A Highlander's Home (3 page)

             
The first droplet of water hit her smack on the top of her head just before she reached her ca
r.  Hurriedly she opened the door
and started off.  Maybe she could make it home before the downpour.

             
Her hope was squashed when t
he heavens opened and the skies became a waterfall. 

She checked her cell phone.  No message from the professor.

             
H
eading for her small house on the outskirts of town
,
she almost jumped out of her seat.  She
really should
lower the volume on that phone.

             
“Hello?”  It was the professor. 

“Professor, speak up. 
I can’t hear you
.”

             
A broken, squeaky voice came through, “The stones….away….do not…near the stones.”

             
Stay away from the stones?  Why on Earth would she go near the stones?  Especially in a rainstorm?

             
“Professor?  Are you at the stones?  Professor??  Are you there?”

             
Static was her response.  Maybe he was at the stones
and needed her help
. 

             
She scanned
the road ahead
and squinted into the darkness, searching for the Professor.  Just when she was about to give up, confident that he was nowhere near the stones and not in need of help, a figure leapt in front of her car, frantically waving its arms.

             
Raine slammed the brakes and swerved
.
Professor!  His wild hair was plastered to his head which made his round eyes look even
larger
in his small head.  He was already opening the door and pulling her out into the rain with him.

             
“Professor!  What are you doing?” 

She pulled back trying to get back into the dryness of the car. 

“
I told you not to come
!
To stay away!  Maybe
it’s
better that you are here.
  You must come and see!  I must have a witness!” the Pro
fessor shouted against the wind.

“A witness to what, Professor?  You told me to stay away from the stones tonight, didn’t you?”

             
He waved his hand impatiently.  “Yes, yes, but that was before!  I think I figured it out!” 

He continued to drag her behind him to the edge of the circle of stones.  He had a bag of books and a small table perched under a small
er
tent that did nothing to stop the materials from getting soaked.  He grabbed a book and began to babble about signs,
weather, and other such things.

             
The t
hunder
and light
ning were deafening close
, drowning out most of his words, sending flashes across his face
.  She tried shouting that they should leave but the Professor just kept chattering.  Suddenly, the air stilled.  Raine looked around.  Nothing stirred where just seconds ago it seemed the fury of hell itself was unleashed and trying to uproot everything in its path. 

             
Then the air got heavy.  Breathing was becoming more difficult with each inhale.  Professor Hayward looked up from his books and met her eyes.  Her chest was heavy as she realized she was almost gasping for air. 

             
A gale of wind so hard and sudden seemed to knock her off of her feet.  She was spinning through the air watching the professor growing smaller as she grappled through air and space.  She was screaming but she heard no sound.

             
She was no longer tumbling randomly through the black air with no breath in her lungs, but lying flat on her back staring at what seemed to be an early morning sky.  She coughed as the brisk air
seeped
deeply into her
burning lungs.  She closed her eyes and inhaled the cold wet air. It must be a nightmare.  A horrible, horrible nightmare.

Chapter 3

             
“Well?” came the growl. 

“Well, what?” returned
the equally gruff reply.

             
Robbie sighed
and rubbed a thick hand through his red whiskers
.  The man was thick headed and tightlipped when he wanted to be. 

“What are ye going to do
with the lass?  Ye know what our
mother will do.”  He could picture
their mother
when she saw the new addition to their party.

             
Leith frowned.  “Aye.  She will be fit to be tied.  She will think we planned this wi’out her knowing.  But the lass is my betrothed
,
and there be a wedding to plan.  Mother will have the time of her life fussin’ about all the preparations.”

             
“Ye still think she is the Lady?”  Robbie scratched his beard.  He looked at the lass and wondered.  He had heard stories about his
brother’s bride-
to
-
be. 
Beautiful,
always a lady, from a wealthy family
, and British.
V
ery, very British. 
Somehow, he did not think that her father, with his meticulous reputation, would approve of his daughter donning men’s trousers
and
running through a
field in the Scottish countryside
. 

             
The small group continued on their way, the horses needing very little direction since they had been this way hundreds of times before.  Raine tried to keep a sense of direction, but all of those hills were beginning to look alike.  Not that she would be able to find her way back to the place where she had been deposited. 
Not that she wanted to return there. 
But it kept her mind busy. 
Unfortunately not busy enough
.  She was wondering a thousand thoughts at once regarding what would happen once they reached wherever it was this dark haired devil was taking her.  She rubbed her wrists where the ropes that held her tied to her saddle were chaffing. 
She escaped the blonde man and his horde only to be tied to a horse by his dark,
blue eyed, very handsome cousin
.  And she was supposed to be his fiancé.  Man, she thought, was he going to be just a tad ticked off when he realized
that
she was no lady.

