Playboy's Challenge (Highlander's Series) (4 page)

A grin tipped up the edge of his lips, and she scowled at him. ’Twas but another of his silly tricks, no doubt. She would not allow the scoundrel to win, and gave him her most fearsome glare.

Sadly, it didn’t have the impact she’d hoped. Most men of her acquaintance, well…all of them save her father and brother, withered beneath her cool gaze. But not Adam. His grin only widened, and as she turned away, he winked!

Furious, she placed the pitcher of ale on the table with an audible thunk and marched from the room, her head and temper high. He may have teased her as a child, but she refused to be the target of his amusements as an adult. All of that nonsense with Bran had given him a wee bit of ammunition, but he had another think coming if he thought he would win at his silly games this time.

Colin’s grunt at Deidra’s leaving punctuated Adam’s thoughts. She hadn’t changed much in attitude over the years, she’d always been quick to temper, but to stomp from the room just because of a wink?

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t kidding when she said she hadn’t forgiven him for all those pranks he’d pulled on her when they were kids, and yet how could he not when she was so damn tempting? Now more than ever. But he supposed she was still feeling a little upset about that Bran character.

“I’m glad to hear your folks are okay, but Colin tells me Jenny pushed you into the fountain,” Aunt Tuck said, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Yep, and I probably deserved it.”

“Explain.” Her tone hardened as did her gaze.

Feeling like he’d been thrust into the hot-seat, he did his best to describe the incident without making himself out to be a complete ass, although he would classify himself as a distinct runner-up.

“It takes a lot to piss Jen off,” she said. “So spill the damaging evidence, kiddo. I’ll find out one way or another.”

“Aye, or we can visit the lists,” Colin added, his mouth grim.

Adam threw back his ale, savoring the faint burn in his throat. He knew a visit to the lists was inevitable by the subtle chuckle from Erin. Even when they were kids learning to wield a claymore, their fathers had not taken it easy on them. It had often been their punishment for whatever shenanigans they’d gotten into. So seeing as how it was inescapable, he may as well tell the truth, take it on the chin, and maybe—just maybe get to the bottom of his unexplained visit.

Taking a deep breath, he returned their steady gaze. “I said something about Dad that upset her. I tried to blame it on the drinks and maybe losing my job, but I apologized. Only I guess that wasn’t good enough.”

He placed his empty cup on the table in front of him and leaned his forearms on his thighs. “So, here I am. And I hope you’ve got some answers on how I got here. Did you guys cook this trip up with Mom and Dad?”

Tuck and Colin exchanged a knowing glance.

“We didna cook anything up, lad,” Colin said.

Tuck studied him, her gaze narrowing. “What exactly did you say about Ian?”

He let out a steady stream of air as he sat back in his chair. “I called him a prissy, perfect Englishman or something to that effect.”

A choked snort escaped Colin’s throat while Tuck’s mouth dropped followed by a howl of laughter from them both.

Adam’s jaw clenched as he watched them. “Mom seemed to think it hilarious too,” he said, his voice cool.

Aunt Tuck wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “I just bet she did!”

He looked to Erin sitting silently to the side. “Why do they think this is so damn funny?”

His face split into a wide grin. “Sorry, auld friend, but the idea of Ian Southerland as prissy doesna fit the mon I know.”

Adam shook his head and let out a heavy breath. He tried to ignore the pinch in his chest, the strange pain that came with the knowledge that others saw his father as something vastly different than what he did. It was as if he’d been overlooked somehow, not important enough to be part of a select group that knew his father better, on a more intimate basis.

Bullshit
. His father
was
a prudish, prissy, arrogant Englishman who felt nothing but disappointment where his son was concerned. Adam ignored the fact that their strained relationship was just as much his fault as his father’s, but he would not, could not see the man as anything but the rigid nobleman he was.

Their laughter began to fade. “Finished now?” he asked.

His snide tone hardened Colin’s gaze. “I see you have much ta remember and much ta learn, lad.”

“Yeah, yeah. In the lists. I got that. But how about a few answers first? How the hell did I get here?”

“You said it yourself. Jenny pushed you inta the fountain,” Colin said, his tone flat as if there was nothing odd about his comment.

