by Baker, Katy
Ramsay stood at the end of the aisle, flanked by his cousin and brother. His eyes found hers and all her trepidation melted away and her pulse began to race with excitement. Ramsay’s hair fell onto his shoulders in copper waves and his green eyes sparkled.
Laird MacSual led her in a stately procession down the aisle. The guests turned to watch as she walked by but she had eyes only for Ramsay. When she reached him Laird MacSual handed her over to him and stepped back to stand beside Lady Thea, Ramsay’s mother, who was holding the hands of two youngsters tightly—Ross and Lia’s young son and daughter.
As Jess came abreast of him Ramsay turned to face her. He said not a word but the look in his eyes took her breath away.
A man cleared his throat and stepped forward. He wore the MacAuley plaid and had dark hair sprinkled with gray. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and had a stern gaze. Jess found Laird Logan MacAuley, Ramsay and Ross’s father, a little intimidating although since he’d arrived with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandchildren a few weeks ago he’d been nothing but warm and friendly towards Jess. The reunion between Ramsay and his family had been heart-rending. They’d all thought him dead and she’d never seen so much joy as she had when his parents had arrived to find their son alive and well.
“Friends!” Logan yelled. “We are here for a grand occasion—one that I never dreamed possible! We are here to witness the marriage of my son, Ramsay MacAuley, to Jessica MacSual. But we are also here to witness more than that: the joining of two great clans. It is my privilege to conduct this ceremony, one that will bring not only happiness to these two people, but will also restore the strength of Clan MacSual and bring peace to this region for years to come.”
Logan began the ceremony. Jess spoke when she was asked to but her attention was fixed on Ramsay.
“I now declare that they are husband and wife. Son, ye may kiss yer bride,” Logan said.
“I thought ye’d never ask,” Ramsay replied with a grin.
He swept Jess into his arms. His mouth descended on hers and she forgot everything else.
LAIRD BALDWIN MACSUAL rose unsteadily from his chair and tapped the side of his goblet with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. To Jess’s mind, he seemed a little worse for wear. He’d been drinking whisky all day—as had all the other men, Ramsay included—and now his cheeks were red and his eyes a little glassy. Still, nobody seemed to mind.
It had been a fabulous day and Jess had quickly learned that these highlanders sure knew how to throw a party. There had been drinking, singing, dancing, games out on the field, and enough food to feed an army.
Now the sun was starting to sink towards the horizon and Jess, seated beside her husband at the head table laid out in the bailey, smiled as her grandfather climbed drunkenly to his feet.
“I have something to say,” he announced. His words were a little slurred but his gaze strong as he looked around at his people. “Clan MacSual has been through a tough time these last few years. After I lost my dear wife and then my sons...well I despaired that we would ever find our strength again. But I’ve been proven wrong. Here they are!” He swung his arm in Jess and Ramsay’s direction, slopping whisky over his arm and several of the guests. “My granddaughter and new grandson! They have brought us a great victory and restored the pride of the MacSual!” There was a round of cheering at this. “Here, with ye all as my witnesses, I name them as my heirs! They will rule after me and bring glory to the MacSual clan!” There was another round of cheering at this and everyone returned to their drinking and carousing.
Jess squeezed Ramsay’s hand and leaned close. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
He kissed her hand. “Aye, as we’ve discussed. Ross will be laird after our father and Ross’s children after him. They dinna need me in Dun Ringill but they do need me here. There’s much work to be done to return Clan MacSual to prosperity and fix our relations with the MacGregor. We’ll always be welcome in Dun Ringill but this is our home.”
Home. She liked the sound of that.
Ramsay stared at her, his eyes catching the flickering light of the torches. The hunger in his eyes made her pulse quicken.
“I dinna think anyone would notice if we snuck out,” he said in a low, husky voice.
“No, I don’t think they would. They’ve all had plenty of whisky.”
With a feral grin, he pulled her to her feet. They stole quickly up the steps to the manor house. As they were about to enter, an almighty hollering and cheering rose behind them. People had noticed them leaving after all.
Jess blushed furiously, but Ramsay turned to face the crowd and gave a brazen bow, grinning triumphantly. Then he lifted Jess into his arms and carried her across the threshold, much to the delight of the watching crowd.
Jess laid her head against her husband’s hard chest as he carried her up to the suite of rooms that Laird MacSual had given them. He barged the door open with his shoulder and kicked it closed behind them before setting her down on the bed.
