A man, who looked to be about thirty and pretty handsome for this crowd, stood and said something loud and boisterous. The men cheered and as he was about to sit down, he raised his glass in Lizbeth’s direction.
“Who’s that?”
She blushed. “That is Liam. He is the husband I have been wantin’ for long years, but he has been married tae my cousin. He broke me heart quite soundly.”
“Oh, wow, where is she?”
“She died last year in childbirth.”
My eyes went wide.
She whispered, “And he has nae found another wife.”
And you’re widowed, and he’s widowererered.” I giggled having trouble getting the words out. “I’m tipsy. You’re widowered. I mean, he’s widowerered. You’re both alone. You might have a chance with him.” When I followed her eyes she was watching Liam across the tables. He glanced up and met her eyes.
He was smaller than Magnus, dark haired, not as handsome, but the way he spoke and everyone laughed, he seemed to be the life of the party.
“Is he smart, brave, kind, all the good stuff?” I hiccuped.
“Aye, he’s all of that and more.”
“Girlfriend you are in deep.” I giggled even harder.
Magnus sat beside me. “What are ye talking of?” He saw the blush on Lizbeth’s cheeks and followed her view across the table to the opposite end to Liam. He chuckled. “You still have a thought for him? I thought ye were mourning your husband today, sister. I am thinkin’ ye may well be a wicked woman.”
“You know as well as I, young Magnus, that my husband, as much as I be a missin’ him, was nae a good husband, though I would never admit it at his funeral because I am nae wicked, just a realist. I will need a husband fast tae take care of me and the children.”
“You know Sean and I will protect ye.”
“I know ye will,” she patted the back of his hand. “But a husband, as your wife will attest, is more than just protection. If he is a good husband, he is an ally and a warm bed.”
Magnus said, “Aye sister, but be wise this time and marry him afore ye take him tae bed. Twas a difficult arrangement tae strike last time.”
“Shush young Magnus or your wife will think me a harlot.”
I shook my head and grinned. “Not at all Lizbeth. My grandmother used to say, ‘You can’t judge another woman for the deals she strikes with her lovers.’”
Lizbeth grinned. “Oh, I like my new sister so much. Ye will keep her here, so she can be a part of us?”
“I wish I could Lizbeth, but I have made her a promise tae take her home.”
“Nae too soon, I hope?”
“As soon as I can.”
Lizbeth was looking from one of us to the other. Then she pouted, “But I was hoping that Kaitlyn would be able tae help me with my finding of a husband.”
“I wish I could. It is one of my favorite pastimes and I hate to miss you doing the conquering, because that man over there — he looks like you’ll have fun climbing him to the summit.”
Magnus and Lizbeth laughed so hard that everyone turned to look down at our end of the table. Magnus waved them away.
Sean slid into the bench seat beside us. “What’s this?”
Magnus said, “Your sister is eyeing Liam, and my wife is telling her tae be cautious and goodly.”
We all cracked up.
Sean said, “Are ye now? Tis very pious of ye, but ye might be speaking tae the wind, Kaitlyn. I’m sure ye have heard Lizbeth’s tale of wifely woe, most the other women are hoping she will marry again so they can stop the hearing of it.” Lizbeth swatted him on the arm indignantly.
I said, “I don’t mind hearing her tell of wifely woes, but I prefer to hear the sordid tales of conquest.”
Sean laughed. “Now see Magnus, I have told ye tae marry a demure godly young woman. Someone who will perform her wifely duties and spend the rest of the time in prayer so ye can have some peace. But here ye are, marrying someone too much alike your sister, with her sharp mind and mouth ye winna have much peace.”
Magnus raised his glass. “Tis nae my style, I like a woman with a better wit.”
Sean waved him away with a hand. “You learned it in London. Ye will be your own man though I tried tae be a guide for ye.”
