by Hazel Gower
“Australia. Is this part of the game or party? I’m supposed to play a part?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed, and Holly could feel her appraisal. “Ye’re verra bonny. I hope it dinna cause problems.” Her eyes scrutinized everything about Holly, making her feel even more uncomfortable than she already felt. “We are gunna have to make it known ye are me son’s or ye’re gunna have all the men vying for yer attention. We will need to come up with a backstory, as I’ve never heard of Aust…ral…ia. Where is that?”
Wow. Who hadn’t heard of Australia? “Can we stop playing for a moment? I would just like to know what is going on first before I play along or decide to leave.”
“I’m sorry. I used all me powers to get ye here. There will be nay leaving for ye.” The woman gave a long, drawn-out sigh, and sat in a chair. “I’m getting old and I want grandbabies to play with and spoil before I die. Me son here…” she pointed to the silent hulking redhead, “said he would nay marry anyone but the perfect woman for him.”
“Ha. And you think I’m that woman?” Holly straightened her shoulders and glared at the man’s mother. “Look, lady, I don’t want to play this game anymore. Whatever my friend paid for the re-enactment of medieval times you can keep. I won’t ask for a refund.”
The woman shook her head. “Me lass, ye do speak funny. I am sorry for bringing ye here, but me son has turned down every woman I have brought for him from this time.” The woman turned to her son. “Duncan, I know I promised never to use me powers again after the witch incident with King James, but ye are getting old, and even the king himself has ordered ye to marry, and well, I so wanted ye to have a match like I have with yer father.”
Duncan groaned and closed his eyes.
“I’m verra sorry for what I did, Duncan. I will nay do it again, I promise.”
The woman’s sweet voice would melt butter, Holly thought.
Duncan opened his eyes as the woman opened her hand, and a small spark flew out. Holly blinked, not believing what she’d just seen, and watched as the woman closed her hand and opened it once again, a spark like lightning flying out.
Oh, my God. Holly felt uneasy. This was starting not to feel like a game, and what she just saw surely couldn’t be some kind of special effect.
“See, son, I canna use me powers. I only get sparks. I used all me powers to get her…” the woman pointed to Holly, “here. Losing me power is the sacrifice to bring the lass here.”
Holly glanced between the two people, hoping they were acting, she was dreaming, or some such thing. Maybe she’d been hit by the lightning that had surrounded her earlier, and she was unconscious and dreaming. Pinching her wrist a few times, she winced on the fourth and the woman stood and captured Holly’s hands.
“Stop pinching yerself. Ye’re nay dreaming.”
Snatching her hands out of the woman’s hold, Holly snarled at her, “I have to be dreaming. This is all crazy.”
Duncan scrubbed his hand over his face, growled, and turned to her. “What is yer name, lass?”
“Holly. Holly Drake.”
“Well, Holly, I dinna ken how to tell ye this without having ye think I’m crazy or running out of here, but here it goes. This is me mother, Magan MacLeod. She has brought ye from wherever ye’re from to me home in Scotland in the year of our Lord fifteen eighty. I am Duncan MacLeod, Laird of the MacLeods. I’m twenty and eleven and the oldest child. I have a brother who is out training me men now. I should be there with him, but am here trying to figure out what to do. Are ye from this time? Or from a different time?”
Holly could feel her whole body going numb. For some reason, she knew Duncan wasn’t playing a game or re-enacting; he was telling the truth. She looked around the room with its wooden table and chairs by the fire on the far side of the wall and a tiny round hole that looked to be a window.
She needed to sit down. Ignoring Duncan’s question, Holly moved to the closest seat and sat. “Oh, my freaking God. I’ve lost my mind.” Holly started to cry, stopping when she felt Magan’s hand settle on her shoulder and pat her.
“There now, lass, it’s not that bad. Me son is a powerful laird. He can provide ye with anything ye want. Ye’ll be happy here.”
