by Jo Barrett
A call from outside wound its way between them, and they eased from one another’s embrace, both taking several unsteady steps back.
“I won’t apologize for that,” he said, his voice raw with need and regret.
Her lips, wet and swollen from his kiss, turned down as she braced her hands on her hips. “And if you did, ’twould be near impossible for you to sit a horse.”
Amid a twirl of skirts, she marched from the stable muttering curses upon all men’s heads.
With a chuckle, he climbed onto his horse then rode out with Erin and his guard. There were greater problems at hand, lives at risk. He didn’t have time to think about hungry kisses and feelings he’d buried long ago, feelings he refused to give weight to. His aunt and uncle were in trouble, and he would do everything he could to bring them home. For once in his life he couldn’t let the people who cared about him down. He may never be able to have Deidra, but he would not fail her.
****
“I doona like this,” Michael said to Deidra as he walked beside her across the threshold into the great hall. “I think Macconach is lying, as do the lads.”
Deidra paused and looked at him, her chest heavy with the weight of her fears. “You doona’ think they are kidnapped?”
He grimaced, but made no response.
“I will know your thoughts, Michael. I’ll no’ be left in the dark.”
“Anything is possible, lass,” he said.
“You think they’re dead,” she said, sinking onto a nearby bench, her legs no longer willing to hold her up. She’d feared the same when she’d first spied Macconach, but she had to hold on to hope.
He pressed a hand to her shoulder. “I’ll no’ be satisfied without proof. Colin MacLean could ne’er be taken down by the likes of that sharg,” he said, pointing angrily toward the guest quarters. “Nor would yer mother stand by and let such a thing happen. Nay, lass. They are no’ dead. But I doona’ believe things are as Macconach says they are.”
“But we have ta consider all possibilities,” she said, her voice unsteady.
He eased down beside her. “From the beginning, I’ve no’ liked Macconach. There is something aboot the man that doesna ring true. Adam and Erin felt it as well.”
Deidra stood, her back ramrod straight. “But all we can do is wait.”
“Aye. Fer now.”
She moved to the stair and paused. “I’ll be in the solar if you should hear any news.”
He nodded, and she made her way up the winding stair, her stomach threatening to cast up its contents with every step. She paused as the weight of what had happened, what could happen settled upon her.
“I could lose them all,” she whispered to herself, her voice broken with unshed tears.
Chapter Nine
Colin and Tuck’s trail was easily followed. More times than he cared to admit, Adam had to re-evaluate things, such as the year. They’d ridden miles away from the castle and still everyone remained in the past. It was all so real and so detailed, it left an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Erin and his guard tracked Colin and Tuck to a small inn. They had wanted to talk to any other travelers staying there, but the innkeeper said there had been no one other than his aunt and uncle’s party. And yet, something about the man seemed off to Adam. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but figured what with his situation, not really knowing for certain if he’d lost his mind or actually traveled back in time, he kept his mouth shut.
Riding on to the village, Adam tried again and again to come to grips with the things he was seeing, but found himself completely lost. Time travel, it wasn’t possible, and yet everything around him proved contrary to that fact.
“Are you no’ well?” Erin asked, as they arrived in the village.
Adam swallowed although his mouth had gone dry. “I’m just—I’m taking it all in, I guess.”
Erin grinned. “I tried to tell you, but you wouldna’ listen. Now you have to deal with it, as my mum says.”
He nodded, unable to reply in the face of such overwhelming evidence. He’d traveled back in time, and had done so many times when he was a kid. How could he not have known? Why hadn’t his parents explained it to him? If it weren’t for all the trips they’d made before, he would swear he was just dreaming the entire thing, but he couldn’t.
The village wasn’t the village he knew, nor was the ferry that crossed the loch. Everything and everyone was in the past.
Even him.
“We must continue,” Erin said, his tone turning grim. “But if you doona wish to go further, I willna’ hold it against you.”
