He’d known right away it would be a battle, and it just wasn’t worth it. The lass needed sleep so she could remember what had happened to her.
The only problem was Allison sniffed quite a bit more than the pup. She settled on a rock nearby while the puppy scampered around, looking for just the right spot to take care of her needs.
He knew the moment she saw him because she started and swiped the tears from her face in a hurry. “Is anything wrong, lass, or did ye just come out for the puppy to relieve herself?”
“I’m fine. Sorry to have bothered you.”
“Nae bother. I was awake already,” he fibbed, not wishing to make her feel any worse than she already did. He pointed to a bench under an oak tree not far away and held his hand out to her. “Come, we can sit together over here. No one will hear us, and I’d like to ask ye a few questions.”
She sniffled, but she took his hand and followed him to the bench.
“I couldnae help but overhear yer sobs from the chamber next to mine. What has saddened ye so?”
She took a deep breath as she sat down, pulling her hand free. “I seriously thought I was living a dream, but I woke up and found nothing had changed. Here I am in a strange land with no one to trust, and I have no idea what to do. I don’t know what happened to my sisters, nor do I have any idea how to find out. I’ve never felt so helpless in all my life.”
“But I told ye I’d help ye on the morrow. Did ye no’ believe me?” He reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers, and used the thumb of his other hand to trace tiny circles on her soft skin. He found he liked touching her, but he told himself he did it simply to comfort her, no other reason.
“I do believe you.” She stared at their linked hands, then lifted her gaze to his. “But I don’t know if you can help me. The world I came from is so different.”
“Of course I can help. Why would ye think that I cannae?”
She paused before she answered. “Because you’ll never believe what I have to say. No one would believe me. I don’t believe the story myself. It’s impossible.” She stared off into the distance.
“May I tell ye a story before ye say that?” He’d never revealed this to anyone, but he felt more and more confident there was a connection between his sire’s account and what had happened to Allison. Perhaps the time had finally come to speak of it.
“I have nowhere else to go but here,” she said. The puppy scampered closer but continued to play in the grass, rolling on her back with a glee that brought a smile to Allison’s face, a smile that made her quite beautiful.
“My sire passed on two years ago, four years after my mother passed. He’d taken a bad wound, and he feared he’d not survive, so he asked to speak to me alone. What he told me, I’ve never shared with anyone.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Because his words were such that I dinnae believe him. I never have believed what he shared. I thought it a foolish suggestion from a dying man’s mind, but now I wonder if I was wrong.”
“Go on, please.” He could see he had her complete attention.
He took a deep breath and plunged ahead, hoping he wasn’t making a big mistake. The last thing he needed was for the lass to think him daft. “He told me to guard the faerie pool on our land. ‘Tis a beautifully warm pool that sits hidden amongst rocks no’ far from where I met ye at the corner fields. Papa said I should always protect it.”
He could feel her hand tremble beneath his. Her reaction prompted him to continue. “He fell in and out of consciousness for two days, and on one occasion, he looked at me and said, ‘Promise me, Breannainn. Promise me ye will always protect the faerie pool. ‘Tis where I found yer mother.’
“I said, ‘Papa, we know Mama loved to swim in the pool. I’ll protect it for her memory.’”
He swallowed, unable to believe he was about to admit this to her. “Then he said, ‘Nay, son. Mama is a faerie. She came from another land through that portal, a land in the future. I had to convince her to stay with me and not go back. She stayed because she carried ye, and ye belong in this time. I tell ye so if ye ever see another near that pool, an unusual person, know it may not be what it seems.’ He closed his eyes again. I tried to get him to tell me more because it seemed nonsense, but he wouldn’t stir. A quarter of an hour later, he awakened and said, ‘Another faerie will come through the portal. Mama told me ‘twould be yer job to protect her when she comes. I never wished to tell ye, but now, since my time is near, I must. I never believed her, but what if she was telling the truth?’”
Her hands shook so violently he tightened his grip on them, trying to calm her.
“No, no, no…” Her gaze darted from him to the pup to the moon up above. “It cannot be true.”
He did what he thought was best to keep her calm. “Where are ye from, lass? I promise to believe ye and no’ to tell another.”
Tears brimmed her eyes and she grabbed him with a death grip. “No…”
“At the time, I thought my sire was daft from the fever, but now I wonder…” Allison had a strange expression on her face, of disbelief or even horror. He had to make her see that it could not be that bad. “Allison?”
She stared at him in disbelief, still shaking her head.
“Where are ye from? England? The East? Are ye Welsh? Norse?”
“No,” she said, “and as you’ve guessed, I’m not from the Lowlands either. I…if I tell you the truth, I’m afraid you’ll think I’m mad.”
He moved closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, hoping to ease her trembling. “I’ll no’ think ye are daft. I promise to keep yer secret, but I cannae help ye if I dinnae know all.”
She leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder, and whispered close to his ear. “I jumped into a waterfall in Scotland in the twenty-first century, and I landed in the faerie pool here. I have two sisters. We lost our parents a year ago, so we decided to take a trip to Scotland to honor them. My little sister begged us to jump into this waterfall with her, Leannan Falls. Hannah, she’s my older sister, and I didn’t want to, but Caroline begged and begged until we agreed. We wanted to land at the base at the same time, so I held her hand and she held Hannah’s, but when I came up for air, they were gone.”