Lizbeth laughed a sparkling laugh. “You won’t find young Magnus wanting anything tae do with a woman like Maggie, he would be bored out of his mind in a day. I think Kaitlyn suits him just fine. But they are leaving soon Sean, and what am I tae do? I will have tae resort tae spending my day sewing with Maggie in a nursery full of bawling bairn.
Sean asked, “You are leaving us Magnus?”
“Och aye. I need tae get Kaitlyn home safe.”
“I’ll be sure tae tell mother ye send your best wishes.” Sean smiled and swigged from his beer.
Magnus growled, “If you see Lady Mairead before I do, ye shall tell her I am coming tae hold her to account.”
Lizbeth laughed, “Magnus ye sound so malevolent!”
Sean said, “He thinks Lady Mairead paid the men who abducted Kaitlyn.”
Magnus said, “I daena think it, I know it.”
Lizbeth said, “Oh no, really? That mother of ours is diabolical. I have just been tellin’ Kaitlyn that our family will always have her protection as our own and now this.” She leaned for my arm. “I am sorry for it, sister, our mother is—”
“Not to be trusted.” I finished for her.
She laughed. “I was going to say, a wicked witch of a woman, but yes, you can’t trust her either. But why? Why does she want tae do ye harm?”
“I don’t really know. She asked me to keep Magnus with me on the Island. She had me sign a contract for it, but keeping my husband bound when he needed to come back here really wasn’t something I could do.”
“You signed a contract with my mum?”
I nodded.
Magnus said, “Twas before I could warn her. She forced Kaitlyn tae marry me.”
“Forced? I daena ken young Magnus, I have seen the way your wife looks at ye, tis nae a matter of forcing.”
“Not at all,” I dipped my head to his shoulder.
“It daena make sense why she wants tae keep ye from here, from your home. What are ye goin' tae do?”
“Take Kaitlyn home, so she is away from Lady Mairead.”
Lizbeth nodded. “Makes more sense now I ken the meaning of it. Fine, better a safe sister than one here being abused and maligned by our mother, but tis time tae take Lady Mairead in hand. She has been a blight on us for far too long.”
Both the men agreed. Then, as the night had been long and there had been a lot of drinking, it was time to stumble up the stairs to our room.
Chapter 33
In the light of a cold morning I woke, my head and arms sprawled across Magnus’s chest. I looked up to see his eyes open. He nudged me up.
“My head hurts,” I said, “that was a lot of drinking last night.”
“Och aye, drinking at a funeral must be done with more commitment than other times as a sign of respect.”
I yawned loud and long and rolled onto my stomach, my chin on his chest. “Funerals really get ya thinking, don’t they?”
“What do ye mean?”
“Makes me wonder how I would carry on without the people I love. How I’ll carry on without my grandmother, for instance, and what if she died without me being there? What if the last thing she knows of me is me dropping her off at the nursing home?”
“Tis why we are takin’ ye home.”
“Us, why we’re taking us home.”
“Aye.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, I haena a thought of living without ye Kaitlyn. I daena ken what I had about me afore, but tis nae a thought anymore.” He wrapped his arms around me.
Muffled in his arms I said, “Okay. Good.” I thought for a moment, the bleary thoughts of a hung-over woman. “I think I saw her at Talsworth during the battle, up on the... What is that cal
led, the high wall?”
Magnus raised his head. “The high wall, the one above the field? You think you saw Lady Mairead, was she watching?”
“Yes, I think it was her. I noticed her just before I was...”
Magnus took a deep breath and blew it out. “I will have tae go get a vessel from her.”
I traced a circle on his chest with my finger.
“That sounds scary and dangerous and—”
A very faint buzzing sound met my ears.
“Do you hear that?”
Magnus raised up on one arm, shaking me off, looking around the floor of the room. “My sporran, the vessel...” He leapt from the bed with nothing on, and man, what a majestic ass. Like really, the kind of ass sculptors would want to carve and it was all mine. Mine mine mine.
He shoveled through the pile of heavy clothes on the floor and pulled his sporran up, opened the top and pulled out the vessel.
“It’s working?”
