Love Beyond Compare (Book 5 of Morna’s Legacy Series)

by Claire, Bethany

  BOOK 5 OF MORNA’S LEGACY

  LOVE BEYOND COMPARE

  A SCOTTISH TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE

  BETHANY CLAIRE

  Copyright 2015 by Bethany Claire

  All rights reserved.

  License Notes

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Editor: Dj Hendrickson

  Cover Designer: Damonza

  Available In eBook & Paperback

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9960037-7-3

  Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9960037-8-0

  http://www.bethanyclaire.com

  Love Beyond Compare

  ~Book 5 of Morna’s Legacy Series~

  by Bethany Claire

  © 2015

  bclaire@bethanyclaire.com

  http://www.bethanyclaire.com

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  She left her whole world behind to find the one thing that really matters.

  Jane Mitchell has many dreams for her life, but living in the seventeenth century was never one of them. Unknowingly transported through time by the meddling witch, Morna, Jane chooses to stay in the past so she can remain in her beloved nephew’s life. Castle life doesn’t really suit her, and Jane quickly finds that her love for her family isn’t enough to fill her hungry soul. Eager for purpose, she takes work at the village inn. One frigid evening, she takes in the most infuriating man she’s ever met…never suspecting for a moment that he could be the one her soul hungers for.

  Adwen MacChristy doesn’t want to be laird of Cagair Castle. With a youth spent traveling the world and sleeping beneath the stars in the company of loose women, nothing weighs on Adwen’s heart like knowing the life he loves is about to come to an end. He would rather spend his days as a penniless wanderer than take on the responsibilities handed to him by his father. On his last night of freedom, Adwen stops at the inn near McMillan Castle and meets the only lass to ever deny his advances, bewitching him in an instant. Suddenly, he finds himself believing that responsibility might not mean a life spent in chains if he has a fiery lass like Jane by his side.

  Will Jane allow herself to fall for a man who is the very embodiment of the reckless life she left behind, or will fate make the decision for her when it sends her through time once again?

  For DeWanna

  CHAPTER 1

  McMillan Castle, Scotland

  December 28, 1648

  Tiny, freezing toes pressed themselves against the side of my leg, jolting me from a dream that would have made even a nun’s blood race.

  “It’s always the good ones, isn’t it, Coop? You can never wake me while I’m dreaming about spiders, or worms, or sharks.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind.” I squirmed away instinctively, rolling as I used my hands to push the way-too-early-rising six year old to the other side of the bed. Instantly, Cooper’s sleepy voice pleaded with me as his heat-seeking toes sought the warmth of my side once again.

  “Ohhh, please don’t, Aunt Jane. I’m freezing.”

  I kept my eyelids closed, doing my best to hold on to any remaining fragment of my dream.

  “Coop, I love you but you know the rule—you aren’t supposed to wake anybody up before six a.m.”

  “First of all, you know that’s not the rule anymore, Aunt Jane. We don’t have those electric clocks here, so I have to wait until the sun rises. And second of all…”

  He paused for dramatic effect, and I could all but see his little fingers ticking away his points. After a long pause, he continued.

  “I didn’t come to wake you up. I came to sleep. I’m soooo tired.”

  I heard him yawn in the darkness, and I knew then what had sent him fleeing from his own room in the middle of the night. “Baby Violet keeping you up?”

  “Yep. She sure does cry a lot. I can hear her through the walls. I know that she’s supposed to get more fun later, but right now…I just wish she’d stayed inside Mom.”

  I laughed and allowed my eyes to open as I rolled to face him, his outline illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the window. I could just make out the smattering of freckles across his face, his dirty blond curls shining in the moonlight. “I’m pretty sure that your mother felt the very same way about me for a long time.”

  “No way. I bet you were always fun.”

  Cooper was the only person on Earth who thought so highly of me.

  “Believe me, I wasn’t. Now,” my mouth pulled open, catching the remnants of Cooper’s yawn, “you ready to get some shut eye?”

  Cooper made his teeth chatter for effect. “Not until my toes are warm.”

  Reluctantly, I pushed myself upright in the bed. “Okay, fine. Stick your toes up here.”

  He shifted himself in the bed, spinning so that his head was near the bed’s end as he thrust his feet toward my face. “Thank you. I’m pretty sure they were about to fall right off.”

  “Oh yes, I’m sure they were.” I laughed as I rubbed my hands back and forth over his feet. “Why don’t you wear socks to bed? I know that you have some.”

  “You see, I always start out in socks. Mom always makes me put them on but, somehow, I toss and I turn and they end up disappearing. I have a theory. I don’t think they actually disappear, of course. I think the little fairies that Bebop says live in the Highlands come to live inside the walls during colder months, and they take my socks at night to use as sleeping bags to keep warm. Works good for them, but it sure makes my feet cold.”

  “Wow, that’s…that’s quite the theory, Coop.” Cooper was ridiculously intelligent for his age—always had been.

  “I know it is.”

