Colin watched her as she crossed the room by the firelight. His breath seemed to catch as he saw her fully again. His eyes traveled from her ankles, up to her chest, and then to her eyes. Zoe smiled shyly and took the dress from him. There was a tension between them that made her long for the soft, loving touch she knew he possessed.
“I will leave you,” he whispered. “Please, rest well, eat what you can, and I will be back to see you within the hour.” He turned on his heel and made for the door. “I have appointed guards,” he said with a smile. “You will be safe here.”
Zoe smiled as she watched him leave. As he strode through the door, the top of his head seemed to skim the beams, he was so tall. She had no idea what was going to happen to her, or even if what she was experiencing was real… But because of Colin, she had the feeling she was going to enjoy every second.
7.
Zoe climbed into a soft chair by the fire and warmed her toes. Her whole body felt exhausted, but she knew there was no way she would be able to sleep. The more time she had to think, the more everything was beginning to make sense. When she had opened the door back in the archive, she had been sucked into a vortex and traveled through time… Maybe this was one of the reasons she had to sign a secrecy act when taking her job there. Had this sort of thing happened before? Was she just the latest in a line of employees to experience something so crazy and mind-blowing?
She shook her head. Surely not.
If Rebecca had known anything of this, she wouldn’t have left Zoe alone to discover it herself. She hadn’t known her long, but Zoe was confident that Rebecca would have warned her. She reached up and rubbed her head where the pain had been pounding through her since the moment she opened that door and had been pulled into this alternate reality.
She got to her feet and crossed the room to the far wall. There was a small section of stone missing, resembling a window, and she balanced up on her tip-toes to see what was outside.
Even though it was dark, she could make out the glistening water of the loch that was all around them. She was up very high in a stone castle, and the woodland around it was lush and stunning. The moonlight shone down around her and she smiled. Loch Awe certainly lived up to its name.
There was a knock at the door behind her and she turned around.
“Yes?” she called.
The door opened slowly and Colin stood there in the dark hallway, smiling at her from across the room. Zoe’s heart skipped a beat as their eyes locked in on one another’s.
“Are you well?” he asked.
“Please, come in,” Zoe smiled.
Colin bowed into the room and closed the door behind him. Zoe caught a brief glimpse of the guards who were flanking the doorway and could see that they were in full armor with weapons.
“Why do I need the guards?” she asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
Colin looked down at the floor and sighed. He had leaned against the mantle and the light from the flames were casting beautiful patterns on his skin.
“Douglas,” he said with resentment. “He is not to be trusted.”
“In what way?” Zoe felt herself tense.
“He thinks you are a sorceress, a witch… Sent here to bring down Clan Campbell,” Colin half laughed. “I know he’s wrong, I know what I saw when I found you today. It was pure innocence and helplessness.”
Zoe nodded. “I can assure you, I’m no witch.”
“I fear he may come down here and take you to trial,” Colin said. “I have told him to leave you be, that he doesn’t have the final say in this castle, but it would not be the first time he has gone against me.”
“So I’m not safe here?” she asked.
Colin looked up at her but didn’t answer. Zoe swallowed down the fear and wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” he said. “Which seems so strange to me, seeing as I don’t even know your name.”
Zoe looked up at him and smiled. “My name is Zoe.”
Colin’s eyes seemed to light up the instant he heard it. “I’ve never heard such a beautiful name,” he smiled. “And it suits you perfectly… A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”
Zoe felt herself blushing. “Thank you.”
It was such a strange set of events, but she found herself feeling exactly the same way… She had only known Colin for a few hours, but it was as if they had some underlying connection, like something was pulling them closer together and joining their souls. Every time she looked at him, her heart seemed to melt a little more. Ross hadn’t even entered her head since she had woken by the loch, and it wasn’t just because she was experiencing something bizarre. It was because of Colin. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man, and so much more. He was different and so unbelievable sexy, she could feel the tingle of desire burning through her.
“Colin?” she decided to be brave. “Will you come to the bed?”
His eyes darted up to meet hers, and he seemed as nervous as she was. She didn’t know where she had gotten the courage to be so forward, but after such an intense meeting and unexplainable circumstances, she felt the need to be even closer to him still. She wanted him, all of him. Right then and there.
Colin walked slowly towards her, not taking his eyes from her even for a second. Zoe felt as if she had stepped out of her body and was acting out her wildest fantasy. As he neared her, she rose to her feet and reached up to run her fingers through his thick, red hair.
When Colin kissed her, it was as if they had been joined together forever, and as if they were always meant to be together. As he lifted her dress up over her head and exposed her breasts, he gasped as he saw her naked for the first time.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “I have to have you.”
In an instant, his demeanor changed. His mild manner was overcome with pure animalistic lust as he picked her up and held her around his waist. He threw her down onto the bed and ripped off his armor. Beneath his clothes, his muscles heaved and rippled, and as he removed his underclothes, his huge manhood sprang free. Zoe’s sex twitched and gushed with need.
