her head and grabbed the whisky. “Glad to see everyone’s getting along.”

  “Why wouldnae we?” Adlin kept grinning. “Is he not the lad I picked for you in our last life?”

  “What’s that?” Jim asked.

  So Adlin explained.

  “Isn’t that something.” Jim chuckled, clearly eased by the liquor. “Looks like he’ll be able to keep you this time around though, which sounds like the happy ending you both deserve.”

  Confused, Milly looked from Adlin to Jim. “What do you mean?”

  He gestured at her ring. “That’s what caught my attention when I arrived it was so bright.”

  “I know it can be,” she said, curious what color he saw. “So you saw the brown glow?”

  “What?” Jim shook his head. “No.” He gestured from the gem to Adlin’s eyes. “It’s the same color as his eyes.”

  “What?” Adlin and Milly said at the same time.

  Jim looked between them and shrugged. “Not sure what you were expecting me to say,” he gestured at the ring again, “but that stone matches Adlin’s eyes.”

  “As is, you shouldnae even be able to see the gem without magic,” Adlin murmured. “Yet you do, and it matches my eyes.” He shook his head, still smiling. “Bloody strange, but most welcome.”

  “Yet it still matches William’s eyes as far as I can tell,” she murmured.

  “William Wallace.” Jim shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m going to actually meet him.”

  “I can’t believe you’re taking all of this so well.” Restless, Milly stood. “Now tell me again what happened after I left. Where did you last see Lindsay?”

  “Upstairs in the attic the next morning,” he said. “I came back early because I was worried about Jessie. Everyone was still sleeping except for you and Linds. Neither of you were in bed. When I heard something upstairs, I headed that way.”

  “That’s where you found Linds,” Milly said. “Just staring out the window.”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “She seemed to be in some sort of trance, mumbling the same words over and over.”

  “I’m going to be taken,” she murmured. “That sounds so ominous.”

  “I thought so,” he agreed. “But there was this look on her face, Milly.” His eyes met hers. “We both know Lindsay is pretty practiced at being anyone people need her to be. That’s what makes her such a great actress.” His eyes were hopeful. Compassionate. “This might be a stretch, but I’d say the look on her face was the real her. The woman beneath all the fronts she puts up.”

  Milly wasn’t sure she had ever really seen that person. The Lindsay without the camouflage she wore so well. The protective shell she only came close to letting down when she was with her friends. Yet she remembered well the night she left. How Lindsay had been curled up on the floor sleeping. Her friend obviously had deep wounds and even deeper secrets.

  “Are you sure there were tears on her face?” Milly murmured.

  “Yeah.” Jim sighed. “Definitely tears though she seemed so...” He shrugged. “At peace in a way I’ve never seen her.”

  “Poor Linds,” Milly murmured as she paced and mulled over her friend’s strange behavior before she met Jim’s eyes again. “Then she looked at you and poof, you experienced everything I did when I traveled back in time.”

  He nodded. “Sounds like it.”

  “I know you’re super laid back,” she mentioned. “But aren’t you frightened in the least by all this?”

  “Sure,” he admitted. “But what good’s it going to do me?” His eyes went to Adlin’s various weapons. “If medieval Scotland is filled with men his size wielding weapons like those then panicking isn’t gonna get me anywhere.” He tapped his temple. “But this might if I remain calm.”

  She could tell by Adlin’s nod of approval that he agreed with Jim’s assessment. One brow shot up, and a twinkle lit his eyes as they met hers. “’Twas with good reason that I pushed you into the arms of this one in another life, lass. He has a sound mind.”

  Well, he did have that, thank goodness. Otherwise, this could have gone much differently.

  When a low whistle resounded, Adlin whistled back. Seconds later, Blair appeared through the forest. Her hand rested on the hilt of her dagger as she approached slowly and called out, “Is all well, Cousin?”

  “Aye.” Adlin nodded and stood. “It seems we have the pleasure of another time-traveler.” He made introductions. “Jim was once Milly’s lover, but now they are just good friends.”

  Milly frowned at Adlin and shook her head. “Definite overshare.”

  “Matter of opinion,” he said out of the corner of his mouth, grinning as Blair and Jim said hello then continued to eye each other with interest. Hence the ‘overshare.’ Blair was clearly beautiful, but it was times like this that Milly remembered just how good looking Jim was with his thick dark hair and magnetic eyes. She saw him on such a platonic level now she had forgotten he could catch a woman’s eye faster than most.

  So said Blair’s eyes as they lingered on Jim for another moment before she focused on Adlin. “Scouts have reported back. The Sassenach have camped downriver and like us are biding time as they debate their next move. A storm is gathering, and Moray has requested all return to camp. Small fires will be kept to tents this eve so as to not draw unwanted attention.”

