Highlander's Challenge

by Jo Barrett

  Jenny’s mouth turned up in a crooked grin. “I think you’re afraid. The ghost stories the guide told bothered you, but you won’t admit it.”

  Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not being paid to listen to some local spout off a bunch of tall tales.”

  “I think you’re afraid of the unexplainable.” Jenny laughed softly. “I thought you were tougher than that, Tuck.”

  Tuck snorted quietly at her dig, not willing to let it get to her, although there was some truth in what she said. But who wasn’t a little afraid of the unexplainable? She was of a mind that if she couldn’t touch it, taste it, or smell it, it wasn’t a part of her world. Nor did she want it to be. Just like that imaginary warrior. Men like that didn’t walk the earth anymore. Just Amazonian women like herself. Too tall, too strong, and too—freckled.

  Crossing her arms, she said, “It’s the living I’m concerned with at the moment, not the dead.” Another lie. Maybe she needed to find a replacement for this job after all. Jenny and all her dreamy talk of the past was getting to her more than she realized.

  The man Tuck had been watching disappeared behind a hedgerow, setting off all her internal alarms. “I think you’ve seen enough of this place. Let’s go.” She took Jenny by the arm and stepped away from the fountain, but the woman planted her tiny feet.

  “Wait, I have to do something first.”

  Tuck dropped her hand with a weighty sigh. “Like what, sniff every last flower on the place?”

  “I want to make a wish.”

  She snapped her head around. “You want to what?”

  “Make a wish. If you drop a penny in the fountain, your wish is supposed to come true.”

  Tuck blinked, holding in her snort of laughter at the sincere look on Jenny’s face. “You’re serious.”

  Jenny sighed as she crossed her delicate arms. “You never listen.”

  “Listen to what? A bunch of tourist trap nonsense? They just tell all those stories about fairies and stuff to get you to buy junk. Now, let’s go,” she said, motioning with her head, setting a few of her short curls loose. They danced around her cheeks, teasing her skin, but she ignored them.

  Jenny rummaged around in her massive purse and came up with two shiny pennies. “Here,” she said, shoving a coin at Tuck. “We’re both going to make a wish.”

  “I am not tossing a penny into a fountain like some kid.”

  The man reappeared from behind the hedgerow closer to them than before. Every instinct told her to grab Jenny and make a run for the car, but she didn’t want to make a big scene or unnecessarily frighten her client. Jenny was sort of fragile, or she was in comparison to herself.

  “Come on, we’ve got to go,” Tuck said, firmly gripping Jenny’s arm.

  “No. I mean it, Tuck. We’re making a wish.”

  Keeping her eye on the stranger, she said, “You’re a doctor, for crying out loud. Medical and otherwise. You’ve got more PhD’s than a sergeant has insults. You can’t possibly believe this stuff.”

  Jenny tilted her chin up as one thin brow rose. “I have also performed years of serious study in psychic phenomena and modern day witchcraft. I’ve seen things I cannot explain scientifically. Therefore I’ve decided to never discount any possibility, no matter how ridiculous it may seem.”

  Tuck sighed heavily. “If I do this, then can we leave?”

  “Yes. And please quit staring at the gentleman like he’s some sort of underworld hit man. It’s embarrassing,” Jenny whispered sternly.

  Shooting her a frown, Tuck said, “Any possibility, no matter how ridiculous.”

  Jenny shuddered, although she tried to hide it.

  Tuck hated scaring her, but she needed to see how serious this was. Her life could be in danger, and standing at wishing wells out in the open where any yahoo could take a pot shot at her wasn’t smart.

  “He’s just a tourist like the rest of us,” Jenny said, but her eyes darted to the man, then to the other strangers milling about the garden.

  “He’s about as much a tourist as I am,” Tuck murmured.

  The stranger moved toward the castle without looking back once.

  “You see?” Jenny said, the apprehension gone from her voice. “He’s just a man enjoying his holiday.”

  Tuck took a steadying breath, slightly relaxing her taut muscles. Something still didn’t feel right about this, but she couldn’t deny the fact that the he was strolling toward the building like he hadn’t a care in the world.