Colin climbed on top of her and pulled her over so she was on top of him. Even though she wanted him to ravage her, she also wanted to be in control, and as she straddled him and positioned his helmet at the opening of her sex, he gripped onto her hips and powered himself into her. As he penetrated her, the wave of pleasure was like nothing she had ever known. Their bodies fit together so perfectly, and as she rode him and grinded herself up and down on his shaft, Colin grunted with lust.
Zoe threw her head back as he reached up and cupped both of her breasts. She had never felt more liberated or desired. He held onto her and flipped her over onto her front, and she bit her bottom lip as he drove his hard cock into her again from behind.
As he pumped himself in and out of her, Zoe knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer and came hard and fast. She unraveled beneath him, her orgasm rocketing through her and her thighs trembled. As Colin saw her in a mess of pleasure beneath him, he too exploded and shot his load right up inside her, collapsing onto her back and grunting into the back of her neck.
8.
Zoe trembled with pleasure as she rolled onto her back and Colin swept her up in his arms. He nuzzled into her, breathing in her scent and kissing the soft skin of her shoulders.
“Are you sure you’re not an enchantress?” he laughed as he turned her face to his and kissed her softly on the lips. Zoe smiled and giggled.
“I don’t know what just came over me,” she whispered. “I’ve never done anything like that before. It just felt so… so right.”
“Since the second I laid eyes on you down by the loch, I knew I would take you to bed,” he said as he ran his hands through her hair. “Maybe I just didn’t believe it would be so soon.”
Zoe blushed and cuddled into him again. She felt so safe with him. It was as if they were the only two people in the world and nothing else matt
ered.
As the fire crackled away and the embers burned down, they both fell soundly asleep.
As dawn broke Zoe was woken by the loud squawks of birds and she reached out her arm to discover she was alone. Disappointment filled her and her stomach dropped.
Where is Colin? she thought as she sat up and looked around the room.
She was certainly alone. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked towards the door. She was about to reach out and grab the handle when she heard the loud clattering of footsteps and armor hurtling down the corridor towards her room.
She backed away from the door and reached for the dress Colin had given her the day before. She pulled it down over her nightie and rushed up against the back wall. There was nowhere for her to hide. She was trapped.
The footsteps came to halt outside of the room, and she prayed to any God listening that she would be saved. There was a loud hammer on the door, but she didn’t dare speak. After a second, the door came crashing open and Colin stood there with fear in his eyes.
“Come, now!” he shouted as he dashed towards her and grabbed her by the wrist. “You must run! Douglas and a mob are coming for you!”
Zoe and Colin ran down the castle’s cavernous hallways, followed by an army of armed guards. They split off in different directions throughout the castle to try and throw Douglas off the scent and disappeared down a thin corridor and into a long forgotten room.
“I don’t think he will look for you here,” he whispered. “This room was our parents’.” He looked down with sorrow. “How I wish they were still here to stop him from going mad like this.”
“He thinks I’m a witch,” Zoe said sadly. “Which means I can’t stay here.”
Colin shook his head.
“I’ll sneak you out of the castle tonight,” he said, “and I’ll come with you. We can run away and be together.”
Zoe liked the sound of that more than she ever thought possible, but she knew she couldn’t take Colin away from his life, and she didn’t want to be back in ancient Scotland without him. Her heart began to race with panic.
She turned and looked around the room, and with complete shock she saw something familiar. Something she had seen before and was more relieved than ever to be in the presence of again.
“That door,” she said, her finger pointing to the small, carved door in the side of the room. “I know that door.”
“Impossible,” Colin said. “No one has ever been in this room apart from my parents, myself, and my brother.”
Zoe reached up and touched his cheek. She wanted to kiss him and tell him everything, but she knew he wouldn’t understand.
“If I go through that door, I’ll be safe,” she said. “But I believe I will be able to return to you… We could meet here every night, and that way you don’t have to worry about Douglas trying to kill me or your position here at the castle.”
Colin looked confused, but he also seemed to understand.
“I trust you,” he said. “Just promise you will come back to me.”
He swept Zoe up in his arms as Douglas’s rage thundered through the halls not far from their hiding place. Their kiss was magic and it roused something in the room. When they parted, Zoe looked to the door and the familiar bright light was shining out from behind it.
“Wait for me,” she whispered as she let go of Colin’s hand and knelt by the door. She reached out for the handle and opened it just in time before Douglas charged into the room with his own armed guards ready to take her to trial.
She woke up on the floor of the archive feeling battered and bruised but full of love. Rebecca was standing in front of her with a look of horror on her face, and she dropped the clipboard that held the notes for their inventory.
“What…the…fuck?” she said, her mouth gaping open. She looked at Zoe up and down and looked at her dirty feet and the tattered brown smock she was wearing.
