by Emma Prince
“Ye wouldnae be the woman I love if ye didnae care so deeply for yer family. But I want ye to ken…” He swallowed, but his voice still came out a low rasp. “I want ye to ken that I’ll love ye for the rest of my days, Caroline Sutton. That ye’ll live in my heart every moment until time or fate or God brings us together once more.”
A sob broke from her throat then, and she surged into his arms. “I love you, Callum.”
“I love ye, too, Caroline.” He held on tight, as if he could keep her nestled against his chest for all eternity with the strength of his arms alone.
But nay, deep in his soul, he knew—he couldn’t hold her here, selfishly basking in her love, if it meant she had to give up her family. Because what he wanted even more than his own happiness was hers. And her happiness would never be complete without her sisters.
Which meant it was time that they ride to Leannan Falls.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The landscape as they approached the falls looked different to Caroline. It was wilder and less orderly than it had been in the twenty-first century. And it seemed far more remote—hardly the quick jaunt from the bustling metropolitan city of Edinburgh that it had been when she’d driven there with her sisters.
Five days ago, she’d said her goodbyes to Tilly, Margaret, and the rest of the castle—including the garden—once again. Somehow it was even more painful than it had been the first time.
Their ride from Kinmuir Castle had been uneventful. Even though they’d made good time, the journey felt painfully slow. Every day, every hour, every minute, Caroline tortured herself over the decision she was making.
She meant what she’d said to Callum. She would give up everything from her time to stay here with him—as his wife, she thought, yet another wave of pain hitting her—except for the possibility that she could be reunited with her sisters.
It felt as though half of her heart was missing without them. Yet she knew that when she went back through the falls, the other half of her heart would remain here. With Callum.
She could only pray that someday, with time, the sensation of being torn asunder by love would ease. Yet the closer they’d drawn to the falls, the worse it had become.
She’d ridden the tame mare Callum had picked out for her most of the way. With so many hours spent in the saddle, she’d grown more comfortable on horseback. But this morning, she’d foregone mounting her own mare and instead had strode to Callum’s horse’s side.
On this last day of their journey, she’d ridden in his lap, her head resting against his shoulder. She didn’t care what the half-dozen MacMoran warriors who’d traveled with them thought. Yes, she was stealing time, wringing all the tenderness and love she could from every last moment they had together.
She was beyond caring that it might make saying goodbye that much harder. All she knew was that each step of the horses’ hooves brought her closer to the falls, closer to her own world. And farther away from Callum.
Whatever time they had left, she wanted to listen to his heart beat against her ear, breathe in the scents of soap and leather and fresh air that clung to him, feel the warm strength of his arms around her.
All too soon, though, the distant hum of the falls became a roar. They broke through the trees and the falls came into view only a dozen yards ahead. Just as she’d remembered, it surged in a frothy white mist of water into the clear blue pool below. The rocky rim around the pool was edged with spray-dampened moss that glistened in the bright sun.
As their little party reined in just on the other side of the tree line, Callum turned to his men.
“Leave us,” he said to Bron. “I’ll meet ye in the village we passed no’ long ago.”
Bron nodded solemnly, then turned to Caroline. “Safe journey, mistress.”
Callum had avoided telling Bron and the others exactly how Caroline was going to get the rest of the way home from the falls—or where her home truly was. Yet his men hadn’t missed the somber air hanging over their Laird, and they didn’t press for answers.
“Thank you, Bron,” Caroline replied through a tight throat.
The others reined their horses around, Caroline’s mare in tow, and headed back the way they’d come, leaving Caroline and Callum alone.
The roar of the falls faded beneath the sound of Caroline’s heartbeat pounding in her ears. This was it. It was time to say goodbye once and for all.
He dismounted, but when he lifted her from the saddle and set her on the ground, his hands lingered on her waist. He gazed down at her with warm honey eyes.
“Grant me a few more moments,” he murmured. “Let me show ye my love for ye one more time.”
The pain in her chest made it too difficult to speak, so she only nodded.
He pulled a length of his blue and red plaid from one of his saddlebags. Taking her hand in his, he moved closer to the falls, where the mist from the rushing water just kissed the mossy bank.
He spread the plaid over the moss, then drew her down beside him.
“I will remember this,” he murmured, his amber eyes tracing every line of her face. “And this.” He reached out, his fingertips skimming over her cheekbone, her jaw, brushing softly over her lips before delving into her loose hair. “And this.”
He leaned forward, his mouth pressing against hers in a tender kiss. Tears burning in her eyes, Caroline looped her arms around his strong neck and drew him closer. She opened under his lips, letting their tongues slowly tangle in a velvet caress.
Despite the ache throbbing like a pulse in her chest, her blood heated at his kiss. His hands slid over her back, his palms firm and warm even through her wool dress and chemise. His fingers found the laces running down the back of her gown and began untying them.
As he worked, she traced the corded strength in his arms, his shoulders, his upper back. She threaded her fingers into his dark hair, dragging her nails against his scalp.
He groaned in response, his kiss growing deeper, more possessive.
