Nodding, he got out of bed and put his clothes on, a pleasant sense of duty filling him. Having a defined purpose ahead of him grounded him and he felt less adrift in this strange set of circumstances he’d woken up in.
He tossed her something ruffled and she caught it with a laugh, pulling it on over her head. She rewarded him with a cheerful smile and eyes full of hope.
“This may actually work,” she said, hopping out of bed.
She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on his cheek, her own cheeks bright pink spots of blazing color. A series of indecipherable emotions flickered in her expressive eyes and she just as quickly turned away to finish dressing.
Pietro pulled on his boots feeling like a superhero—that he could take on the world for her.
They said goodbye to Granny Jinty and started off in the direction of what Bella said was her husband’s land, in case anyone asked the old lady. They doubled back to the forest edge and made it to the castle as a hunting party was setting out.
“There’ll be plenty of horses left. Can ye choose good ones?” she asked as they watched the group make its way up the hill.
He nodded, watching the party of more than a dozen well armed Highlanders set out.
“There’ll be a few stable lads, but I’ll set a distraction. Ye go in on my signal.”
She was already running toward the stable before he could ask what the signal was and he crouched by the tree, waiting.
A scream arose from the other side of the barn and a squat woman took off running from a rampaging pig that was almost as big as she was. A flash of Bella’s dress caught his eye as she scampered into some rose bushes that grew along the side of the barn. Two stable boys came out of the barn to see what the ruckus was about and began trying to herd the pig back to its pen. Well, if this wasn’t the sign, he would probably be waiting a mighty long time for another.
Throwing the last shred of his common sense to the wind, he put his head down and bolted toward the barn, swinging open the side door and ducking inside. He dropped down behind a hay bale and assessed the situation.
He had to marvel once again at the differences to the barn. There were still so many things that told him it was the same one he worked at every day. The building itself was essentially the same, though the stall doors, the floor, the lack of lights was all different.
A few horses stuck their heads over their wooden stall doors and he realized Bella was right. There were at least ten horses in here. With a glance at the open front doors, he saw the coast was clear and could still hear the squealing of the pig and the now furious woman yelling at the boys to catch it.
He ran down the row of stalls, looking over each horse, choosing a small, speedy roan mare and an impressive black stallion for himself.
Heart pounding with each passing second, he tossed blankets and saddles on them, barely pausing to tighten the girths. He almost got bit in his haste to slip a bridle on the stallion and took a precious second to soothe the beast, letting him sniff his knuckles.
Finally, he managed to lead both horses out the side door, where Bella was waiting with a frenzied look. With an almost magical grace, she was atop the mare and galloping toward the tree line, head low over the pommel.
Pietro prayed she wouldn’t slide off due to his fast saddling. He assumed they would lead the horses to the woods and go from there. So much for that.
With a quick test yank on the saddle of the stallion, he closed his eyes and threw himself over, racing to the trees. When he made it safely to find Bella impatiently waiting, he jumped off and without a word, hauled her off her horse.
“Ye could have been killed,” he said, refastening the saddle to his satisfaction. “I thought we were going to lead them.”
“That was a silly notion ye had,” she said. “Should we lead them all the way to Edinburgh, as well?”
He ignored her, trying to calm down. As he went through the motions of making everything the way he wanted, he felt better. He patted his horse and started to laugh, his pent up nerves dissipating.
“The pig,” he said, laughing harder.
“Aye,” she agreed. “I feel a bit sorry for it. It didna want to leave its pen. I had to prod it with a stick.”
He went to her side and kissed her forehead. He was about to apologize for snapping at her when he heard hooves thundering toward them. Disoriented, he twisted around, thinking one of their horses had taken off. They were both still there, looking as alarmed as he felt.
“A guard,” she hissed, no time for anything else.
“Bella, lass, what are ye doin’ out here?” A burly man covered in plaid burst into their little clearing.
When he saw Pietro, he drew a sword from his belt and with no movie-like warning whatsoever, charged at him. The sword whooshed past him, nicking his arm.
In horror and disbelief, Pietro looked at the spot of blood welling through his shirt and jumped away from the backswing, which was so close his eyes crossed when it swung past his face.
He staggered and almost fell flat on his back. He would have been killed on the next pass of the blade, had Bella not shrieked for the man to stop.
The slight glance he spared her gave Pietro enough time to race around the horse and behind the sword wielding guard, who lumbered to follow him instead of just turning in a circle and slicing him clean through.
Still, the guard was only a step behind him, and swung his sword in a wild arc in front of him. Pietro heard it whizzing through the air, and hoped the grunt from the man behind him meant his miss had thrown him off balance.
When he reached Bella, he grabbed her around the waist and used all his adrenaline soaked fear strength to toss her onto the back of the big stallion. She hurled a branch she’d been clutching at the guard.
Without turning to see if this had any effect, Pietro swung himself up behind her and kicked the beast into a gallop.
“The reins,” he cried, and she leaned over and grabbed them, pulling the horse around and away from the guard.
