by L. L. Muir
“A sight for sore eyes, lass.” He hurried over and kissed her cheek, then glanced down the way to see how far Audie had gotten, hoping she didn’t look back and notice that a girl had appeared out of nowhere. For the mountain had certainly seemed abandoned all afternoon but for the two of them. And the sudden appearance of a witch would only stress her further.
But Audie hadn’t gone far. Neither had she turned back. Rather, she stood still as a statue not a quarter of a mile from him.
He frowned at Soni.
The witch waved away his concern. “She is fine. She is simply in stasis, while we have a chat.
“I’ve only had the one day—”
“I am not here to take ye. But I sensed a problem. Tell me.”
It was a relief to explain to someone who understood, who needn’t be convinced he was telling the truth. He also welcomed the chance to speak to a confessor of sorts, for he truly had sinned against Audie Hayes. And he was feeling just as culpable as she’d accused him of being the night before.
He’d forced her to believe when it went so against her nature.
“I can’t say how she is broken, lass. But broken she is. Not her mind so much as her spirit. And I would take it all back if I could.”
Soni gave him a pitying smile and put her hand up to his cheek. “The only way you might take it back, Tristan, is if I made her forget ye. And ye wouldn’t wish that, surely?”
It broke his heart to imagine Audie forgetting him altogether. Forgetting their horseplay in the river, pretending to ignore each other over the fire. But especially did it hurt to think he would be the only one remembering that first kiss in the fog. That magical kiss. But magical for Audie was like peanuts to a child with allergies. It could harm her. It could destroy her.
He certainly wouldn’t give up her memory willingly. In fact, remembering all their heated exchanges might have kept him warm on many a night on Culloden. Bold tongue, sharp mind, and the kindest of hearts—for both man and beast—made him certain he could never forget her, in spite of a witch’s spell. And that trio of freckles…
Just a glimpse of spots on any face, would summon a complete vision of Audie Hayes in a trice.
But for her? What could he mean to her more than a flirtation she’d had on holiday. A man she’d kissed a time or two. A man she had to leave behind in any case. If the truth of what he was hadn’t challenged her core beliefs so violently, how long might she have remembered him? Thought of him? Would she even wish for more time with him? Or would he simply become part of the book of memories she tucked away on a shelf, along with her pictures of Scottish castles?
He swallowed the painful lump in his throat lest it grow out of control and choke him completely. “Aye, Soni. If ye can make her forget me…” He swallowed again. “I wish for ye to do so. Starting with Nessie, aye? Let her be at peace.”
“Ye’re certain?”
He took a last long look at the woman in the distance wrapped in a tablecloth and a plastic jacket. A breeze teased her long hair, though the rest of her stood quite still.
Soni touched his arm in all gentleness. “Would ye care for a final farewell, perhaps?”
He shook his head. He’d never make it through it and keep a straight face. And Audie would suspect. Nay, she’d demand to know what was wrong, and he’d be undone.
“Do it.” He turned his back. “And when it’s done, take me to Bonnie Prince Charlie. For I’m in a foul mood, and I wouldn’t want it wasted.”
The wee witch gave his forearm a firm squeeze. “Go now, then. My uncle Wickham will be nearby to guide ye to the prince. And I shall take care of yer lass.”
My lass? Auch, aye. For a day, she was his. Though she would have argued the point.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Audie pulled into her driveway and slipped past Nat’s car to park in the garage. Something must have happened to change her friend’s plans because she was supposed to be leaving for Colorado for some emotional therapy conference.
When Natalie went anywhere, she drove and took everything she had with her, just in case she decided to stay for a year or two. So it was kind of a surprise when she’d come back from Scotland, she’d loved it so much. Everything there spoke to her spirit. Supposedly.
Audie went into the house, tossed her bag and keys on the counter, then went looking for her houseguest. She found her upstairs, lying on her stomach on the bed with her field glasses up to her eyes.
“You all packed?”
Nat jumped and squeaked at the same time. “Man, you scared me.”
“Sorry. All packed?” She looked around the room, but it had been stripped clean. Maybe plans hadn’t changed after all.
“Yes. Car’s been packed all morning.” Nat rolled back onto her stomach and raised the binoculars again. “But I got distracted.”
“You’d think you’d be tired of looking through those, after staring at a loch for three days straight.”
“We need to go back. I have a strong feeling we left something undone in Scotland. Maybe we really were supposed to see Nessie.”
“Nope. Don’t start that again. I’ve had such wild dreams ever since we stayed there, I don’t ever want to go back. I think the altitude from the flight affected something in my brain, and I’m still waiting to get back to normal.”
Nat snorted. “Yeah. Sure. That’s it.”
Audie went to her room, stripped, and hopped in the shower. When she had washed away all the stress of the first day of school and came back out again, her friend was still watching out the window.
“What are you watching? You’re going to make my neighbors nervous.”
“Someone bought our favorite Victorian.” Nat rolled onto her side and her eyes widened. “What are you wearing?”
