Reunited (Book 2 of Lost Highlander series) (2 page)

She felt sick with dread. She still had one, in a wall safe in the library, but she was supposed to have destroyed it. No matter. She’d take the admonishments over losing Lachlan again.

“It took him a week to get sick last time,” Mellie said, trying to console her.

Piper nodded. At the first hint of illness, she would take the consequences and retrieve the pendant for him.

“Mellie, don’t you have class today?” With a glance out the window, she saw it was still dark out, the wee hours of the morning.

Mellie shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, if you want me to stay.”

Piper did want her to stay. She hated the thought of being alone again if something went wrong. Then she remembered that her new stable manager would be here fairly soon. He always came at the crack of dawn to deal with all the new horses.

He was nice, and young, and understanding. If he ever suspected that she didn’t have a clue about horses or running an estate, or life, for that matter, he good-naturedly never let on. The best thing about him was that he seemed to trust her, so if she told him a kilted Highlander might be wandering the estate from now on, he’d probably just nod and then invite him for a pint.

“No, it’s fine. Pietro will be here soon. If there’s trouble, he can help. You go on, but call me later, or come by. I want to go over some things.”

Mellie nodded and left, taking another long look at Lachlan.

“I’m glad he’s back,” she said. “I just hope everything’s all right.”

“Me too, Mel,” Piper said. “Me too.”

She made sure Lachlan was as comfortable as possible and then changed into a flannel nightgown and made herself some tea to calm her shattered nerves. Pulling an armchair as close to his bed as she could get it, she curled into it and sipped her tea, not taking her eyes off him. Her beautiful, raven haired warrior. It was months since she last saw him, but it all came rushing back, as fresh as the day he was torn from her.

She wiped away another tear, unable to believe he was in front of her, an arm’s length away. She set down her empty teacup and was about to carefully get into the bed beside him, trying not to disturb him in his drugged, healing slumber, when her phone buzzed on the bedside table.

Damn it! Who could be calling her at four in the morning? Mellie had just left, and she knew the doctor would be fast asleep by now, whatever expensive new machines he would buy with her hush money rolling through his dreams.

She was about to chuck the phone into the hallway when she glimpsed on the display that it was Evelyn. Evelyn, who had a firm grasp of the math involved in properly calculating their different time zones.

Padding out of the room in her stocking feet, Piper hissed a greeting into the phone.

“You better sit down,” Evie said, her voice strained.

Was she crying? Oh dear, did her master’s thesis on gender studies not pass muster? That couldn’t be possible, Evie was brilliant. Yikes, had she finally found out that she’d secretly paid off the rest of Evie’s school debts, even though she’d been expressly warned against it? She’d have to get over it. And none of it would matter when she heard that Lachlan was back. It was the perfect distraction to whatever was wrong.

“Evie! I can’t believe you’re calling right now. You won’t believe what’s—”

“I’m pregnant,” Evie interrupted, and then Piper heard it again as a tinny echo.

For a million years she wouldn’t have believed any news could have upstaged Lachlan’s return. But there it was. Piper was completely gobsmacked.

Such an array of delighted exclamations came rushing forward she couldn’t get any of them out. It was wonderful, fantastic, exciting, surprising for sure, but still. She could feel her face about to burst from the giant smile that took over it.

“Say something,” Evie said. “Oh my god, it’s worse than I thought if you can’t even think of anything to say.”

Piper heard a clatter and then some retching sounds. She waited patiently until Evie returned to the phone, sniffling.

“Did you just throw up?” Piper asked gleefully. “You have morning sickness?”

“Shut up,” Evie said, and then sobbed.

“I’m going to be an aunt,” Piper said. “I’m totally starting to go to church with Mellie, so I can be a godmother, too!”

“You need to be serious, Piper,” Evie said.

“Is it Sam’s?”

“Are you kidding me?” Evie’s voice boiled with rage and Piper giggled.

“Yes. I know it’s Sam’s. Aren’t you happy? I know it’s a shock, but you’re both so in love … oh my god, is this all my fault? Did it happen on your birthday trip?” Piper had to hold the phone away while Evelyn burst into a new round of noisy sobs.

“We had so much sex,” Evie finally said when she got herself somewhat together. “And there might have been some drinking, too. I guess we weren’t as careful as we should have been.”

“Well, it’s Magnus for sure if it’s a boy, and Dakota if it’s a girl,” Piper said, doing a joyful little jig in the hall, and glancing in at Lachlan to make sure he was still asleep.

“It’ll be neither of those!” Evie said indignantly, and then finally laughed. “I don’t know how to tell Sam.”

Piper stopped her dance and slid down the wall, resting against it where she could talk without disturbing Lachlan, but still keep an eye on him. “He doesn’t know?” she asked.

That seemed odd. She hoped Evie wasn’t being crazy again. She’d had that impossible idea that Sam had a thing for his employee Padma behind her back, when nothing could have been further from the truth.

“Well, I can’t tell him over the phone, and it’ll be another month before I can get back there.”

“Then have him come visit you. Say you need moral support while you give your dissertation. It’s not a lie.”

“And then just bust out that he’s gonna be a dad?” She started to cry again.

Piper sighed. She wished she could reach across the ocean and shake her best friend until her teeth rattled. “Yes! Or ease into it. Wander into the baby section of a store, point out a cute kid on the street. Whatever. He’s going to think it’s great. He’s already—” Piper clamped her lips together and wanted to throttle herself.

She’d nearly given away the fact that Sam had been scouring the entire countryside and parts of Europe for the perfect ring for Evie. Oh, being best friends with two people who were so madly in love with each other was difficult.

