“Maria.” He said her name with a very thick Scottish accent that made it sound different altogether.
She's sort of liked it. Then he sat down next to her on the bed. Maria shifted slightly as the entire weight of the soft mattress underneath her moved. The scent of his manliness wafted toward her, making her very aware of him.
“Are you going to tell me what happened? Why you were down below in the castle again? I specifically told you to stay here. You will need to follow my orders if I am to keep you safe. I do not know who you are or what you want, but there are others here who think you are a danger. I have not decided myself if you are not. But they have decided, and they will do harm to you if they think you are doing harm to me. I tell you to stay in this room for your own good. Now why did you go down there?”
“I’m not a witch,” she said.
“Why do you say such a thing to me?” he asked.
“I heard you talking outside the door. Don’t burn me at the stake or whatever crazy thing it is that you do to women you accuse of being a witch. I’m not a witch. I don't have any magic or anything,” she said.
“I will decide if you are a witch or not,” he said. “Though I am partial to believing you, because you would have already used magic to leave the castle if you were.” He sat for a moment, looking at her. “I want to hear what you have to say.”
“I just want to go home.”
“And where is home?”
“New York City?” she said.
“New York? I know of York in England, but not New York. So you are an English woman?” he asked.
“No I’m not English. I’m American,” she replied.
“What?” he questioned. “I’ve not ever heard that term.”
She let out a frustrated groan. “This is going nowhere. I just want to go home but the door I came through seems to only work one-way. I could not get it open.”
“What door?” he asked.
“The door downstairs I was trying to open it again when your stupid guard pulled me away. Maybe you can open it? You seem strong,” she said. Maria caught herself looking at his strong arms. “Very strong.”
“This door… you travelled through it to get here, from the future?” he asked.
“I know that it makes me sound like a witch, but I’m not, and I have proof. I’m not a witch — or a crazy person — well I am so stressed that I feel crazy, but I’m not actually crazy.” Maria realized she was starting to ramble.
“Whatever it is that has happened to you, it has obviously been a lot. That is why I brought this,” he said pulling a leather flask from his belt. He pulled the plug out of it and handed it to her.
Maria smelled it and winced. “Is that whisky?”
“It is. Some of the best whisky in the Scottish Highlands. Go ahead it will calm you. You seem to be in great distress, lass.”
Maria gave him a look, and then took a swig of the whisky. It was the strongest whisky she had ever drank and she immediately started coughing.
Cameron laughed a little. Maria didn't like this. She narrowed her eyes at him and then took another drink. This time she didn’t cough at all.
“Now, are you ready to talk about this and give me the truth, lass?” he said.
“I have been telling you the truth. I don't know what I could say to make you believe me. I’m not a witch. I’ve come here somehow from another time. Far into the future. I didn't believe it at first. I didn't believe that this was the past. I mean how could it? Those kinds of things don't happen. But so much is not right here. There are no planes flying in the sky. People aren't looking at their phones or talking about modern things. Even your accent sounds strange to me. Then, what I saw on the camera…”
“On the what?”
Maria took another drink and then handed the flask back to him. Then she walked across to the table and grabbed the GoPro camera and sat down next to him on the bed. Perhaps a little too close, her arm brushed against him and heat shot up her body.
She still managed to keep it together and turned on the camera.
“You have proof of this traveling through worlds?” he asked.
“I do, but how much of an open mind can you look at my proof with?”
“I am here drinking with a possible witch or madwoman who might get nasty in her cups. I think that proves I am of open mind as you say,” he said with a smile.
Maria looked at him and suddenly felt some of the tension leave her. Then she started to laugh softly at his words. “I guess that’s true.”
Then she turned to look into his eyes. They seemed to sparkle as he looked at her. She swallowed hard. He didn’t look away from her. His gaze stayed locked on her and she felt very vulnerable and exposed.
“Who are you, lass?” he said. His voice was thick and husky.
Maria recognized that sound. It was lust. She struggled to not kiss him in that moment, because that would not be a smart thing to do.
Cameron looked at the woman’s pink lips. They were full and flushed. He admired this mysterious lass and was finding her more intriguing by the moment. But as her soft laugh left her lips, he restrained himself from taking her in his arms. They were already sitting on the bed and it would be easy for him to kiss her and test the waters, see if she would allow him to do so. But he knew that he could not, not yet.
Chapter 8
Maria pulled herself out of the daze of staring into the attractive man’s eyes. She had to remain focused and figure out how to get out of the situation she was in. If this man was truly going to be on her side, then she needed to trust him. It was time for her to show him the footage, but she didn’t know how he would react.
The man could very well consider it witchcraft and lock her in the dungeon, but she had to try.
“Alright. This is going to be strange but all you have to do is look at it,” she said.