“What?” Audie looked down at herself. She’d run out of towels and wrapped herself in a plaid throw so she didn’t have to go down to the laundry room naked. “I’m going down to get towels out of the dryer. I’m improvising. I thought you liked it when I improvise.”
Nat rolled her eyes and went back to spying. “I haven’t seen the new owners yet. Just the movers. And now it’s a quest. I cannot leave town without knowing who bought the place. I’ve decided it would be bad luck.” She suddenly gasped.
“What?”
Nat held up a second set of binoculars and wiggled them, sucking Audie into her quest. So she wrapped the plaid tighter, tucked the end into her cleavage, and jumped onto the bed. With her elbows beneath her, her chin was level with the bottom of the window. She took the glasses and pointed them across the street and one house to the left, where a delivery truck was parked. Four men carried large pieces of a couch into the beautiful turquoise Victorian with the white gingerbreading tucked into every corner.
Nat nudged her. “You see that?”
“Couches?”
“No. Leather couches. Square, ugly, man-cave couches. And I haven’t seen anything frilly go into the place all day. We’ve got a bachelor on our hands.”
Audie nudged her back. “You mean my hands. You’re leaving town as soon as he unmasks himself.”
“Damn. That’s right.”
“The couches might not be frilly, but the house is. I’ll bet you a hundred bucks, he’s married.”
“Deal.”
They both stiffened when an expensive black car slowed down, then pulled into the driveway.
Nat cursed again. “I guess I owe you a hundred bucks. Long blond hair.”
“I’ll put it on your tab.”
When the blonde got out of the car, though, it was a guy! No way would a woman stand head and shoulders above her car.
“Come on, baby,” Nat whispered. “Come around to this side of the car.”
The guy looked up and down the street, then stared right at Audie’s little house. She and Nat squealed like school girls and ducked, then scooted their way to the edge of the bed and slid off onto the floor.
“I told you not to spy on my neighbors! Now they’r
e going to think I’m a creep.”
“He didn’t see us. He was looking at the house because it’s cute. That’s all. And there was no one else in the car with him.”
“So far.” Audie crawled over to the door and stood up. “I’m going to get my towels.”
Nat crawled after her. “I guess I’ve seen him, so I’d better get on the road.”
They were laughing and joking on the stairs, but halfway down, Audie stopped. She couldn’t help it. Through the window set in the top of the door, she locked eyes with her tall blond neighbor. And for a minute, neither one of them looked away.
Nat hissed at her and pulled on her arm. “You have to answer the door!”
She suddenly remembered what she was wearing. “I have to get dressed—”
“You can’t! He’ll go away if you do!” Her friend jumped down the rest of the stair and ran straight to the door, turning the handle just as he knocked. “Hello. Come in.”
Audie had to hurry down the steps just so he wouldn’t be looking under her wrap. But then she couldn’t help staring when she realized he was wearing plaid too. Only his plaid was a traditional Scottish kilt.
He looked down at himself and laughed. “Looks like we’re both of us wearing tablecloths, aye?”
“You’re Scottish.” That was about all she could think to say. He was gorgeous and she was gobsmacked. There was a thick streak of white through his hair on one side of his head, and his eyes kind of sparkled when he looked at her.
He was just the kind of guy they’d been watching for all through Scotland. Exactly the kind of guy she’d been dreaming about ever since—a man just like him who walked out of the Highland mist, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her senseless. A couple of times a week, actually. And it was the one wild dream she didn’t want to get rid of.
When she and Nat left Scotland behind, they’d accepted the fact that a man like that was as improbable as spotting the real Loch Ness Monster.
Hell. If she wasn’t careful, he could probably turn her entire world view on its head. But for him, she might be willing to do that.
He nodded. “Tristan Bain at yer service, ladies. I am Scottish. And yer new neighbor. But of course, ye saw that.”
Nat held up her binoculars and wiggled them. “Habits we picked up at Loch Ness.”
His brows lifted. “Auch, aye? Ye’ve visited then?”
“Yes. Just got back a month ago. Long enough to start missing it.”
“I…” Audie wished she could just crawl into the next room and close the door. “I…need to get dressed. Excuse me.” She kept her knees as close as possible while she retreated up the stairs.
“Hey, Audie?” Natalie’s voice followed her. “When you come down, bring Nessie, so he can see her.”
Audie groaned quietly. So embarrassing!
When they got home from Europe, she’d found the ugliest statue imaginable of the Loch Ness Monster stashed in her suitcase. She had no idea how it could have gotten in there, but Natalie forbade her from getting rid of it. She swore it would be bad luck if she threw it away, but Audie planned to at least send it to Goodwill as soon as her friend left town, just in case it had been responsible for some of her wild dreams.
Now she had to show it off.
Five minutes later—enough time for clothes and a little makeup, and for Natalie to scare the guy away—Audie went back downstairs with the horrible souvenir in hand. They were in the living room. He stood up until she took a seat on the couch. To his credit, he looked as appalled by the horrible statue as she was.
He grimaced. “I would be sore tempted to accidentally drop it, I am sorry to say.”
