Highlander's Kiss

by Joanne Wadsworth

  “I have no’ seen an electric razor.”

  “I’ll show you mine when we return to the future, whenever that happens to be.” He stroked her back, drew her closer and nuzzled her neck. Gently, he licked the mark he’d given her and a deep rumble vibrated in his chest. “My bear would love nothing more right now than to mark you again.”

  She stretched her neck for him. “Either of you may mark me whenever you—”

  He bit down and she gasped.

  “—please.”

  “Time to mount up.” Kirk’s order rumbled through the open window.

  Tavish growled as he released her, nabbed his blue tunic from the bed then donned it and the tan rawhide trews she’d left out for him. He pulled his boots on, eased his war coat over his shoulders and lifted something from the pocket of his pants which beeped when he touched a knob on the side.

  “What is that?” She brushed her hair and picked up her jeweled hairpins her parents had gifted her. The sapphire stones sparkled a vibrant blue, just as her mother’s eyes had when she’d first pinned them into her hair. With her broad-brimmed hat in hand, she plunked it on and tied the ribbons under her chin.

  “This is my cell phone. I must have left it in the pocket of these pants by accident. Cherub would have packed it without knowing. These are interesting devices, but I’ll show this one to you later, when there’s more time.” He pressed the button on the side again, slipped it back inside his pocket, opened the door and motioned her through.

  She joined him in the hallway and he set one hand at the small of her back as he steered her downstairs and outside into the courtyard. Next to her mare, he cupped his palms together and gave her a boost into her saddle.

  She gripped the reins, a sudden mix of worry and fear rolling through her. The moment of their leaving had arrived, their coming mission the most important one she’d ever embark on. That knowledge both scared and thrilled her. “’Tis time,” she whispered to Tavish.

  * * * *

  “Aye, it’s time.” Tavish squeezed Julia’s thigh as he stood beside her atop her horse, her anxious thoughts pummeling through to him along their merged link. “I’m with you now, and I’ll always be right by your side.”

  “Thank you.” She gripped the reins. “You need to mount up.”

  The last thing he wanted to do was leave her side but he did as she’d bid and walked to his war horse. He nodded his thanks to the stable hand holding the lead and mounted. Reins in hand, he slapped his horse’s neck and rode beside Julia as they followed Kirk and Cherub and the rest of their armed party under the arched gate and into the forest. The cart rumbled in behind them, with another two warriors taking the rear.

  High overhead, blue sky winked through the thick canopy and birds chirped from their nests. The wind rustled the leaves and scattered the pine-needles covering the well-worn forest path lined with low scrub.

  Julia tucked her fluttering hat ribbons underneath the front of her violet riding jacket then lifted higher and snatched an amber leaf as it fluttered down. She slid it into her skirt pocket and softly smiled.

  “Do you have a penchant for collecting leaves that I need to hear about?” Everything about her intrigued him.

  “When I travel, I like to collect something on each trip to remind me of the moment. Memories stored and kept for a lifetime. The orchid you gave me is drying in my chamber and I’ll add it to my keepsake box once it has, right along with this leaf. Do you no’ store such keepsakes away?”

  “In the future we take photographs to remind us of special moments.” He lugged his cell phone from his pocket and focused the camera lens at her. She looked glorious astride her mare, her violet skirts sweeping her horse’s sides and the lush green of the forest surrounding her. Her broad-brimmed hat, perched jauntily on the top of her head, dipped forward and backward as she moved with her horse’s gait. Golden locks rippled down her back and her beautiful blue gaze with those stunning sparks of gold rimming the edge, locked on him. “Smile for me, Julia, and I’ll capture the picture and show you.”

  “A picture? As in what a painter would paint?” Frowning, she tilted her head to the side. “Of which you have no paints in hand or a canvas to capture such an image.”

  “Did you see the picture of Tor and me on my oak dresser?”

  “Oh, I did.” A glimmer of understanding flickered in her gaze. “Does that wee contraption take such an image?”