He sucked in a sobering breath and looked to his friend. “No. I said I would help, and I will.” He let out a half laugh, struggling to find the playboy he so commonly portrayed to the world. “I’m always up for an adventure.”
With a small smile and a nod, Erin turned toward the ferry landing, and Adam followed, because the year didn’t matter. Not when the people he considered family were in grave danger. Dangers he’d never begun to imagine until now.
****
Two days passed with no word. Having exhausted the herb garden of all there was to offer, Deidra busied herself with pulling weeds, anything to distract her thoughts. How long would her brother be gone? What would he find? Were her parents safe? And how did Adam fare on his journey? Had he finally come to realize he was no longer in his time?
It had occurred to her in the dark lonely hours of the night after he and Erin had left, that to lose her parents and her brother would pain her beyond measure. What she had not realized, however, was how much losing Adam would hurt.
And lose him she would through the crack in time. He will leave come the solstice no matter the way of things, and her life was here. She could not go with him when he left.
She snorted softly at her mental ramblings and yanked another bit of green from the ground. “He willna’ ask me to go, in any event.”
They may have exchanged another beautiful and most passionate kiss, but she was still the woman that no man wanted. Not even Adam.
“’Tis a fine day for gardening,” Macconach said, from behind.
She jumped at the sound of his voice, but didn’t rise or turn to greet him. “Aye, ’tis,” she replied, and pulled another weed.
Michael’s mistrust of the man had her doubting him as well. The more she thought on him, the more leery she grew. All of their problems had begun when he arrived. It was no great leap to imagine he was somehow involved.
“No word yet?” Macconach asked.
“Nay.” He’d moved closer and the hair at the nape of her neck stood on end.
She realized how vulnerable she was, sitting on the ground and moved to rise, but she’d not heeded the warning in her belly soon enough, and before she could gain her feet, a vile rag was slid across her mouth and a sack thrown over her head.
She struggled wildly, trying to gain an edge, the slightest bit of freedom, but he was prepared for a fight and with a strong blow to the head, she fell into a dark void. Her only thought was of never seeing Adam or her family again.
****
“Why are you here?” Tuck demanded, entering the inn and slapping her hands on the table before Adam.
He smiled, happy to see her alive and well and in a full fit of temper. “To rescue you.”
“Me?” She turned to look at Colin who was storming across the room to join them.
“Both of you,” Adam added.
Erin appeared beside him, his eyes a tad glassy. “Da. Mum.”
Adam got to his feet, and decided to rescue his friend who was about to cry like a baby, he was so damn happy to see his parents.
“Macconach returned saying you’d been kidnapped by the Fergusons, and that they were demanding a ransom for your return,” he said.
“Ransom,” Tuck murmured, then looked at Erin, still standing stock still and staring at them. “And you came to rescue us.” She smiled wide then took her son into h
er arms for one of her strong hugs.
Colin snorted and pounded his son on the back. “Glad we are ta see ye. And right proud.”
Adam’s smile slid from his face, as he watched the family hug, unable to resist the wish that he had as good a relationship with his own parents. But Macconach’s lies jumped to the forefront of his mind.
“Any ideas on why he’d say that when you’re obviously fine?” he asked.
Colin’s scowl was beyond sour as he looked at him. “Nay, but we’ll discuss this on the way.”
Tuck shouted for their gear to be readied, and in a matter of moments they were on their way back to Castle Arryeder.
The ride was brutal, with few stops. Colin and Tuck rode like a pair possessed, but Adam didn’t mind. He wouldn’t take a single steady breath until he set foot on the Isle of Mull.
As irrational as it seemed, knowing the dangers that lay around every corner in this long ago time, he felt safer on the isle. Perhaps because he’d spent so much time there, oblivious to his true surroundings. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t wait to get back to the castle.
Once they’d boarded the small ferry and were on their way across the loch, they quietly discussed the motive behind the lie, but Colin remained eerily silent on the subject.
