Highland Games (5 page)

“
Back? You mean she’s been
to our time before?”

That was interesting. Colm had
wondered at the connection between Piper and his time, it seemed
now Grissall may actually explain it.

“
Aye. She was born the
same year as ye were.”

Now
that
, he had not expected. “But how
is that possible?”

“
How is it possible you’re
in the future, lad? Magick. Her parents were Laird and Lady Grant,
and they struck a bargain with me to send their only daughter to
safety.”

“
And you sent her here?
Centuries away from them?” His incredulity was shadowed with
caution. Believing Grissall could be dangerous.

“
I saved her life!”
Grissall snapped.

“
Och aye, you did. You
saved her life only to send her to a strange land? Very fair of
you.” Colm reined in his frustration, and exhaled roughly through
his mouth. Feeling he could hold his sarcasm to himself, he asked
her, “And now you want me to bring her back? Why?”

“
Because our future
willnae happen if she’s not back where she belongs.”

“
What the hell does
that
mean?” Colm was
losing his patience with the witch.

“
What the hell does
what
mean?” Colm
whirled, drawing his sword at the same time, to find Piper standing
behind him, with a strange look on her face. How had she snuck up
on him?

“
Och, in the name of the
wee man, doona go sneaking up on people!”

“
O-kay,” Piper drew the
strange word out. “Who were you talking to?”

“
I’m no’ daft.” Colm
didn’t mean to sound so defensive, but he couldn’t help
it.

“
Never said you
were.”

Arguing would make him look worse, so
Colm took a deep breath and tried a different tactic. “I thought
you didna want to be with me.”

“
I didn’t say
that.”

“
Aye, you didna have to
say it, Piper.”

“
Look, I like you, okay?
I’m just not sure what it is you want from me. At least, aside from
what every man wants from a woman.”

“
Piper you mean more to me
than a quick tup.”

“
If that word means what I
think it means, then, good, I’m glad, but my question is why? I
mean, why am I so special? It makes no sense that I’ve met you just
today, and yet I feel inexplicably drawn to you. More so than I’ve
ever felt drawn to a man. Why is that Colm, tell me?”

“
We have a saying, ‘Though
heads differ, hearts may agree.’ And it means that while your mind
may not want to want me, your heart kens the truth.”

“
What truth?”

“
We are
destined.”

“
Destined for what? You
sound like a bad fortune cookie!”

Colm ignored the last part of her
comment, not understanding it, but told her the truth, “Destined to
save my people, Piper.”

When she gaped at him, he continued
on, in a more gentle tone. “Piper, I’m no’ daft, nor am I a
‘fortune cookie,’ but I do need you. You come from my time as well.
How much do you ken about your parents?”

The smile she’d had at his fortune
cookie comment froze and she flushed red. Then she hissed “Don’t
you dare try to drag me into your crazy delusion. Leave my parents
out of this.” As she turned to storm off, Colm grabbed her by her
upper arm. If she wouldn’t come willingly, he’d have to toss her
over his shoulder and do it the hard way.

“
You doona ken them, do
you? That’s because they are from my time. You were sent here to be
kept out of harm’s way, but now ‘tis all right. Your place is at
home, and I’ll keep you safe.”

“
You don’t know anything.
You’re crazy! Get your hands off me.”

“
You still doona believe
me, do you, lass.” It wasn’t a question. He sighed. “You
will.”

Colm gripped the pendant in his fist,
and chanted the words Grissall had told him he would need. With a
blinding flash of light, they stood in the courtyard of his laird’s
manor, many miles from Blair Castle, and Piper’s eyes widened. She
screamed at the top of her lungs and Colm had to lunge forward to
keep her from hitting the ground in a dead faint.

Chapter Five

Piper pulled the covers over her head
and rolled over. Why were there voices in her room? It was still
dark, so why on earth were people talking? What time was it anyway?
She poked her head out, and squinted at the nightstand, but she
couldn’t see the red glow of the clock. Pressing up to her elbow,
Piper looked around the room.

“
What the…” Piper shook
her head to clear the sleep away, and looked again. This was not
her bedroom. This was not even her hotel room. Holy shit, where the
hell was she? The voices were coming from the darkened doorway and
Piper began to panic. Dark, unknown room, scary voices…oh shit, oh
shit, oh shit!

“
Hello? Who’s
there?”
Oh stupid, stupid girl! Why did
you say anything? Did you really want their attention on
you?
She was as dumb as the idiot who
yells out to the axe murderer in a scary movie. She was so going to
die. The voices stopped and one of the shadows broke away from the
other to move towards her. Piper scooted back until she was
practically climbing the headboard.

“
Stay back! I’m warning
you…” What was she warning them? It wasn’t like she was a black
belt in karate with Chuck Norris skills.

“
Piper, be at ease. I’ll
no’ hurt you. You’re safe.”

She knew that voice. “Malcolm?” She
squinted into the dark room, and felt her heart slow its frantic
pounding.

“
Aye, lassie.” As he spoke
the other person in the room walked forward with a candle, and set
it on the table next to the bed.

“
Well met, Piper Grant. I
am Caelen MacRobert. Welcome to our clan.” Caelen clapped Colm on
the back, and left the room.

“
What was that all about?”
she wondered out loud.

“
That was the laird’s son,
Caelen, and he has given us the day to allow you to adjust to our
time.”

“
What do you mean ‘our
time?’ You didn’t, you know, take me back through time, or
anything, right?” Did one get jet lag from time travel, because
this was going to suck. Wait, no she couldn’t think like this
because that would mean she was crazy. Oh God, she was crazy,
wasn’t she?

Apparently she’d said that last part
out loud, since Colm answered her, “Nay Piper, you’re no’ daft, nor
are you dreaming. This is real, and the faster you can accept that
it is real, the faster you can move on.”

