“Archie made me a list for you. Maybe some of it would—”
His face grew dark. “I was still fightin’ General Reyes after twenty-five years?”
I wished I could put my arms around him. “Yeah, but now you have more information, earlier, because Archie wrote it for you. The only problem is I didn’t bring it. I left it in our safe in Florida.”
“Och.” He turned back to facing forward. He was quiet for a moment then said, “Tis okay, Kaitlyn, we will go back for it somehow.”
I chewed my lip. This was all so complicated, full of what ifs and other strands of time-ness, and not-really-but-still-totally-happened things. And what would we do to solve it? The fresh morning sky soared overhead lightening with the sunrise and the midges weren’t out because of a gentle breeze. It was still a little chilly as we climbed higher into the hills.
He was quiet for longer. “I needs tae get Quentin as well.”
“Really?”
“Aye. I have advisors in my kingdom, but they daena ken my mind as he does.”
“Okay, we will go back and get the list and Quentin. Chef Zach will cook us dinner. And then we will vanquish your enemy.”
He smiled over his shoulder. “Twill be easy now ye are here.”
“Definitely. I’m nothing but skills. Look at me riding this horse like an expert.”
He jokingly pulled my reins so my horse drew near his and leaned across from horse to horse and kissed me sweetly on the lips.
“You should have these.” He passed the reins to me and gestured how to hold them.
“Are you sure?”
“She is gentle, mo reul-iuil. She winna do anythin’ but follow mine, tis why I chose her.”
A few moments later, Magnus turned to check me.
I grinned. “I’m doing it! Look, I’m doing it!”
He chuckled, “Aye, ye are doing it.” He made a haw kind of noise and our horses moved faster; I squealed a little and held on.
Chapter 5
I was watching the stretch of linen across his shoulders as his arm held the reins and his back rocked with his horse’s gait. I said, “That’s a beautiful horse.”
He stroked his horse’s neck. “Aye, he’s a lagachadh. I like him so much I travel with him now, tae my kingdom and here. He is always verra angry when we jump but soon forgives me on it.”
“What does that mean — locacage?”
“A war horse.” He patted the stallion’s neck proudly. “He is gentle, but in a fight he will bite the other horse. He verra much likes tae win.”
“What’s his name?”
“Guess. Twas named after somethin’ we used tae hunt.”
“Hunt? I don’t hunt.”
He smiled. “I named him Shark. Tis funny because he daena like the water much.”
I laughed. “It’s very funny especially if he’s a biter.”
We slowed; the path was steep, the terrain rocky and our horses were picking their own way.
He said, “Up ahead is a burn. We should stop and let the horses rest. Tis early yet, but we traveled verra far this day.”
“What’s a burn?”
“A stream.”
“How can you tell?”
“See the falcon above us? He told me.”
Sure enough there was a bird circling, but when Magnus pulled our horses to a stop, the stream was rushing, noisy rushing. There was only about three inches of water, but it was moving over the rocks at a fast clip. “You heard the stream. I have never known you to converse with birds.”
He dismounted. “I haena shown ye? I speak tae birds all the time. The gulls in Florida are particularly good friends. I had them watchin’ over ye while I was away.”
I put my hands on his shoulders, swung my leg over, and dropped into his arms. It was all very sweet and romantic, but as soon as my feet hit the ground I was — “Ow, ow, ow, owie.” I duck-waddled a few steps. Then wailed, “Owiiiiiieeeeeeeeee. My whole—” I gestured around my whole crotch area. “Is very very very ouchie.”
Magnus chuckled. “The whole?”
I nodded and pretend-wailed again. “Owie-ouchie, plus I am so hot for you right now — the horseback riding... Is that a thing, to get turned on while horseback-riding?” I held my skirts out away from my thighs.
His smile spread under his bushy moustache and the crinkles under his eyes crinkled more. “Aye, mo reul-iuil, tis a thing.”