She weighed the fact that she’d known Evelyn far longer, and they were practically sisters, and girl solidarity and all that, but Sam would be crushed if he couldn’t do his proposal his way. She tapped the phone lightly on the floor.

“Sorry, Evie, I dropped the phone. I think you need to call him right now and tell him you need him in Texas tout suite. Well, wait a few hours. It’s four in the morning here,” she said in a rush, hoping she had distracted Evie from her near slip up about the ring. She yawned hugely right into the phone for good measure.

“What do you mean?” Evie said, her brain not yet addled from the pregnancy hormones, apparently. “Sam’s already what?”

“Lachlan’s back,” Piper blurted, dropping her head back against the wall.

She waited through another distant clatter and more heaving noises in the background.

“What did you say?” Evie demanded when she was done vomiting. “Holy lord, did I hear you say Lachlan Ferguson is back from the eighteenth century?”

Score. She’d completely distracted Evie from the near snafu about the engagement ring. She glanced up at Lachlan as he laboriously tried to turn over. With a groan, he opened his eyes and struggled to sit up.

“Yes, he got back a few hours ago, and he was stabbed, but he’s all right now. At least I think so, but now he’s waking up so I have to go. I love you!”

She clicked off, barely hearing Evie’s confused wail, and rushed into the bedroom. She tried to get Lachlan to lie back, but even in his injured and drugged state he was still strong as an ox. He clutched his side and grimaced in pain.

“I dinna feel well,” he said, and she crawled onto the bed, pressing down on his chest with both hands.

“That’s because you’re not well,” she said with a laugh, so happy to see him awake, and hear his deep rumble of a voice. Her phone was going crazy where she’d left it in the hallway. “You’re all drugged up on pain medicine. You need to rest.”

“I dinna like it,” he said, pouting like a little boy, but letting her push him back onto the pillows.

He stared up at her, his blue eyes struggling to focus against the mass quantities of medication Dr. Stone had injected him with. Poor Dr. Stone had taken one look at Lachlan’s immense size and hadn’t wanted him waking up while being stitched.

Lachlan sighed and pulled her against his chest, kissing the top of her head when she nestled against him.

“You’re back,” she whispered into his neck and she felt him nod.

“Aye. I did fear I would be too late,” he mumbled.

“What?” She pushed up onto her elbows, careful not to hit him anywhere on his injured side.

She looked down into his pain muddled face, searching for answers as to why he had returned. He’d been so adamantly against it, but now he was here.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said when he didn’t offer any further explanation.

He nodded again, slowly, and his eyes drifted shut. Piper wriggled back down, getting comfortable in the crook of his arm, gingerly draping her arm across his chest.

With the insistent buzz of her phone in the background and Lachlan’s reassuring heartbeat under her ear, she fell into a contented sleep.

***

When she awoke, the sun was streaming through the window and Lachlan was breathing deeply and heavily. His medication had probably worn off and this was the true sleep of an exhausted, beaten up time traveler.

She wormed her way out from under his arm and with a sigh, carefully traced the outline of the nasty bruise he had on his face. What had happened?

She couldn’t bear to wake him, no matter how eager she was to hear his story, hear his voice. It was midmorning and she found she was a bit hungry, even after all the excitement of the night before. Lachlan would be ravenous when he woke. Feeling an overwhelming urge to take care of him, she hustled down to the kitchen to whip up a feast.

Damn Mellie and her nursing school classes, she thought when she got to the kitchen and stared into the refrigerator. Mel was such a good cook, she could make a real living as a personal chef.

With a sigh, Piper realized she should either hire someone who actually wanted to to be a personal chef or learn to cook on her own. It was so convenient having Mellie around though. She was so sweet, and knew all the terrible secrets, and had never yet fled in terror.

There were some day old croissants and some brick hard scones in the bread box, and plenty of fruit in the fridge. As much as she relished the thought of seductively feeding Lachlan strawberries and grapes while he recovered, she had a feeling he would appreciate some meat.

She decided to call the local diner that delivered and have them bring a nice breakfast platter. As she made the call, she guiltily ignored the eighteen messages and forty texts she’d received while she slept.

A tall, rangy man came out of the stable and started walking a horse around to the paddock next to it. She waved at Pietro from the kitchen window, but it was too far away and he was focused on his work.

When her order was placed, she ran outside and down the hill to greet her new stable manager, and try to come up with some story as to why he might eventually see a strange man wandering the estate.

Pietro Gardioli was from an old Scottish family, despite his rakish Italian name. His mother had gone on a tour of Europe after she graduated college and fell in love with Verona and a handsome Italian winemaker. When Pietro was born, she realized she couldn’t have him grow up with the wild, free ways of the Italians and promptly moved back to the Highlands. The husband couldn’t live without his little family, sold his small vineyard and moved to Scotland, where he bred horses. He wasn’t very good at it, but Pietro had gotten a real knack for all things equine, which was rivalled only by his love of flying.

Straight from a stint as a pilot in the RAF, he’d come back to the Highlands and knocked on her door, having heard that she might be looking to repopulate the stable.

Piper had been dazzled by his heart-stopping war stories, and he had soon filled her barn with some amazing thoroughbreds, and one staid mare that she was allowed to ride under his supervision.

He couldn’t believe that even though she was from Texas, she could barely sit a horse. Now she was up to tentatively cantering around the ring, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The estate would be hosting a charity ride in the middle of the summer and she was determined to make a good showing in front of all the snooty equestrians who would be there.

When Pietro had heard that it most definitely wouldn’t be a hunt of any kind, and that they were going to ride out and back again without killing anything, he almost couldn’t breathe for laughing at her.

“No one will stand for that,” he told her. “They’re quite bloodthirsty and competitive.”