Holly couldn’t help the hysterical giggle that slipped through. “Oh, lady, you have no idea what you have done. Where you have brought me from. If I hadn’t seen the sparks of lightning come from your hands myself, I would think you crazy and this all a re-enactment.” Holly wiped her face with the long sleeves of her dress and looked up into Magan’s bright green eyes. “I am in Scotland on holiday with my best friend, Jane. This holiday was her idea before we started university. I think she was trying to cheer me up. My parents died in a car accident almost a year ago. A car is a big metal object with wheels that takes us places. I am eighteen, nineteen in three weeks’ time. I live in Australia, which is a twenty-four hour flight around the other half of the world. Oh, and I’m from the year twenty fourteen.”
Duncan started yelling at his mother in a language Holly didn’t understand. Magan yelled back until finally Duncan quietened, and they spoke calmly for a while. Holly knew she should say something, but she was still trying to wrap her head around what she’d seen and what she’d been told. She could feel Duncan’s gaze bore into her as he spoke to his mother.
The talking in another language stopped, and Duncan spoke in English. “Me mother is going to explain some things to ye, and we have figured out a backstory that ye need to remember to tell to people. Ye’re now Lady Holly Drake, a distant cousin of me mother sister’s husband in England. And…me betrothed.”
Holly gasped and stood, backing as far away from Duncan and Magan as she could. Duncan stalked toward her and she put her hands up to ward him off. She opened her mouth to protest, but Duncan clasped her raised hands in his and stepped closer, so her body was almost against his. He let go of her hands and tucked a strand of her long wavy black hair behind her ear.
“Even with ye soaking wet, ye’re the bonniest woman I’ve ever seen. I knew the instant I saw ye that ye were going to be trouble for me.” His lips brushed hers and for a moment, Holly forgot her situation and melted at the gentle kiss.
Duncan slowly moved away from her, his eyes filled with promise. Holly shivered and hugged herself. His voice was deep, and his brogue was to die for. Taking a deep breath, she shook herself and gave a mental kick to her mind to get herself together. Holly dropped her arms to her side, straightened her back, and glared at Duncan. He smirked back at her; the man knew the affect he had on her.
“I’ll leave ye in me mother’s care now. I need to go out and look for yer escort party that was killed in an ambush.” With that, he nodded to his mother, turned, and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Holly turned to Magan. She couldn’t stay here. She belonged in the future. Holly knew if she stuck around, Duncan would be her weakness. She had only just met him and already she couldn’t resist him. Holly couldn’t let that happen. She was going home and to uni. “Take me home. Send me home now.”
Duncan cursed his mother as he stormed out of the keep to the training yard. He carefully adjusted his erect manhood so it wasn’t so noticeable. He’d been hard since the beautiful Holly had run into him. His body had come alive when she hit him, and the magic he kept buried inside burst forward and screamed that he had just found his destiny. His soul mate.
Holly was beautiful, with long wavy black hair, big brown eyes, full plump lips, perfect white teeth, breasts that looked well over a handful, and her body was nice and round. The light brown skin with the rest of her features made her the bonniest woman he’d ever seen.
His family in old times had been powerful wizards and witches with great healing powers and massive strength that helped keep the peace and protect those who needed protecting. They said to reward the MacLeods for their generosity, they were given the power to ken who their soul mate was. Duncan hadn’t really believed the stories, since he was over the age mo
st MacLeods found their mates. He also didn’t want to encourage anything that was dangerous to his clan. King James hated anything to do with the supernatural, he’d helped bring about the Witchcraft Act in fifteen sixty-three, which stated the practice of witchcraft and consulting with witches were capital offenses in Scotland. God’s teeth, if his mother or any of his family were caught, they’d be hanged. His loyalty and his holdings with his large number of soldiers wouldn’t matter.
Duncan needed to keep his clan safe, and that meant no suspicion on Holly regarding what she was or how she got here. He would need help. He intended to tell his brother and a very few of his closest, most trusted men.
Walking to the training yard, he caught his brother, Callam’s, gaze and nodded. Callam joined him away from the other men, and Duncan quietly explained what had happened and what they now needed to do. When he finished explaining, Duncan could see his brother was trying hard not to laugh at the situation.
Callam slapped him on the back. “Look on the bright side, brother. At least with mother using all her magic to bring yer soul mate here, she won’t be able to do it again for me.” Duncan watched his brother stroll back over to the men.