  “It does. Want to see?”

  “Aye, very much.” She grinned and he snapped the image, took a few more of her then turned around and snapped another of the cart as it bumped along the track behind them, its wooden planked base creaking with each roll of its wheels.

  He took one of Tor too sitting astride his war horse then eased his mount closer to Julia’s and stretched out one arm to show her the picture of herself first.

  “Oh my.” She snuck the cell phone from his hand and ogled it. “That is incredible. ’Tis as if I’m on a horse within this very tiny thing.” She touched the screen, sliding her thumb reverently over it, which made it flick to the next picture. Gasping, she continued to flick through the shots he’d taken, learning quickly how the mechanism worked. “Could you take a picture of the two of us with this?”

  “Of course I can.” He’d treasure such a picture of the two of them.

  “I would like such an image for my keepsake box, framed too, just like your picture of you and Tor.”

  “I’ll make sure that happens, that we both have one.” He snuck his cell phone from her hand and with the two of them riding side by side, he held the camera out as far as he could and at just the right angle to catch them both within the same shot. Perfect. He stroked one finger over the delightful image. Julia’s exuberance shone through and his pleasure in the moment did as well. Grinning, he handed the device back to her. “Take a look.”

  She did and a soft sigh escaped her. Cell phone clutched to her chest, she met his gaze, hers a touch watery and shining bright. “This image is one I shall always treasure. What else can this miraculous wee device do?”

  “Not only does it take wonderful pictures, but the primary reason for it is so one can speak to another, anywhere within the country, or even around the other side of the world if needed.”

  “Impossible.” Eyebrows soaring, her look incredulous, she gazed at his surrounding form, as if she was checking his aura.

  He searched deep within her mind along their link, found she was. “Am I telling the truth?”

  “You’ve yet to speak a mistruth.”

  “I’ll never speak a mistruth to you. You can see my every thought, know exactly what I’m thinking. Do you think you can handle living in my time?”

  “As long as you are there, I’m sure it’ll be one big, wonderful adventure.” Smiling, she handed his phone back to him. “You must look after that device. Dinnae lose it.”

  “I shall.” He powered it off and pocketed it.

  Soon, the forest gave way to the rolling moors, the craggy hills of the Highlands rising high on their right, and the inner channel of Loch Alsh just visible beyond the fields to their left.

  Julia pointed ahead at the fork in the pathway. “We take the left trail here. The right leads toward the road heading across the Highlands to Invergarry.”

  Veering left, they rode through the rolling fields of heather awash with wildflowers. His very soul settled at being on this land, his mate so close, and his brother at his back. Trotting on, their traveling party rode alongside a fast-moving river that weaved through the lush green pasture. White-water streamed over wide boulders and flowed toward the inner channel of the loch only a few miles distant. His bear pushed under his skin, his need to shift rolling through him. Splashing through that river then lazing about in the sunshine on the grassy bank to dry off would be heavenly. Another time. Indulging his bear wasn’t possible right now.

  As they left the grassy trail behind, they picked up their pace and rode along the sandy shore of the loch tow
ard their land border with the MacKenzie. The sun dropped lower along the horizon, its golden rays flaring across the jewel blues of the water.

  “There’s the encampment. We’ve made it just afore nightfall.” Julia pointed along the curve of the bay where tents dotted the edge of the forest running beside the mountainous border between them and their enemy.

  As they passed the warrior on point watch, he sounded an alert, the horn trumpeting and sending word of their arrival to their clansmen up ahead. They rode on, past a large group of heavily armed warriors training right on the water’s edge. Shirtless, the men wielded swords in a fierce battle of strength against one another, while another thirty men swam toward a small island in the middle of the bay’s waterway, one that held a copse of trees and a wooden shack. As they swam back and reached the waist-depth water, they jogged into shore then swapped out with the battling warriors. They trained hard. Their enemy didn’t sit idle, and neither could they.