  Adlin nodded. “We will do as he asks then, based on what Conall discovers, move accordingly.”

  Blair nodded. “I will let Graham and Aðísla know.” She hesitated. “Moray has taken a liking to our Viking relative. It might not be easy for her to slip away.”

  Adlin grinned. “Och, lassie, you forget who you’re talking about. Nothing holds Aðísla back if she doesnae want such.”

  “Then let us hope she doesnae want such, aye?” Blair said.

  Milly glanced at Adlin, surprised. “Would she then? Is she attracted to Andrew?”

  “Och, ‘tis hard t
o imagine but stranger things have happened.” He took Milly’s hand. “Come, let us return, introduce Jim, then take shelter.”

  Jim, meanwhile, seemed relatively at ease as he talked with Blair. The Scotswoman said little, but there was no missing that she was intrigued by him. Later that evening as Milly and Adlin sat by a small fire in his tent, she wondered where that intrigue might be leading her ex now. Because he was sharing a tent with Blair.

  “All of that went better than I expected,” she said as she munched on meat and eyed Adlin. He might have a fur wrapped around him, but it didn’t hide how broad his shoulders were or how powerful his body.

  “Jim certainly took all of this quite well.” He nodded. “And, thanks to Blair, all have taken his arrival much better than anticipated.”

  “Right.” Milly snorted. “She really took one for the team, didn’t she?”

  Adlin clearly understood what she meant based on the amusement in his eyes as he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Are you all right with her actions, lass? Because it almost sounds like it upsets you that Blair declared Jim was her lad. That she had not seen him in years and his traveling made his accent unfortunate.”

  It had sounded that way, hadn’t it? But nothing was further from the truth. Well, at least not in the way Adlin was implying.

  “I guess I’m a little overprotective of him,” she admitted. “Not in a jealous ex sort of way but in a...”

  When she trailed off, not sure how to phrase it, Adlin cocked his head. “You both say ‘twas a mutual decision, but you ended the romance with him, aye?”

  “I did,” she admitted softly. “Because I knew he deserved more. I wouldn’t be able to give him what he wanted.”

  “And what was that?”

  Milly shook her head and stared into the low flames as the wind gusted and rain pattered on the animal skin. “I don’t really know. Love I suppose. I mean I’ve always loved him but not like I should have.” Her eyes returned to his. “Does that make sense?” She sighed because she knew it didn’t. “I kept waiting for this rush to come. This breathless feeling that made it hard to think about anyone but him.” She shook her head. “Yet the years came and went, and it never happened. Not like I imagined it should.”

  “What made you imagine a certain definition for love, to begin with?” Adlin said softly. “Because it sounds like you know precisely how you were supposed to feel though you had never felt it.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” she whispered.

  While she knew what Adlin was hinting at, he was gracious enough not to voice it. To point out that the only reason she understood true love was because she had experienced it with him. That he had, somehow, in another life, allowed her to feel something unequalled. Something so intense and powerful that it had provided a roadmap in this life of all that was possible. All that was out there. What love should be.

  She fingered one of his skinny braids and roamed the masculine plains of his face as she contemplated that. As she suddenly realized that she believed something like that could happen. That she believed a man like Adlin could have truly existed for her before. Her eyes wandered from the curvature of his well-formed lips to the intensity of his blue eyes as he watched her.

  Waited.

  Because he was waiting for something. Or someone. Her. To give in to this.

  Milly pulled her hand away and inhaled deeply. Too much had happened. So much said. From the rings to her friends to Lindsay’s possible whereabouts. Was she still in the attic or had she traveled back in time? If so, was she with the English? She knew her thoughts were all over the place and if she wasn’t careful, she would stop thinking reasonably altogether.

  “As soon as Conall gets back we’ll have more answers,” Adlin said, following her thoughts more readily by the moment. “Until then, you should rest, Milly. There’s nothing you can do and speculating willnae help any.”

  “I know,” she whispered and lay back when he urged her to. “But it’s hard to shut off a worried mind.”

  “Aye,” he agreed as he pulled the fur over them then cupped the side of her neck. “But you must. We might be awakened in a few short hours and lack of sleep will only do you more harm than good.”

  Milly nodded, closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the feel of his touch. She knew he was only trying to sooth her, but her heart was starting to race, and the ache between her thighs that had been a dull throb was becoming a little too painful.

  This was what had been lacking with Jim.

  This was that elusive feeling.

  The unparalleled rush.

  She squeezed her eyes tighter and most certainly her thighs as she tried not to breathe. As she tried not to inhale the spicy, all-male scent that clung to him. They had been riding all day, no bath, yet here he smelled like her idea of heaven. Maybe it was a wizard thing because hell if he shouldn’t have body odor or even bad breath, but no, he suffered none of that which made no sense really.