  His feet were now warm to the touch, and I gave them a pat so he’d know I was finished as I helped him spin so that his head was back at the top of the bed.

  “You ready for bed now? I promise not to cry and wake you like baby Vi.”

  “Are you sure? You’ve been just about as whiny as her lately, Aunt Jane.”

  The things that came out of that little man’s mouth never ceased to amaze me. “What?”

  He moved in close for a snuggle, no doubt an attempt to soften the blow. I allowed him to rest his head on my shoulder as he spoke again.

  “You heard me. Do you not like it here, Aunt Jane? ’Cause I would miss you like crazy, but I don’t want you to stay here just for me.”

  “Oh, Coop.” My heart squeezed suddenly, causing an ache to root itself deep inside my chest. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a child of my own—the constant overwhelming love so strong it was almost painful, and the way their words could devastate you completely. “I’m not staying here just for you. Everyone that I care most about in the world is here. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want to.”

  “Oh, good. That’s really good, Aunt Jane.”

  He yawned and I knew now that his fear was comforted, it wouldn’t be long before he drifted off to sleep. Not that he would stay asleep for very long. Cooper had a reputation for rousing hours before anyone else of Mitchell descent ever dreamed of waking.

  I leaned over to kiss the top of his head and hunkered back down in the
bed. Cooper’s observational skills were as keen as ever. I wasn’t unhappy, only dissatisfied with the lack of purpose in my life here. With each passing day, I felt as if I were one step closer to the cliff’s edge, to losing my mind and, with it, everything that made me, me.

  I had nothing to do with all of my time here. And time seemed to last forever in the seventeenth century. I now believed that anyone in present day who ever said they wished they could escape to a different time to enjoy a slower pace of life obviously never thought about what exactly that meant.

  For me, the unmarried sister of the laird’s sister-in-law, it meant I lived my life in a weird state of pointlessness. I contributed nothing to the people who provided me with a lifestyle of pure luxury compared to most of those living on the outskirts of the castle—people who worked for everything they had, rising with the sun and working well into the night, all the while remaining thankful for each and every blessing.

  My lack of real responsibility around the castle, or keep, made me feel like a lazy, spoiled moocher. And slowly, if it continued this way, I knew it would drive me mad in a matter of months.

  Not to say I lived my life with a whole lot of purpose in present-day time. I knew what my family’s wealth had afforded me. At times, when I was younger, I took full advantage, wasting years doing just exactly what I pleased rather than participating as a productive, responsible member of society.

  Fun and carefree I might have appeared, but that lifestyle slowly ate away at me in my old life just like it was doing here. Difference was, there were so many more distractions in the twenty-first century, so many more mind-numbing forms of entertainment and social activities to fill my days with and keep myself from thinking on it all that much. Here, the only thing I had to do with my time was think.

  And think, I had. What Cooper didn’t know was that my strange, whiny behavior the past few weeks wasn’t out of unhappiness but instead out of anticipation and anxiety. I knew what I wanted, what I needed to do with all of my spare time, but I knew that it wouldn’t be considered appropriate. If I asked permission, which I absolutely refused to do anyway, no matter the time period, it would be denied.

  I would have to keep my plans a secret from all but a few.

  * * *

  I woke the next morning to the shock of finding Cooper still sleeping soundly next to me. Baby Violet had certainly changed the flow of everything around the castle, but for none more so than Cooper, if she had the power to wear him out enough that he slept past five a.m.

  I slipped out of the bed as silently as I could manage, moving across the room to wash my face in the basin of freezing water. With weather as cold as it was now, I wasn’t sure it was worth cleaning my face. For the sake of vanity, I gritted my teeth while I scrubbed the sleep from my eyes before pulling up my hair and dressing in a simple but thick green gown suitable for keeping out the bitter cold while riding. Not nearly as suitable as a pair of jeans and some boots, but it was as good as I could get away with here.

  Once dressed, I stepped out into the hallway and right into the pathway of my sleep-deprived sister.

  “Did Coop crash with you?”

  Dark circles hung on the bottom of her eyes and I moved in to give her a hug. “Yes, he did. You look like crap, Grace.”

  She groaned into my ear, allowing herself to relax against me. I had to lock my legs to keep us both up.

  “Of course I look like crap. I think Violet is part bat. She’s more nocturnal than even Cooper. I was hoping that she’d start sleeping at night more after the first few months, but she’s nine months old now and she’s still so fussy at night.”

  I glanced down at the small swell of Grace’s belly. “Well, hopefully this third baby will give you an easier time.”

  Grace pulled away. I could tell she was about to cry. Exhaustion always did that to her, and understandably so. I knew she was excited for the next baby, due the end of May, but juggling a six year old, a nine month old, and being four months pregnant were a lot, especially when she refused to use the castle help that Eoghanan and the castle laird, Baodan, continually offered her. She’d raised Cooper with only Jeffrey’s help for years, and she was determined to raise her other children the same way.