Somebody had been in while they were out and festooned the room with early flowers and bunches of herbs—probably Maggie or Lia. Ramsay knelt in front of Jess where she perched on the edge of the bed.
He took her hands and stared into her eyes. “My wife,” he breathed. “I willnae ever get tired of saying that. My wife. Jessica Maxwell MacSual MacAuley. Is that right?”
Jess laughed lightly. “I think maybe you’ve had enough whisky as well.”
“Never.”
He brought her hand to his mouth and gently kissed the back of it. His lips left little tingles on her skin. His kisses traveled further, along her wrist and up her forearm. Jess shuddered as goose bumps erupted across her skin. Ramsay nudged her knees apart and shuffled closer so he was kneeling between her legs, put one hand behind her neck and pulled her face down to kiss her.
Jess’s eyes slid closed as his lips met hers. Of their own volition, her arms went around his neck, pulling him closer.
Ramsay’s hands swept over her shoulders and down her back, his fingers deftly untying the laces of her dress. He shucked her out of it, pushing it off her shoulders and down to her hips. His eyes darkened with lust then he lowered his head and began teasing and licking her nipples. Jess gasped, throwing her head back. An ache deepened inside her.
Ramsay pushed her onto her back, grabbed the dress, and pulled it off the rest of the way. He looked her over, eyes devouring her body, and then he was on her, kneeling with his knees either side of her hips as he laid kisses all over her torso.
Her back arched involuntarily as his touch sent fire scorching across her skin. But he wasn’t done. He moved lower, put his hands beneath her rump and lifted her hips towards him, lowered his head and trailed his tongue up the inside of her thigh. Jess gasped then bit her lip as his tongue found the sweet spot between her legs and went to work, caressing, stroking, teasing. She gripped the bedsheets tightly as the throbbing inside deepened, becoming almost unbearable.
She grabbed fistfuls of his hair and yanked his head up to look at her. “Ramsay,” she breathed. “I need you inside me. Now.”
He growled deep in his throat and shifted to kneel between her legs, gazing down at her. He said nothing. He didn’t have to. His desire was written plain across his face and the swell of his manhood that stood straight out, huge and erect.
He nudged her knees further apart and lowered his weight onto her. The hard contours of his chest crushed her breasts, his hips pressed her into the bed, his breath brushed her cheek. The smell of him enveloped her: that unique blend that was Ramsay, and she breathed it in deeply.
Eyes locked with hers, he thrust his hips, driving himself deep inside her. Jess gasped, bucked against him, flinging her head back. Ramsay began to move and every part of her came alive. Fire raced across her skin, sizzled along her nerves, turned her blood to molten metal.
Jess rocked to meet him as he thrust harder and harder, faster and faster. She was burning, burning. It was too much. It wasn’t
enough. Never enough. She was being consumed. Devoured. It grew and grew until finally, with a shriek, it exploded, and she was obliterated in the inferno.
Ramsay grunted, shuddered and thrust one final time as his climax took him. Jess slowly came back to herself. She brushed Ramsay’s hair away from his face and he raised his head to gaze at her.
“Mine,” he whispered. “Ye are mine.”
“Yours,” she echoed. “Always.”
He shifted onto his back, pulling her with him so she was slotted against his body. Jess pressed herself close, wanting every part of her skin touching his. She would never get enough of touching this man. Her husband.
She ran the tip of her finger across his skin in lazy swirls. He shivered and goose bumps rose across the hard planes of his chest.
“Ye best stop that, love,” he said in a gruff voice. “I willnae be responsible for my actions if ye continue.”
Jess grinned and moved her fingers lower, lower, until Ramsay groaned.
“Right. Ye canna say I didnae warn ye,” he said.
With a laugh, he rolled over, pinned her beneath him, and set to work.
JESS WOKE IN THE DEPTHS of the night. A thin sliver of crescent moon hung high in the sky and moonlight was spilling through the window right onto her pillow. By her side, Ramsay slept on, snoring softly. She watched him for a moment then got up and crossed to the window.
She peered out into the bailey. The observatory tower was a dark column rising into the night but there was a light burning in the window at the top.
Jess frowned. What was her grandfather doing up at this hour?
She pulled the curtains closed and returned to the bed but hesitated before climbing in. She bit her lip, undecided, then, leaving Ramsay sleeping, she quickly dressed, pulled on her cloak, and slipped out of the room. As silent as a cat, she stole through the sleeping manor house and out into the bailey. It was a mild, late spring night with the smell of dew hanging in the air.
