Cover Copy
Traveling through time…for a Highlander.
Lila MacIan makes a wish upon a sixteenth century charm gifted to her by her missing grandmother, a wish that sends her traveling back into the past and to a warrior her charm has bound her to. With a vicious feud raging between the clans, she withholds her true identity from him, except he’s seen her grandmother and now she must do whatever it takes to find her.
Highland warrior Calum MacLean is bound to a woman who holds an identical charm to his. Visions assail him, of the two of them intimately together, and as Lila escapes him for the enemy’s land, his soul demands he protect and aid her.
Once Lila is reunited with her grandmother, she discovers she was born in the past to the MacIan laird, Calum’s arch enemy. Can she find a way to save the man her soul cries out for…set her past to rights and remain in her true time?
Highlander’s Charm
by Joanne Wadsworth
Highlander Heat, #3
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Joanne-Wadsworth/e/B00AVRVIBM/
Dedication
Writing this book took me on a wonderful journey where I discovered anything is possible. This one is for you, my readers. Let’s do some more traveling through time.
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks go to my hubby, Jason, and kiddies, Marisa, Caleb, Cruise and Rocco, an incredibly supportive family who allow me so much time to write. My love for you is endless.
I also have the most amazing editor, Penny Barber. The absolute best.
For my readers, I can’t thank you enough for joining me, and taking this journey to where imagination and magic soar.
Table of Contents
Cover Copy
Highlander’s Charm
Dedication
The Fortuneteller
The Charms
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Author’s Note
Joanne Wadsworth
Books by Joanne Wadsworth
Highlander’s Castle
Protector
Witness Pursuit
Short Excerpt: Witness Pursuit
Copyright: Highlander’s Charm
The Fortuneteller
Within the forests of Ardnamurchan, 1569.
Blazing bright, a falling star streaked across the night sky. The earth shook, and deep within the woods, the fortuneteller gripped her walking stick and staggered to her feet. Her campfire sizzled and sparked, and the small creatures of the night scuttled away through the underbrush.
Eyes closed, she reached out with her senses. A portal had opened between times and displaced two souls. Both had been born under a falling star, one mere moments ago, and the other, many years.
Aye, a grandmother and her newborn granddaughter, both with silver eyes giving evidence of their special birth, as it had with hers.
The magic of the stars moved through their blood, only the grandmother had made a pleading wish for the bairn, and it had taken the two of them through time and far from Scotland. They would not return to this place until they once again stood on the land of their birth and made another wish.
Looking deep inside her mind, she searched for aid. A vision shimmered to life. A lad of seven roamed the woods on the neighboring Isle of Mull, his gaze lifted to the sky. Calum too had seen the falling star and sensed the disruption in time, though his eyes held no trace of silver.
Tears streaked the boy’s cheeks as he whispered the newborn girl’s name. Lila. She was his, and she’d been taken from him, not that he understood how or why.
The fortuneteller shoved her braided gray hair over her shoulder, then from amongst her wrist-full of silver bangles, removed two brass charms. As kin to the grandmother and her grandchild, ’twas her duty to set all that had occurred back to rights. If needed, she would cross time itself to ensure they returned to their homeland.
She handed the charms to her son as he sat across the fire, instructing him to inscribe Calum and Lila’s names upon them.
These two pieces would bind them together as their souls already did. Though Lila was special. She would be able to draw on the magic deep within her to make wishes, ones that would come true when she was at her most desperate, as her grandmother had been this eve.
Time itself would not keep Calum and Lila apart.
She’d make certain of it.
The Charms
Duart Castle, on the Isle of Mull, 1590.
“I’ll keep us on course toward the sea-gate,” Gripping the birlinn’s rudder, Calum called to his brother.
Thunder boomed and lightning slashed the rippling waves of Duart Bay with a sizzling crackle, the fieriest welcome home Calum MacLean had ever received. Ahead on the inland rise, the thick stone walls of Duart Castle rose with forbidding height into the night sky.
“Look. Only one of our galleys remains anchored,” Colin shouted as he lowered the sail.
“Aye, we’ll make haste.” Such a sight did not bode well with the depth of the current feud raging between the clans.
Their vessel skimmed the water as it cruised in, and his brother leaped into the waist-deep waves, seized the bow and roped it to a catch alongside the stone mooring.
The call of their arrival boomed from the tower guardsman.
Calum jumped onto the landing and jogged up the trail, Colin close behind him. The portcullis rose from within the stone-arched entrance gate, the clunky sound of its chains reverberating across the moors.
Arthur strode through in his thick fur boots. “Welcome home.”
“Where’s Lachlan?” Calum’s chief had sent him to visit the Chief of MacLeod on Skye and Lachlan should be eager to hear his news.
“On the Isle of Islay. Lachlan received word Angus MacDonald had been captured by the king’s men. Our chief didnae care to let this opportunity pass him by. Sixty of our warriors have gone with him. They intend to battle for the Rhinns.”
