Sworn to a Highland Laird

by Sky Purington

  “All right then, laddie, off you go. Back to the castle.” He might be acting the jealous part, but there was a grin in Adlin’s voice as he urged Graham along. “Go spread the word. After many a year, we’ve got company from the future again. My mother and Aunt Cassie will be especially pleased.”

  “Aye,” Graham agreed. “Ma will be disappointed she was away and missed such an arrival.”

  Cassie was the name of the woman who started the forum Milly and her fellow Brouns met in. Could it be the same person? What were the odds?

  “I’ll see to yer wishes then, m’laird,” Graham continued before he put his fingers to his lips, released a loud whistle then swung onto his horse.

  “What is happening back there that’s so pressing, Graham?” Adlin asked.

  “Och, ye’ll see soon enough.” Graham gave him a look. “Conall is here if that helps paint the picture for ye.”

  “Bloody hell,” Adlin muttered and nodded. “Get back then. We’re right behind.”

  Graham nodded once and took off through the forest but not before he shot her another quick wink.

  “Watch out for that one, lass,” Adlin said, quick to return to humor. “If you’re not careful, he’ll scoop you right up.”

  “You mean if you’re not careful.”

  She turned away and flinched the second the words left her lips. Had she really just said that? Flirted like that?

  Adlin only chuckled which told her everything she needed to know. He wasn’t threatened in the least when it came to other men. He was convinced he already had her. And not just in this life apparently.

  She stepped back, eyes wide when a large black horse trotted out of the woods. This must have been the reason for Graham’s whistle before he departed.

  “Meet...” Adlin did not quite look at her as he swung up. “My horse.”

  “She’s beautiful.” Milly looked her over. She had always loved horses but never had the inclination or cash flow to pursue them. “She’s large for a female. Does she have a name?”

  “Nay.” He held his hand down. “I just call her Horse.”

  “That’s so sad,” she commented as he pulled her up. “She should have a name.”

  “Mayhap one of these days.”

  They started through the trees, her back to his front. A position that brought her thoughts to the kiss they almost shared.

  “I think we should ah...address what just nearly happened back there,” she said, mainly because she wasn’t so sure it should happen again. “Nothing about anything going on makes much sense to me, and I’m not really interested in adding to that if you know what I mean.”

  “I do know what you mean,” he conceded as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tighter against him.

  Milly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in the feel of him. Like Jim said, it had been a while for her. Sex that is. Sad that her ex knew that but the truth was she just hadn’t gotten around to it since Jim. Her career had come first, and she didn’t have time for dating. Now she was becoming painfully aware of just how much she’d been depriving herself lately.

  “So what about what happened back there would you like to address?” he murmured softly against her ear, sending a fresh round of shivers racing everywhere. “What we almost did or what I intend to do to you verra soon?”

  Her breathing turned shallow and her words breathy, as Horse trotted through the forest. “I don’t think whatever you have in mind should happen, Adlin. Instead, you should probably get me home soon.” She met his eyes over her shoulder. “You do know how to get me home right?”

  Because there was no disputing something had happened, and she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. While she could keep burying her head in the sand and pretend they might still be in Salem that just seemed naïve. These men weren’t actors and these woods though somewhat similar were not in New England.

  “In answer to your question, I do know how to get you home,” Adlin murmured in her other ear as the forest thinned even more. “In fact, we’re nearly there.”

  Milly was about to respond when the trees fell away, and the most amazing castle she had ever seen appeared on the horizon. With nothing but a wide stretch of emerald green grass leading to it and blue waters surrounding it on two sides, she knew this place....had seen it in her dreams.

  She barely had a second to admire it further before Adlin somehow managed to swing her sideways onto his lap, cup her cheek and gaze into her eyes. “Welcome home, Mildred.”

  There was no chance to respond.

  Not when his lips closed over hers and talking became the very last thing on her mind.