“I mean, I guessed it was. Every time I ride with you I am so hot for you, but this time I was on a different horse, watching your back and your ass and your... but it’s so ouchie!”
Magnus raised his brow and laughed. “I can be gentle.”
I pouted. “I don’t think you can be this gentle.”
“Show me.”
I pulled my skirts up in the front and Magnus stooped over to investigate my upper thighs. He gently turned my leg to see the inside skin.
He winced. “Aye, mo ghradh, tis especially ‘owie.’ Ye need thicker skin there.”
“I don’t want thicker skin there, I want soft delicate skin there.” I tried to look past the bundle of skirts but I could only see a bit of red raw skin about halfway down. “Is it all raw?”
Magnus nodded solemnly. “Aye, ye needs tae go tae the burn.”
“Why?”
“Tae dangle yer arse in the water.”
I squinted my eyes. “Sounds cold.”
“May be cold but twill cure your malady, m’lady.”
He led the horses and me down the small rocky slope to the edge of the stream. The horses drank from the water while we took off our shoes. Mine were leather boots with laces. I stripped off my socks and tucked them inside. His were leather, tall and expensive looking, I guessed he had them made in the future to wear here in the past.
“Do I completely undress?”
“You daena need tae go swimmin’; the water isna deep enough. You just needs tae get yer arse submerged.”
I stepped out onto the rocks along the edge.
“Careful, twill be slippery.”
I put a toe in. “Cold! It’s so cold!”
“Tis comin’ from the snowy mountain.”
My foot slipped a little and I squealed. “It’s too cold!”
“Tis nae too cold, ye just have tae lift yer skirts and dip yer arse.” He grinned and stepped into the water beside me and joked, “Tis cold! I am glad I daena have tae do it. I will help ye hold your skirts.”
I stepped my other foot out on a wide flat rock with a couple of inches of water moving across it. My left foot slipped again, but I pressed it against the rock edge until I was stationary. I held my skirts, but my feet felt frozen. I puffed air. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“Ye can. Drop yer arse lower.”
I shivered. My pale white feet were submerged in the ice water.
I talked to myself: “Why? Why are you letting him talk you into this, Kaitlyn? He’s a freaking highlander. He takes his one bath a year in water this cold — by choice. When you met him all his showers were this cold, but you’re a Florida girl. You like humid days and hot showers...” Talking took my mind off it. I dropped to one knee on the smooth rock. Water rushed around my calf. I puffed and puffed and dropped the second knee with a squeal.
Magnus laughed as he scooped up my skirts to keep them from getting wet. I settled my whole hips, ass, thighs, and crotch into the ice cold water. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god! Cold cold cold cold cold.”
“Wriggle your hips.”
I dutifully wiggled my hips while he chuckled. I crouched there for one more moment and jumped to my feet and leapt shivering and splashing to the shore. “Freezing!”
Magnus was practically guffawing. “Twas a breac splashin’!”
I dropped my skirts and put my hands on my hips. “A breac?”
Magnus wiggled a flat hand.
“A fish? Like a trout? Magnus, are you comparing my ass to a trout?”
He splashed back to the shore and swept me into his a
rms. “I missed ye.”
“I missed you too. So much. And you were barely gone, but still.”
“Let me build a fire and get our dinner.”
Chapter 6
We cleared a space under a tree. It had a flat spot to sleep and a view of the trail in case someone was following us. I gathered sticks for a fire.
“Dost ye have a flame?”
“Yep.” I dug in my pack and brought out a little wax envelope full of matches. Striking one on a stone, I quickly lit the kindling and adjusted sticks until we had a roaring little blaze.
“What’s for food, Highlander? We’ve eaten all but one of the protein bars I brought.”
“I have some bread and some dried meat.” He dug through one of his packs and carried over a small burlap bundle and two thick wool blankets. “The night is growin’ cool.”
“I love sleeping outside with you, but this can’t be night. It’s still pretty bright out here in the wide open.”
“Aye, tis latha fada, we have tae sleep in the long day and we daena have curtains tae close. I am sorry for the lack of a roof, when I married ye I promised ye one above your head.”