They didn’t have much of a lead, and Pietro was sure at any moment he’d be dashed to the ground and run through with the sword. The thudding of his racing heart almost drowned out the sound of the stallion’s hooves battering the ground. They powered through the forest, getting scratched by low hanging branches for what seemed like an eternity until Bella reached around and tugged on his shirt.
“He’s turned back,” she said. “He’ll have gone for help.”
Pietro pulled up on the reins and slowed the horse, turning in a circle to confirm that they were no longer being followed. The spirited stallion danced nervously and the very breeze that wound through the trees seemed sinister.
He slid off and tried to calm the horse, patting its cheek and muttering, but he was so rattled himself he knew it was no good.
He gripped his arm where he’d been cut and struggled to keep his panic at bay. Everything had seemed like an outrageous game, the ultimate role play, up until the point when that very real blade had swung perilously close to him.
He looked at the blood on his hand and wondered what kind of dumb luck had kept him from being killed back there, and when it was going to run out. The adrenaline coursing through his veins made him feel like he would vomit and he took a few strides away and leaned against a tree, fighting it.
Now they only had one horse and would have a posse of those fierce guards after them in no time. His skin felt too tight for his body.
“How long?” he asked Bella, who was still in the saddle and looking morosely back in the direction they’d come.
She shook her head. “Maybe less than an hour,” she said. “It’s good ye headed for the mountains, then doubled back. That will earn us some time.”
Had he done that? He’d just been blindly riding, ruthlessly prodding the horse to its limits to get away. He pinched the bridge of his nose and swore. He turned to face her, ready to confess that he was a complete fraud and she’d be better off returning to the castle.
Her full lower lip quivered and his resolve returned. He had training for this sort of thing. He’d been in a war, damn it. Why was he freaking out so badly?
Having a three foot long razor sharp blade whisking past his face wasn’t anything he’d been trained for. That was Samurai movie fantasy stuff. He’d just need to keep a step ahead of the guards. They’d have to move fast and keep moving until they got to Edinburgh, where he hoped to find more sympathetic, less barbaric people.
He looked around at the trees and the darkening sky. At the woman on the horse in her old fashioned, long blue dress. His hand itched to hold a weapon, but he had none. He looked up at the sky and saw the dark tops of the trees looming overhead, and longed to hear the sound of a plane. Longed to be at the controls and flying away from here. The sky remained silent and he remained firmly on the ground, alone with Bella and the horse.
“Is there a village in that direction?” he asked, praying there was some semblance of the village he knew, where he knew it to be. She looked at him strangely and nodded. “Is there an inn, where we can change the horse?”
“They will know me in the village,” she said.
She looked at him, her eyes wide and now, all of a sudden, full of fear. He almost laughed, that it should just be hitting her.
“They won’t know me,” he said.
It would be dark soon. That would work both for and against them. He almost cried when he rummaged through their belongings and found they still had the coins.
Not having a plan beyond getting the hell out of the forest, he pulled himself back up and settled in the saddle behind her.
She turned around and gave him a satisfying kiss, pulling his head down and running her fingers through his hair. With a sigh, she released him, looking up at him with eyes full of trust and confidence.
Revitalized, he urged the horse in the direction of the village.
Chapter 14
“Do ye no’ understand?” Lachlan thundered, pacing the length of the kitchen as Piper, Sam, and Evie sat miserably at the plank table.
Evie took a bite of cracker and sniffled as Sam looked shell shocked. Piper had sent Danny home, admonishing him against calling the police, saying that she would do it, and begging the kid to keep his mouth shut so the village wouldn’t be alarmed.
She was surprised thirty people hadn’t banged on her front door by now, demanding answers. Danny must have been scared silent by Lachlan’s fierce glare when he’d ushered him out of the kitchen earlier.
“The barn and the sheep are related, you think?” Sam asked.
Lachlan put his head in his hands before answering. “All this time I never gave it a thought that I may be bringing people forward with me.” He stopped pacing and Piper rushed to his side and pulled him to the table, shoving him onto the bench.
She wrapped his hand around a small glass of whiskey. She’d broken out a bottle as soon as Sam and Evie arrived from the village. She’d only had a few sips to dull the fear and pain, but wanted to stay alert in case Lachlan took off for the woods. He was going crazy with guilt and blaming himself for every bad thing that had happened since he arrived.
“Someone from my time, or one o’ the times I mistakenly went. Someone must have been pulled here.” He looked at Piper. “I was a fool. I’m sorry, my love.”
“Stop,” she said. She looked at each of them in turn, daring any of them to disagree with her. “How could you have known it might happen?”
“I couldn’t have known, aye,” Lachlan agreed. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Which is why I should never have tinkered with what I didna understand.”
“There’s no use in all this,” Sam said with an exasperated shrug. “It’s done. We must go from here and figure it all out.” He poured himself another whiskey and topped off Lachlan’s glass.
“Now I must have sent your stable man back,” Lachlan said, draining the glass.
Evie gasped and scooted closer to Sam. They might have all been thinking it, but it was the first time it was said out loud. No one wanted to believe it, but it was looking more and more like the only possibility.