Lachlan was determined to get his land on Islay’s western coast back, and with Angus’s capture, that would leave the MacDonald clan susceptible without their chief. A prime opportunity indeed, although not one he agreed with. ’Twas time for peace, though it seemed that would never come. “I bring news from my visit with MacLeod. Donald MacDonald too has been captured by the king. Donald and Angus both reside in Edinburgh’s dungeons.”
“’Tis a boon.”
“When did Lachlan leave?”
“A few days past. I expect word soon. Did MacLeod agree to aid us?”
“Nay. With Donald’s capture, he insisted there was no need.” Lachlan’s good fortune had doubled with both MacDonald chiefs in the king’s hands. Lachlan would need to keep himself from discovery by the king’s men too since they sought all three chiefs in this feud.
The heavens opened and the rain beat down.
“Come, we’ll talk further inside.” Calum strode into the great hall, Arthur at his side. “Colin and I will gather supplies and sail for Islay.”
“That might no’ be for the best.” Arthur clasped his shoulder. “John MacIan has issued a call-to-arms.”
Damn. It seemed every clan surrounding them wished a fight. It’d been a year since John MacIan’s release from Lachlan’s dungeons, and if John wished to retaliate, now was the perfect time. As Lachlan’s second, Calum would have to remain here in his chief’s stead. “Aye, you’re right.”
“Brother, I can travel to Islay if you wish.” Colin shook his dark head, splattering drop
s over the tapestry covered wall. “I’ll ensure Lachlan does no’ act too rashly.”
“Nay, if MacIan is making his move, ’twould be best for you to travel to Tobermory and join the watchman there. Bring me word of any changes.”
Colin wouldn’t fail him, as he wouldn’t fail Lachlan in his duty to protect their clan.
“Are ye Calum MacLean?” An old woman staggered to her feet from a wooden bench before the blazing hearth. She tapped her walking stick on the floor and jingled the multitude of silver bangles adorning her wrists.
“I am. Who are you?” He crossed and offered her a steadying hand.
“I’ve been waiting for ye. The past must be set to rights. A woman will come. Ye must keep her safe from the sea, and never let her go.”
“What ramblings are these? Again, who are you?”
“Ye are the enemy, yet your heart is pure. She will aid ye, as ye will aid her.” She pressed a brass charm into his hand. “Ye were but a lad when she left. I have another charm to gift her, and I shall see it done. Ye are both bound and must embrace your coming visions. Ye will have them because of her, until all things are set right. Allow them to guide ye.” She tottered past Colin and Arthur and out the door.
Never had he had a more confusing conversation. The woman should take care she wasn’t called out as a witch for her words of foretelling. ’Twas dangerous days for such. “Who is she, Arthur?”
“A fortuneteller, though she didnae admit such. She’s been waiting for your return and wouldnae speak of her concerns with any other.”
He faced his brother. “Halt her. She cannae leave in this weather. At least offer her a pallet for the night. Tell her no harm shall come to her if she remains here.”
Colin marched out the door.
The charm in his palm heated. Ye were but a lad when she left. He traced the inscription lit by the golden glow of the fire’s flames.
Lila.
My charm.
Calum.
Lila. Her name resonated inside him. When he’d been just a lad, he’d been hunting in the forest with his father and seen a falling star. Grief had overwhelmed him, so swift and unexplainable.
Needing an answer for what he’d been told, he strode out the door.
Colin stood in the inner courtyard glancing in all directions.
“Where is the woman?”
“Gone, Calum. She disappeared with nary a trace.”
“’Tis impossible. She must be somewhere.” He trotted up the stairs to the battlements and gripped the thick stone crenellation. Beyond, the moors were clear. No fortuneteller.
* * * *
For three nights, he’d been drawn to the eerie silence of the battlements, his soul restless and needy. This eve, the moon shimmered over the still loch, with not the slightest breeze to draw a ripple. The earth shook, and he clutched the charm he’d been unable to release.
Thrice this day the ground had moved so.
Possibly a bad omen. This morn, their warriors had returned from Islay, though missing their chief and a score of men. Lachlan had been captured and taken to Edinburgh, and their casualties had been great.
Duart was now his to protect from the enemy’s hands.
He wouldn’t fail his chief, nor his clan.
Pressing the charm to his chest, he closed his eyes.
Solace came when he did.
Chapter 1
On the way to the ruins of Mingary Castle, the seat of the MacIans of Ardnamurchan, Scotland, 2014.
Riding a mountain bike, Lila MacIan negotiated the stony downward trail near Mingary Castle. Birds chirped from the odd pine tree clinging to the craggy hillside, and salty sea spray drifted in the breeze and tickled her nose. This was the way to enjoy nature at its very finest. “How much farther, Zayn?”
“We’re close. Mingary’s around the tip.” Zayn MacKeane skidded his bike to a stop. Gravel thunked the rocks scattered along the grassy verge.
“Thank you for bringing me.” She pulled in beside the energetic eighteen-year-old. The sound’s blue-green waters glistened under the midday sun. The Isle of Mull, with its grassy moors and forested hills, appeared a lush jewel across the waterway. In times of old, Mull had been the land of her clan’s enemy, though that could never take away from the isle’s sheer beauty now. If only Nanna was here to see this with her, not missing somewhere in Scotland with the police and her endlessly searching.