  “As I have said repeatedly, why would anyone wish to kidnap me? It simply isn’t logical. I realize my father’s status and financial situation is rather monolithic, but if one would look closely, my person is not a part of that fortune. Now,” Jenny said, adjusting her glasses. “Before we make our wishes, you need to know the story behind the fountain.”

  Tuck rolled her eyes heavenward. Not another fairytale. She’d had about all of those she could ever want. She’d not only stopped believing in them a long time ago, she’d wiped them clear of her mind completely. But her client, the somewhat mousy but determined doctor, was doing her best to pump her full of every fanciful thought Scotland had to offer.

  And damned if it wasn’t working. The imaginary dark Highlander refused to be ignored. The minute they got back to the hotel, she was putting an end to this assignment. She’d just have to find another wealthy client with lots of connections to get her to the top.

  “But on the solstice the water sprite returned to the magical waters of the burbling stream, leaving his heart sadly broken. Isn’t that a wonderful story?” Jenny asked.

  “Yeah, wonderful.”

  “You’re not listening again,” Jenny said with a soft scowl.

  “No, no, I listened,” she said quickly, remembering that a happy client was a cooperative client—and a breathing client. “The, uh, sprite jumped into the water. So, are we ready to toss these coins and beat it?”

  Jenny sighed with a shake of her head. “You have absolutely no romance in your soul.”

  Tuck didn’t let that remark go too deep, but knew it would sting for a long while. “I’m a soldier. That’s why your father hired me, remember?”

  “You’re a woman, too.” Jenny turned away, a frown pulling down her lips. “But then I guess I’m more scientist than woman. The scientist and the soldier. We make an odd pair, you and I.”

  Tuck didn’t like the twinge in her chest from the pain clearly written on Jenny’s face. Or maybe she just recognized something familiar she didn’t want to acknowledge. Either way this assignment was over.

  “So what are we supposed to wish for?” Tuck asked, eager to get this childish stuff done with and get out of there.

  Jenny’s lips turned up into a bright smile. “Our heart’s desire, of course.”

  “And this—water sprite is supposed to grant our wish?”

  “Yes. Silly, isn’t it? What a grown woman will do to—never mind,” she said, waving away the rest of her sentence. “Just make your wish and toss the penny into the fountain. And you have to keep the wish to yourself so it will come true.”

  She watched as Jenny clamped her soft brown eyes closed and hugged the penny to her chest. With her long chestnut braid trailing down her back, she looked like a sweet kid about to blow out her birthday candles instead of a nutty genius pushing thirty. She lifted her lids and tossed the shiny coin into the water, her hopes and dreams reflected in her eyes.

  Lonely. Tuck recognized the feeling all too well. Neither of them really belonged to anyone or anything. Always the odd girl out. Jenny’s father may want her guarded, but he wasn’t really interested in his daughter’s life. That was obvious. That was painfully familiar.

  “Your turn,” Jenny said.

  Blinking away the irritating memories, Tuck turned to the fountain, not bothering to make a wish. Wishes never came true. Only hard work got a person what they wanted. Her accomplishments, her performance, gained her the respect and acceptance she needed. Not throwing pennies int
o fountains and wishing for the impossible.

  Flipping the coin from her fingers, the sunlight flashed against the copper, catching her eye. Even if wishes did come true, she didn’t know how to make one anymore.

  The coin plunked into the water, sending out subtle ripples. Hypnotized, her eyes followed the growing circles as her heart whispered its most secret desire.

  Jenny’s soft gasp and the scuffle of shoes against stone jerked her head around. The man she’d watched so closely stood by her client, one hand gripping her arm, the other holding a gun at her side.

  “Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to hurt her, but I will if I have to,” he said quietly.

  “You’ll be dead if you do,” Tuck said coolly. Damn it! How could she be so careless? Her job was to protect Jenny, not be her schoolyard playmate.

  He smiled faintly, but as their gazes met and held for several interminable seconds, he knew she meant business.