“That’s it? That’s your answer?”

Tuck looked to her son. “Erin, go check on your sister.”

He chuckled as he rose. “Aye, Mum, but it isna if I doona already know.”

She shot a glare at Colin that could turn July to January. “I thought we agreed not to tell them.”

Colin grinned and took her hand. Pressing a kiss to the back with a wink, he said, “We’ve a pair of intelligent bairns, mavourneen. They figured most of it out long ago. I only answered their questions ta make sure they understood the danger.”

Her shoulders sagged as her spurt of anger dissipated. “I suppose it was just a matter of time.”

“Aye, but no’ in Adam’s case, I warrant. I was of a mind that they would tell him.”

“So was I, but with Jenny, you just never know.” Tuck looked at him, pursing her lips in thought a moment. “You’re not going to believe a word I say, so keep your mouth shut until I’m done. Got it?”

He nodded as an odd tingle raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

“The fountain at Raghnall Castle is fed by the spring where you met up with Erin and Deidra.” She paused a moment and the air in the room shifted. “In your time.”

He blinked then shook his head. “Excuse me?”

“Shut it. I’m not done. Your time, our time, whatever you want to call it, the fountain you were pushed into is in the twenty-first century. You are now in the seventeenth century. Sixteen fourteen, to be exact.”

He opened his mouth, a laugh ready to burst from his throat, when she held up her hand and gave him a look hard enough to trap the air in his lungs.

“By an odd set of circumstances, when I was your mother’s bodyguard, I fell into that fountain. Afterward, I found myself in the field beyond the spring, just as you did. I then met Colin and your father. By the end of the first day, I realized I wasn’t in my own time.

“After spending a few months here, I sort of figured out how to get back, and so I went. I thought my time—our time was where I was supposed to be. It was your mother who convinced me differently, and who got a handle on how the whole time travel thing works.”

Adam sat there blinking, not knowing what to say. He glanced at Colin, expecting him to say something or give him a look, but it seemed as if both his godparents had gone off the deep end. He really needed to talk to Erin and Deidra, make sure they were aware of the situation.

“He doesna believe you, mavourneen,” Colin said, a smirk on his rough face.

Tuck dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. “Yeah, yeah, like I said in the first place. Anyway, Adam, believe it or not, you’re stuck here until the solstice. That’s the only time you can travel.”

Colin cleared his throat, but she gave him a look that said to keep his mouth closed.

“What aren’t you telling me? Not that I’m buying into this whole thing,” Adam said.

With a huff, she scowled at Colin, which made him chuckle.

“Okay, so you can go back today if you want,” she said. “You have until the sun sets, but after that you’re stuck.”

“So if I want to go home, I’m supposed to do what? Go back to the field?”

“No, you step into the spring. The water is the transporter, not the place. But Adam, I think you should stay. Jenny knew exactly what she was doing when she pushed you into the fountain. She means for you to stay. Otherwise they’d both be hot on your heels by now.”

“Aye, they’d have shown up right after you. So ’tis certain they mean for you ta stay,” Colin added.

“Fine,” he said with a sigh. He had no choice, really. He had to make sure his godparents were well taken care of. They’d really stepped off the edge of sanity with this time travel thing, and anyway, he wasn’t going to go jumping into some spring like a wacko wishing to go home. Wasn’t much reason to go home anyway, when he thought about it.

Tuck rose and grabbed his arm, jerking him to his feet. “Come over here, disbeliever,” she said, dragging him to the window. “What do you see?”

“I see the bailey, the woods beyond, the loch. So what?”

“Take a closer look at the trees. Notice anything different?”

His brow furrowed. “Um, yeah. They haven’t leafed out. Drought, maybe?”

“No drought. It’s spring. Not summer.”

He chuckled roughly. “Hate to argue with you on this one, Aunt Tuck, but it is June—” He glanced at his digital watch for the actual date, but it had gone wacky.

Glancing up, he caught her smirking.

“It says something goofy, right? Like all zeros or something.”

He gave a faint nod.

“Now, look at the sky,” she said. “Not a vapor trail to be had, and you could stand here all day and night and never see sign of a single jet or satellite.”

Shaking his head, he said, “That’s not proof.”