“Are you okay?” Zayn nudged her shoulder. “You’re looking lost again.”
“I’m fine.” Or she would be, once she found her grandmother. “You make a wonderful tour guide. I’m so glad I stumbled across you at the museum and you agreed to bring me.” Mingary had been on Nanna’s travel itinerary. Where Nanna had intended to go, so would she.
“Stumbled is right.” He grinned and rubbed his bruised calf. “You certainly know how to catch a person’s attention.”
“Sorry.” She’d tripped over Zayn as he’d been searching under an exhibit display table with his long legs poking out.
“Since we’re kin, you’re forgiven.” He shot her a mischievous grin.
“Yes, about that. How is it possible we’re related? You never said.” She’d shown her grandmother’s picture to people in his village. So many MacIans, but none had seen Nanna.
“You’re a MacIan, and I’m a MacKeane. Same pronunciation, just different letters. That happened a lot in the old days. People mixed up the spelling and it stuck.”
“So you’re saying we’re from the same clan? John MacIan of Mingary’s line?”
“Yep, though you have the strangest accent of any MacIan I know.”
“In my opinion you’re the one with the strange accent.”
“So says the Aussie.”
“And I’m proud to be one. Oi, oi, oi.”
He chuckled. “Why is it Aussies say that?”
“You started it by saying Aussie. It’s a chant we like to cheer at sports games, and wherever else takes our fancy. You say Aussie, and I say oi. Now no dissing my heritage or at least the non-Scots side.”
“There’s nothing to diss on the Scots side. We’re a staunch clan and never say a word wrong.”
“Now that’s a little hard for me to disagree with.” Goodness, Nanna would have loved to have met Zayn. He was so funny.
She dug into the pocket of her black Nike sports leggings and pulled out her brass charm. After Nanna had arrived in Scotland a month ago, she’d couriered this coin to her in Sydney. It had provided such comfort to have it close by. Rubbing its smooth disk-like surface, she picked up the trace of letters, an inscription which meant little, yet she adored it all the same.
Lila.
My charm.
Calum.
“That looks old. Can I take a look?” Zayn was the son of the museum’s resident historian.
“Be careful with it.” She handed it over. “My grandmother received this from a fortuneteller at Edinburgh’s markets, or at least that’s what she said in her note. It’s a MacIan relic from the 1500s. Obviously I’m not the Lila that’s mentioned, but it’s lovely it holds my name all the same. I didn’t even know Lila was Scots in origin.”
“I’ve got a cousin called Lilias. We call her Lila for short. This could be a shortened version too.” He smoothed over the etching. “These charms are often referred to as coins or tokens, and this one’s in mint condition. You should show my dad. He might know more considering it’s inscribed. Did your grandmother tell you anything about it when she gifted it to you?”
“Not much. She said to keep it on me at all times, and to never let it go, which I’ve done. What do you think about the etching? It sounds kind of romantic to me, like Lila is Calum’s charm.”
“Hmm, it could be that the piece holds a double meaning. Maybe Calum gifted this charm to Lila?” He handed the coin back. “I’m sorry none of us have seen your grandmother.”
“I’m going to find her.” She’d never give up her search, no matter where or how long it took her.
Tears came to her eyes and she forced them back as she pocketed the precious coin. “Did you remember to bring your wetsuit?”
“Sure did. I’ve got my snorkeling gear too.” He patted his black and blue checked backpack strapped over his shoulders. “Even though it’s autumn, I’ve been known to take a dip right up until Christmas Day. I’m game for a swim if you are.”
“When I was wandering about the museum’s displays, I read about a storm driving a Spanish Armada ship into the sound. It was a few centuries ago, but it capsized right here at the tip of Ardnamurchan. Apparently a treasure trove of gold coins has never been found.”
“I know the story, but I doubt we’ll find the bounty. No one ever has.”
“I’d love one of those coins.” It could finance a broader search for Nanna. The police were doing what they could, but a woman couldn’t disappear without a trace. No. She had to do everything she could to find—
The ground shook. Nesting birds cackled and took flight from the trees. They swept down the ridge and along the track in front of her. Feet planted either side of her bike, she waited until the shaking eased. “Does that happen often?”
“We rarely get earthquakes.” He thrust his foot into the pedal. “Let’s get off this hill.”
“Good idea.” Loose rocks could easily dislodge and tumble down. She shoved her white shirtsleeves to her elbows.
“Mingary awaits. How about a race?” Grinning, Zayn took off.
“Hey, you cheat. Wait up.” Flying downhill, she rode hard in pursuit. Ahead, Mingary’s ruins perched on a massive ridge of rock overlooking the sea. The castle’s thick walls stood three stories high and exactly as her grandmother had described in her tales. Nanna had spent time here in her younger years and adored this place.
Zayn slowed. “Are you up for a little bit of history on the homeward straight?”
Highlander's Charm Page 1