  His smile fell. “I’m taking her with me. I’ll contact you later at your hotel.”

  “The hell you will,” she mumbled as he took a step away.

  Tuck lunged for his gun, succeeding in knocking it from his hand without it going off while shoving Jenny to safety. Grappling with the cretin’s thick arm, she used his own bulk to keep him off balance.

  In a rather loud professorial voice, Jenny moved dangerously close to the man quoting verbatim the many laws he’d broken and what his punishment would be.

  “Get back,” Tuck snapped. “I have it under control!” Or so she thought.

  Using his mass and muscle, and nearly breaking his own arm to free himself from her hold, the gorilla reared back, knocking her off balance. She caught herself on the edge of the fountain and quickly snagged him by the back of his jacket before he could get away. But Jenny decided to help, blast her luck.

  Her thin little arms flailing, her voice shrieking, she leapt onto the man’s back. “How dare you hurt my friend!”

  The gorilla swirled around to shake Jenny off, sending her legs careening into Tuck’s chest.

  Flying backward into the fountain, the image of Jenny pounding the man over the head with her purse was engraved in Tuck’s mind.

  The mouse that roared, she thought, as her butt landed in the chilly water and her head connected with stone, sending stars shooting across her line of vision.

  Chapter Two

  Tuck shook her head, determined to clear the fog blinding her. She had to stop the kidnapper. Her job, her future, and possibly Jenny’s life was on the line.

  Pulling herself up onto her elbows, she noticed two things. There was earth beneath her hands, not stone and water, and there was no sound other than the birds and the wind in the trees. In a flash, she was on her feet and standing in the middle of a small field.

  No castle, no tourists…and no Jenny.

  “What the hell?” She spun around and regretted it as the world swayed. Clamping her eyes closed, she fingered the lump on the back of her head. Hissing through her teeth at the pain, she surmised she’d been knocked out and dumped in the woods by the kidnapper.

  “But I could’ve sworn I never lost consciousness.” Yet, what other explanation was there?

  She shoved up her sleeve, revealing her watch. “Hmm, the time is right.” Her gaze shifted to the date. The digital read-out had gone wacko. It had jumped back a couple of months and the year was nonsense.

  “Nineteen hundred?” She growled softly. “So much for being water resistant.” Which meant the time might be wrong as well. Still that didn’t explain how she’d ended up in the middle of nowhere. They’d made one heck of a scene beside the fountain. The creep couldn’t have carried her and Jenny off without someone calling the cops. He must have had accomplices.

  The thought of Jenny in that cretin’s hands churned her stomach.

  “No,” she snarled. She’d never lost a client, and she wasn’t about to start now. She didn’t know for a fact that she’d failed in protecting Jenny. She might very well be safe.

  “But if she’s safe, then what am I doing here?”

  There was no way to determine what happened without the facts, but the only one that made any sense was her first assumption. The kidnappers dumped her here after snatching her client.

  And all too easily.

  Her jaw clenched as she bit back the bile rising in her throat. She needed to act, not stand around like a fresh recruit speculating.

  Snatching her cell phone from her pocket, she flipped open the cover and cursed. No signal. Shoving it back into place, she felt her ID, still secure inside her vest. She leaned over and yanked up her pant leg, exposing her knife safely sheathed around her calf.

  “Interesting.” She slowly straightened, her mind racing over the facts.

  Although her phone was useless, she was still alive and armed. They could’ve easily killed her without anyone being the wiser in such an isolated area. Either the kidnappers weren’t too bright, or they really didn’t want to hurt anyone, which led her to believe Jenny was still alive.

  Knowing that Raghnall Castle sat on the east side of the island, she pulled her knife from its sheath and verified the direction with the compass built into the butt of the hilt. Raghnall Castle was the only place she could go, the only place she could start her search for the vermin who’d kidnapped Jenny.

  She slid her knife back into place, jerked up the zipper on her thick down vest and headed off through the woods as she popped a Gummy Bear into her mouth. The icy wind whipped at her cheeks and ears. The temperature had dropped considerably since they’d started out that morning. That in conjunction with her wet butt, the lump on the back of her head, and the knot of anxiety growing in her stomach put her in a foul mood.

