Love A Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (A Highlander Across Time Book 1)

by Rebecca Preston

  Maria could tell it was obvious that she had wounded his pride or ego by telling Bran that they had slept together, but he gave her no choice. She wanted to stand there and fight her ground, but the way his jaw was clenched let her know that this was not the right time. He had a clan to deal with and he needed to go address Jamie's men in the barracks. However, her sympathy for him having to do all of these responsibilities didn’t stop her anger from growing inside. She quickly walked out the door and slammed it behind her.

  Chapter 20

  Maria stomped down the hall of the castle making her way back to her room. The stone floor wasn’t as effective as she’d have liked, as her boots barely made much sound. She needed to keep her mind occupied and since no one else had detective skills, she put it upon herself to do some more work.

  Instead of going to her room, she turned and went down to the kitchen. She made a tray, of bread, cheese, strong port, and no water. She had a plan. If Cameron wasn’t going to let her go with him to help, she’d just have to do a bit on her own.

  Maria carried the tray and stopped in front of Eileen’s room where two guards were already placed.

  “Cameron asked that I bring this to Eileen and check on her,” she said.

  The guard nodded and opened the door for her, allowing her to walk in. Once she was fully through, he closed the door behind her. Eileen stood up from the table.

  “Eileen, hello. I am sorry that this is happening to you.” Maria carried the tray to the table. She suspected that Eileen was the murderer and knew that she had now put herself in the room alone with the most likely killer. She was on her guard but also playing good cop. She did her best to speak in the more formal way that everyone else did in this time, so that Eileen would be comfortable and perhaps give herself away.

  “Why am I being kept here under guard? I don't understand.”

  “The guards are there for your own protection. We have not found the murderer and you need to be protected from what happened to your husband. We don’t want it happening to you. I have brought you some food and some port. I hope that I can join you. You see, I am more like you than you know in this Castle.” Maria poured two glasses of port and handed one to Eileen.

  “You are? How?”

  “I am not a MacLeod. I have not been at the castle very long. They had me under guard at one point as well, off and on. They do not trust women in general, I have found.”

  Eileen sat down with a sense of relief to judge by her body language and took a drink of the port. “Most men do not trust women at all.”

  “Yes, I agree with you on that,” Maria said.

  “Then I am sorry that your visit here at the castle is happening at this time and that you are involved in all of this. My husband tends to create chaos wherever he goes.” Eileen took another drink.

  “Thank you, I do not wish to be at this castle for much longer either.” Maria took a drink and then popped a slice of cheese into her mouth.

  Maria sat there with Eileen listening to what she had to say, mostly complaints about her husband and it was obvious to her that Eileen wasn’t a woman in love. This was looking more and more like a crime of desperation, but Maria didn’t know yet how desperate Eileen would have to be to do something like that. Everyone had a breaking point, something that triggered them to take that next step. The only people other than Eileen and Jamie, who might know what that was were Jamie's men, or maybe Jamie's father himself. It was obvious that after Cameron sent the letter to Laird Duncan, that he would be showing up at the MacLeod Castle soon enough.

  But Maria could not simply walk up to Laird Duncan and start asking questions especially during his time of mourning, a time of tension where war could erupt at any moment. Bran was right that Laird Duncan could show up with an army and lay siege to the castle without wanting any sort of conversation.

  If Laird Duncan was a reasonable man, then Cameron would be able to get her close enough to Laird Duncan in order to find out about the relationship between Eileen and Jamie. That of course meant sorting things out with Cameron before he would help her. He was obviously pissed off about her ratting him out to Bran that they had slept together, and she would need to make amends in order to solve this crime.

  A few minutes later, the door burst open. Bran was standing there seething with anger. Maria and Eileen both stood up.

  “What are ye doing in here? Are ye conspiring together?” Bran shouted as he went directly for Maria. He wrapped his hand tightly around her arm and pulled her toward the door.

  “No, drop your suspicions about me. Take your hands off of me.”

  “I will do no such thing. Cameron said he ordered ye to go to yer room and to stay there, and ye did not obey that order. Ye must listen to the Laird of this castle like the rest of us. I am putting a guard at yer door,” he said.

  “I was merely bringing Eileen food. She deserves that much,” Maria said trying to throw him off her suspicions and that she was actually investigating Eileen. But it was no use, Bran was livid and already carrying her down the hall.

  A few moments later he pushed her into her room and posted a guard at her door.

  “This woman does not leave her room unless I or Cameron come to fetch her. Is that understood?” Bran shouted and then stomped away.

  The door closed and Maria was absolutely brimming with anger. How dare Bran treat her that way, but that was the way women were treated in this land. At least she got what she wanted, more information from Eileen.

  Maria sat down on the bed feeling the port taking hold. She had drunk more than she had wanted to and not getting any sleep the night before, she started to grow tired. Her heart was heavy with despair and she wondered why she needed to help Cameron at all. She should be concentrating on getting loose and finding her way to the catacombs door back to her own time, but she was finding that she was less homesick for her own time and wasn’t missing her own home as much as she was before. She knew exactly why she felt that way. Cameron MacLeod. Even though he had failed her, she had felt things for this man that she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

  Chapter 21

  Cameron MacLeod did not want his advisers or his men to know that he had become involved with Maria, the woman they considered an outsider and possibly a witch. So when Maria confessed that she was in bed with Cameron during the murder of Jamie, it did not please him. His relations with Maria were no business of Bran, especially during this tense time.

