My Laird's Castle (23 page)

“I will accompany ye, Beth. Ye should not be alone at the moment,” Elinor said.

“No!” I snapped. “No,” I said more gently. “I just need to walk a bit to clear my head. Not far.”

“Let her go, Elinor. There can be no harm.”

“Right!” I said with renewed vigor. I bent to kiss Colin again. “I’ll be back,” I whispered in his ear.

I straightened, turned, smiled brightly, raised a hand in farewell and hurried past Stephen and Elinor to reach the front door. I wrenched it open and ran down the steps before anyone could stop me. Pulling my skirts to my knees, I ran as fast as I could down the drive and away from the castle. I didn’t stop to look around. I didn’t stop to say good-bye. I was coming back. I would see it again.

My heart thudded, and my breathing grew ragged as I ran. Rain continued to drizzle, and the back of my skirts dragged in the mud, but I didn’t care.
 

How much further was the river? I slowed to a trot, hating myself for not having the strength to continue at a run.
 

Just when I thought I might have to stop to catch my breath, the river came into view, higher than when last I’d seen it, because of the rain. I ran across the bridge and down the muddy path, past where Colin and I had stopped. I wanted to return to the same spot where I’d first seen him, where I had traveled through time.
 

It wasn’t too much further, and I dropped to my knees when I reached the spot. Without thought, I bent over, cupped water into my hands and splashed it on my face.

Nothing! I looked up. The world didn’t swirl in blackness before my eyes. The mountains before me looked as misty and green as ever.

“Oh, nooooo,” I moaned. “Noooo.”

I scooped up more water and threw it onto my face, almost slapping my cheeks as I patted at them. My cheeks started to tingle, and an onslaught of dizziness hit me. The stream disappeared, the mountains vanished and blackness descended.

Chapter Seventeen

“Are you all right, dear?” a woman’s voice broke through the darkness. “Hello?”

I opened my eyes to see that I was lying on my side, facing the stream. I pushed myself upright with effort, feeling a bit groggy.

I looked up at the silver-haired woman with the pack on her back. Yes! I was back. Her companion, the same tall senior gentleman she had been with, eyed me with concern.

“Yes,” I said with a nod. “I was just a little warm.”

I looked over their shoulders toward the road. The bus was parked in the pullout.

I was back!

“Yes, it is a bit hot out here today, surprising for the Highlands,” he said. “Are you hiking or...” He looked up toward the bus and cars parked in the pullout, then back to me, his gaze sliding over the dress I still wore.

I smoothed my brown silk skirts.

“No, I’m on a bus tour. That’s us up there.” I looked toward the bus. If I could come back, then I could return to save Colin’s life.

“Oh, they’re quite close. That’s all right then,” the woman said. “Be sure and drink some water when you return to the bus.”

“Yes, I will,” I said. “Thank you.”

She and her companion moved off, and I turned back to the stream, cupping water in my hands to splash on my face. I couldn’t get back soon enough.

Nothing happened the first time, and I splashed more water on my face.
 

“Please, please, please,” I whispered. “Please.”

My cheeks started to tingle, and the blackness descended.

****

“Lass! Lass! Can ye wake?”

I heard the baritone voice as if from within a dream.

Colin!

“Lass! Are ye injured? Taken ill? Is there aught wrong wi ye?”

Arms slipped under my back, lifting me, and my head lolled against the plaid on Colin’s chest. I opened my eyes with effort, groggy again.

Colin’s handsome face looked down at me with concerned slate-blue eyes. His curly hair hung over part of his face, and his beard grew thick. His beard! The one he had shaved off for me.

“Colin!” I said aloud this time. “You’re alive!”

I pulled his face to mine and kissed him with all my might. His lips, now warm, stiffened for an instant before he kissed me back. He pulled me tightly to him, and I reveled in his embrace.
 

“You’re alive!” I said again, breaking away for air.

Colin, instead of smiling, stared down at me as if in a daze.

He cleared his throat.

“I dinna ken who ye are, lass, but ye seem to ken me well enough. Is it yer habit to go about the countryside kissing strangers?”

I smiled widely with affection.
 

Of course! Of course Colin didn’t know who I was. In my panic, I’d given little thought to how he might react on seeing me again—or for the first time—but here he was, eyeing me as if I were a stranger.

“No, not really. Just you. I do ken you well, Colin. You just don’t remember.”

Colin didn’t exactly throw me out of his lap but continued to stare at me, his head tilted in that way I loved so much, his dark brows drawn together as if he could somehow understand what I was saying.

“I have never seen ye before, madam, I assure ye of that. I would remember.”

I wanted to kiss him again, but I had a feeling he might resist this time, and I couldn’t bear it if he did. I straightened in his arms and turned to look at him.

“Listen to me carefully, Colin. I come from the future, from the twenty-first century. I met you about a month ago—the first time I traveled through time. We...we fell in love. But you were killed by a young boy, a Jacobite rebel, I think his name is Samuel, when you tried to stop him from attacking English soldiers. I traveled back to my own time and then returned to try to stop that from happening again.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised when Colin set me from him and jumped to his feet. He stared down at me from his considerable height. This time though, he did not reach out to help me to my feet.

“Ye are daft, woman! Do ye expect me to believe such a story?”

I struggled to my feet. I should have expected some resistance to my story, but his rejection still stung. It seemed certain that I was no longer betrothed. I swallowed hard, fighting tears again. But Colin was alive, that was the important thing. If I could convince him that the boy would kill him, accident or not, then he could take steps to prevent his death.

I shook my head.