Duncan didn’t find the situation funny at all. He hoped his mother explained everything properly to Holly. She needed to understand how dangerous it was for her to act too differently in this time. That she couldn’t mention where she was from, nor what his mother had done to get her here. Duncan had enough troubles trying to keep the Fergussons from raiding, or dealing with the McCoy's feud over borders and then keeping all the supernatural people in his clan hidden.
His brother and Duncan’s three most trusted men, Greggor, Ian, and Mason, came up to him.
“I hear we are going to go see if we can find any survivors from the lady’s escort. She was lucky to escape,” said Greggor, Duncan’s second-in-command.
“Yes,” Duncan didn’t elaborate further before he turned and walked to the stables to get his horse.
Once they were a safe distance from the keep, Duncan explained what had really happened. He trusted them. Ian was married to a seer and Mason to a healer, so they would understand. Duncan asked them for their help to keep the situation under wraps and to keep Holly, now Lady Holly, safe.
Chapter Two
“Did ye not hear what I just told me son? I can nay send ye back.” Magan threw her hands up. “Ye’re here for good.” Magan let her hands drop and stepped closer to her. “Ye may as well get used to the idea.”
“I can’t stay here. I’m only supposed to be on holiday. I start university in a couple of months. That’s just one reason. I need indoor plumbing, electricity, clean clothes, fresh, clean water, and so on.” Holly knew if she really had to, she could live without some of those things, but she didn’t want to. She belonged in her own time, not in the fifteen hundreds where woman had no rights and men were the powerful leaders.
“Och now, lass, ye’ll get used to this way of life. The magic would nay have brought ye if it did not think ye could live here.” Magan patted her arm. “I think we should get our story straight to tell to everyone, then I’ll show ye to yer chambers and get a maid to organize a bath for ye.” Magan practically bounced with excitement. “I always wanted a daughter.”
Holly felt numb. She didn’t know what to say or do. Right now, she needed time to relax and think things over before she made any drastic moves, so she nodded at Magan. “Let’s hear the story to tell people.”
“This is good. I’m glad ye’re not fighting it. Ye are now Lady Holly Drake, a distant cousin of me sister’s husband in England. And…me son’s betrothed. Ye met briefly while he visited me aunt at the Macdonalds earlier this spring. The betrothal has been kept quiet as ye're parents fell ill and died, and ye've been in mourning. Ye're accent, we can say is different because ye and yer parents traveled a lot. Yer escort was attacked by blackguards on the way, and ye barely escaped with yer life, but have lost all yer things. Duncan is going out to look now for survivors and any of yer belongings, but, as we know, he won't find anything. Ye canna mention anything about how ye got here, or the time ye live in, to anyone. Being a witch or even being accused of witchery will get ye killed. Me son will protect ye. The wedding will be tomorrow morning when the priest arrives from the village and—”
“Stop. I cannot marry your son. I don’t know him. I am not getting married.” Holly stood and went to the window. She gasped as she saw that where she had seen trees and a clearing, there now were men fighting and little cottages. Before the lightning had chased her, Holly hadn’t seen any cottages. With the sparks she had seen from Magan’s hands, and the sight now before her, Holly knew for sure that she’d travelled in time.
“Holly, ye have nay choice. Ye are an unprotected female. A noble one. People will talk.”
“I have choices. I am not noble. I am from the future. Let the people talk. I am going to find a way home.” Holly couldn’t live in the fifteen hundreds, and had to find a way back to her own time. Walking to the door, she opened it and left the room. A lot more people had gathered in the big dining hall. Holly clutched the satchel containing all her belongings and hurried out of the back room. People stood staring at her and Holly felt uncomfortable. She picked up speed, wanting to leave this place as fast as she could.
“Stop her. Lady Holly is distraught with what has happened to her escorts,” Holly heard Magan yell, just as she reached the doors.
A mammoth of a man with a huge scar on his left cheek grabbed her arm. “Me lady, the laird will find anyone if they survived.”
