Page 68 of Highlander’s Bride

Bryanna’s stomach flipped, and happiness burst in her, spilling through her nerves like warm honey. She whimpered a happy sound and was just about to kiss him when a voice made her jump.

“What’s this?” a female voice behind her asked with a modern Scottish accent. “You, sir, go back to the chair, and you…” The doctor pointed an accusing finger at her. “You need to lie back and rest.”

She looked at Raghnall. “You should have called a nurse the moment your wife opened her eyes. She just came out of a coma.”

She tsk-tsked and shook her head as she approached Bryanna. She looked at the monitor, which was showing regular heartbeats. Retrieving a thin medical light, she leaned over Bryanna with a stern face and cast the light into one of her eyes. “Your husband told us your name was Bryanna Mackenzie, but he couldn’t give us your ID, your address, or insurance information.” She lifted her other eyelid and shined the light in that eye as well. “No hotel we could call, no other relatives that may know anything.”

“Oh,” Bryanna said. “I need to call my mom and my sister. They must be worried sick.”

“Yer ma…” Raghnall said thoughtfully, rubbing his lip with his thumb. “Yer sister…”

“This man brought you from Eilean Donan… You’re not that woman that disappeared not so long ago, are you? It was all over the news, all the people that keep disappearing there through the summer.”

Crap. She completely forgot she’d also have to deal with the police and somehow protect Raghnall. They’d need to come up with a story. And now that he’d told everyone he was her husband…

“I didn’t disappear,” she said. “Long story.”

The doctor threw a sharp glance at Raghnall, then leaned closer to Bryanna and lowered her voice. “You’re not in danger from that man, are you?”

Bryanna blinked. “No, of course not! He saved my life.”

The doctor narrowed her eyes. “Just give me a signal if you can’t talk. You were insulin deprived and…quite honestly, you did almost die. And he…he looks very suspicious. Those cuts and bruises, the bloodied sword we had to force him to leave with security. And he’s dressed like a homeless person and doesn’t know much about you…or the world around him. Did he…force you? Keep you captive somewhere?”

Oh no, Raghnall may be in more danger than she had realized.

“No, Doctor. He’s not a danger to me or anyone. We were in a bit of a trouble, yes, but he protected me and saved me.”

The doctor didn’t blink. “As you wish, but he won’t even let us look at his wounds.”

“He’s entitled to decide whether he wants help or not, right?”

“Of course. Again, just signal me or one of the nurses if you want any help. And I have to call the police and inform them that you’re here.”

She sighed. “And I need to call my mom. Is there a phone I could use?”

As the doctor nodded and left the room, Bryanna met Raghnall’s eyes, which weren’t filled with wonder and love anymore but were cold, closed off, and full of darkness.

And just like that, her little bubble of heaven was burst by harsh reality.

Raghnall had had to protect her in the Middle Ages. It had never occurred to her that their roles would be reversed and she’d need to protect him from the modern world.

Chapter 32

The next few days were undoubtedly the maddest days in Raghnall’s life.

At some moments, he found himself happier than he’d ever been, holding his wife’s hand, watching her gain color and strength. At other times, people who called themselves the police interrogated him, questioned every word, every movement, even every detail of his appearance. And then came Bryanna’s mother and her sister, who openly told him he should have nothing to do with Bryanna because he’d failed to take care of her.

And they were right.

Bryanna and he had agreed it would be best if they didn’t tell anyone about time traveling. To the police and to her family, she told a story of how she went outside the museum and got lost in the woods. Raghnall had found her, but his car—the hellish cart that no doubt demons created—had broken down. Taking a lot of blame and guilt, she told them she hadn’t wanted to be contacted for a few days and had just wanted to enjoy Scotland alone.

This had upset her mother and sister so much. Raghnall didn’t blame them, but he also hated that he was the reason for Bryanna’s conflict with her family who loved her. They called her selfish and cruel. They also called her very reckless because she’d had only three insulin pens with her, and look what happened. And why didn’t she go to a pharmacy and buy more? Why did she allow herself to become so insulin deprived that she went into a coma?

Raghnall itched to jump to her defense but told himself to stay out of it, to let the family solve their own problems.

The police had more questions and more doubts, and they clearly didn’t believe any of the vague answers that Bryanna and Raghnall gave them, but Bryanna saved the situation by insisting that she’d been away of her own will, no one had forced her into anything, and she was not in danger. When they asked for something called IDs, Bryanna said they’d both lost theirs, and finally, the police left, though very unsatisfied. But, as Bryanna explained, they had no case since no one was pressing charges and everyone was well and alive.

Raghnall had been given modern clothes that his mother-in-law bought for him. He liked the blue braies Bryanna called jeans. They were thick, warm, and comfortable. The tunic they called a T-shirt smelled strange but felt nice and smooth on his body. But he didn’t care much for the short braies called underwear. They were soft but too restrictive, and he decided hell if he’d wear them.