  It angered him that Maria had exposed their intimacy to Bran. It angered him and he sent her away, it was what men like him did. He was not used to this spirited independent woman. She did what she pleased, including informing on their relationship.

  But then Bran was right in some respects, the fact that Maria had an effect on him, it made it harder for him to focus on his responsibilities. The lass did have a spell on his heart in some way. So sending her back to her room while he dealt with Jamie's men and his wife as well as informing Jamie's father that his son was now dead, helped him to focus on those tasks.

  There was too much to do, and he would have to deal with Maria later, no matter how guilty and angry it all made him feel in the moment.

  Maria woke up to a light tapping at the door. She opened her eyes and saw that it was nearly Sunset. She had slept for several hours after being up all night dealing with the murder of Jamie. She quickly straightened her dress and pushed her hair back thinking that it must be Cameron at the door.

  “Who is it?”

  “Lass, it’s Erin. I have brought you some dinner,” the soft voice sad.

  Maria unlocked the door and opened it for Erin, seeing that there were still two guards posted at her door. She now understood that it wasn't simply to protect her from the murderer, but that she was expected to remain in her room. Once again she felt like a prisoner and shook her head at the annoyance of these men who didn’t believe her.

  “Erin, so good to see you. Please come in,” she said to the kind woman who carried a tray
of food, and a very large glass bottle of port which Maria was glad to see. She closed the door behind her and went to sit at the table with her friend.

  “Oh lass, what chaos has erupted here at the castle since I have gone away? I came to check up on you.”

  “So the news has spread? About Jamie MacDonald?” Maria said.

  “Yes, there are few who do not know that a MacDonald, the son of the Laird was murdered in the MacLeod Castle. It is on everyone's tongue, which is why I came to see you. As a visitor, I know that my own people would suspect an outsider. Since they do not know the true way that you came here, they do not know much of you. I thought you could use a friend who understood how you came to be in the castle,” Erin said pouring the port into a goblet.

  “That is very true. You and Cameron are the only people who know about how I traveled through the door. Thank you for coming to see me, Erin. I am very worried, but also very frustrated.”

  “Tell me, lass, what has happened?” Erin said.

  “In my own time, I am a person who investigates murder to find out who the perpetrators are, I investigate other crimes as well, but usually my job is to find the murderers. I am trained for it. We look for clues and track down the murderer but telling Cameron this, he only allowed me to do my work for a short time and then sent me away. I do not understand him. One minute he is hot and the next cold.”

  “I know what you speak of all too well. I am an expert in my own scholarly ways. Herbs and medicinal things, even knowing the history of these parts, but most men do not take my skill seriously. It is just part of being a woman here in this time, not being heard. The men are respectful, for the most part, but they think we are fragile creatures.”

  Maria popped a piece of bread into her mouth. “It is truly annoying.”

  Maria noticed that Erin was looking at her, as though analyzing her. It made her uncomfortable, she was usually the one doing the analyzations.

  “Is your frustration at Cameron only because he does not let you participate, or something else? It seems to me you might have bonded with the man?”

  Maria looked at her with wide eyes. Was it obvious? Did it show on her face that she was falling for Laird Cameron MacLeod?

  “ I...I…”

  Erin laughed. “No need to be bashful with me, lass. You are a strong woman and Cameron has been known to be impulsive. He is a good man, a bit uncompromising . But you must understand he is constantly under scrutiny and pressure by the old guard in the clan for his lack of experience when he was made Laird. It is that pressure that makes him fear disclosing his relationships because he knows that if he falls in love with a woman, suddenly that woman is in danger. That is what happens to women when they are aligned with powerful men. Other men might harm the woman in order to get to the man. Do you understand that?”

  “I do. It is the same in my time. Even with the advances we’ve made, some men still think of us as fragile creatures. And others still use loved ones to get to other men.”

  Maria took a drink of the port, realizing that she had been a little bit hard on Cameron, treating him as though he was a man from her own time and should know better. But she had failed to remember that in dealing with him, she shouldn’t think of him as a modern man. Things were vastly different in this time and dangerous. He was the Laird after all and anyone seeking to destroy him or take his place obviously would use anyone that he had affection for, such as a lover or his own child as a hostage of sorts. It was possible, even in her own time it was still done. She understood him better listening to Erin speak about the pressure he was under as a Laird, but she still expected an apology from him.

  Erin and Maria ate a hearty dinner together, and drank plenty of port. Maria was very glad that Erin had come to visit her. It was true that only she and Cameron knew her true background and where she had come from and it was comforting to be able to talk to someone openly. She did wish that Erin had come to her with news about the portal, new information about the door in the catacombs and how it worked. But she also knew if that information was available and written down somewhere then many would have used it before.