He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t say anything. If his sire hadn’t told him the story of the pond, he never would have believed her, but it could hardly be a coincidence that the very thing his sire had warned him of had happened. “The twenty-first century would be the year two thousand and something,” he mumbled, the words rolling over his tongue and churning in his mind.
She continued, her head still on his shoulder. “I looked around the pool and everything was different than when we’d jumped. Before, there was only a small rock or two at the base of a tall waterfall, but there are boulders all the way around your pool and there’s no waterfall above it. I didn’t know what else to do but to climb out and find someone to help me. So I started walking and your field was the only place I heard noises.”
“So ye are a Scots lass from another time. ‘Tis nae so bad.”
“But I’m not a Scots. We were visiting Scotland. That’s where the waterfall was, but that’s not where I’m from.”
“So where?”
She chewed on her lip before she answered. “The United States. There is no such place in your time period. It didn’t develop until way beyond the 1600s.”
Neither spoke for a moment. His hand rubbed circles over the skin of her shoulder. What could he say?
The puppy found Allison and tried to climb up her leg. She reached down and picked her up, settling the dog on her lap where she curled up and closed her eyes. “I named her Smoky because my sister wanted to name our cat Smoky. I love my sisters with all my heart and they’re both gone.” She ran her hand across Smoky’s soft fur, lulling her to sleep. “Do you think if I went back to the pool, I could return to my time? I mean, if I were to jump in the water, could whatever happened reverse itself and send me back?
”
He’d only heard mention of its powers from his sire on his deathbed, and he’d thought him daft. “Lass, I cannae answer yer question, but I promise to take ye back so ye can try.”
“Will you take me back tomorrow?” She sat up and stared at him, biting her bottom lip.
Truth be told, he’d promise her anything if she kept looking at him like that. “Aye, if I have nae other duties, I’ll take ye midday on the morrow.”
He would take her because he knew it would be the best for both of them.
But something deep inside told him not to.
Chapter Six
When she headed down to eat breakfast, Smoky firmly clasped in her arms, Allie did her best to contain her excitement. She could be going back today, through the portal Brann had told her about.
“Smoky, you’ll be big and strong without me. I’ll make Lachie promise to take care of you.”
The gray puppy looked up at her and made a loud mewling sound as she whipped her tail about.
“That was a kitty noise. You are a dog, my dear, and dogs bark. I know you’re little, but we must work on your bark. I’ll go into the kitchens and find you some milk.”
She made her way through the hall, smiling at all the warriors, who smiled at her in return, and greeting the serving maids. When she walked through the back door, she nearly fell off the stoop. “What the hell?”
Smoky gave a little whelp to remind Allie how hungry she was. Confused, her gaze searched the area, settling on a building with smoke streaming from its chimney.
“I thought the kitchens were through this door,” she muttered to the dog.
A door opened in the little building, and Lachie came flying through it with a bowl of some goop. “Good morn to ye, Allison. Are ye headed to the kitchens?”
“Yes, but I thought it was through this door,” she said, indicating the threshold behind her. “I guess I need to go back.”
Lachie laughed. “Nay, the kitchens are in that building.” He pointed to the building with the chimney.
“It’s not attached?”
“Nay, ‘tis too hot. It could burn the keep down. Follow me. I’ll introduce ye to Cook.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the building behind her. “Burn it down? But it’s made of stone.” Her gaze took in the dull gray structure, following it up to maybe the height of three stories, then traveled to the tower in the corner. A thick wall of stones, nearly ten feet tall or more, surrounded the outside of the castle.
“Ye like our curtain wall? Did ye no’ have one at home?”
“No—nay,” she mumbled, following the wall with her eyes until she was once again looking at the area behind the kitchens. She could swear she’d been on cobblestones in the front courtyard, but the back area seemed comprised of paths between bushes and unkempt plots of grass. Her gaze shifted from the imposing structure back to Lachie’s face. “There’s a door right over there,” she said, pointing to the middle of the curtain wall across the back.
“Aye, ‘tis how we escape if we’re attacked at the front.” Lachie spoke to her as though her wits were addled.
She brought her attention back to the boy in front of her.
“Can you help me find more milk for my puppy?”
“Aye, the goat’s milk jug was just filled. Have ye named her yet?” His hand rubbed the dog’s head as she tried to sniff his bowl.
“I named her Smoky.”
“Then Smoky, I’ll get ye a small bowl.”
“And another linen square to feed her, if you don’t mind.” Allie hurried after Lachie, the squirming pup held tight against her, but she almost took a step back when she followed him into the kitchens. “Yikes!”
“Ye see why ‘tis separate?” He grinned and took off toward the center of the building. “Cook, our guest needs some porridge and some goat’s milk.”
A woman’s voice said, “Take whate’er ye need, laddie. I’m busy working on the midday meal.”