With a final tug on her laces, she felt her gown loosen. He peeled it from her shoulders, revealing her linen chemise underneath. She shimmied and scooted up to her knees, helping him push the gown lower, until he yanked it free of her feet and she could settle by his side once more.
But now it was her turn, for he was still wearing far too many clothes. She grabbed two fistfuls of his tunic and pulled it over his head. The garment slid free easily, revealing his bare chest. He looked like a Greek statue or a demigod, all sun-gilded lines of hard muscle.
She didn’t have long to gaze upon him, for he closed the distance between them once more, his hands skimming over her hips and waist, his lips finding her neck.
“I want to see ye,” he rasped. “I want to brand yer beauty onto my mind so that I cannae ever forget.”
He lifted her chemise up and over her head, leaving her naked before him. He sucked in a breath as his liquid gold gaze caressed her bare skin.
It was a warm day, yet a shiver of anticipation stole over her. Even if the sun hadn’t been bright and intense overhead, Callum’s gaze was hot enough to nearly set her on fire.
At her back, the soft spray drifting from the waterfall cooled her enough that she could keep her wits about her. She wanted to remember this, too. Remember everything about him.
She reached for his trews and undid the fastening. They both quickly kicked off their boots, then he pushed his trews off and tossed them aside.
When he stood before her in all his strong, masculine glory, she simply let herself stare for a long moment. His cock already jutted from him, rigid and long with desire. His thighs were powerfully muscled and sprinkled with dark, crisp hair beneath his lean hips. Under her gaze, his breaths came short and shallow, his eyes glazed with hunger.
She reached for him, and his restraint snapped. He moved so quickly to her that she gasped in surprise just before he claimed her lips with his. He kissed her deeply, yet he moved slowly, as if savoring every second.
Their
first time together had been untamed, fierce. As he continued to delve and stroke with his tongue, Caroline burned with a need just as intense as before, but this time they both sought to make the moment last, to imprint every sensation and touch onto their souls forever.
When at last he dragged his lips to her throat, and lower to her breasts, Caroline moaned, letting her head fall back. He eased her down onto the plaid, laving her breasts and flicking her taut nipples with his tongue in a slow, torturously pleasurable exploration.
Once she was panting and writhing beneath him, he moved lower still, trailing kisses over her ribs and across her stomach, then down each leg. When he moved back up and settled his shoulders between her knees, her legs were trembling.
Gently, reverently, he parted the damp folds of her sex and kissed her there. She arched off the plaid with a sharp exhale, fighting to make the pleasure last. But soon the sensation began to mount, pushing her toward the edge of release. She grasped his arms and drew him up the length of her body, cradling his hips between her thighs.
“Now,” she breathed. She closed her hand around his cock, feeling the surge of his desire there, the smooth hardness that would soon be filling her.
He let her guide him to her entrance, but when she released him, he took control. He gripped her hips, holding himself poised yet motionless against her. His amber wolf’s eyes scorched her, claimed her, branded her as he gradually drove inside, taking her inch by aching inch.
When he was buried to the hilt, he rocked his hips in a slow circle, turning each of her panting breaths into a moan. He leaned over her, capturing her cries with his mouth, his tongue claiming hers in an erotic imitation of their lower joining.
Caroline fought to hold on to the moment, to make it last forever. But when Callum began thrusting in earnest, setting a slow rhythm that had her gasping and arching into him for more, she couldn’t keep the tidal wave of pleasure at bay.
Her fingers sank into his taut buttocks as her whole body began to shake. She cried out his name as the surge of ecstasy broke over her, sending light and heat sizzling over every nerve ending.
He groaned his love for her over and over in her ear as he followed her over the edge. They tumbled as one, bound together in sensation for what felt like an eternity.
But all too soon, they drifted back to earth.
Callum lowered himself beside her and pulled her against his chest. He was warm and solid and so real. At her back, the falls’ cool mist pricked her skin. The sun caressed their bare bodies. His heart thumped steadily against her cheek.
“I’ll never forget,” she whispered.
It was time. Tears rising to her eyes once again, she sat up and reached for her chemise.
“Do ye want to wear the clothes ye arrived in?” Callum asked quietly.
They’d brought her shorts and tank top in his saddlebags, but the idea of putting on those clothes seemed strange and dissonant to Caroline now. She’d gotten used to the comfort and functionality of her medieval garments.
“No,” she replied, slipping the chemise over her head. “I’ll just go in this.” At least when she returned to the modern era, she’d have something to remember this time and place by. A scrap of linen to hold all her memories of this awe-striking experience.
Callum rose and dressed, a heavy silence hanging between them. Her gaze fixed on the falls, the rush of water filling her ears as she fought back the tears.
“Do ye want me to go to the top with ye?” Callum asked behind her.
Caroline swallowed. “No. I…I won’t be able to jump if you are beside me.”
“I’ll stand here then, so I can watch ye all the way.”
She nodded, then spun and threw her arms around him.
“I love you.”
His warm hands held her close. “Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me ye’ll be happy in yer time. Spend time with yer sisters. Forgive yerself for the guilt ye carry. And…” His voice pinched. “And find love.”