  Chapter Four

  ADLIN HAD BEEN waiting for this moment his entire life. Mildred was back in his arms and her lips against his. Now he knew everything would be all right. They were together again on MacLomain land, and all would be as it should.

  While he intended the moment to be an unforgettable memory and homecoming for her, he underestimated just how much he had missed her. How strong their physical attraction still was. So as her arms wrapped around his neck, and her lips softened beneath his, his need grew hard and fast. Not to say it wasn’t before but he had managed to be discreet until now.

  Though tempted to turn the horse around and go somewhere private, she did not deserve that. She deserved to finally arrive at MacLomain Castle as a welcomed guest. Not like her last life when things were hushed and confusing because they were trying to evade the enemy. No, this time she would ride in on the chieftain’s horse and God willing, be this castle’s mistress soon enough.

  That in mind, he reluctantly ended the kiss but didn’t stop cupping her cheek or staring into the same thickly lashed blue eyes she’d had in another life. Though her features were slightly different, she was just as strikingly beautiful. Her gestures, way of speaking and mannerisms had changed, but that was to be expected. After all, this version of her was born in the nineteen eighties where the Mildred he had met was born in the nineteen twenties. Either way, she was the same soul on the inside and was still a perfect match for his.

  Which made him wonder what the delay was with the gem in her ring.

  By all accounts, it should have shone the color of his eyes the second she slid it on.

  “We shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered, but she wasn’t turning away to admire the castle. Rather, her eyes were dewy and trained on his.

  “Aye, we should have done that and we will again,” he promised as he urged the horse forward but kept her locked in his arms. “Until then ‘tis time for you to meet the MacLomains.”

  “No.” Mildred frowned. “I don’t want to greet everyone like this.” She motioned at the way he was holding her. “Like a damsel in distress.” She shook her head. “I want to sit the way I was before.”

  Adlin nodded and repositioned her. “Better?”

  “Much,” she replied, and so he urged the horse on.

  About the last thing he would have wished for Mildred on her first trip to MacLomain Castle was to be greeted by Conall. His cousin was not a bad man by any means. Just emboldened lately by foolhardy ideas and the general belief that he should lead everyone in what lay ahead. That for some reason he should be the first one to go into battle. So he wasn’t all that surprised to see Conall standing at the end of the drawbridge with his legs braced, his arms crossed over his chest and a look of determination on his face.

  Adlin slowed the horse, swung off and helped Mildred down before turning to Conall. “Good to see you, Laird Hamilton. What brings you this way?”

  As he knew would be the case his cousin was less focused on his mission and more on the woman who had just arrived. Conall did not respond right away. At least not to Adlin. Instead, he resumed a perfectly formal attitude, bowed at the waist and said, “Hello lass. I am Laird Conall Hamilton, son of Darach and Jackie Hamilton.”

  “Hello.” Mildred smiled and nodded. “I’m Milly. Nice to meet you.”

  Unlike most w
omen who met Conall for the first time, Mildred seemed composed. Typically, and Adlin had yet to figure it out, his cousin’s stalwart near military attitude got the lasses in a stir. Aye, the lad cut a fine figure, but he imagined it had more to do with the fact that none could get Conall to cast them a second glance. If anything, he would bet there were a few wagers running at this point.

  One brow rose a scant fraction as Conall politely nodded but did not gawk at her overly long. His cousin might be a hard shell to crack, but a slight brow raise meant Conall had certainly taken notice of her looks. Then, as was Conall’s way, any possible desire for women was set aside as he focused on what he needed to accomplish.

  “We need to talk, Laird MacLomain,” he announced as they started walking beneath the first portcullis. “I know about you and grandfather’s plans, and I dinnae think you should go it alone.”

  Leave it to Conall to figure out where she was from and say ‘you’ instead of ‘ye’ in consideration of Mildred. The man was always thinking though lately, he tended to get on Adlin’s nerves. If not for Grant’s assurance that his grandson was just making his way down his predestined path, he would have probably already sent Conall on his way.