“Then you should definitely be the one holding it.” Audie threw it into a high arc, an easy toss for him to catch. Unfortunately, he did. But then he fumbled with it and it slipped to the floor, landing on the hard wood between his feet, and shattering into a dozen large pieces.
Audie clapped. Natalie gave them both a dirty look. “I’ll go get the broom.”
In the midst of those pieces was a little white bag. Mr. Bain picked it up, shook the ceramic crumbs off, then tossed it to her before he got down on one knee and started picking up the big green chunks.
She ripped her attention away from those knees and opened the bag. “Some kid probably hid his bubble gum in here.” She found a tiny note inside, set the bag on the end table, and read it out loud.
“Congratulations. Finders keepers. If ye’ve found this treasure, ye’re destined to live a happy life filled with love. Ye need only believe.”
Natalie gasped behind her and dropped the broom. The handle whacked against the floor and made them all jump.
Audie turned around and waved the note. “You did this.”
Nat held up her hands. “I did not. But it’s brilliant. Let’s see what’s in the bag.” She grabbed the fat end and tipped it up. The contents poured out on the table and winked in the light from the west window. “Now you know it wasn’t me. Do you think they’re real?”
Bain came over and looked at five or six of the two dozen stones, holding them up to the light and squinting at each one. “They look genuine. It’s quite a treasure.”
Audie laughed, too shaken to really believe that a treasure had really been hiding inside that horrible little statue for the last month. “If I would have known, maybe I would have bought the Victorian.”
He took her hand, opened it, and pressed the giant blue stone into her palm. Then he folded her fingers over it and dropped a very casual—and very sexy—kiss on her knuckles. “Perhaps, in time, we can negotiate something.”
EPILOGUE
Three glorious months later, Audie made a romantic dinner for two. It would be her last official date with her Highlander before their wedding in a week. Natalie and Audie’s relatives were about to descend on Atlanta, and she didn’t know when they’d have any private time together until their honeymoon.
She set the table with china, lit an irresponsible number of candles, and waited for Tristan to walk through the door. She had the perfect smile pasted on her face—because she really hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d knocked on her door that first time. But her perfect evening looked like it would have to wait when he stumbled in looking sick to his stomach.
She grabbed his arm and led him into the living room to a comfortable chair. “Oh, baby. What’s wrong? Are you sick?” She knelt down on the floor so he wouldn’t have to look up at her.
He stared at the carpet, nodded, then shook his head. After a minute, he looked up at her with wet eyes. “Lass. There is something I must tell ye. Something ye must know before ye seal yer fate to mine. I would be the worst sort of man if I didnae at least try—”
She burst out laughing like a can of soda that had been shaken, then opened.
He frowned, obviously hurt and confused. “Audie?”
“Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. It’s just…a relief, that’s all. There’s something I need to tell you too.”
His sick look was quickly replaced by his familiar ready to go to war look. So she had to calm him down, and fast.
“Wait. I’m sorry. The only thing I need to confess is that your witch friend, Soni, came to visit me after we got engaged. That weekend you were gone. She’s explained everything about your past.”
He grabbed her upper arms and shook his head, his brow twisted with panic. But when he realize how tight he was squeezing, he relaxed his grip and the panic turned to dejection.
“No. You don’t understand,” she said, frantic to soothe him. “She told me everything, but in small, manageable bites, after she gave me back my memories. I can’t believe you let me forget you, just to keep me from freaking out. But Soni explained that it was that sacrifice, and the fact that you changed your mind about taking out your revenge on Prince Charlie, that earned a new life for you. So.” She shrugged. “I don’t care where you came from, or what had to happen to bring you to me. It only matters that you’re here, Tristan.
I don’t need peace, I need you.”
She felt horrible for keeping it all a secret, afraid she’d see that betrayed look on his face.
“I was going to surprise you on our honeymoon and tell you that you can stop pretending—” She couldn’t go on because he was kissing her all over her face and hair and hands, and she struggled to put two words together.
“Auch, lass. I’ve tried to make-believe that I had no past, that we had no past. But it has eaten me alive. And then I imagined letting something slip, in the future, and having ye regret marrying me. That ye might regret having my children...”
She got to her feet and pulled him up to stand against her, wrapping her arms around his hard torso and pulling him close, to let him know he was hers, and she wasn’t about to let him go. “The way you love me is all the proof of magic I ever needed, Tristan Bain. And even if I doubt my sanity every now and then, I want you to remember—
“I will always believe in you.”
THE END
I hope you have enjoyed Tristan and Audie’s tale. I will love you to bits if you’ll leave a review on Amazon. Just a word or two would be a gift.
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*If you would like to start the series from the beginning, you can get the first book here.
Thank you for playing!
CURRENT BOOKS by L.L. Muir
*The Ghosts of Culloden Moor
1. The Gathering
2. Lachlan
3. Jamie
4. Payton
5. Gareth (Diane Darcy)
6. Fraser
7. Rabby
8. Duncan (Jo Jones)