             
They reached what Leith had
had referred to as
his “dwelling”
when she inquired as to their destination
, complete with four tall towers
emphasizing its long rectangular shape,
with guards slowly pacing back and forth
.  The hard stone comprising the walls resembled rough marble.  The drawbridge creaked as they rode over it.  Raine peered into
the moat that had the consistency
of potato soup.
A
n inner bailey with people milling about and
a small number of
children running about chasing dogs and cats, and all eyes seemed to be on her.  She was uncomfortable being a stranger
,
but it was intensified by the fact that the ropes that tied her to her horse were clearly visible.

             
The troop stopped in the outer bailey
,
and Leith and Robbie threw the reins of
their
horses to a small boy no older than nine and immediately placed their attention on her.  They both just stood there, looking at her.  Twins almost,
except
for their hair.

             
Leith growled something to Robbie and frowned her way, then headed into the bailey.  Robbie smirked as he sauntered over to Raine and started to untie her ropes.  He pulled her down and held her while she steadied herself
. 
Her legs felt like jelly and she had to lean on him until the
blood began to flow back into her
limbs.
 
He walked her wordlessly into the stone castle, all the while with her eyes bulging
out of her head like a tourist
and took her up the winding staircase and deftly deposited her in a large room.

             
He stopped at the huge, ornately carved door, and gave her one last look.  She thought she saw a glimmer of pity in his eyes before he growled and slammed the door and locked it after him.
 

             
“Great,” she muttered.  “Now what?” 

She slowly stepped over to the window and admired the enormous view of the acres of land and people and animals going on about their daily lives.  She touched
finely sewn
tapestries on the walls and gawked at the enormous bed that took up a good part of the southern wall. 

She lived modestly, paid her bills on time, put a little something in the savings account she had, and tried not to be wasteful.
  But she could not help
from throwing herself through the air to land on her back, sprawled on the bed.  She let out a giggle.
  After endless hours in a hard saddle, it felt so wonderful to lay on a soft bed and stretch.

             
Leith watched from the doorway.
  Maybe she had bumped her head when she landed on him. 
Her delight and awe was apparent.  But i
t was after all just a room.

             
He
smiled to himself and cleared his throat.  Raine jumped up and gave him a frown.  “What?”

             
“You are quite rude, lady,” he drawled as he headed her way.  Sauntered, more like it, she thought.  Long legs clad in skin tight leather that did nothing to hide his family jewels
brought him towards her
.  He had removed his outer jacket and was wearing a billowing pirate-like shirt with a deep V that showed the sprinkling of hair on a very bronze chest. 

“You stare, lady.”

             
Raine blinked and made a gruff noise in her throat.  She tore her eyes away from that chest and lifted her chin. 

“I am not accustomed to large men sneaking up behind me.”
 

He said nothing
,
but his slightly cocky smile turned into a hard glare.

             
“Why am I here?” Maybe she could soothe the moment if she talked. 

             
His blue eyes stayed on her.  “
T
his is my home…your home.” 

She swallowed. 
She already had a home.  Her home. 
She was still trying to figure out how she traveled through time to end up in medieval Scotland. 

             
Nonchalantly, she fingered the bedspread and asked, “What year is it?”  She peeked at him beneath her lashes and hoped he did not try to put her in the dungeon
for insanity.

             
He did look at her strangely but answered, “It is the year
of our Lord
1555.”  He watched her.

             
She exhaled and seemed to shrink in front of his eyes.
  Her temples began to ache.  Surely this was just a dream.  She had a
life;
she had a job, a cat even.  The big Scotsman continued to look at her like she was a specimen under a microscope.  She shifted on the bed. 

“Can you…I m
ean, do you….um, is there a – a –
a –
“She
always stuttered when she was nervous. 

He tilted his head to the side, waiting.

             
She decided to blurt it out.  “I need a doctor.” 

He was on his knees before she had time to look down.  “What is wrong?  Are you hurt?” 

He started squeezing her arms, legs, hands, craning her neck this way and that as he searched.  She batted his hands away.

             
“No, I just need to see a doctor.  You do have one here
?
I
n this place?” 

He took offense.  “Of course, my lady.  We are quite civilized here, I assure you.”  His blue eyes were cold.  “I shall sen
d a servant to fetch him for ye
immediately.”  And then he was gone.

             
She let out a breath.  She had not meant to anger him
,
but she had to a medical opinion to confirm to herself that this place, this land, that
she
was still real.