  Life was too short for such disciplined nonsense.

  At least this life, thank God.

  He had no desire to be immortal ever again. Not as long as Mildred could be by his side.

  “Oh wow,” Mildred whispered as she stared with wonder at the portcullis’, drawbridges, and people walking by. “This is unbelievable.”

  It would take some getting used to that she didn’t remember any of it. Granted, the last time she was here was three hundred years ago but still. She had been here. This was hers every bit as much as it was his. That’s what he wanted this time around.

  A full, normal life together.

  As normal as it could be considering all that lay on the horizon.

  “I’ll take Milly for ye, m’laird,” said a stable boy and redirected his horse. Adlin nodded his thanks, clasped his hands behind his back nonchalantly and prayed Mildred had been too busy to notice his horse’s real name.

  If only he were so lucky.

  Mildred stopped short and rounded her eyes at him. “Did he just call Horse Milly?”

  “Och, nay lass, ‘twas...”

  “Adlin!” She planted her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “I know what I heard.”

  Meanwhile, Conall expressed no emotion, but Adlin didn’t miss the way his eyes lingered on the castle’s outer walls in a direction that allowed him to study Mildred just as readily.

  “It might have sounded like,” he began before her eyes went round once more and she cut him off.

  “Are you about to lie to me again?”

  Adlin twisted his lips. Though he was tempted to avoid this by turning to greet fellow clansmen as they passed, he decided it was best to come clean. “Aye, lass, I named my horse Milly.”

  She cocked her head. “Why?”

  “Do you really need to ask?” he said softly. “Considering how highly I once regarded a wee lass named Milly?”

  “Right, Milly not Mildred as you seem determined to call me.” Yet her gaze softened when she realized he was talking about their time as children. A time she had experienced in her dreams and was just now beginning to remember. “So why not just call me Milly, if that’s what you called me in your dreams?”

  “’Tis hard to know.” He shrugged, truly uncertain. “Likely because ‘tis the first time we’re actually together in this life so in some aspects it feels unnatural to call you anything else. ‘Tis an odd thing but I will work to overcome it.”

  “I thought I heard we had a visitor,” came his mother’s exclamation as she headed their way alongside Aunt Cassie. Though his ma had wisps of white in her dark hair, she had aged well, and her pale green eyes remained sharp.

  “Mother, this is Mildred,” Adlin said. “Here at last.”

  When Mildred shot him a look, likely because he got her name wrong again, he bit back a sigh. This was a strange twist he had not seen coming. Getting her new name correct. But he would eventually once his reincarnated soul got used to being with her in person again.

  “Well, what kind of introduction is that, Son?” His mother took Mildred’s hand. “Welcome, Mildred, I’m Leslie.” She offered a warm smile. “I once lived in the colonial you now own.”

  “Really?” Mildred whispered, clearly overwhelmed but holding her own.

  “Yes.” Leslie looked from Adlin back to Mildred. “He hasn’t told you much about me, and his father yet has he? Or his aunts?” She shook her head. “Or any of this really.”

  Mildred frowned. “I can’t say that he has.”

  His mother tossed him a look then mouthed, “We’ll talk later,” before she introduced Mildred to Aunt Cassie. His aunt had faced blindness years ago but thankfully ended up keeping some of her sight. She had been mistress of this castle for many years while Uncle Logan was chieftain. When their only son Fraser died a few years back, Logan decided it was best that Adlin took over. It only made sense to everyone considering he had, in another life, started this very clan.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mildred.” Aunt Cassie embraced her. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “You have?” Mildred’s eyes were wide as Aunt Cassie pulled away. “And please, if you don’t mind, I prefer to be called Milly.”

  “Of course, sweetie.” His mother offered a comforting smile, likely remembering how she had felt when she first traveled back in time. “If you’re all right with being separated from Adlin, we’d love to show you around and help get you acclimated.”