  “I sure hope so. Kathleen has Violet right now. I think I’m going to try and rest awhile.”

  “That’s exactly what you should do, but before you go, do you know where Eoghanan is? I need to talk to him about something.”

  “Uh…” She hesitated and I wondered if she was about to fall asleep where she stood. “I think he said something about rescuing Violet from Kathleen’s singing, so he may have the baby now. I’m really not sure.”

  “Okay.” I patted her on the shoulder and turned her back in the direction she’d been headed. “Get some rest, Grace. I’ll find him.”

  CHAPTER 2

  I found Kathleen in the great hall, swinging baby Vi side to side while singing softly in a screechy, awful voice that could only be effective at keeping the baby awake longer. She stood a safe distance from the fire that burned in the corner of the room but close enough that both she and the baby were kept warm.

  “You’re joking me, right? You know that you should just never, ever sing, especially if you want that baby to go to sleep.”

  She looked up and twisted her lips together apologetically as she shrugged. “I know. It’s just a rather natural thing, isn’t it though? You hold a baby, you feel like you’re supposed to sing. I can’t help it, but I can tell by the look in her eyes, she’s saying, ‘for the love of God woman, shut up, please.’”

  I laughed as I reached to run a thumb down the side of Violet’s cheek. “I doubt that is what she’s thinking but I know we’d all prefer it if you’d just lay off the sing-songs.”

  “Gladly.”

  “I guess you haven’t seen Eoghanan, have you?”

  Kathleen shifted Violet around in her arms before turning to look up at me.

  “No, I haven’t, but does that mean you’re going to ask him today? Have you said anything to Grace?”

  I loved my sister. Besides Kathleen, I considered her to be my closest friend, but she was older and had a tendency to think any decision I ever made for myself was the wrong one. She was more than a little overprotective.

  “No I haven’t, and I don’t plan to.”

  The sound of footsteps reached us, and I faced the other side of the room to see Eoghanan approaching. Grace had been right about his desire to rescue his daughter, but now that I’d silenced the banshee-like singing, there was no need. I stepped toward him, grasping his arm to whisk him away before Kathleen could pass the baby to him.

  “Eoghanan, how are you this morning? Did you sleep well?

  He allowed me to steer him into the hallway, but regarded me skeptically, no doubt suspicious of my early morning chipperness.

  “Aye, I slept like a wee babe, no my wee babe o’course, but a usual one that sleeps at nighttime, and the night of rest has placed me in a verra bad mood.”

  “Oh. Why would that place you in a bad mood?”

  “I doona wish to sleep so soundly, no when Grace is up with the babe, but once I drift to sleep, I canna hear a thing. Though I tell her to wake me, she never will.”

  He stopped walking and turned to lean against a stone frame around one of the windows. He spoke again, but with the way he stared into nothing, I could tell he thought back on something else, reflecting more to himself than speaking to me.

  “Before Grace, there was a time…a long time when I couldna sleep no more than a little each night. After Grace, I am no too easily woken after I drift asleep. She over-tires herself, and I doona care for it.”

  I couldn’t argue with him. Grace needed to accept some help, but I knew her well enough to know that no one could ever convince her of that until she came to the same conclusion herself. Questionable mood aside, perhaps my request would be enough to distract Eoghanan from his worries over Grace for a little while and allow him to feel th
at he was at least helping someone.

  “She does, but there’s not much you can do about it save drugging her so she’ll be forced to get some sleep. I don’t think she’d appreciate that very much.” I ignored his horrified expression and continued. “There is, however, something that you can do to help me out.”

  “Is there? Well, ask and I will be at yer service, Jane.”

  I grinned and moved to stand across from him, leaning against the opposite wall. “Are you sure? You may not want to ‘be at my service’ after I ask it.”

  He crossed his arms and his brows pulled together. “I doona doubt that but aye, Jane, whatever ye ask, I’ll assist ye.”

  “You swear? Anything?”

  “For the last time, aye. Ye are family, Jane. ’Tis nothing I wouldna do for ye. Now get on with it.”

  It was taking advantage of his chivalry to get him to give me his word before I told him what I needed but, truthfully, I didn’t care. I wasn’t sure he’d agree to help me otherwise.

  “I need to get a job and I need your help to do it.”

  He groaned, exhaling as he rubbed his palms over his face. It was a look of exasperation, one that allowed me to hear exactly what he was thinking–something along the lines of, I knew better than to agree to help this crazy fool.

  “But ye doona need a job, Jane. ’Tis nothing that isna provided for ye here. Baodan makes sure of that. He wouldna allow it.”

  “Which is exactly why I didn’t ask Baodan. And I might not need a job financially, but I do need a job in order to keep my sanity. Surely, you can understand that. I have nothing to do here. None of the castle help will allow me to help with anything. At least Grace and Mitsy busy themselves with the running of the castle and with their children. And Jeffrey allows Kathleen to help him all of the time. He’s not as absurdly backward as the rest of you. But me…there’s nothing to keep me occupied here.”