  “I will not fail,” she grumbled, tugging her cap low over her ears and shoving her hair beneath.

  Laughter, men’s laughter echoed through the trees and she froze. She couldn’t be that lucky. The bozos who snagged Jenny had to have more sense than to hang around where they’d dumped her untied and unguarded.

  Pinpointing the men’s location, she eased in their direction and came across a rutted, muddy road. Crouching down amid the late afternoon shadows at the edge of the woods, she waited for them to come fully into view as she listened to their conversation. She refused to make any more mistakes.

  “I say you shall be bloody miserable,” one man said, his English accent thick but refined. An unexpected change from the Scottish lilt she’d been hearing for the last few weeks.

  “‘Tis the next step, mon,” the other replied.

  As one of them laughed, she caught her first glimpse of the Englishman. Her mouth fell open, then snapped shut with a soft click.

  Riding a white stallion, his black leather boots shone to perfection where they sat firmly in the stirrups. His brocade doublet of deep blue was decorated with gold trim and ties and fit his broad torso snugly. A riding cape cast off one shoulder and draped the horse’s hindquarters. The sun glinted off his fair hair, pleasantly disheveled by the wind.

  His charismatic smile made her suck in a breath. He looked and sounded like he’d walked right out of a fairytale.

  “If Jenny could see this guy she’d bust a gut,” she whispered to herself. He fit perfectly into one of her silly stories, but even Tuck had to admit he was more than easy on the eyes.

  Her brow furrowed as she studied him. What was he doing wearing that getup?

  “You plan and plan, my friend, but ‘tis a waste of time. When will you learn you cannot control your destiny?” the Englishman asked, glancing at the man riding alongside him.

  Her eyes followed his and there they stayed. Tuck swallowed hard as her knees gave out, and she tipped forward in the brush. Barely catching herself with her hands before she landed on her face, she mouthed a curse but didn’t tear her gaze away from the dark haired giant.

  He was amazing. A breathy sigh slipped from her lips, something she never did where men were concerned. Why expel the energy on be
ing attracted? They were never attracted to her. But with this man she couldn’t help herself.

  She examined him from the tips of his leather clad feet, up muscular bare legs, over his woven plaid wrapped around his waist, to his midnight hair stirring over his massive shoulders. The rough angles of his face, almost hidden by several days’ growth, gave him a menacing air. He wasn’t pretty like his English friend, but unbelievably striking.

  Now—that—is a man .

  His dark brows pinched together at the sound of his friend’s laughter, his thick full lips pulled into a grim frown. “You are one tae talk. Whether I wed the lass or no, ‘tis nothing compared tae what you’ve done.”

  The Englishman’s smile faded, and he shot him a dark look.

  A smile, if it could be called that, it was so dour, eased over the burly Scot’s face. “You canna deny you left your homeland tae avoid the destiny your father laid out before you.”

  The pretty one’s back stiffened at his words. “My father and I were not of like minds. However, my fate did not include wedding a woman I’ve never laid eyes on. She could be a shrew for all you know. Some toothless harridan sure to drive you mad.”

  Tuck shook her head. Men were the same the world over regardless of their shape and size. They all wanted pretty little petite things that would fawn all over them while they played Tarzan. It made her sick to her stomach.

  Realizing they were obviously part of some reenactment thing, she could be fairly certain they had no part in Jenny’s abduction, but she’d keep her wits about her just the same. She stepped out of the brush and onto the road.

  They both jerked back on the reins, coming to an abrupt halt several feet in front of her. If she thought the frown the Scot threw pretty-boy earlier was bad, the one he shot her was deadly. But she held her ground without flinching. She was more than used to glares from men, yet this one had an edge to it, and she found that extremely interesting.

  She glared back at him and was satisfied when one lone dark brow rose. Apparently the hairy Scot wasn’t used to being faced down. Of course his size alone would intimidate anyone who had any sense, but she never backed away from a challenge—ever.