  Mildred’s eyes met his, and for a brief moment he thought she might prefer to stay by his side but ended up nodding. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

  “Good then.” Aunt Cassie led her along as his mother stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her.”

  Their eyes met, and he nodded. “I know you will.”

  His mother patted his shoulder then off she went with Mildred and Aunt Cassie. He sighed and kept hoping Mildred might glance back just once, but she did not. He couldn’t really blame her, he supposed. He had been pining for her his whole life, and she had only just met him.

  “Might we go to your chambers to discuss things then, m’laird?” Conall prompted, his eyes firmly on Adlin’s.

  “Och, ye can stop it now,” Adlin grumbled and strode on. “Mildred’s not here anymore.”

  “I dinnae know what you speak of, m’—”

  “Nay.” Adlin wagged his forefinger back and forth. “No more m’lairds. You’re my bloody cousin. Let us talk like kin, aye?”

  Conall clenched his jaw as he strode alongside Adlin into the courtyard. It was high noon, so the place was busy. Well, as busy as it could be considering many men were off fighting one skirmish or another against England.

  Scotland had been at war for fourteen long winters, and his beloved country was in ruin. If Adlin didn’t act soon, they would lose the war far earlier than anticipated and William Wallace’s sacrifice would have been for naught. As it was, the current war—what would someday be known as the First War of Scottish Independence—ended with a peace treaty in thirteen twenty-six. But that would never happen if Adlin did not move within the next few days.

  That meant taking Mildred somewhere he would rather not.

  Adlin clenched his jaw and tried to keep a chipper expression on his face as he said hello to his people on the way to his chambers.

  “Me laird, Adlin,” came a piercing voice. “Wait a moment, aye? I’ve something for ye then.”

  Adlin stopped, grateful for the distraction as young Euphemia lumbered his way. She had taken over position as head cook from her grandmother Euphemia who had taken the position from her mother, Euphemia, and so on and so forth. Now it was a bit of family tradition that every first daughter born be named such and aspire to become head cook. Where Euphemia�
��s grandmother was rail thin, her granddaughter was anything but as she waddled toward him. Yet all Adlin saw was the beauty in her dull green eyes and the jolliness of her kind soul.

  “I see yer strugglin’ some with yer good nature, so I’ve made ye some of me special bannock.” She ushered him along and swatted away anyone who came too close. “Me thinks yer mood must have something to do with the missus ye brought back aye? Another wee lass from the future I’m thinkin’?”

  “Aye,” he confirmed. Leave it to Euphemia to see right through him. “And I’m grateful for both yer cookin’ and yer company, lassie.”

  “Aye, I know, m’laird.” She nodded avidly, her jowls jiggling. “Ye know I’ll take good care of ye.”

  Conall kept pace as they made their way upstairs into the great hall. No sign of Grant but he knew his mentor would appear soon. Or at least he hoped so. Adlin needed an ally when dealing with Conall.

  “Stop looking around for grandfather,” Conall muttered. “Let us deal with this as men and figure it out on our own.”

  Adlin nearly snorted but stopped himself. If Conall only understood the dynamics of everything. But he did not and could not. If he did, it could change everything.

  “We will speak further in my chambers,” Adlin warned out of the corner of his mouth as he smiled and clapped a man’s shoulder in passing. One of very few men left defending this castle. The majority of their safety now lay in Adlin and Grant’s magic as well as his cousins. Otherwise, they would be like most other estates in this country.

  Seized by the English.

  “Where’s yer grandmum, Euphemia?” His head cook might be able to read him well, but he could do the same, and there was a little less bounce in her step than usual. “She’s not gone beyond the gates again, has she?”

  “Och, ‘tis hard to know.” Euphemia opened his chamber door for him and waved him along. As soon as he was through, she shut it in Conall’s face. “She comes and goes as she pleases. If she catches wind of a wee one in need, she’s off with a basket of whatever she’s been cookin’.” She shook her head. “And grandmum isnae as spry as she used to be nor are these lands safe for an elder to be travelin’.”