Holly stared way up into the big man’s dark eyes. His salt-and-pepper hair with his rugged, scarred face made him an imposing figure. He gently pulled her away from the door and over to the staircase, where Magan stood waiting for her. Holly knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight the man holding her, so she followed Magan up the stairs.
Magan opened the first door from the stairs and motioned Holly inside. Holly walked into the room to see a small single bed, a little table at one side and above it on the wall, a tapestry of the countryside. The other side had a window with a leathery-looking fabric pulled to the side, and the other wall had a fireplace with the embers just coming to life.
“This is ye're room for the night. Tomorrow, ye’ll be in me son’s room. I dinna feel ye needed the more elaborate guest room.”
“I’m not going to be in your son’s room tomorrow.”
“When ye marry tomorrow, ye’ll sta—”
“I can’t marry your son. I don’t belong here.”
Magan smiled at her. “Ye will marry me son tomorrow. And yes, ye do belong here. The magic would nay have brought ye otherwise.”
Holly didn’t argue back, knowing she would get nowhere with Magan. A young woman not much older than Holly came into the room with a bucket and an older woman behind her carried a large bowl and cloths.
“Mistress, I’ve brought warm water for Lady Holly to wash with,” the older woman said.
“Thank ye, Agnes. Put it on the table next to the bed. Ye can go after that. We will let Lady Holly freshen up.”
Agnes nodded, and she and the younger woman placed the things on the table and left without saying any more. Holly stared at the bucket of water and bowl that reminded her there was no plumbing in this century. She needed to get away, to find a way home, somehow. Holly would rest now and wake later to make her escape when everyone was asleep.
“Thank you for your help. I have had a huge afternoon. I’ll wash and go to bed so I can wake up early.” Holly placed her satchel on the bed and was surprised to see her small suitcase next to the bed. “Someone found my suitcase.”
“Aye, Duncan found it and 'ad it brought up for ye.”
“Thank you. I’d like to rest now, so I’m ready for tomorrow.”
Magan’s smile was bright. “There ye go. I kenned ye’d come around. I’ll leave ye and come 'elp in the morning.”
As soon as Magan left, Holly put the cloth over
the window and removed her still-wet dress. She used the cloths to scrub the dirt and grime off herself, dried herself, then cleaned the dress as best she could, wrung it out, and placed it over the end of the bed to dry. Taking off the black Mary Jane style shoes, Holly put on some warm tracksuit pants and an old shirt of her father’s from her suitcase, feeling happy that she at least had some familiar comforts. She was lucky the snow they’d had melted and it wasn’t as cold as it usually was. The tourist place had told her they usually still had snow in February.
Holly got into bed, pulled the covers over herself, and closed her eyes, hoping when she woke in a couple of hours, her world would be back to normal and what had happened would have been a bad dream.
They hadn’t found anything. Well he had found the strange rectangle bag of Holly’s, but nothing else. Duncan and the others knew they wouldn’t. Whilst they were gone, they’d had time to come up with a story, and his brother and men had agreed to help him with Holly.
Duncan wasn’t sure what he should do. Did he marry the lass from the future? He’d seen some of the strange things she’d pulled out of her satchel, and the rectangle bag with the metal was unusual. Would Holly survive in this time? She had spoken differently. Duncan didn’t want any attention on his clan; he had so many people to protect. His father was at Edinburgh castle now, and Duncan was due to replace him there at the end of the month. King James was fond of his father and seemed to feel the same for Duncan. It was a blessing and a curse. It brought him many men who respected him, but a lot of enemies also.
Riding into the bailey of his keep, he noticed everyone seemed to be eagerly awaiting his return. They all would have heard about the arrival of his betrothed. Getting off his horse, he gave the reins to the stable boy and turned to face everyone.
“As ye have all heard by now, I am to be married on the morrow to Lady Holly Drake. I met her at the Macdonalds earlier this spring. She is a distant cousin of me mother's sister’s husband. I expect ye all to make her feel welcome, especially as she lost everything to thieves today.” He eyed everyone, making sure his message got through. When no one said anything, he nodded and walked toward the keep’s doors, eager for some dinner and something to drink. Duncan would go to bed early tonight, because he had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a tiring day.