Sworn to a Highland Laird

by Sky Purington

  “Och, like I’d bloody tell ye, lassie,” came his young voice from the shadows.

  “Seems to me you are telling me just by talking,” she pointed out as she looked around. She had been such a cute wee bairn. It warmed his heart to see her again, even if just in a memory.

  Little Adlin got quiet after that but not before he rolled a wobbly ring from the shadows to the middle of the attic floor.

  “Oh, not this again,” Milly groaned and huffed, “I’m sick of trying on a ring that’s never gonna fit me.”

  Little Adlin said nothing and stayed hidden with wide eyes as he waited for her to try on the ring. He barely understood what he wanted it to do other than to bring her back to Scotland with him. To be best friends and play together in his homeland.

  “Fine then,” she announced and gathered up the ring. “If I put it on, you’ll come out and play, right?”

  “Aye,” he called, unable to stay quiet.

  Like every other time, the overly large ring did nothing when she slid it on her finger.

  “See,” she declared and frowned. “I told you so.”

  Adlin sighed and came out, momentarily crestfallen before they were off and running again. Sometimes they remained in the house, and at other times they played in the yard and barn. Sometimes they went out as far as the old Stonehenge through the woods.

  As Milly and Adlin followed their younger selves down the attic stairs, they found another version of Adlin leaning against the wall outside a door. He was around thirteen winters if he recalled correctly. “What’s taking ye so long, Milly?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Just tell me already, lass.”

  “No.”

  “Aye.”

  A long stretch passed before the door finally opened, and she stood there looking rather embarrassed.

  “I remember that,” Milly whispered. “I remember how worried I was that the boy from my dreams wouldn’t like my new haircut.”

  Adlin grinned, remembering all too well. It had been a most unflattering cut. But all he saw when he looked at her was a beautiful lass due to be kissed soon.

  “Why are you staring at me like that, Adlin?” younger Milly murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear as though that might somehow fix it.

  “Because...” he started, his eyes round as saucers as he tried to work up the courage.

  “Because why?” She frowned and started to go on which would be a mouthful knowing her, but he leapt forward, puckered his lips and kissed her before she could.

  “Adlin,” Milly chastised from beside him. “I was a little young, don’t you think?”

  Adlin chuckled as the memory faded and they made their way out to the yard where he, in a dream, pushed her on the swing that once hung from the old oak. They were teenagers now and stealing more kisses than not.

  “I’m surprised we never had sex,” Milly murmured fondly. “Because I remember how close we came.”

  “Aye,” he agreed, recalling how much he had wanted to. “’Twas harder to navigate our dreams once Julie and the dragons moved in.”

  “Say what?” she began as the yard filled with strangers coming and going. “Who are all these people?”

  “Believe it or not, they were Viking dragon shifters hiding out.” He grinned and shrugged. “They stayed here for quite some time and Julie....” He nodded at a redhead leaning against a tree. “She helped keep things in order.”

  “My God,” Milly whispered. “This house has quite the history, doesn’t it?”

  “Aye.” He smiled, remembering. “So verra much.”

  “So where is Julie now?”

  “In Winter Harbor overseeing another house,” he said, sensing something as he watched Julie’s residual energy fade. “But I wouldnae be surprised if her ties to this house arenae over quite yet.”

  “And what about your ties to it, Adlin?” Milly said, perceptive as she watched him. “You seem awfully connected.”

  “Aye.” His eyes turned to hers. “But only because ‘twas such a part of you.”

  A breath later, they were in the attic and older still in their dreams. Full grown.

  “It’s not right anymore,” Milly murmured as they sat on the floor against the wall. “Even in my dreams.”

  She was talking about the stolen kisses.

  “But this isnae real,” Adlin said softly, his heart in his throat. “’Twould not be a betrayal to your...friend.”

  “Boyfriend,” Milly corrected and swallowed hard as she held the ring in her palm. “And what you and I share feels real, Adlin. It feels like something I shouldn’t be doing while I’m in a relationship with someone else.”