I wrapped one of the blankets around my shoulders. “I do not remember that in our vows.”
He grinned and tapped his heart.
“Well see, I heard your heart say you would be my shelter, so this is not a broken vow...”
Images flashed through my mind, Magnus on Bella, his hand holding hers. I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders and drew my head inside.
Magnus leaned his head on my shoulder. “What are ye seein’?”
"I don't want to tell you." Then I asked, “Do you have to see her? Do you talk to her?”
His voice was close to my ear, but the blankets between us muffled it. “Only in the beginning. We had tae talk of Archie, but even those conversations became too difficult. I had tae ask the courts tae intervene. Now we only speak through lawyers.”
I peeled the blankets away to see his face beside mine. “How did it become difficult?”
“She was usin’ Archie against me. Tae see me...”
I pulled my hand from inside my blankets to stroke his cheek. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that alone. When I decided it for you, I truly thought we would be doing it together.”
“Me too, mo reul-iuil.”
“So you have four years of your life I don’t know about?”
His head nodded against my shoulder.
“You built a government? You have advisors and you did so much, a whole four years you lived without me. You figured so much out without me there to help.”
He pulled away and opened the burlap bundle laying out the food in our laps: crusty bread, some dried meat. I picked up a piece of meat and tore into it with my teeth.
He said, “Twas nae really living. I was fighting and...” His voice trailed off. He bit into the meat first and then bit off a hunk of bread. With his mouth full he said, “Mostly fightin’.”
He chewed and chewed then grinned. “Tis a tough dinner tonight, m’lady.”
“And why are we going to... Where are we going again?”
“Kilchurn on the Loch Awe. Because I ken the location on the map and tis safe tae jump from there, but even more, I have always wanted tae shew it tae ye. Tis where I spent much of my time as a young lad. When I was with your grandparents in Maine, it reminded me of Kilchurn and I kent I needed tae take ye someday.”
“Good, I’m excited to see it.” I chewed some meat, a bite of bread, and took a long draft of water. “And so I’m not feeling left out and sad about all I missed, you have to tell me about everything.”
“The whole history of it?”
“Everything, from day one: what you ate for breakfast.”
“Och. I was in the hospital from day one. The fight against Samuel almost killed me. The food was terrible. I decided right then tae go tae Florida tae get Chef Zach.”
“And me!”
He chuckled mischievously. “Aye, and ye too, but the food was verra bad. Twas the first time I tried tae reach home. I traveled tae the dock but General Reyes’s men were waitin’ for me. I barely escaped.”
“I didn’t see the storm on the weather. I was watching.”
“I daena ken why, perhaps because it was so fast. I wasna on the ground for long, but I am glad ye dinna come tae the storm, ye would have been killed for sure.”
“Like the first time.”
“Aye, like the first time.” Magnus shook his head slowly. He repeated, “I am glad ye dinna come.” He chewed off another hunk of bread. “When I got home I had tae lead the army against the insurgents on the western border. That took some time.”
“You were at war?”
“Aye, I commanded from the front. Twas necessary and I dinna have anywhere else tae go. After that year I tried tae get tae ye in Florida again. I took weapons with me. I had a plan, but again General Reyes was waitin’. I escaped, but he followed. Our battle at the walls of my castle killed many of my men. Some verra good soldiers. Twas where I learned of his name and that it would be verra difficult tae defeat him.”
He leaned against the boulder and I snuggled under his arm. “He told me he kent whenever I arrived in Florida. I couldna tell if he had knowledge of the year or the place, so I was tryin’ tae decide what tae do on it.” His face relaxed. “Twas nae all bad though, I spent time with Archie. Last year he spent two full months with me. I am plannin’ tae see him when I go back — when we go back.”
“I’d really like that, I look forward to meeting him.”
I tucked what was left of my dinner into the burlap bag and carried it to the horses and tucked it inside a saddlebag. I returned and sat facing Magnus leaned on one arm across his legs.
