by Tamara Gill
Gwen sighed again. “Ye’re getting ahead of yourself and everything you are saying will probably never become an issue. Ben has stated he’s not interested in her in any romantic way, and from what I know of Kenzie’s feelings, she feels the same.”
“She said that?” A prickle of disappointment stabbed at him that Kenzie didn’t consider him in that light. He took another sip of mead, dismissing the madness in his head. “Getting back to what happened today, I think it would be best if ye placed some men on lookout and do a search throughout your land, check that no others are hiding, lying in wait to strike at us when we’re unprepared. Just as I was today.”
“In your condition, I’m surprised ye survived.” Gwen sat beside Braxton and summoned a servant to bring some bread. “When you came back and Kenzie was covered in blood, at first, I thought it was hers. My heart has never threatened to come up through my mouth, but today I venture to say it did.”
“Aye, mine, too. How is she, my love?”
“She had a bath upon returning and is now asleep, but in a little while, I’ll take up her dinner and make sure she eats. Today was a great shock to her. Not one she’ll ever forget, unfortunately.”
Ben shut his eyes to block out the image of Kenzie on the ground, fighting off a man who would’ve raped her had Ben been killed or if he’d failed to get there in time. “Is there any possibility that Kenzie has come back to hide from a problem in her life? Mayhap someone has found out about her abilities to travel in time and wants it for themselves. Wants to use her to alter history or some such madness?”
Braxton leaned back in his chair. “’Tis an idea I’d not thought possible. What do ye say, Gwen? Do ye think the lass is in some sort of trouble and needs our help?” He paused. “Her arrival here was odd and not expected. Not that we don’t love having the lass stay with us, but if she is in trouble, perhaps we could help her in some way.”
A servant came in and placed another flask of mead on the table, along with some freshly cooked bread rolls.
“I’d not thought of such a possibility, and I suppose it could not hurt to ask her.” Gwen offered Ben some food, and he waved it away. “I think it’s more realistic that the men were after ye, and their words to ye were truthful. Ye have an enemy, someone who’s willing to pay enough that those rabble rousers tried to take ye today. We shall increase security here, but ye need to think of ye own safety, Ben. Someone wants ye dead and ye need to find out who that someone is.”
Ben nodded. “Aye, you’re right, and I’ll have to think on the matter some more. I suppose I could’ve slept with someone’s wife without knowing it and the husband is now set on seeing my head on a stake. I’ve been in melees and clan disputes before, but to put an actual price on my head is somewhat determined.”
“You must watch yer back and keep yer guard up until we can get to the bottom of this,” Braxton said, biting into a bread roll.
“Ye said Kenzie hasn’t had her dinner yet. Do ye mind if I take it up to her? I want to ask her if she had a specific reason for being here and also check to see if she’s well. I must admit, I probably could’ve handled killing the man who attacked her better, or at the very least, not right in front of her.” Ben rubbed his jaw. He hated to imagine what the poor lass thought of his barbaric ways, and yet, he would kill the man again, would change nothing about his reaction, but mayhap, he would do it where Kenzie wouldn’t have seen.
“Cook is fixing up a tray for her now if you want to go down and collect it. ’Tis been some hours, and I’m sure Kenzie is due to wake soon. She’s probably quite hungry.”
Ben stood. “I’ll go and check.” He left them in the great hall and went to the kitchens where he found the food being placed on a tray, ready to go. Ben took it from the servant and left. As he walked up the stairs, he wondered what to say to Kenzie. How to comfort her, make sure she was well and not fretting over what she saw. He hoped she didn’t think him nothing but a Scottish savage.
He found her sitting up in bed. Candles bathed the room in light, and she looked as calm and as happy as she had been this morning before their ride.
“I brought ye dinner. I hope ye like stew.”
She smiled, nodding. “I do. Thank you.” She wiggled a little further up in the bed and settled the blankets over her stomach. “How are you? Were you hurt at all today?”
