Page 34 of Highlander’s Bride

Raghnall dropped her things back into her purse and shifted to sit next to her. “Lass! Are ye all right?”

Gently, he supported her with his arms and pulled her into a hug. It was so good to feel her, warm, and moving, and alive. She smelled like something fruity, a pear perhaps. He remembered hearing somewhere that people with sugar sickness smelled fruity and their urine and blood tasted sweet.

“I’m fine. Thanks for helping me there. You might have saved my life.”

“Saved yer life? Nae, lass. If anything, I am probably the reason for yer fall. I kidnapped ye and dragged ye away from the rock that would take ye back home.”

She looked up at him. Her eyelids were heavy, but her eyes were alert. “So you believe me?”

He sighed. “Aye. Despite everything that I ken, I do.”

She blinked at him several times. “Why? What made you change your mind?”

She seemed like she wasn’t even breathing. “I looked through yer things. Yer strange wee plates with numbers and letters…the painting of ye made so artfully, there aren’t any artists these days that have the precision and the talent. The materials on ye, yer wee needles, and this…thing…that drinks yer blood. Everything about ye, yer speech, the way ye carry yerself… Ye’re a stranger, an outlander. Despite what I kent before, aye, there are things that are hard to explain and ye’re one of them.”

Teasag came to stand next to them and stared with wide eyes at Bryanna’s black case and strange cylinders still spilled in the grass. “Lady, are ye unwell? May I be of help?”

Bryanna shook her head. “I’m fine, thank you for your concern. My husband is all I need now.”

Teasag nodded and walked away, still throwing puzzled glances at them. With some small good fortune, none of his people had been close enough to see her fall or watch him push up her dress and use the strange needle on her. Now they were too busy setting up camp to pay the new lord and his wife much notice.

My husband is all I need now… Her words brought warmth into his chest. When he met her eyes, he noted how much more relaxed she looked, how she sagged against him in relief.

She rubbed his arm with her thumb. “You’re not going to put me on a stake for witchcraft or something? Or put me in a dungeon?”

He chuckled. “Nae, lass. I…” He cleared his throat. “I wilna. It turns out, ye’re the perfect wife.”

Color returned to her face, lighting up her cheeks like a flame. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Angus wanted me to marry to prove I can settle down and be responsible. But I never wanted a wife. And I accepted that condition only to get my lands back.”

“You never wanted a wife? Why? Isn’t that what everyone is expected to do during this age?”

“Aye. But I… I just never wanted a family or bairns of my own. I like being alone.”

Ye bring death with ye everywhere ye go, rumbled his father’s voice inside his head. Imagine if ye fathered a child. Poor bairn.

He shook his head, willing for the voice to go away, then continued, more to shut his father up than to explain things to Bryanna. “And ye told me ye want to return home, aye?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then, I wilna stop ye. If ye tell Angus and my family that our marriage is real, that is, that we consummated it, he wilna have a choice but to accept ye as my wife. And then nothing will make him take Tigh na Abhainn back from me. Then, ye can leave this time and go home. I’ll help ye clear the rubble if ’tis nae yet done.”

Although he said that, part of him wasn’t so eager to help her get back home. He liked her, he admitted to himself. Despite his resolve not to develop any feelings towards her, he had. That sense of joy and sunshine he had around her was addictive. He’d come to enjoy sleeping in a bed with her, despite his struggles to keep his hands off her. He enjoyed teaching her to ride and singing to her. She always took in information like she was starving for it.

And once or twice, she’d hummed along to his songs, and her voice was beautiful.

“What do ye say, Lady Bryanna?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Sure, I don’t mind telling Angus that we consummated our marriage. But I’m pretty sure he already knows I’m from the future. I think I’m not the only one.”

Raghnall blinked at her. “What do ye mean?”

“Well… It’s not my secret to tell. But I’m sure you probably had your suspicions.”

Raghnall frowned, thinking. Sir James…with his odd English and his odd mission to find Lady Rogene and David… Claiming he was an officer of the law or something… Was he from the future?

And if he came to look for Lady Rogene and David—he knew them. Only, if he was from the future that would be where he’d know them from, right? So, were they time travelers, too?