“Oh my God,” Zoe smiled. “You’ll never believe it…. But you were right when you said there were things down here that the world didn’t know about.”
“Where the hell have you been?” Rebecca put her hands on her hips. “And what the fuck is that door? How have I never seen it before?”
“Are you ready for the wildest adventure of your life?” Zoe raised her eyebrows. “Inventories are about to get a lot more interesting. How do you feel about journeying back to ancient Scotland and getting yourself a hot highlander boyfriend?”
Rebecca looked at her as if she was insane. “I guess I could think of worse ways to spend the afternoon,” she shrugged.
“Well,” Zoe began, “I’m about to tell you one hell of a story…”
As she recounted to her new friend of where the door had taken her and of who she had met, her heart beat solely for Colin. She knew she had met someone who was going to change her life, and she now knew she had the means to reach him whenever she needed to. The library had shown her the path her life was meant to take, and she couldn’t be more excited. Existing in two different times was going to be challenging, but it would be worth it.
She had tasted love, and she was never going to let it go…
THE END
The Highland Locket
Jessica Savage
Copyright ©2015 by Jessica Savage. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Thank you so much for your interest in my work!
’TWAS on the 9th of September, a very beautiful day,
That a numerous English army came in grand array,
And pitched their tents on Flodden field so green
In the year of our Lord fifteen hundred and thirteen.
***
All was quiet across the hillside, the air eerily calm as before a storm. The occasional sound of a horse braying or a man shouting echoed across the valley, disturbing the peace. A bright sun gleamed across the vast blue of the skies as William Stewart waited for the signal for the battle to commence. He did not know that thousands of the men and boys around him would be dead by the time the sun rose again, one of them being his King. But he could not alter history or the lineage of over 10,000 men. It was possible, however, that he could shape his own destiny.
***
Rebecca Brooke stared out the window. All week the weather had been cold and dreadful, and a low mist had hung over the valley, blotting out the wonderful view that the brochure had promised. For a summer vacation, late August in Scotland had proved to be a damp squib so far. OK, so it was a working vacation, two months working on a 16th-century archaeological dig in Scotland. It had sounded pretty awesome at the time. Cool, yes. Cold–no!
It was her first proper assignment and her first time in Scotland. She would have preferred Egypt or India, but she had been allocated to Scotland instead. Although she had been told to pack for the weather, she had ignored the advice. Living most of her life in California, she spent most of the time in shorts and miniskirts that showed off her tanned and toned legs. What she needed here was a woolly jumper and thermal underwear! She had managed to buy a few pairs of thick leggings and wore these under her shorts and socks. It wasn’t her best look, but at least they showed off her figure. Most of the other girls wore thick, shapeless sweaters over practical-looking outdoor pants that didn’t do them any favors.
Not all was lost, however. There was James Anderson.
James was the lead archaeologist on the dig, a Scotsman and an expert on Scottish history. Not only was he handsome, but he was intelligent, too–the new sexy. With his deep auburn hair and brown eyes, no woman was safe. Not that he noticed her, or anyone else for that matter. By breakfast, he had already eaten and gone out to the dig, and when he returned, his nose was always in a book. At least he was eye candy.
Her cell phone rang in her pocket
and Rebecca looked at the number. It was her Mom. She had only been here for a couple of days but she had already phoned twice to see if she was eating properly and if she had managed to see the Queen of England yet; it was a no to both.
“Hi, Mom.” She tried not to sound bored.
“Becky, sweetheart, how are you doing out there?”
“Same as ever. How’s Dad?”
“He’s good, sweetie. Are you eating OK?”
The conversation continued thus and Rebecca tried hard to stifle a yawn. Her Mom meant well, but sometimes she could be overbearing.
“Are you tired, honey? You sound tired.”
“No, Mom, I’m still a bit jet-lagged. We haven’t been able to go out on site yet because of the good old British weather.”
“Well, don’t forget you could check out our relations there. We do have a great Aunt, twice removed, if she’s still living. She must be at least 90 by now. Wait a minute, and I’ll get you the details.”
“Mom...” But it was too late. Rebecca could hear her Mother scrabbling around in her bag for one of her notebooks.
“Here we are. Have you got a pen handy? It’s Mrs Nora McPherson, the Old Vicarage, Selkirk. Did you get that, sweetie?”
Rebecca hadn’t any desire to visit a relative who wouldn’t know her from Adam, but agreed with her Mom just to shut her up. After she promised her mother not to fall into a Loch, the call was finally over.
Sammy, a bespectacled English girl, was walking towards her with a smile. She had done her best so far to avoid her. Sammy was a “jolly hockey sticks” type who was always trying to arrange outings and activities for the others.
“Hey, Rebecca, do you feel like braving the weather and heading into the nearest village this afternoon? We might even find a pub–do you want to come?”
BRICK (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 17) Page 45