“Macconach picked the Fergusons because of the distance to their keep,” Tuck said, her lips set in a grim line. “You wouldn’t have verification of the ransom demand for several more days.”
“Aye, which is why I didna’ wait to find you,” Erin said.
She grinned with a wink. “And you did a fine job.”
“But why this deception? What could he possibly gain from all this?” Adam asked, but no one had an answer.
Once they landed and were back on their horses and traveling along the road to the castle, Adam looked to Colin. “You have an idea about all this, don’t you?”
“Aye,” he replied with a grim frown, then glanced at his wife.
A mere second passed and her eyes widened.
“If he so much as touched a hair on my baby’s head—” She growled, low and long as she spurred her horse into a gallop.
“Damn ye, woman!” Colin grabbed at her reins as he barreled up beside her, barely keeping himself atop his own horse. “Ye know we canna go ridin’ in without a care!”
“Colin, if you value your hand, you’ll let go of my horse right now.”
“No’ until ye’ve calmed yourself. She is no’ a babe any longer.”
With a reddened face and a fierce scowl, she nodded, and they resumed a normal pace, but Adam’s stomach had dropped like a rock.
“You think Deidra’s in danger?”
Colin nodded. “Deidra has had many suitors, but one in particular wasna’ welcome. ’Twas a Campbell. He said he wanted to unite the clans, ta make a pact ta bring peace between us. But I knew it ta be a lie. There’s ne’er been peace between the clans. They want the castle and our deaths, nothing more. So I refused him.”
“They say the sorry son-of-a-bitch beat his first wife to death,” Tuck said, a frightening scowl on her face. “I’d have killed him before I so much as let him near Deidra.”
“Aye,” Colin said with the same vehemence.
“And he didn’t take your refusal all that well, I guess,” Adam said.
“He swore he would have her one way or another. That he would have my keep, my lands, and my daughter beneath him. I knew it wasna’ an idle threat, even though there were grumblings among his clan.”
“They know he’s wacked,” Tuck said. “His own brother removed him from power.”
“Aye, but I doona know why he didna’ just kill the bastard,” Colin added.
“So that’s why you’ve been keeping such close tabs on Deidra’s suitors and the reason for the gatehouse improvements,” Adam said.
Colin glanced at him then returned his gaze to the road before them. “I made sure none of them were in league with him, but I didna’ expect him ta go ta such grand a scheme. I didna’ think him smart enough.”
Adam had to hold back the urge to kick his own mount into a frenzied gallop. The image of Deidra in the hands of a vengeful, wife beating Scot who wanted the clan MacLean wiped from the earth, had him seeing red.
But several hours later, after the desire to race ahead had turned into a ball of hot lava in his gut, Colin sent a man on ahead as scout. It wasn’t long before he returned with the news of Deidra’s disappearance.
“Macconach,” Adam said, his voice raw.
Tuck shrieked as she kicked her horse, and she, Colin, and Erin raced on ahead while Adam could do nothing but sit and stare as they disappeared down the road along with Colin’s guard.
Deidra gone? It wasn’t possible. How could Macconach have overpowered her? How could he survive her skills in hand to hand combat? It couldn’t be, there had to be a mistake.
Still dumbfounded, he arrived shortly after the others and learned the particulars of what happened.
“A guard is dead, and a few servants were injured,” Michael said, his features grave. “But I blame meself, m’laird. I was o’er confident that the keep was safe. I thought the lass safe, I thought—” His voice broke, and Colin clasped his shoulder.
“Aye, we all thought the keep safe, auld friend.”
Tuck came out of the castle wearing jeans and toting a backpack. A very futuristic pack.
“You’re no’ goin’ anywhere, woman,” Colin demanded.
“The hell I’m not.” She double checked the saddle on a fresh horse, ignoring Colin as he stormed in her direction.