“
Move on? Are you kidding
me? Just like that?” Piper snapped her fingers. “I’m supposed to
move on?” At his nod, Piper felt annoyance take over her fear,
squashing it into nothing. She pried herself off the headboard, and
climbed to her knees on the bed, which almost put her at eye level
with Colm, who was standing in front of her.

“
Oh, gee, why didn’t I
think of that? Yes, I’ll just,” another finger snap, “get over it.
First of all, if time travel is real, I just went backwards in time
over 200 years. Give me a minute to process that. Second of all, if
you’re going to bring me to your time without permission, I’m
allowed to be pissed. So back off,” she snarled. “And third? You
don’t tell me to just ‘move on’ like that. At the risk of sounding
like a five-year-old, you are not the boss of me!”

By now Piper was poking Colm in the
chest and shouting. He captured her wayward finger and clasped it
in his hands, gently enough that she could pull away if she wanted.
She didn’t pull away, though. She was too fired up to
notice.

“
Piper, I only meant that
you would be able to look around you, notice my home, my land,
mayhap judge for yourself if you would like to stay.”

“
Wait, do you mean I can
go home if I don’t want to stay here?” Well, that took all the wind
out of her sails.

“
Aye.”

Piper looked into his eyes to see if
he was lying, but she couldn’t tell. He sounded so earnest, so
excited at the prospect of showing her his home, that she found
herself wanting to believe him. She noticed that he was running his
thumb across the knuckles of the hand she’d been poking him with,
and couldn’t decide if he even knew he was doing it, or if he was
trying to distract her. If it was the latter, it was
working.

“
I ken you doona believe
I’m from a different time, so I thought it best if I showed you
rather than continued to argue with you.”

Piper was quiet for a
moment, taking it all in, before she answered him. “I think I know
what you’re saying, but you have to understand that you can’t just
make decisions for me. Bringing me here like that was wrong. I
haven’t even wrapped my mind around the fact that I just
time traveled
so to even
think about anything else is beyond me right now. Oh my God I just
said it. I’ve time traveled.” Piper clapped her hands across her
mouth, as if stopping the words would make them less true. “Shit.
I’ve traveled through time,” she said from behind her hands. “What
year did you say this is?”

“ ‘
Tis the year of our
Lord, seventeen hundred and ninety-three.”

“
Do you have any tequila
in this joint?”

* * * *

Colm was lucky that his
laird had offered him the day to acquaint Piper with his home. She
needed to see the manor and the lands. He was certain she would be
interested, he’d seen the look upon her face at Atholl, as she’d
reveled in the beauty. He felt a twinge at lying to her, after all,
no one would let her go back to her time. Shrugging it off, he
helped Piper up from the bed, from
his
bed, and looked down at her. The
white linen shift he’d had her dressed in settled around her calves
as she stood. She had lovely calves, he’d seen them in the vision
Grissall had shown him. He lifted his eyes to hers and realized
she’d asked him a question. Whether in jest or not, he didn’t know,
but he answered her anyway.

“
I’ve nay heard of
‘te-keelah’ however if it’s a drink you’re needin’ I’ve good whisky
here.”

As she pulled a face, he laughed. “No’
a drinker of whisky, are we?”

“
It’s fine, I should
probably be drinking coffee instead. It looks close to dawn. Wait,
you do have coffee, right? Because I swear if you offer me tea, I’m
going to scream. This country and tea. Bleh.” Piper forced a mock
shudder, and Colm smiled at her antics. He was surprised she was
taking this all so well.

“
The laird likes mead, but
his son prefers coffee in the morn. I’m certain you’ll have a hot
cup of coffee. In the meantime, I’ll send for Annie to help you
dress.”

“
I can dress myself, thank
you very much. Speaking of, how did I end up in this
nightgown?”

“
Annie helped me change
your clothes. We couldna verra well have you go about in those
strange trews you wore.”

“
Trews? What are trews?
You mean my jeans?”

Colm strode to the door and hollered
to someone to fetch Annie. Surprisingly, quickly, a knock sounded
at the door, and Annie, a petite redhead, entered the room. She
went to a trunk, lifted the lid, and began pulling out several of
the laird’s late wife’s gowns. She had been tall, so they hoped
something would fit Piper.

Annie walked toward Piper only to have
Piper back up quickly with fear in her eyes.

“
Piper, lass, what is
it?”

She pointed a shaking finger at the
bundle of petticoats, “Oh no, I’m not wearing all that. I’m
strictly a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal. You won’t get me into a
princess dress.”

Colm exchanged a confused look with
Annie, “Piper, it’s not from a princess, it’s from the laird’s
wife.”

“
But it’s got
ruffles
.” Piper spat the
word as if ruffles were the worst thing that could happen to a
person.

“
Aye, are ruffles,
bad?”

“
They’re frilly and girly
and I’m not either of those things. Cinderella, I
ain’t.”

“
Piper, I realize the gown
is out-of-date, but it’s verra pretty from what I’ve been told.
There are others in the English style as well, but I thought you’d
prefer to wear the MacRobert colors. Besides, you must dress as the
ladies do here.”

“
But Annie isn’t wearing
ruffles. Can’t I wear something like that?” she pleaded.

Annie blushed, and looked down. Colm
said, “Annie isna a lady. And nay, you canna dress as a servant,
not when you’re to be my,” Colm snapped his mouth shut quickly.
Good God, he’d almost said “wife.” He could just imagine his fiery
Piper’s reaction to that bit of news. He’d have to tread very
carefully around her.

But luck was on his side since Piper
was too caught up in the ruffles to notice his slip of the tongue.
Annie had gotten Piper to place her stays on over her shift and was
lacing her up.