His thick brows furrowed together as he looked at her, then looked at the camera in her hands.
Maria rewound the footage and then tilted the screen so that he could look at it.
“Watch this,” she said and pressed play.
“What in the hell is that?” Cameron said leaning far back from it, frightened.
“You don’t have to be scared. It won’t hurt you. Think of it like a painting. Or a tapestry. This gadget paints what it sees whenever you point it in the direction of something. Then it keeps them inside and will show them to you again when you’re ready to see them. As long as the battery last…” she said that last bit to herself really.
“It is magic,” he said. Cameron moved back into position sitting up straight and looked at the screen.
“It really isn't. It’s just technology. The way you have wheels on your wagons, it’s almost the same thing. Something made by man to make things easier, it’s commonplace in the future where I’m from. I have proof if you’ll watch.”
“All right, lass. I will watch as you say.”
She showed him the footage starting with her friends. It was on night vision, and the voices of them talking were playing loudly. Cameron gasped a few times as he watched, completely confused by what he was seeing. The castle was clearly in ruins, and not at all how it was for him now. That had to give him some feeling that she was telling the truth.
Then the footage got to the point where Maria took off the iron bar. Look did you see that? That movement? It looked like some sort of energy waves. I’m telling you, I didn’t do that. It’s as if taking off that iron bar somehow caused the door to change. I was just exploring out of fun in my time.”
Maria stopped the footage and rewound it and showed him the removal of the iron bar again. “Do you see it? Cameron, did you see it? Please don't make me feel crazy,” she said.
“I did see it. I do not know what that is. Or why it would do that, but I also don't understand what I'm looking at with these moving paintings,” he said with his eyes wide.
Maria realized just how overwhelming it must be for him, just as overwhelming
for her to be in a different time.
“I understand. Now watch when I go through the door. That is when I moved from my time to your time,” she said playing the footage again.
Cameron watched as Maria crawled through the door, going from a dark ruins in the catacombs, into the brightly-lit chamber room on the other side. The torches were lit, and it was very obvious that the two sides were very different. But that was not what made him feel overwhelmed. What made him completely confused was how the moving paintings he watched, moved when she crawled through it. It was like jumping into a pool of water and it was like watching someone jump into a pool of water and watching the water move across the surface.
“And did you see that? What happens when I crawl through the door? That isn’t a trick of the moving paintings. It shouldn’t be that way,” she said rewinding the footage and showing him again.
“I do see it. This is vexing,” he said as he stood up from the bed. He paced back and forth.
“Where are you from really?” he asked.
“I told you, I’m from America. I’m guessing it hasn’t been discovered yet, but it’s a land across the sea. In the future, it’s inhabited by people from all over the world. I live in a city there that is very advanced. That is why I am dressed this way, something you think strange, but everyone dresses this way there. I’m not here to harm you or to be a spy or whatever you think it is. I’m just a woman that is lost in a different time. I don't want to believe it either, but unless you are playing some elaborate joke on me, this is the reality.”
“America…”
“Yes. That’s where I’m from. I was taking a vacation. A vacation is a time where people go travel and see other places for fun and leisure. I came here to Scotland, to this very Castle to visit it. Only the castle doesn't look the way it looks now. It’s torn down in places and burned and has been for hundreds of years. I came with a group of people, led by a tour guide, which is a man who just makes sure nothing bad happens to you and shows you around. My tour guide is a Scottish man by the name of Mr. Leslie. That is all that I know about him, but he’s not from your time, he’s from my time.”
“This is all very hard to believe, you must understand that,” Cameron said. He looked at her wanting to believe her, but her story was very strange, even though he had heard some similar things in the past. But he was not ready to think of those things as true when he had been told they were nothing but stories as a child.
Maria looked at the attractive man, wondering exactly what he was thinking. Did he believe her? Would she believe someone telling her the same thing? She was a detective after all, and she was supposed to look at things logically and not magically. But there was something about the sincere looks that he gave her that made her think perhaps he did believe her.
“Look, I don't know if that doorway is some sort of time traveling portal, but it seems to only work one way. I couldn't even open the door when I was down there this morning. When I came through I was so confused. I thought the festivities were part of the tour that I was with, so when the door slammed shut and I couldn’t get back through, I didn’t think anything of it. I should have tried harder to go back. But there was this breeze, and the door slammed shut. It wouldn't open again.”
“A breeze?”
“Yes, a draft of wind. I’m not a witch, I didn’t cause this. There are no such things as witches anyway.” Maria put her hands on her hips.
“I know what a breeze is, lass. I just think that it was obviously on purpose. Things are different here than in your America, Maria. Things happen for a reason and we have myths and legends that sometimes turn out to be true. We do not think of witchcraft as a story, it is very real in these parts.”