  Sleep, Milly, sleep, she preached inwardly as the rain fell harder and the wind grew gustier. Stop thinking about Adlin because you know it’s not safe. Just look what happened last time you made a move. Well, two times ago. Technically, the last time went just fine. No sickness.

  Then there was the fact Jim saw the ring glow the color of Adlin’s eyes. It had been the very first thing he saw when he traveled back in time. Almost as if in some small way, he was returning the favor to Adlin for the life Jim and Milly had shared thanks to him. For the love they had found.

  Now that was something.

  A stretch for sure.

  Yet...

  When she opened her eyes, Adlin was looking right at her.

  “You followed all those thoughts, didn’t you?” she whispered.

  Adlin said nothing but he didn’t need to. They both knew what was going to happen next if she did not turn away. Neither could fight this, and both were willing to take the risk. Yet that risk could cost them both so much.

  Scotland’s fate.

  Her life.

  Yet a split second later, her lips were against his, and she had no idea who made the first move. Maybe it was mutual. All she knew was she could not get enough of him. The feel of his lips, tongue, the touch of his hands as they cupped her cheeks then the sides of her neck before they were everywhere.

  “Adlin,” she groaned and arched as his hand rode up her thigh beneath her skirts until he was inches away from touching her where she needed it most. He stayed there for a while stroking and teasing her upper thighs and even her ass as his kiss deepened.

  She was so lost in the feel of his kiss that she barely realized how much he was building her up until he finally skimmed the rough pad of his thumb lightly over her clit and she exploded. Caught in a lusty wail of pleasure, he left her lips and started suckling down her throat, half kissing, half something else that felt so good she started whimpering for more.

  A split second later, his mouth was where his thumb had been. When he repeated that delicious suckling she shot straight up. Anticipating her knee-jerk reaction, he managed to simultaneously keep his mouth where it was while at the same time wrapping her in his arms and gently lowering her back to the ground.

  Milly gripped his shoulders as her eyes rolled back in her head but not before she swore she saw her ring flicker blue again. While she meant to tell him, the things he was doing between her legs made speech impossible. She could groan, moan, even cry out, but actual coherent speech? Forget it.

  They might be fully clothed, but it didn’t make a damn bit of difference. How he licked, stroked and touched her made her feel exposed in a way that went way past simple nudity. She had never felt so sensual, so...feminine. Beautiful and sexy in a way that made her grow aggressive and needy.

  “Adlin,” she panted. And it was just that, panting as his name came out choppy again and again. He was making her feel so much, bringing her to peak so rapidly that she couldn’t breathe, could not feel anything but raw pleasure.

 
Yet she wanted more.

  What shocked her as she tugged at the material on his shoulders was that she wanted to remember. It felt like something was just out of reach. An intense memory teasing and taunting.

  As if he sensed it, as if he knew, Adlin was suddenly with her, over her, his hoarse voice against her ear, his brogue as thick as his erection. “How do ye feel, lass. Are ye well or is the illness upon ye?”

  “Dear God, what?” she whispered, her voice as raspy as his, her heart thundering just as strongly. “No, Adlin.” Her eyes pleaded with his, desperate. “Furthest thing from it.”

  He never said another word, but his eyes stayed with hers as he began yanking at the strings on his trousers. There was something especially intense about that. The way his eyes delved deeper into hers as a strange calm settled between them. A calm completely at odds with their heavy breathing and the raging sparks between them.

  When he pushed her skirts up further and settled between her thighs, she was never more ready. They knew this might cause more harm than good, but it was beyond being stopped now. Not as his eyes stayed with hers and he pressed forward.

  That’s when she saw it again.

  The flicker of bright blue in his eyes.

  His magic.

  “Adlin,” she whispered, but nothing came out. Words were impossible as he began to fill her. Suddenly, all she could see was him in a foreign chamber. They were in a bed with wispy white fabric overhead and around the bedposts. Somewhere beyond him, she sensed a window shaped much like a Celtic cross.

  The original Highland Defiance.

  Half a breath later, they were back in the tent, and his lips were touching hers as he thrust and filled her completely. After that, nothing else got through but him and what he made her feel. She clenched his shoulder with one hand and dug the other into the fur beneath her as he began moving.

  Then nothing but sharp euphoric-like pleasure gripped her.

  They moved together, felt one another, in an unexplainable sort of passion. An intense lovemaking that had her far more verbal than she had ever been. She felt opened up wide but at the same time closed around him as if her body didn’t want to let go. As if her very core was determined to keep him with her.