Ben placed the tray on her lap and sat on the bed beside her feet. She looked so small, so delicate in the large wooden bed. It was too big a bed to sleep alone in. He pushed the wayward thought aside, stupid thoughts such as those had no value in his life.
“Nay, lass. A few bruises and one cut across my shoulder, but nothing to worry about. I’ve had far worse. I’m more concerned for you. I know what I did in front of ye was probably not the best thing to see…and well…”
“It’s okay, Ben. Even though it was nothing I’d ever seen before, I’m glad you did it. He would have raped me had you not come. I’m glad he’s dead. At least the vile, human scum cannot do it to anyone else.”
“Eat,” he said, gesturing to her untouched meal. “I hope today has not frightened ye so much that you wish to return home.”
“Not at all.” Kenzie started to eat, and Ben was pleased to see some color come back into her cheeks.
“There is something else, something that Braxton thought may be the reason why the men attacked us in the first place. Now, hear me out before ye reply, and just know that we’re here to support and protect ye. We’ll not let anything happen to ye while you’re here.”
“I know you will.” She threw him a smile and took another spoonful of stew. “What did you want to ask?”
“We wondered if mayhap you had come back to our time to get away from someone who may be threatening harm against ye person. Is that so, lass? Did ye come back because someone was aware of your time-traveling abilities and wished the gift themselves or to use it to their advantage?”
Kenzie sat back against the headboard, and the action made Ben aware of her bedclothes. The sheerness of the tunic she wore. He shifted on the bed, conscious of how intimate the setting was.
“There is no one after me, and other than my mother, my friend Ann, and my cousin, the current Laird Macleod, no one knows of the gift I have and what I can do. I think you should look to yourself and who has a score to settle. They did state there was a price on your head. You need to find out why.”
All true, but still, Ben needed to be sure before finding out who his enemy was. “On ye travels to Gwen and Braxton’s home, ye encountered no one who would now wish ye harm?” A frown line blemished her brow before she shook her head.
“I have the ability to choose where I land if you gather my meaning. I arrived on the beach and saw no one. It is not me those men were after.”
He nodded. “Well, ’twould seem our attackers today were parasites who wished nothing but to do me harm at somebody’s direction. You being with me placed ye in danger and I apologize for that, lass.”
“Braxton’s men didn’t know who they were?”
“Nay, no one recognized them, but we have sent word to the McDonnel clan to see if any men are missing. They were wearing their tartans.” He gestured to her food once more. “Ye must eat, lass. You’ve had a shock to the system and food will help ye rest easier tonight.”
Kenzie settled into her food, and Ben was content to sit and watch over her as she did so. Surprisingly, the silence was pleasant, not at all similar to when he and Aline had been alone. Then, Ben had always tried to be busy, to show purpose or explain what was happening with the estate. But with Kenzie, there was no pressure to fill the silence with meaningless words. He was quite content to just sit and watch her, enjoy her presence and nothing more.
She pushed the bowl away and laid down her spoon. “Thank you for bringing my dinner up to me. I feel better for eating it.”
“I knew ye would.” Ben picked up the tray and placed it on the table beside the bed. “I’ll leave ye now to get some rest.”<
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“Ben,” she said, climbing out of bed and coming to stand before him.
He looked down, meeting her gaze. “Yes.”
She smiled a little and then pulled him into a hug. Ben froze, not expecting such a gesture, but then the suppleness and warmth of Kenzie seeped into his soul, and Ben’s arms encircled her back, pulling her close.
She smelt of rosemary, delicate and sweet.
“Thank you for saving me today. I’ll be forever grateful, and I promise, if I can ever return the favor, I shall.” She looked up at him, her eyes fierce with promise. “I will save your life if it’s in my power to do so.”
A cold shiver ran down his spine, and he pulled away, laughing a little to hide his unease. The lass’s words sounded more like a premonition than a promise. “You dinna need to make such promises. From what Gwen’s told me, you’ve already saved my life, and so I think that makes us even, yes? And as a man of honor, I’ll always protect those in my care.”