She craned her head to look up at the tower. The light burned like a beacon. She pulled open the door and huffed up the steps. The door to her grandfather’s study stood open and she spotted his silhouette standing by the window.
“Grandfather, what are you doing up—”
She stuttered to a halt as her eyes fell on the tiny, gray-haired figure standing by the window. It wasn’t her grandfather at all. It was Irene MacAskill.
The old woman turned as Jess entered the room and smiled. “Ah! There ye are, my dear. I was beginning to wonder if I would have to wait all night.”
Jess gaped. “What...how...eh?”
Irene turned to look out of the window. Laird MacSual’s journal lay open on a small table beneath it, with the astrolabe by its side.
“I have always been fascinated by the heavens,” Irene said. “There are so many secrets out there. Even with the might of twenty-first century science there is still so much that isnae understood.” She turned to Jess, her black eyes flashing. “Dinna ye think?”
Jess shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Irene? What are you doing here?”
The old woman smiled. “I’ve come to talk with ye, of course.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“The fewer people see me, the better.” Her eyes bored into Jess. “Ye have another decision before ye, my dear.”
Jess eyed her warily. “What decision?”
“Havenae I said from the start that it’s all about choice? Ye chose to come to this time. Ye chose to aid Ramsay MacAuley and fight the Unseelie. Now ye have another choice. Do ye wish to go home?”
“I can go home?” Jess gasped, surprised.
“Of course. Ye didnae think ye would be brought here with no way to return, did ye?”
Jess opened her mouth and closed it again. Go home? Back to the twenty-first century where there was shopping and TV and pizza? For a moment, she was tempted. For a moment. But then it passed.
“I’m already home,” she said. “Right here. With my grandfather and my husband.”
Irene nodded. “Very well.”
“Did you know?” Jess asked. “Did you know who I was? Was that why you came to speak to me that night at the dig site?”
Sadness shone in Irene’s eyes. “I knew. I knew who yer grandmother was and the fate that had befallen her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“If I did that, it would have influenced yer choices and that I canna do.” She cocked her head to regard Jess. “Ye are just like her. She was a remarkable woman and gifted in a way few mortals are. She sacrificed everything to preserve the balance.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do ye think Rosa MacSual went after Elspeth MacGregor without knowing what she was doing? Nay, my dear, she knew what would happen. She knew she had to stop Elspeth from unleashing the Unseelie and so she did what she had to. As ye did. Ye have her gifts and her courage. Ye are her worthy heir, my dear.”
Jess digested this in silence. All her life Grandma Rosa had kept this secret. All her life she’d lived knowing what she had left behind. How did she bear it?
“And Ramsay,” Jess asked, her voice hoarse. “He died in this timeline. What will happen to him?”
“Ah.” Irene tapped her chin and peered out of the window again. “Time isnae like rock, immovable and static. It’s like water and its course can be altered. He acted to preserve the balance and in doing so, Ramsay made himself part of this timeline once more.”
Jess let out a slow breath of relief.
“Dinna worry,” Irene said. “Ye dinna need to be a Fae to see the future that stretches ahead of ye and Ramsay. It will be golden. Now, off ye go. That future is waiting for ye.”
On impulse, Jess darted forward and hugged Irene. Then, without looking back, she strode from the tower, down the stairs and out into the bailey. She paused and glanced up one last time but the candle had already gone out.
Jessica MacAuley smiled to herself as she made her way back to where her future waited.
THE END
Want some more Highland adventure? Then why not try the other books in the series? Click here for the Arch Through Time series
Would you like to know more of Irene MacAskill’s story? Guardian of a Highlander, a free short story is available as a free gift to all my newsletter subscribers. Sign up below to grab your copy and receive a fortnightly email containing news, chat and more. Subscribe to Katy's newsletter
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN destiny comes knocking?
Irene Buchanan is running from hers. Gifted with Fae blood, she is fated to become the Guardian of the Highlands.
But Irene wants none of it. Soon to be married to her childhood sweetheart, she has everything she ever dreamed of. Why would she risk that for a bargain with the Fae?
But Irene can’t run forever. When a terrifying act of violence rips all she loves from her, she realizes she must confront her destiny. If she doesn’t, she risks the destruction of all she holds dear.
The fate of the Highlands lies in her hands.