She started to shake her head, barely holding back a sob, but he sank his fingers into her hair to still her. “Promise me. It is the only way I can let ye go—if I ken ye’ll be happy.”
“I promise,” she choked out at last.
If she stood there another moment longer, she would never be able to leave, so she pulled away from his embrace and began striding up the forested slope toward the top of the falls.
Pine needles and twigs dug into her bare feet as she climbed, but she hardly noticed them. Tears blurred her vision. It felt as though her heart was being torn in two.
She’d been so sure that this was the right course of action, so convinced that it was her duty to keep her family together. She’d failed her sisters once by not keeping her parents’ flower shop open—not putting the family first. She couldn’t do so again.
But now as she reached the top of the falls, she wasn’t sure of anything. What if she was throwing away the best thing that had ever happened to her—getting to live in this time and place, with Callum as her husband—for her own guilt?
She stepped to the edge where the water cascaded into the pool below. On the mossy bank, Callum stood, gilded in sunlight, staring up at her.
It had taken the loss of their parents to show Caroline just how valuable, and fleeting, life could be. And love. If she stayed, she would lose the only family she had left. But if she went, she would lose Callum forever.
An image of Hannah and Allie standing beside her above the falls flashed through her mind. She imagined their hands clasped in hers, just as they had been when they’d jumped the first time. It felt like a lifetime ago that she’d seen them, hugged them, laughed with them.
Callum knew her heart even better than she did. He’d known that her happiness couldn’t be complete without her family. Yer sisters are waiting for ye. She had to know if they were all right. She had to try.
Caroline drew in a deep breath. “On the count of three,” she murmured to herself. “One…”
I love you, Callum.
“Two…”
I love ye, Caroline.
“Three.”
She squeezed her eyes closed, the image of Callum standing below, gazing up at her, burned into her mind.
And jumped.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Caroline’s momentum pulled her deep into the pool. The whole world went quiet as water rushed into her ears.
But she didn’t tilt or spin. There was no flash of light or sensation of being dragged down through a substance thicker than water. Only her descent into the pool, and then her drift upward.
She kicked toward the light streaming along the surface overhead. When she broke through, she took a deep gulp of air and blinked open her eyes.
“Caroline!”
Callum rushed toward the pool’s edge, his amber eyes rounded in shock.
She was still here.
Elation and grief and confusion all hit her at once. Air whooshed from her lungs as if she’d been punched in the stomach. Her arms and legs stopped working, and she began to sink.
Just before her head dipped underwater, Callum’s strong hands closed around her. He dragged her onto the pool’s bank and into his arms.
“Caroline, ye’re here. Ye’re safe, lass. I’ve got ye.”
Belatedly, Caroline realized she was weeping. Joy and sadness, triumph and loss tangling together in a maelstrom within her.
Some part of her had always known that jumping off the falls might not take her back to her own time. But she hadn’t wanted to consider the possibility, for she wasn’t sure if she should be resigned, hopeful, bereft, or simply relieved not to have the choice.
But now that the choice had been taken from her, she let herself truly grieve what it meant. This had been her only option, her only idea for how to return to her time—and her sisters. Its failure meant she would never see them again.
She wept for the loss of her sisters, for the blessing that was
Callum, for all that she’d lost and gained in these few short weeks. For the woman she’d been before, and the woman she was now.
So much had changed. She wasn’t the same as she’d been when she had dragged Hannah and Allie to the top of the falls, so eager for adventure. A part of her was missing now. But she’d grown in ways she could have never imagined before, her heart expanding to make room for not only the love of her family, but also of Callum.
She was still her parents’ daughter, even after they were gone. And she would still be Hannah and Allie’s sister, even if they never saw one another again.
Now, she was more than a daughter and a sister. She was also a woman in love, and the woman Callum MacMoran loved in return. She could be a wife. And maybe even a mother herself, someday.
As her tears began to ebb at last, she silently said her second goodbye of the day. She released the idea of ever returning to her time. Then she closed her eyes and pictured her sisters, one at a time, and said her farewells.
Wordlessly, she told them that she was all right, and that she would miss them every day. That they would always be together in her memories. And that she was sending them her love, across time and distance, forever.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in Callum’s arms. He’d wrapped her in his plaid and had pulled her onto his lap. He gazed down at her, his dark brows lowered in concern and emotion clouding his amber eyes.
“Speak to me, Caroline,” he urged gently. “Are ye well? Tell me what I can do to ease yer pain.”
“I’m all right,” she mumbled through the last remnants of her tears. “Or at least I think I will be, in time.”
“What…happened?”
She let a shaky breath go. “Nothing.”
“I mean, what happened in here.” He placed a hand over her heart. “And here.” He touched her head. “Where did ye go just now?”
“I…I needed to let go,” she replied. “Of the idea of returning to my time, and of…of being with my sisters again. I needed to say goodbye.”
Callum pulled her into a hard embrace. “Ye are the bravest, most noble-hearted woman I’ve ever kenned,” he rasped into her hair.