“Okay, you were on the Isle of Mull at Raghnall Castle last night. Well, you’re still on the Isle of Mull. Ragnhall Castle will be built over in that direction in the early nineteenth century,” she said, pointing beyond the bailey.

“This is nuts,” he muttered, turning away from the window.

Colin appeared beside him and clasped his shoulder. “’Tis hard ta take in. I know, for I had ta do the same when I met Amelia, but the truth it is, lad. Now enough of all this. Let’s go down ta the hall and eat. Time will take care of itself.”

Somewhat numb, Adam went with them to the great hall. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything, they were so into this time travel thing, but as he took a seat at the table, looked to the men and women of the clan MacLean around him, he began to doubt everything he ever knew.

Chapter Four

Adam’s thoughts spiraled out of control as he picked at his dinner. Time travel just wasn’t possible. It was fantasy, pure and simple, but the things Tuck said, the things she’d pointed out were unnerving to say the least. To make him feel even more uncomfortable, the men from Colin’s garrison couldn’t stop taking about his father. About what a great swordsman and horseman he was. He couldn’t deny that his father knew that stuff, but a great man? That was stretching things a bit, wasn’t it?

“Aye, he be a great mon ta have at yer back in battle, even though he be a Sassenach,” one man said with a chortle.

“I fer one, doona miss his way with the lassies,” another man said, with moans of agreement rounding the table.

The ale nearly spurted out of Adam’s nose. “My dad? You’re saying my father was a ladies’ man?” He laughed until he realized no one else joined him in the joke. “You can’t be serious.”

“Aye,” Colin said, then looked at Amelia with a broad grin. “He even tried ta win me wife’s hand. But once I bested her in the lists, she was all mine.”

Tuck punched him in the arm, but there was no mistaking her smile. “I let you win—sort of.”

Chuckles and various comments circled the room about that day in the lists, giving Adam a completely different view of his godparents.

“Ah, but once Master Ian set eyes on Lady Jenny, ‘twas the only lass he could see from then on,” one of the men said.

That led to more comments and stories about his parents and godparents, giving him one major headache. They were not talking about the same people, but how could he argue with an entire garrison?

“Care for more ale?” a pretty lass asked, as she stood by his shoulder, a large pitcher in her hands.

He grinned at her, thankful to have a distraction from the stomach-churning storytelling, and more than pleased to feel his naughty-girl radar kick in.

“I’m always up for more,” he said.

She giggled with a faint blush, and the way she brushed against him as she poured the ale was a clear indication that she knew exactly what he was implying and was open to the possibilities. Looked like his luck was finally turning.

He didn’t mind being dumped on his godparents’ steps as long as he could make the trip worthwhile. Sure, he was looking forward to spending some time catching up with Erin, but with all the crap he’d been through lately, he was in need of some serious fun, and this little lassie looked like just the ticket.

“Is there anything else I can get ye?”

He slipped his arm around her waist. “I can think of a few things.”

“Eileen,” Deidra called, pulling his attention away from the willing woman against his side.

She stood across the room with her hands planted on her hips and a frown marring her exotic features. He couldn’t help his grin, she was just too enticing by half, especially when he could see the fire in her eyes from clear across the room. Apparently she was determined to ruin his fun as a little payback.

Eileen crossed to her and with a bit of a tug and a shove, she was sent to the kitchens, while Deidra shot him a smirk, which only served to widen Adam’s grin. What she’d be like in bed, he didn’t dare attempt to imagine.

“’Tis a sight for the eyes, is she no’?” Michael said, one of Colin’s old guard from when Adam was a kid.

“That she is.”

“Fully grown, like ye. And glad I am ta see what a braw lad ye’ve become.”

“Not like I had much choice between you and Dad and Uncle Colin,” he said with a companionable smile.

Michael laughed. “Aye, we worked ye hard in the lists. Your da most of all.”

His smile fell a little. “Yeah, he always was a hard man to please. Still is,” he added under his breath.

“Aye, he may seem ta be. But ’tis the way of fathers and sons. I was no’ blessed with any boys, but I can imagine the way of it. ’Twas like that with me own father. But yours...well, he is a man like no other and I’m glad ta call him my friend.”