“Aye,” he twisted the dials through the middle and it buzzed to life.
Relief washed over me. “But not yet, turn it off Magnus. You’re naked and we need to say goodbye to Lizbeth first.”
He turned the dial so that the vessel turned off again and continued looking down at it.
I jumped off the bed to the ice cold floor and picked up my dress. “Imagine if we disappeared from our room without saying goodbye. Everyone would be so freaked out.” I stopped when I realized he was still looking down at the vessel. “What?”
He said, “It has never turned on like this afore.”
“Oh.” I scurried across the cold floor to our chamber pot. I crouched and peed with relief. My period was done, the vessel was working, this was going to be a good day.
“It’s probably nothing. I mean, it also never stopped working before, and now — maybe it’s just shorting out or something...” My voice trailed off because that was an awful thought. How safe was time-jumping with a wonky vessel?
“Shorting out?”
“Like the energy that makes it work is having trouble getting to all the parts to — you know, let’s forget I said anything.”
“Aye, tis nae making it better.”
I returned to the bed, stepped into my skirts, and pulled them up. “The truth is, we don’t know how it works. We’re kind of stuck using it without knowing and hoping for the best.”
Magnus nodded and stuffed it in his sporran.
“When should we go?”
“Today I think, if Lady Mairead is at Talsworth. Tis only a few hours away, I daena think Balloch is safe.”
I wrestled the bodice over my arms and head, groaning in pain because my middle was still pretty sore, and turned so Magnus could do my laces. I said, “We also know she has two vessels. I’m worried the Island isn’t safe because she knows where we live.”
“Och aye, I have been thinkin' on it and she will follow us.”
“Plus, I think she has a way of knowing where we are. There is probably a tracer or tracker on the vessel. Don’t you think? When I arrived in 2017, she came and met me.”
“You think so?”
I nodded.
He cinched the laces tight and tied them.
“You’re getting good at this.”
The corner of his mouth curled up, “I would prefer to be practicing the undressin’.”
“My period is over so that’s good news.”
“Tis usually the time the men of my clan would go on a hunt.”
“Really? Men would plan a hunt to get away from their wives when they’re menstruating?”
He chuckled. “And their mothers and their sisters and their cousins. And then when they came home from the hunt they would blame the women for everything that went wrong.”
“That is insane.”
“I daena think on it much afore, but tis nae sensible. You canna kill the crops with a look.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s so forward thinking of you.”
He chuckled but then his brow furrowed, “Maybe I need tae speak with her.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think... what if we went back but instead of the Island, what if we went to Los Angeles or something? We could put the vessel into a vault at the bank and then we could hide in the crowds for a while. We could call Chef Zach and tell him we’re home. We’d have access to our money. There would be no way for Lady Mairead to find us in Los Angeles.”
“I found ye.”
“We won’t tweet our location this time.”
“I know ye daena want tae hear it, but I must say it. I think I will have tae come back, we canna hide forever.”
I put my hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes. I pushed a lock of his hair off his forehead. “I know. I know it in my heart Magnus. I do. But right now I want to go home. I want you to come home. I want Chef Zach to cook for us. I want to see Baby Ben. I want to walk on the beach with you. I just — I know it. I just want us to have a few days of normal before you run off fighting again.”
His strong arms wrapped around my middle and lifted me into a big, leave-the-ground, hug. He nestled his face into my shoulder and said into my skin, where it passed through my cells into my center being, “Aye, mo reul-iuil, we are going home.”
Chapter 34
The day was the warmest I had ever experienced in Scotland, like a balmy 55 degrees. The sky was blue and my entire opinion of Scotland changed. The landscape was beautiful. The castle against the sky. The deep green of the grass. The craggy stones, and wispy clouds overhead. We had no battles planned, no dramas to deal with right now. Only the “soon” to confront Lady Mairead, but not now. Now was for walking into the woods to go home. We shared a big meal with Magnus’s family, laughing and talking. We went to the nursery to say goodby to the nieces and nephews and spoke with the Earl about our plans to go and when we planned to return. On every count we tried to be vague.