I put my other hand on his chest. “You told me you had ‘many a wound’ while you were gone. I was thinking you could introduce me to them.”
“My wounds?”
“I plan to kiss each one to make them feel better. I didn’t get to kiss you for four years so I’ll do all of them now. Each day I’ll do it again until, I don’t know — maybe four years should be right.”
He pointed at a scar across his left palm, between his thumb and forefinger. I took it in both of mine, spread it flat, and kissed the scar. “Where did this one come from?”
“My fight with Samuel.”
He pushed the blanket back from his arms, pulled the neck of his shirt aside, and showed me a healing gash on the top of his shoulder. His point was off, because he couldn’t see it, but I could: pinkish purple, raised, and long.
I ran a finger along it. “How?”
“Reyes’s blade.”
I leaned in and kissed.
He pulled up the front of his shirt exposing a wide straight scar on his abdomen. I brushed my fingertips along it. “Who did this?”
“Twas the blade of Samuel. It stabbed deep. There had tae be a surgery because of it.”
I adjusted to kiss his lower abdomen beside the ridges of his muscles. He was so taut and solid and strong. I marveled he was also injured and harmed. As I brushed my lips across his skin, he was soft, delicate, and so vulnerable. Just a man. That’s all he was but he had to endure so much pain.
There was an area there, rough skin, textured. I ran my tongue across it. “What’s this one?”
“Twas a burn. There was an explosion near the front, I was burnt along here...” He twisted a little. “It goes up here.” I saw it extended around his back, meeting his scars from the whipping years ago.
I kissed the scarred skin from the burn, a slow press that wanted to linger.
When I met his eyes, he gave me a small half-grin. “I have another one that needs kissin’, tis under here.” He gestured toward his kilt.
“Oh you do, do you? Well, it will wait for last. We would get distracted and I have all these others to kiss first.”
Magnus pointed at a gash between his calf and shin. It looked like a hunk of him had gone missing.
“That looks very painful.”
“Twas. That happened when I was at the front, two-and-a-half years ago. It has only now healed.”
I shimmied down and kissed him there.
I put my head on his knee and watched him while he checked his arms for one he might have forgotten. Then he smiled and it was so full of melancholy. He tapped his fingertips to the middle of his chest.
“What happened there?”
“Twas my heart, when I couldna come home.”
I crawled up his body slowly and pulled the front of his shirt down and kissed the space of skin over his sternum, guarding his heart — plainly not guarding it well enough. I rose, crossed a leg over him, and sat gingerly on his lap. “I will kiss you on every scar, I promise, but I did really want to kiss you here.”
He tilted his head back and I settled in on his mouth, kissing deeply. His hands clutched my bottom and pulled me close. “Does that hurt ye?”
My mouth on his I said, “Your sporran is lumpy.”
He said, “Och,” with a laugh.
I raised so he could unhook his sporran from around his waist. He tossed it to the side.
I teased as I settled back on his lap, “Now it’s not lumpy—wait, yes it is.”
“Tis much more majestic than lumpy.”
“Och,” I joked. “Tis majestic and pokey.” I kissed his lip and nibbled it.
His hands clenched tighter on my arse. My lips drew down to his throat and then—
Chapter 7
He smacked my butt. “Off Kaitlyn, behind me. Grab your knife. Guard the horses. Go!”
I stumbled off and dove behind him as he jumped up and crouched by the fire.
His voice low and dangerous, “Friend, I am telling ye tae turn around and walk away afore I make ye.”
I dug frantically through my pack for one of my knives, finally finding it and clutching it pointing out at chest level. I grasped for the horse reins and held both, watching the trees. A small man, dirty and gross, stepped closer to the fire.
He didn’t seem phased or worried at all about Magnus, crouched quietly, his back tensed, eyes leveled, a second away from springing. My hands shook with fear while I tried to be the kind of person who could guard horses.
Magnus and a Love Beyond Words Page 2