“Even so, as my thanks, it’s my promise.”
Kenzie yawned, and he helped her get back into bed. Ben blew out the candle and stoked her fire before leaving her room. His steps slowed as he walked to his own chamber, his mind on the men who had attacked them. Who had they been? If Kenzie didn’t have cause for concern, then their words on the cliff today were true…
Someone wanted him dead, so much so that money had been offered in exchange for his life.
It wouldn’t be the first time such a bounty had been offered…but still, since his marriage, he’d not sought out conflict. If anything, he’d become a man who looked for ways other than using his sword to stop conflict. ’Twas not right that he’d be targeted now, years after his last melee with a rival clan.
He must return home, and as soon as possible. His son could be their next target, and should anything happen to Alasdair, he’d never forgive himself, nor could he live with such grief. It was time to return to Castle Ross and be the laird he’d been born to be.
Chapter Six
A few days later, Kenzie strode into the Great Hall and found all the tables and chairs set to the side of the room, servants busy laying out platters of food, while others arranged pretty flowers atop the tables.
“Is something happening, Gwen?” Kenzie asked, coming up to her ancestor and helping her push a table to the side.
“Aye, a wedding. My maid, who’s been with me since we were both girls, is getting married today. I canna believe we’ll both be married and soon, no doubt, Gracie will be with a child of her own. I’m very happy for her.”
“You sound it.” Kenzie looked about the room, the smell of pine permeating the air. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I think we’re almost ready, lass, but we’re about to walk to the church, if ye wanted to join us. We’ll be having the small celebration here afterwards.”
“I’d love to come. I’ve never seen a medieval wedding before.”
Gwen stopped what she was doing and met her gaze. “Is that what they call this time?”
“Yes. Well, we have a few names for the past. Viking age, the Middle Ages, which in the beginning is also known as the Dark Ages, then there’s the Renaissance, and then we had the Early Modern period, such as the Golden Age, Elizabethan, and Jacobean.
“This is fascinating. Were there more?” Gwen leaned on the table, her attention riveted on Kenzie.
“Yes, then came the Georgian and Regency, Napoleonic and Victorian times, and the Industrial Revolution. I live in the post-Cold War era, which is the time after 1991.”
Gwen shook her head, her eyes alight with awe. “I had no idea. How wonderful to know such things.” She turned back to her work. “It makes me quite jealous.”
“May I ask you something, Gwen? It’s a question that has been plaguing me for some time…ever since I helped Abby go back in time.”
“Of course.” Gwen called a servant to take over what she was doing and walked Kenzie to the fire, where they could talk in reasonable privacy. “What’s troubling ye?”
“When Abby arrived at Castle Druiminn she mentioned that you were able to see the future, and that was how you decided that she would be perfect for your brother.”
Gwen smiled. “I do have the ‘sight,’ which is what I call it, and as much as it vexed my brother at the time, I knew the moment I saw Abby that she was made for him, but she just happened to be born in the wrong time.”
Kenzie sighed, remembering how heartbroken Abby had been that she’d never see the love of her life again. How wonderful to be so in love, to crave someone with every ounce of your being and give up everything to be with him forever. “Did you have to learn the sight, or did it come naturally to ye?”
“Ah, I see, you wish to learn more of what ye can do? Is that what ye’re asking me, lass?”
“I am, I suppose.” She bit her lip, wondering how to ask her next question and afraid of the answer at the same time. “Do ye use your abilities to tweak the future?”
“That’s forbidden, my dear. An unwritten rule, if you will. I used my sight to simply offer someone a chance for a different path than the one they were walking. I’ve never used my ability to see what was to come and then try and alter my life to cheat destiny. Some things, my dear, are best left to fate.”
“I understand,” Kenzie said, as she heard male voices entering the hall. Braxton strode into the room, along with Ben who had young Madeline on his shoulders. He threw the little girl up in the air as he got her down. Her tinkling laugh filled the room before she ran off toward Nurse. Both men stood before the fire at the opposite end of the room, their backs to them, seemingly unaware of their presence.