“No, I don’t, but it’s true, Colin. In about a month’s time, you will help out a few old men and their young grandsons who were at Culloden, though they didn’t fight. Still, they are outlaws, and the English are hunting for rebels like them everywhere. You know that!

“Do you know Donald and Samuel? That’s the boy who is going to hurt you, who is going to kill you, though I think it’s by accident. Are they hiding in the hills now? Or do they come later?”

“I dinna ken what ye are talking about!” Colin’s eyes shifted away from mine, and I realized that the hapless band of rebels was already hiding in the hills, and he knew it.

“Ye’re not Scots,” he said. “But ye dinna sound English. Are ye a spy for the Crown?” He eyed me almost belligerently, and I found it hard to breathe. Where was the loving Colin I had so recently known?

“No, of course I’m not a spy. I told you. I’m from the twenty-first century. I know you don’t believe in time travel. We don’t either. But here I am. And I’m from America, the colonies, as you all call them.”

Colin looked away from me to scan the path.

“Whoever ye are, ye canna stay here. This trail is used by the English...too much. I canna stay here wi ye. I am wearing my plaid and carrying my sword, and I would rather the English not ken it.”

“Because it’s forbidden. I know.” I nodded. I wanted to throw myself into his arms, but I suspected he wouldn’t welcome me, and I clasped my hands behind my back.

“Well, good day to ye then, mistress. I wish ye well.” He turned as if to walk off, leaving me staring after him with an open mouth.

“Colin! Wait! You’re not going to just leave me here, are you?”
 

He stilled for a moment and then turned back.

“Aye, I was,” he said. “I dinna trust ye, mistress. I think ye weave a peculiar tale of traveling through time to hide that ye are spying for the English. I dinna ken what happened to make ye faint by the river, and I am nae sure I care. But I imagine ye ken yer way home. If it is Fort William, then ye need only walk that way.” He pointed north.

“What?” I sputtered. I tried to remember the details of our first meeting. “What about wolves? Aren’t you going to warn me about wolves?”

He blinked. “Wolves? There are nae wolves here, madam.”

I stared at him. Who was this man? Where was the Colin I knew? The one who would never leave a defenseless woman out in the open? I looked up. Sure enough, dark clouds formed above the hills. The storm was coming.

“Colin, you can’t just leave me out here. It’s going to rain. I’m not an English spy. I’m not even English. It’s not like you to abandon a woman in need like this.”

“What do ye ken of me, woman?” His face took on that obstinate dour expression I had seen him use with Stephen.

“I know you. You are a decent man, a loving man. I know you, Colin,” I said, trying desperately to stifle the sob in my throat. It was as if I had lost him again. First to death, and now to some strange twist to my time travel.

Colin ran a hand across his beard and stared at me for a long moment. I fidgeted under his harsh gaze.
 

“Have it yer way, madam,” he said finally. He held out a hand in a slightly mocking gesture. “Please accompany me to my home, where ye may rest until ye find a way to return to yer home.” He held up a warning finger. “Mind ye, I will tolerate no spying. I will watch ye, mistress!”

Oh, this was not going at all the way I had hoped. As I followed Colin along the path, I had to remind myself again that at least he was alive. We reached the castle in good time, and sure enough, George opened the door. Colin spoke to him in Gaelic, and George stepped back to let us in.
 

“My cook, Mrs. Renwick, will be waiting supper. Please follow me to the great room.”

I followed him. Everything was the same. The castle, the furnishings, even George. Everything was the same except Colin’s demeanor. How could I make him believe me? How could I make him fall in love with me again?

I swallowed against the pain in my throat and sat down where Colin indicated on the velvet-cushioned bench next to the fireplace.
 

Colin took the seat at the end of the table, turned it toward me and stared at me morosely. I looked down at my entwined fingers. What was I going to do?

“Where do ye hail from?” he asked suddenly.

“America,” I answered.

“So ye said, but where in America?”

“A little town called Whitefish, Montana. It’s in the western party of the country. You won’t have heard of it yet.”

He tilted his head.

“Nay, I havena, though I dinna particularly pride myself on my knowledge of the colonies.”

I nodded, watching him as he watched me.

“What name do ye go by?”

“Elizabeth Pratt, Beth.”

He nodded and fell silent.

I waited. His next question startled me.

“Why did ye kiss me?” he asked.

My cheeks flamed, and not from the heat of the fireplace. I was embarrassed that I had done so, given that Colin now saw me as a complete stranger. Of course he did. How could I have not known that would happen?

Maybe I shouldn’t have told him that we’d been in love. Maybe I should just have warned him about his impending death and been on my way. Now that I knew I could leave. The seemingly ever-present tears sprung to my eyes, and I blinked them back.

I took a deep breath. My voice, when I spoke, was husky.

“We fell in love. You asked me to marry you.”

Colin shook his head, as if in denial. My heart ached.

“But I understand you don’t remember that. I’m sorry I kissed you. I was so glad to see you alive.”

He remained silent for a moment, watching me. I dropped my eyes to my hands.
 

“It was not an unpleasant experience,” Colin finally said. I looked up to see a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.
 

“But I canna believe we were to be married if I canna remember such a thing.”

I hoped he wasn’t looking at me as if he wondered what he ever saw in me. I knew I must look awful. I raised my hand to my unruly hair, half of it now falling down to my shoulders.

“I don’t expect you to remember, Colin, and I don’t expect you to love me back. You don’t know me, but you did...in the future.”

He drew his brows together again.
 

“I know I’m not making sense. It’s the time travel. I traveled back in your time to when we first met.”

“I ken what ye’re saying, but I still dinna believe it.”