Never a good idea, in Adam’s mind, especially in light of what had happened. And true to Colin’s style, he grabbed Tuck from behind and tossed her over his shoulder.
“Damnit, Colin! Put me down. I’m going after her and nothing you can do will stop me!”
“I’ll no’ lose both of ye in one day!” He stormed toward the castle with her kicking and screaming down threats on his head like none Adam had ever heard before.
“I’ll go,” Adam called out over her curses.
Colin swung around, Tuck still dangling over his shoulder and looked at him. “Ye doona know what yer about, lad.”
“I know more than you think,” he replied. “And you can’t toss me over your shoulder to stop me. I’m going after her whether you like it or not.”
“Something tells me we got here just in time,” a familiar voice said from behind.
Adam spun to find his parents standing behind him, dressed in clothes of the day and carrying leather packs.
“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here? How did you get here?”
Tuck’s shouts ceased and all eyes turned to them.
“By the saints,” Colin hissed as Tuck struggled to get free. He finally put her on her feet. “Aye. How did ye come ta be here now? ’Tis no’ the solstice.”
Jenny looked at Tuck’s face, still red with temper. “This is how,” she said, holding up a canteen.
She quickly explained that the water wasn’t specific to the spring. That the time portal had many points, like a highway map that interconnects through time. As long as the water was gathered on the solstice it would work.
“What I would like to know, is why the guards nearly took off my head when we approached the gates,” Ian said.
Adam looked to Erin and the others. Between his parents and Colin, he’d never get out of the keep if he hesitated another moment. Enough time had been wasted already.
“I’ll let them explain,” he said. “Right now, there’s something I have to do.” He kissed his mother’s cheek, then raced past his father and Erin, to snatch up the reins of Tuck’s fresh horse.
As the sun fell low in the sky, he was riding out of the keep before anyone could stop him. But he knew they would follow, which was fine with him. He had a feeling there would be a battle before this was done, and yet he couldn’t stand by and wait for them to hash out a plan to get Deidra back.
Something had been nagging
at him since he’d first discovered there was no kidnapping. Something he had a feeling would take him right to Deidra.
He rode hell bent across the island, back to the inn where they’d first asked about Macconach and the MacLeans. The innkeeper had some questions to answer.
Chapter Ten
Deidra held back her tears, she would not let him see her cry. “You’re lying.”
Macconach chuckled. “I’ve no need ta lie. I gutted him with little work, and he squealed like a pig.”
She’d known about the offer for her hand by a Campbell, and knew without so much as a second thought that he would be refused. The delicate peace between the Campbells and MacLeans had always been a trial for her da, but she knew he would not sacrifice her or any of his family in such a way.
“I wouldna’ be here, held for ransom, if my da were dead,” she said.
Macconach’s pretty face turned to her, and in the dim light he was more menacing than any scarred man she’d ever seen.
“I wasna speakin’ of Laird MacLean. His death would only bring an uprisin’ from the clan.” He poured some ale into a cup as he spoke. “And ’tis no ransom Gorin Campbell seeks. ’Tis yer wee hand he be wantin’.” He cast her a sickening grin over his shoulder.
“You mean MacLean land.”
He chuckled with a nod. “Aye, yer a right smart bitch. For no mon would wish ta take ye ta wife fer anythin’ less.” He jerked her head back and poured ale down her throat.
She spat out what she could, not knowing what sort of herbs he had mixed with it.
He jerked his hand away, ripping hair from her head. “Nay, ’tis yer lover that I speak of killin’.”
A cold foreboding settled over her heart. “I have no lover.”
He laughed. “Ye can deny it all ye want, but the mon is dead, just the same. I ken the way he watches ye, and ye him.”
“Who is dead?” she asked, her voice no longer strong.
“Adam Sutherland,” he said, his once-pleasing grin sending a sickening wave of loss surging through her.
“No.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.
“As I said, wench. I’ve no need ta lie.” He turned and refilled the cup.