  At the forest’s edge, another group of warriors aimed their arrows at a white ribbon tied around a wide trunk a hundred feet distant. Each warrior stepped forward to take his turn with the bow. With impressive accuracy, arrow after arrow thunked into the thin strip of silk.

  “I’ll go and join the training men before the evening meal. Catch you two later.” Tor nudged his destrier past them then galloped toward a makeshift corral of beams hammered between the trees.

  Near the central blazing fire pit, two apron-clad women wearing brown woolen kirtles chopped vegetables and meat on a trestle table and tossed the food into two large blackened pots bubbling on the fire. The heavenly scent of seafood stew wafted around him as he pulled his horse to a halt next to Kirk and Cherub who’d dismounted and spoke to one of Gilleoin’s captains.

  “Mmm, that smells delicious.” Julia rubbed her belly. “The dinner hour nears and I’m famished.”

  “Wait there so I can aid you down.” He jumped from his horse, swung Julia from her mount and set her on her feet beside him. Holding her close, he stroked up and down her arms and reveled in being able to touch her so freely once more. “How are your legs?”

  “My legs are fine since I ride often, and adore it.” She untied her brimmed hat and swished it back and forth with two fingers at her side. “Although I would like to freshen up.”

  The wind lifted her golden locks and unable to help himself, he threaded his fingers through the long strands and breathed her white rose scent in. “Even though there are so many warriors swarming this area, you’re not to wander off on your own.”

  “I am never alone, not now we have our merged link and you can reach me as you please.”

  “Julia.” Cherub waved out. “Come and join me in the ladies’ tent.”

  “Coming.” She reached up on her toes and kissed his cheek, her chest brushing his as she did. “I shall see you soon.”

  “You will.” He grasped her bottom, his hands getting lost within the mountainous folds of her skirts as he kept her close. “I wish for a proper kiss before any parting.”

  “That was proper.”

  “Then I wish for an indecent one.” A peck on the cheek would never do.

  “I think not.” Giggling, she slipped out of his arms and dashed across to Cherub.

  “By the way,” he called out, “where you sleep, is where I sleep.”

  “I would never expect aught less.” She smiled at him over her shoulder as she cut a path along the grassy forest verge toward the far tent, her beautiful blue eyes drawing him right inside her. Hell, he’d love to be able to take her away from here, to spend days upon days with her, just the two of them and preferably with no interruptions from the outside world. He missed their cavern.

  Sighing, he scanned the area. Guardsmen patrolled the entire encampment. His mate would be perfectly safe here, even if not in his direct line of sight. It was time to find her parents—who damn well better be alive—and kick some enemy butt along the way.

  Bringing Aleck and Adair home was the one plan he intended to see come to fruition. The sooner, the better.

  Chapter 9

  Julia heaved the thick tent flap to one side and ducked inside after Cherub. Being separated from Tavish, no matter the short distance between them, sent unease churning through her. She crossed to the center pole, hung her hat on a hook then shrugged off her riding jacket and strung it over the top. “’Tis no’ easy being separated.”

  “Give yourself a few minutes to get used to it. You’ve just completed the bond too which will make any separation particularly difficult.” Cherub wandered toward the corner pile of brown fur pelts, tossed her feathered bonnet onto a wooden crate holding a clay lamp next to it then plopped down on the furs. “Reach out to him along your link as you need to. I can assure you that he too shall be feeling the loss as you are.”

  “I miss you,” she whispered to the man who she couldn’t imagine living without.

  “I miss you, too. Kirk’s counseling me on the intensity of the bond, on how best to deal with the new and strengthened emotions rolling through me.”

  “What are his recommendations?” More unease speared through her and she frowned. ’Twas as if Tavish were on the move, the distance between them growing farther by the second. “Where are you?”

  “Kirk and I are running a perimeter check. I’m deep in the woods and about to shift with him. Knowing what scents to expect in this area is vitally important to our bears. That way I can better ensure your protection, and that of our warriors in camp.”

  “I see.” She sat next to Cherub. “They’re running a perimeter check.”