The stable boys and the gardeners had looked all over the grounds. None of the horses were missing, and his truck was still here. His phone went straight to voicemail. Piper had called his mother and tried to be casual so as not to scare the woman, but she hadn’t seen him in few days either.
“I will leave at first light and retrieve him, send him back if I can,” Lachlan said after they sat in silence for several long minutes.
“Like hell you will,” Piper exploded, knocking back what was left of her drink. She barely felt the sting as it burned its path down her throat. Nothing could have quenched her anger. “At least, you won’t be going alone. If you even think about sneaking off, I’ll just follow you, and probably get redirected to medieval Scotland and trampled by wild boars. Then you certainly won’t have to worry about me never being born.”
She stood up and made to storm out of the kitchen, when she saw that Evie had her face buried in her hands and was making strangled noises.
Aggravated, and sick of caring about anything anymore, she plopped back down next to her best friend and patted her back. Evie snorted from behind her hands.
“Are you laughing?” Piper said, outraged.
“I’m sorry. It’s nerves.” Evie took her hands away and looked devastated. “I don’t think there are boars here, right, Sam?” She bit her lip.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Maybe there were in medieval times,” he said shortly.
Piper stood up and gripped Evie under her elbow in a vice-like mom hold.
“Come with me,” she said, pulling Evie out of the kitchen, giving both Lachlan and Sam threatening looks. “Can I trust you to stay for the next ten minutes or so?” she asked.
Lachlan looked defeated and dropped his chin to his chest. He waved her away and reached for the whiskey bottle.
Piper dragged Evie out of the kitchen and down the hall to the library, where she took a painting off the wall and dialed the combination to open the safe hidden behind it.
Pushing aside the hideous burlap bundle of bones, she pulled out the paper wrapped parcel and placed it in the middle of the desk.
Evie sank into a dainty, pale blue armchair and stared at it bleakly, all traces of laughter gone from her face.
Piper knew she recognized the items, and shook Daria’s grimoire out of its wrapping without touching the thing. If she so much as brushed her fingertip against its cover, she’d be thrown into a trance, or have a vision, or speak some unknown language. Piper wanted to put that off for as long as she could.
When the tattered diary slid out onto the desk, followed by the gold pendant, Evie gagged and ran from the room.
Piper took a pencil and pushed the book and pendant around on the desk while she waited, keeping her mind carefully blank. Part of her longed to fling open the book and submerge herself in its terrifying wonder, but she pushed that part down, repulsed by it.
A few minutes later, Evie staggered back in and sat down. She looked tired and Piper wished she didn’t have to worry her.
“You know I have to go with Lachlan, right?” she asked, trying to sound as confident as possible, hoping that Evie would follow her example and not dissolve into a puddle of tears and vomit.
Evie sniffed and nodded. Her eyes were welling up and she scrubbed at them with her fists. “Ugh, I hate this,” she finally said.
“I think everything will be fine,” Piper said, and her voice only wavered a little. “But, just in case, I’m going to call my main lawyer—his name’s Herb, I think you’ll like him—and give him some instructions.”
Evie’s head shot up and she blinked rapidly a few times. “You better not call Herb,” she said, sounding like herself for the first time since she’d gotten to Scotland.
“Evie, you have to take care of things if I don’t come back,” Piper said as fast as she could. Evie was pulling herse
lf out of the armchair, like a snake about to strike. Piper held up her hand. “You and Sam can raise the baby here—”
“Stop talking, Piper,” Evie said, starting to leave the room. “If you have to go, which I don’t think you do,” she spat the last part. “You’ll. Be. Back.” She stabbed her finger at Piper with each word.
“I’m not going to stop talking, you need to start listening,” Piper said. “I want you to have this place if I don’t come back. I’ll make arrangements for my mom as well.”
To Piper’s disbelief, Evie actually put her hands over her ears as she shook her head. “I don’t want this pile of rocks,” she said.
With an annoyed laugh, Piper pulled Evie’s hands from her ears and clasped them in her own. “You’re making me so mad, right now, I should leave everything to Mellie.”
Evie grabbed her hands away, eyes glittering with unshed tears. “You shouldn’t leave it to anyone, because you’re coming back.” Her face reddened to a tomato hue and she made a desperate sound.
Piper patted her shoulder, sorry for making Evie cry once again, but irritated that she wouldn’t listen to reason. There was a very good chance she wouldn’t return and she needed to be responsible and have everything in order. There were countless people who relied on her now.
“Don’t cry Evie, it’s just—”
“I’m not crying, I’m pissed! You’re making me so mad, I think you cured my morning sickness.” She took a deep breath, lifting her face and looking desolately at Piper.
Before Piper could tackle her with a hug she heard a sound at the door and turned to see Sam standing in the doorway looking stricken.
“What kind of sickness?” he asked.
Piper’s head swiveled from one to the other. All of Evie’s high color drained from her face and Sam’s was a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
Piper edged sideways to try to get out the door around Sam, but he held up his hand in a halting gesture and gave her a suspicious look.
“Evelyn?” he asked and Piper could have cried at the dismay in his voice.
Reunited (Book 2 of Lost Highlander series) Page 11