  Adlin remembered the tight feeling in his chest as their eyes held. “I can make it so that you dinnae see me, lass...just...”

  Milly sighed and rested her hand over his. “Do you intend to just stare at me as I wander through your dreams aimlessly? That sounds so sad.”

  If she only knew. But something was better than nothing.

  “You’ve got to stop pulling me here,” she whispered. “We both know we can’t have anything beyond this. That it’s make-believe.”

  “There is nothing make-believe about the way I feel,” Adlin murmured. “I love you, Milly.”

  Her eyes held his, moist. “I love you too.” She frowned, closed her eyes and shook her head. “It can’t be healthy loving a figment of my imagination.”

  Adlin recalled how he had weighed his response. How he wanted to tell her that he was real but he knew the time wasn’t right. Not yet. Not until Grant said so.

  “Here.” She gave him the ring. “This isn’t mine anymore.”

  He frowned and could not stop from saying, “’Twill always and only ever be yours, lass.”

  “No, Adlin, it’s not.” Her eyes would not go to his. “And I’m not...yours that is.”

  The emotion churning in both of their eyes was unmistakable as Adlin hung his head, sighed then murmured a chant.

  “What is that?” she said softly as her eyes went to the small box he had manifested.

  “’Tis naught but a box.” He dropped the ring inside. Before she could pull away, he cupped her hands around it and murmured, “I will always love ye, Milly and someday ye will realize ye feel the same. Until then I will hide this box and ring inside our memories...inside ye.”

  Though she shook her head, he kept talking, his heart in his eyes. “Someday ye will come looking for me, Milly. When ye do, I will be waiting, and our journey together will truly begin.”

  As they faded, another couple appeared on the bench behind them.

  Them mere days ago as she opened the box...as she put the ring on and unlike before, it shined light blue.

  “Adlin,” Milly whispered from beside him as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I can see...I can remember so much now.” Her eyes met his in shock. “And I know who spoke within my mind right before I arrived at the colonial.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  MILLY LEANED HER head against Adlin’s chest as they sank into the magically warmed pool just beyond the archway. They had returned to the cave, and he felt it best she relax as she came to terms with so much.

  As she remembered a lifetime worth of memories.

  “I don’t know why her voice came across as masculine in my mind,” she said. “But it was definitely your foster sister from your previous life.” Her eyes went to his. “It was Iosbail.”

  Like Adlin, Iosbail had been immortal though their paths were remarkably different. In fact, she had given birth to the Broun clan. A clan that eventually led to those like Milly and her friends, who were fated to be with MacLomains.

  “She must be helping from the afterlife then,” he said softly, clearly pondering the possibility. “God bless her for helping. For seeing through more great loves.”

  Milly nodded. Iosbail had come through for her in one life and seemed to be doing so again. Yet as her eyes stayed with Adlin’s, his sister’s goodwill took a backseat to all sh
e was feeling. All that kept rushing at her.

  How close they had been.

  How much she had loved him.

  “I can’t believe...” Milly closed her eyes against a wave of emotion as she whispered, “I can’t believe we found each other again.” She opened her eyes and touched his cheek as her vision blurred with tears. “How did I ever forget you, Adlin?”

  “You didnae,” he murmured as his lips brushed hers. “Not in the end.”

  “You look different,” she whispered and managed a smile as she saw both the man he had been and the one he was now. “Guess you got the hot end of the stick both times around, eh?”

  He grinned and winked. “So they say.”

  “Cocky much?” she murmured before she pulled his lips to hers. She loved the way he kissed, the way every part of him felt from the inside out. Now that he didn’t have to hold back his magic anymore, he had manifested her favorite soap and was randomly rubbing it up and down her thigh.

  Though they had not kept their clothes on long after returning, they had yet to be intimate. Strangely, she felt shy. As if she were suddenly with a stranger though she knew him so well. Better than anyone.