  For now she would be satisfied with just being able to work on the murder case in order to keep her mind occupied from the fact that she was stuck in a different time with no possibility of going back to her own life. Or the fact that she was falling in love with a man who treated her so differently than what she expected in her time. If a man in her time dared to treat her as she had been treated here, she would have brought them up on assault charges, and kidnapping, or at the very least unlawful imprisonment, but here was a different world. It was a world she was trying to navigate and trying to remain out of suspicion to those who thought of her as a witch.

  “It was good speaking with you, lass. Stay strong. I'm visiting with Cameron before I leave back to my own home. I will have a word or two with him about how he treats women,” Erin said giving her a wink.

  Maria smiled, knowing that she truly did have an ally in Erin. She gave the woman a hug, before she was left alone again, waiting to see what would happen and what would become of her.

  Chapter 22

  After getting an earful from Erin, Cameron was not able to sleep at all that night. There was too much on his mind. They had taken Jamie's men prisoner, for all accounts. Though they were hospitable to them. They were not in the dungeon, simply locked up in the barracks and not able to leave. It would be too dangerous and most of the men were heated over the murder of their Laird’s son, as they should be. It was their job to protect Jamie, and the fact that the MacLeod Clan forced them to stay out of the castle, only made the MacLeods looks suspicious, as though it was all planned. Then of course having Eileen under guard as well. But to top it all off, Erin had visited him and spoke a few words about his actions toward Maria, and he knew her to be right. She was a wise woman.

  So although he should be thinking about the brink of war between the clans, he was thinking about the woman he wanted so badly in his bed. Finally giving up, he dressed and made his way from his room to hers. He nodded at the two guards posted at her door, and then knocked lightly. There was no point in alerting the entire floor that he was visiting her, especially not Bran.

  Maria opened the door, and it was obvious to him she had not been sleeping. She gave him a look, an angry one, but stepped aside for him to enter regardless.

  He shut the door behind him and relocked it.

  “Well? Have you found the murderer?” she asked with her arms crossed.

  Cameron was hoping for a more agreeable greeting, perhaps a heated kiss. But he knew she had every right to be angry after the way he had treated her.

  “We have not.”

  “No, of course not, because you are looking in the wrong place. I think it is right under your nose and you do not even know it,” she said sitting down in the chair and staring at him pointedly.

  He pushed his fingers through his long hair and sat down on the bed. “And I suppose you have figured it out, of course?”

  “Not entirely, but I bet that I am further along in the investigation than you are.”

  “You are angry. I can see it in those spirited brown eyes of yours,” he said.

  With those words he watched as Maria stood up from the chair and stomped directly in front of him. She poked her long narrow finger into his chest. “I have every right to be angry! Why did you do that to me in front of Bran? You did not want to admit to him that we had slept together! He was about to throw me in the dungeon and accuse me of killing Jamie when you knew all along it could not have been me because I was in bed with you. Yet you said nothing. You are a coward!”

  Cameron stood up. He did not like being called a coward. “I am no coward, lass. I did what I did to protect you. If Bran knows where my heart lies, then everyone will know. That puts you in danger immediately. If Laird MacDonald believes that I murdered his son, he will go after the one that I love as revenge!”

  He watched as Maria's eyes gre
w wide. He was startled himself realizing that those words had come out.

  “Love? You love me? You hardly know me,” she murmured.

  “Aye. Which makes it that much more crazy, Maria. And yet it is true. I do not know who you are, and you have come to me with these strange words and shown me strange pictures of you going from your time to mine. For all accounts I should be the last man to fall in love with you, yet here I am. If I could make you my wife right now, I would. But how can I gain acceptance from my people who do not yet trust you, if I make a woman my wife, when she is suspected of murder, of being a witch, and possibly causing a clan war?”

  “Wife? You don’t own me, you can’t force me to marry you, I don’t belong to anyone, let alone you, not like this,” Maria said.

  Cameron watched as she pushed her stubborn chin into the air. “Being my wife would mean that you belong to me, lass. That is simply the way of things here. You would accept it and you would honor it,” he said growing angrier.

  “I will not belong to a man who doesn’t trust me, Cameron. You may have touched my heart, but I will not belong to you if you treat me as you did in front of Bran.” She looked hurt, but determined. “I begged you to let me help in this investigation, to let me help find Jamie's murderer and you doubted me. You let Bran treat me like a suspect, when you knew damn well I have nothing to do with Jamie’s death. I can’t live like that, no matter how much I want to be at your side as your wife. If you have no faith in me, in my abilities, I can’t be with you.”

  “Aye. That was wrong of me. I can see that now. But, lass, you must bear with me I am a man of my time, and we do things differently. That does not mean that I cannot learn to have faith in your capabilities, to defend you before others, to honor you and love you as you are. But I cannot put you in harm's way, love.” He paused and looked at her, hoping to get her to understand him. “I received word from Laird MacDonald. He read my letter and wrote in return. He's not a happy man and will be here by tomorrow. He did not say so, but I fear he will bring an army. By this time tomorrow there might be an all-out war outside the castle. There could be many casualties and I very well could be one of them. I cannot put you in that danger.”