Three other women worked inside—one kneading dough, another washing dishes, and a third chopping vegetables. She would have introduced herself, but with any luck she would be returning home today, so it seemed pointless.
Lachie found a tray and grabbed everything they needed before leading the way back into the great hall. They sat together at a trestle table, and Allie settled Smoky on her lap, twirling the linen square into a model of a teat. “You’ll take care of Smoky if anything happens to me, Lachie?”
“Why would anything happen to ye? Ye can take care of her. She likes ye better.”
Rather than argue, she continued to feed the puppy, who drank everything in the bowl. If she did disappear, he would hopefully remember their conversation.
“What plans do you have today, Lachie?”
“I’ll go help Brann in the lists.”
“The lists?”
“Where our warriors practice their sword skills. Brann gave me a new sword to practice with. Would ye like to join me?”
“Nay, Brann said he would…” She paused, contemplating how she could best explain her goal for the day. “He said he’d show me the area.”
“May I come, too?”
“You’ll have to ask Brann. I’m not sure.” She didn’t feel she could speak for him. Brann was a bit different from any of the men she’d known, though being from medieval times would tend to make one stand out.
She ate her porridge, surprised to find it palatable once Lachie gave her a bit of his secret ingredient—honey. The boy hurried away with a quick goodbye, and she was left to herself to consider her situation.
Other than her sisters, who would miss her back home?
No one.
She’d taken time off from her job as an office nurse at the hospital, so they wouldn’t figure out something had happened to her for days. Chad, the jerk, certainly wouldn’t care. She’d broken up with him two weeks before this trip because she’d discovered he was also seeing another woman. In fact, she’d caught him with his pants down, in every way possible.
Chad was another nurse, and she’d found him on top of one of the other nurses in a patient room at work. The only thing she’d said, with the intent of ruining his orgasm, was “Bye, Chad.”
Caroline had said it was no great loss, though that was no great surprise. Her sisters never seemed to like her boyfriends.
Truth was, none of the men she’d dated had ever felt like the one. She had an uncanny ability to choose the wrong person. There had only been four boyfriends, but three of the four had cheated on her, and without any apparent guilt.
So her parents were dead, she had no boyfriend, her sisters were who knows where, and her friends were all wrapped up in their own business. No one would wonder where she was except Caroline and Hannah.
A pretty young woman of about sixteen or seventeen came along and introduced herself. “Greetings to ye, my lady. My name is Elspeth. Jinty is my mother. She said ye had a bad experience and lost yer kin. If ye need anything at all, I’d be more than pleased to help ye.”
“Thank you, Elspeth.”
“Ye talk strangely,” the girl said with a slight blush.
“I came from a different place, closer to London, so I have a different accent.” How else could she hope to explain it?
“Yer pardon, my lady. I must assist my mother.” Then Elspeth leaned down to whisper to her. “I think Brann likes ye. All the lasses here are jealous.” Giggling, she scooped up Allie’s dishes.
Allie barely had the chance to thank the young girl before she disappeared from the hall. If she had the chance, she’d have to ask Elspeth a few more questions about Brann.
That is, if she stayed. First, she needed to decide what she was doing. The way Smoky wiggled on her lap, she decided it was probably best to take her outside again. Besides, it would give her an excuse to look for Brann.
She made her way out the door, surprised to see everyone running around in a tizzy, some heading toward the gates and others hurrying in the opposite direction
. Though she had no idea what you’d call it in medieval times, “tizzy” seemed like the best word to explain what she was seeing. She found a grassy patch near the curtain wall, away from the others, and set Smoky down in the grass.
She finally had the nerve to stop a rotund woman who was panting pretty heavily. “Is something wrong?” Her nurse’s training took over as she counted the woman’s respiratory rate, which was just a bit high.
“My lord Taran is here. Oh my. Our chief will no’ be happy. I’m off to hide in the garden near the wall.”
If she’d wanted to keep the woman next to her, she was quite sure it would have required a fist to the gut to stop her forward progress. What was this about? Who was Taran?
In less than two minutes, two other women followed the first one, so intent on their destination they ignored Allie.
Surprised to hear shouting and cursing near the gates, she scooped up Smoky and decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Lachie came barreling past her, but he grabbed her hand. “Come up here with me. We’re nae big enough to see.”
She followed him up to the top of the curtain wall, ascending a narrow staircase built into the stone, so she could peek over the edge.
Brann’s loud voice carried to her. “Get the hell out of here, Taran. I’ve told ye many times ye’re not welcome here.”
Her position on the wall gave her a perfect view of Brann as he bellowed at a horseman who’d approached the opposite side of the moat with ten guards.
Lachie said, “My brother, Taran. He stole Brann’s betrothed, Shona, and Brann will never forgive him.”
“I came to mend our differences, Brann. Allow me to talk with ye? May I please sit in our sire’s solar, break bread with ye in our parents’ hall?”
“Is it just the three of you?” Allie asked.
“Aye. We used to have fun together, but ever since Shona came between them, it has been a nightmare.” Lachie’s eyes misted. “I care for both of my brothers.”
Falling for the Chieftain: A Time Travel Romance (Enchanted Falls Trilogy, Book 3) Page 4