  “’Tis normal to feel as ye do, lass,” he whispered, his brogue thick as his lips trailed down her neck and he rubbed soap over her sensitive breast. “In some ways, yer just meeting me for the first time.”

  “In some ways,” she agreed as her eyelids fluttered shut and she arched into his touch. But not all ways. No, the more he stroked her, the more she remembered. He felt so similar to how he had before. So loving. So very good at what he did.

  Breathing became trickier as he kept caressing her, as his actions drove her to ache and squirm. She wanted more. Needed it so much her throat thickened with emotion, with every sensation he drew from her.

  When his lips returned to hers, she straddled him and cupped his cheeks, so turned on she almost felt dizzy. That didn’t stop her from kissing him more intensely though. And it definitely did not keep her from sinking onto him. Slowly, inch by tantalizing inch, she lowered as their kisses intensified.

  His large, weapon-roughened hands grabbed her ass and held her tight against him as he filled her completely. A tremble rippled through her body as his kisses slowed yet deepened. As their tongues wrapped and tangled and struggled to get as close as their flesh. To experience the pulsing perfection of nearly being part of one another because that’s how it felt. As though he was inside her in more ways than one. As if she filled him just as readily.

  When they started moving it was perfectly synchronized.

  Everything about them.

  This. Him and her. All they had shared and all they would share.

  As she rode him, he clenched her butt tighter, and the waves of pleasure already washing over her only grew stronger. Based on his groans of pleasure and what she sensed inside his mind, he felt the same. A flood of sensual memories only intensified the passion as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed close as he took over.

  His movements were fast and powerful, the friction of his body against hers a heady aphrodisiac that had her gasping for air. Her body started to quiver and pulse, sending rolling waves of heady heat and spine-tingling shivers through her. Everything inside felt like it was coming alive, wakening, both physically and mentally.

  When her climax came it was so fast and furious she was fairly certain she screamed. It was hard to know she was so lost in the feel of him wrapping his arms around her, pressing deep, groaning and letting go as well.

  They stayed that way for a long time.

  Holding each other.

  Finally coming together despite it all.

  Eventually, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her until it started all over again. The next thing she knew she was beneath him on furs beside the water as he thrust and filled her. After that, they got little if any sleep. How could they when they had just found each other? When nothing separated them anymore?

  She must have nodded off at some point because Adlin was suddenly murmuring, “Wake up, Milly. ‘Tis time to go.”

  “Okay,” she whispered and stretched, wishing she could stay here with him. That they did not have to go face another battle. Which brought her mind to Lindsay and she bolted upright. “It hasn’t begun yet, right?” She frowned as Adlin pulled her up and began dressing her. “Linds hasn’t become bait yet, has she?”

  “Nay.” He helped her into her dress, his hands brushing her bare flesh here and there. “The battle isnae until tomorrow morning. We’ve still got time.”

  “Phew,” she said under her breath, more and more aware of his touch. “Hey, why aren’t you just chanting my dress on?”

  “Why do that when I can do this?” His eyes twinkled as he cinched up the ties between her breasts while dropping kisses along her cleavage. “’Tis so much better than magic stealing all the fun.”

  Milly bit her lower lip as he crouched, made sure she was steady then propped one foot on his knee.

  “What are you doing?” she managed as he pushed her skirt up until it rested high on her thigh.

  “Thinking I probably should have put yer boots on first, but there’s something about seeing yer skirts as they are...” He ran his hand up her calf, over her knee then along her inner thigh. She could tell by his thickening brogue and lustful eyes that the Battle of Stirling Bridge might just have to happen without them after all.

  “Come on, ye two,” Blair called into the cave. “Grant’s eager to travel.”

  “Aye, then, Cousin,” Adlin grumbled as he proceeded to help Milly with her boots, all the while managing to keep one hand available to touch and stroke her legs. Though winded and damned turned on by the time he finished, she thought he would end it civilly but should have known better.