  “Kirk just informed me too. Shifters are driven by their bears. Their need to ensure our protection rides them hard.” Cherub shuffled around and faced her. With her legs crossed under her navy skirts, she rested her hands in her lap. “Let’s talk about the days ahead and the best way to move forward in finding your parents. We’ll search each and every one of the MacKenzie’s holdings by air.”

  “What is the greatest number of people you can move through the skies?”

  “I’ve transported as many as six afore, but I could push to seven, mayhap even eight. Truly, it comes down to however many can hold onto me. That is the number I can safely transport.”

  “Does doing so sap your strength?”

  “A little, but naught I cannae handle. A short rest in between trips allows me to recuperate sufficiently.” Frowning, she squeezed her fingers. “These coming days will be difficult, particularly since we’ll be crossing the enemy’s land, but we’ll return here to the camp each night and ensure we have a safe place to rest. Never forget you’ll have all of us by your side and there is naught we wouldnae do for you. I pray that Aleck and Adair live, that we’ll find them safe and well.”

  “It feels as if the hundred yards I can offer in pinpointing them mightn’t be enough.”

  “Yet we shall make the most of it and ensure that hundred yards works in our favor. ’Tis better to have you on hand than to be searching for them with complete blindness. Can you tell the difference between each of their auras?”

  “Both are a gentle hum, although my mother’s is slightly higher in tune.”

  “Julia?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Sorry, I just needed to hear your voice again.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Trailing the forest’s edge. There are four guards positioned along this line of the border, not enough. Once we return, Kirk will dispatch another four men to double the number.”

  “Be careful as you track.”

  “I shall.”

  “Mayhap we too need to stretch our legs as our men are doing.” Cherub rose to her feet and tugged her to hers as she did. “There is a glorious loch no’ far from here, one I’ve swam in a number of times. Let’s take a walk and enjoy the fresh air afore dinner is served.”

  “I’d love that.” And she couldn’t be in more capable hands. No one came up against the Fae Angel of Love and won the battle.
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  Cherub opened the tent’s flap, peered outside then grinned over her shoulder at her. “All is clear.”

  “Are we supposed to be sneaking out?” The sun lowered further, dancing along the edge of the horizon.

  “I sneak everywhere. ’Tis habit, and I dinnae doubt that Kirk has asked a guard to watch over us.” Cherub cloaked them both as they stepped out of the tent. “Let’s enjoy this moment of freedom while we can.”

  “You are a terrible influence on me.” She couldn’t help but smile. “A terribly good influence.” Her heart lightened as they left the tent behind. The wind rose and blew all around and the clanging of swords dulled as they moved deeper into the woods. Overhead, through the odd gap in the dense foliage, a last flare of brilliant red lit the skies as the dark descended. An owl hooted somewhere up ahead and she ducked underneath a low branch and gasped. Surrounded by towering trees, a beautiful loch, small and private and perfectly round, shimmered with the reflection of the rising moon over its smooth, glossy surface. Stars twinkled high above and added to the enchanting scene.

  Along the water’s edge, they wandered, the odd boulder protruding from the embankment of soft moss. At the far side, a rocky ledge curved around the edge with tall pine and elm trees rising strongly behind it. “This loch is beautiful.”

  “Even more so than I remember.” Cherub lifted her skirts, bounded up onto the ledge and held out a hand.

  She accepted the help, hopped up beside Cherub and after toeing her riding boots off, she scrunched her violet skirts to her knees and sat on the stony edge. With her feet dangling in the cool water, she softly sighed. “This is why we fight so fiercely to hold this border, to keep these kinds of lochs and hidden treasures within our hands.”

  “Aye, the MacKenzie is driven by his greed to have it all, but we’ll never hand one inch of our land over to him.” Cherub plopped down next to her, her vivid aura beaming a sweetly precious white glow with gold sparks rimming the edge. Cherub’s aura tugged toward the east, suddenly and quite strongly, as did her own aura of rainbow colors.