Maria looked at his face knowing that he was very serious about what he was saying. Who was she to make fun of his cultural ways? She was a stranger in this land, and it was his land. He was being very kind to her, and she knew that he didn’t have to be. Others would have thrown her in the dungeon or had her killed. But this man trusted her for whatever reason, and she was grateful for it. In this moment she was still reeling with the fact that she couldn’t understand that she had traveled through time. A part of her still hoped that this was some sort of elaborate prank, but that part of her was slowly getting smaller.
“I understand. But I can assure you that I’m not a witch.”
“But you have shown me, the moving pictures, my mind cannot understand such things. Do not show anyone else. I need to sort things out. Not everyone among my clan will be able to understand any of this. I do not expect them to.”
“They will think I’m a witch?”
“They already think you are a witch, or an assassin come here to kill me,” he said.
“Kill you? Look at you, the size of you, and look at me. Wouldn’t an assassin be a warrior of your size?”
“My clan knows me well. They know that a beautiful woman like you, being mysterious and intriguing, would capture my attention, and so you have. Getting close to me would be easy to assassinate me, and not all killing is done with a sword, lass.”
Maria swallowed hard. “Beautiful?”
She wasn’t used to being called beautiful by a man who look like him. She had always been a tomboy and thought of herself in such a way. Even though there were those at the department who had called her ‘the pretty one’, she knew that they were just being idiots. But this gorgeous man, a Scottish Highlander warrior and Laird of the land, thought she was beautiful. She felt her body responding to him immediately. The warmth gathered between her thighs and she had the shake the image off, imagining him taking her right there in that moment.
“I understand. I’m not here to assassinate you, I give you my word on that.”
“And I will take your word. As long as you take mine and trust me. I want to get to the bottom of this and what you experienced, lass.” He looked from her to the window, and then back to her, as if he’d just made some kind of decision. “I must consult with someone. I will see what she has to say on the subject, and if she knows more, then I will bring her here to speak with you. That is if you will allow it?” he asked.
“Yes, I will allow it. Anyone who can help really, I am grateful to.”
“Good. I will see to it. Keep this,” he said, handing her the leather flask of whisky.
“Thank you. I could use another drink,” Maria said.
“I will have food brought up to you by Heigl. She is a kitchen cook and like a second mother to me. I trust her. You are safer to stay here. I will post a guard at this door,” he said walking toward the door. “Please, stay in the room this time, lass.”
“Cameron…”
“Yes, Maria?”
“Thank you, for trusting me.”
Cameron nodded and walked out.
Maria could hear the key rattle in the latch. She wondered if he was locking her in or locking out others from coming into her room. She was relieved that Cameron had some faith in her and believed her words. It seemed like his advisors were against her and she found that him being on her side, made him even more attractive.
She laid on her back on the mattress. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered.
Only a few days ago she was in New York City receiving congratulations from everyone on being promoted to detective. Maria had worked for years to move up the ranks and her entire life revolved around it. Now, it seemed like it was all for nothing if she couldn’t find a way to get back.
But could she go back? If she were able to find a way to get back to her time period, how could she go on as if nothing had happened to her. Would it all seem like a dream if she did make it back? Could she just forget about all that she had seen and heard in the castle?
Maria sat up and grabbed the flask of whisky. She unplugged it and took another long swig, then she coughed. “So strong.”
Then she took another and another. If she was going to get through it, she was going to need to be a bit drunk.
&
nbsp; Chapter 9
Cameron was very intrigued by Maria, and did not think she was a spy whatsoever, or a witch. Even though he did agree that there might be something magical about her. He kept the key to her door around his hip and walked down to the kitchen.
He wanted to make sure that the mysterious woman was well taken care of, but there were few he could trust to do it. His tanist, Bran was already too suspicious of her, and so he could not trust him. Nor would he trust any of the guards to be checking in on her and have access to her door key, for she was far too pretty to not be a temptation.
So he knew that he could only trust one person with her care. He moved down the long corridor. The smells of baking meat pies and baking fish hit him. He inhaled sharply. Cameron had always loved the warmth of the kitchens and the smells of food in them.
“There’s my favorite girl,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.
“Oh, you flatter me, lad,” Heigl said. She was a portly kitchen cook who had known Cameron since he was a wee lad. She thought of him as a second son and he thought of her as a second mother, especially because her cooking was so good.
He placed a hearty kiss on her cheek. She held a tray of fresh dough and placed it on the table.
“What ye be doing down here? Looking to ruin your appetite eh?” she said.
“Yes. I am always hungry, and I cannot be long without your cooking,” he said popping a freshly baked morsel in his mouth. Then he leaned down to her and quietly said.
Love A Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (A Highlander Across Time Book 1) Page 5