“I can see by ye study of the laird that ye are interested in Ben.” Gwen took Kenzie’s hand, it was warm and comforting. “Ye can tell me, lass. I won’t judge ye.”
“I do like him, but not in the way you may think.” Kenzie met Gwen’s gaze. “I think I judged him too harshly when we first met. I should’ve trusted your opinion of him and seen past my annoyance at a man who was not only drunk, but extremely ill.”
Gwen laughed. “Aye, he was that, but Ben has always been a rascal.” She squeezed her hand and headed back toward the servants. “But if you like him more than you are admitting, that would be fine, too, my dear. Your life is your own.”
Kenzie looked back to where Ben was standing. A shiver stole through her when their gazes locked. The pit of her stomach twisted in the most delightful way, and she swallowed, unable to look away. He was dressed in dark trews and jacket, an emerald green waistcoat that was done up to the base of his neck. Both the men had mud splattered on their lower legs, having been riding—probably looking for more outlaws such as had tried to kill them last week.
Gwen shrieked and strode quickly over to them “What are ye doing! Ye need to go change. Now. The wedding is about to start and ye’re as dirty as pigs in a sty.”
Kenzie chuckled as both men, shamefaced, headed toward the stairs to change. Kenzie followed Gwen outside and looked around while waiting. The front of the house was riddled with cart tracks that had marked the muddy ground. In the distance, Kenzie could see the small square church that looked much like a house, the only feature indicating that it was a house of God, and not a barn or outbuilding, was the steeple on its roof.
The building certainly wasn’t standing in her time, so at some point it must’ve burned or fallen down. She would look into that when she returned home.
Two very large trees stood by the road that led away from the house, and Kenzie wondered when they had been cut down, as they hadn’t survived the passing of time either. The stable looked reasonably similar, although the thatched roof was now slate tile. Kenzie headed across the yard and noted where the vegetable garden was situated was lawn in the twenty-first century and housed a pretty little rose arbor that looked over the sea.
“The house is different, is it not? Tell me about it.”
Kenzie jumped a little at Ben’s deep baritone. She
’d not heard him sneak up on her and it only enforced that she was really quite vulnerable in this time. She had no fighting skills, no ability to get away or idea of where she was going. The forest around the estate was a lot denser than she was used to, and overall, everything was just…different. It was any wonder Gwen had asked her to keep close by and do as they said at all times.
“Some things are different, like trees, plants, and roads, but otherwise, it’s eerily similar. At times, I feel like someone’s hired my house, and I’ve stepped on to their movie set.”
Ben frowned. “I dinna understand yer meaning, lass.” He clasped her hand and wrapped it about his arm before leading her toward the church. “But tell me about it.”
“In my time, there are things called movies. If they were making a movie here, it would be an historical film. You know what actors on a stage do, right? Well, think about what they do on stage, but their actions and words are captured in a way to view at a later time or place. That’s what a movie is.” Kenzie laughed at Ben’s blank stare. “Oh my gosh, I can see you have no idea what I just said, explaining what a movie is, is extremely hard.”
He smiled. “I think this movie that ye talk of will have to remain one of life’s mysteries.”
The thought of mysteries reminded Kenzie of Ben’s demise in only a few months. She bit her lip, hating the fact that she held such knowledge. Gwen was right, sometimes things were best left to fate. “You asked me after our attack if I had any enemies, but I want to discuss further if you do. Have you had a chance to think over who may have wanted you dead.”
“I have enemies.” he stated matter of factly. “Aye, lass, too many to count, but to attack me in the way in which those men did was foolhardy. They were not an organized, well-trained army, but men desperate for coin. We have not yet heard back from the McDonnels, but I dinna believe the men to be of that clan. I have sent out word to the few clans I trust to let me know should they hear of anyone who wishes me or mine harm. Whoever my current enemy is, I shall know it soon enough.”