We walked from the castle without taking a horse, hoping we confused everyone enough that no one questioned why we didn’t take a horse and where we were actually going after all.
All we had to do was get to the woods.
We held hands as we walked and Magnus told me about the trees, the river, his childhood living here. I had seen the nursery with little Jamie toddling around in it. It was easy now to imagine Magnus toddling around in his childhood home. Warmth flooded my body at the idea of him, young and childlike, growing up here, protected. Sun on my skin, a sweet sort of laughter at something funny he said, his palm clutched to mine. We came to a bright, sun-filled clearing, and my husband pulled me to his front, reached around, and grabbed my bottom.
“Och, I have missed this arse, is it under there somewhere?” He began lifting my skirts in big bunched handfuls until he got them up enough to put a big strong palm on each bare butt cheek. With a chuckle, he said, “I knew twas there, just had tae work for it.” He pulled me closer, bent down, his breath hot on my shoulder between my throat and my wool.
“If you can wait dear sir, until Florida, I can take all these clothes off and show you proper.”
He chuckled again. “Twill take too long, Madame. We have a journey. Then all these laces. I winna be able to wait.”
I pressed my full skirts against his bundle of wrapped kilt and yes — “I see, you want me.”
“Och aye, mo reul-iuil, wrap your arms.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me from the ground. I wrapped my legs around his back, so much fabric between us that it was quite comical how heavy I was and how much struggling it took. He prepared to crouch to the ground with me in his arms. “Be careful Magnus — everything hurts.”
“I will be gentle.” He lowered me to my back, very carefully, on the grassy ground.
“Especially my ribs and right here.” I gestured around my whole stomach area.
He chuckled against my neck. “We only need one part for this.” His voice had gone deep, full, primal. He raised up to his knees and pushed the front of my skirts to my
waist and adjusted his tartan from his front while I took in the sight of him, Magnus, warrior, Scottish, in his woods, wanting me so bad he had dropped me to the ground.
I was so freaking hot for him. He climbed on me, and, oh god, in me, and my legs wrapped around him as he drove against me long, and deep and slow. Mostly clothed, wool and spice and warm grass and the smells of the woods. It was new for us, to be outside, taking our time. Super sexy to want to touch him everywhere but only touching in that one sweet sweet space.
We spent a long time, making it last, kissing and slowing, groaning and moaning into each other’s ears. Until finally we ended, having used up all our patience and control in gentleness and care and with a final fast fury he collapsed on my body, spent and relaxed. His breaths fast and then deepening, he slid from me, now inconsequential.
“Twas okay, I dinna hurt ye?”
“No that was awesome.”
“I have been needin' ye, what has it been five days, mo reul-iuil?”
“In my time it felt like months.” I kissed his cheek. “Usually there’s plenty to do during my period, but I felt about as unsexy as could be between the kidnapping and the filthy clothes.”
He kissed down my neck and kissed my chest. I drew in a breath, my skin rising to meet his lips. “You are sexy just fine.”
I drew my fingertips down his cheek. “You sir, have a very good imagination.”
His cheek rested on my chest. “I remember ye in the shower, tis true, and in your tiny little dress, the blue one with the flowers?”
“You like that dress?”
“Verra much. When ye bend it goes verra short, tis a fine arse, mo reul-iuil.”
I giggled, causing his head to shake with my jiggling breasts.
“Are we going to stay here all day? I hate to say it but we should get home soon.”
Magnus heaved himself up and off me. “What are we going tae ask Chef Zach tae make us for dinner?”
“I want a burger with five toppings. I don’t care what they are, but five. And those buns that are so fat and greasy and browned that they taste like they’ve been cooked in butter? Plus, French fries. Three different kinds. Long and skinny and crispy, the ones like planks with potatoey goodness inside, and tater tots with too much salt. Lastly, a salad. I don’t know if I’ll eat it, I might just want it on my plate because I could eat it if I wanted to.”
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