  She yelped and dug her nails into his shoulder when he braced his arm beneath one of her knees, vanished beneath her skirt and locked his mouth on the far-too-sensitive flesh between her legs.

  “Adlin,” she groaned and held on tight as he used his hand and tongue so well that one hell of an orgasm ripped through her in less than thirty seconds. Luckily, when her legs gave way, he scooped her up before she hit the ground.

  “Och, youngin’s,” Grant muttered in amusement as he watched Adlin swing her onto his horse a few minutes later. A feat that might have gone better had she not been turned to putty. As it was, she sort of flailed, her body still clenching and tingling as she tried to pull herself together.

  Adlin swung up behind her and locked her tight against him before she likely sprawled across the poor horse’s neck. He offered nothing but a shrug and wink to Grant. “’Tis always a glorious thing coming together with our Broun lassies, aye?”

  Grant chuckled as he mounted his horse. “Aye, lad, ‘tis the best time of our lives.”

  Milly remained mute for a while as she gathered herself. When she finally spoke, she kept her voice down. “Where’s Conall?”

  “Gone before Grant ever knew he was here,” Adlin replied. “Unwilling to let his grandfather know how much he really cares.”

  “Sad,” she replied. “Life’s too short.” She remembered how often she had wished for a family to love and now knew she had shared as much with Adlin when they were children. Whenever the phone rang at her foster home, she always wondered if it might be her mom or dad looking for her. How lonely she would have been if not for Adlin.

  “I didn’t have a horrible experience in foster care,” she murmured, well aware he followed her thoughts. “I was with one family most of my childhood, and they were good to me.”

  “I know,” Adlin said softly. “You always said as much.”

  “I did, didn’t I?”

  “Aye.”

  “Sort of ironic that I not only ended up with the same name but I don’t have parents I’d be leaving behind if I end up in medieval Scotland,” she contemplated aloud. “Strange, don’t you think?”

  “Not really,” he replied. “Where ‘tis rather extrao
rdinary that you came by the same name, ‘tis more common than naught that the Broun lasses who travel back in time dinnae have much tying them to the future.”

  “Convenient,” she murmured.

  “Merciful I’d say,” Adlin said. “’Twould be far more difficult for all parties involved otherwise, aye?”

  “True,” she agreed, still sifting through so many memories.

  It was strange knowing she had shared so much with him. So much more than anyone else in her life and starting at a very young age. He had been her confidant. But then, she had, on some level, thought she was speaking to herself within a dream.

  “Nay,” Adlin murmured in her ear. “Try to convince yourself otherwise all you want, but you always knew, Milly...you always knew I was real.”

  She didn’t argue and rested her head back against his chest as they traveled. The truth was she had not known for certain, but she had so hoped. Like a woman imagining her knight in shining armor existed. That he was just waiting for her to remember him...come to him.

  “We should make camp by nightfall,” Grant said.

  Though the day grew colder, the sun kept them warm enough as they made their way upstream without any trouble. They stopped once to eat by the run-down castle they had stayed at before but did not linger long. She could tell both Adlin and Grant were eager to get back. To see how everyone fared the eve before such an important battle.

  As it turned out, all seemed well enough as they entered the encampment at sunset. If anything, spirits seemed rallied and rather high considering what the next day would bring. When she mentioned as much, Adlin had a ready response.

  “These are Scots being led by the likes of Moray and Wallace, lass. Men who have already recaptured Inverness, Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen, Irvine, Fife, and Dundee,” Adlin said. “So they dinnae have any reservations about tomorrow despite the odds. They’re thirsty for Sassenach blood and eager to pay back with a swing of their blade just a small part of the harm that’s been inflicted on their kin and country.”

  “I can imagine.” She frowned. “What are their odds anyway?”

  “’Twill depend on how well they execute their plan,” he replied. “Because as it stands now, the Scots only number around three hundred cavalry and ten thousand infantry.”