Love Beyond Time (Morna's Legacy Series) (20 page)

The ring was buried with his father. He’d known it all along but had wished ardently that he was wrong, that perhaps his father had removed the ring from his finger before death.

He couldn’t do this himself. He knew he wasn’t that strong. Even going to the gravesite seemed impossible to him, but the ring had to be found.

His stomach rolling uncomfortably, he made his way down to the stables to enlist help from the runaway, now under Kip’s command. He hadn’t bothered to learn the lad’s name. He didn’t trust something about the fellow and didn’t expect him to stay long enough for it to be worth learning.

When Arran entered the stables, Kip was leaning back against the doorway, looking pleased as he watched his new worker shovel out manure.

“Kip, may I speak with ye a moment?” Arran didn’t approach the stable. He wasn’t ready to enter after the gruesome mess he’d been forced to clean.

“Aye, o’course ye can.” The old man pushed himself off of the doorway and made his way to Arran.

“Kip, do ye mind if I borrow the stable lad for the rest of the day? I have an unpleasant task that I’d rather no do meself if I can have someone do it for me.”

“Aye, there’s no much for the lad to do here anyway. We’ve fewer horses now, and I managed just fine on me own. Ye are welcome to use him as long as ye wish.”

“Thank ye, Kip. Send him to the graveyard.”

Arran turned before he could see the questioning look on Kip’s face as he solemnly marched toward his father’s grave.

They dug for hours, each shovel of dirt opening the poorly sealed wound of grief that crossed right through the center of Arran’s heart. When they finally hit the wooden box set low beneath the ground, Arran dropped his shovel and faced the man beside him.

“Ye are to get inside the box and get the ring on his right hand. Doona disturb anything else that ye find inside the coffin. Once ye have it, make sure that the box is closed before ye ask me to come help ye fill in the hole. I doona want to see anything inside it.”

“What makes ye think I do? I doona want to upset a man’s resting place.”

Arran grabbed the man roughly, shoving him against the side of the deep hole. “I doona care what ye want to be doing. Ye can either do as I’ve asked ye, or we can send ye back where ye came from.”

Arran didn’t wait for the man’s response as he crawled out of the hole and sat on the grassy patch next to his mother’s grave, covering his eyes to push away the memories each thrust of his shovel had dug up.

* * *

Even Laird Kinnaird wouldn’t have asked him to dig up a man once he’d been buried. It was mighty bad luck.

But as he pushed away the heavy lid on top of the box, he saw an opportunity that pushed all of his guilt away. For upon the decaying remnants of Alasdair Conall’s right hand were two rings.

The first was a thin band topped with a wide oval. Noting the feminine look to its setting, he determined that this was most assuredly the ring that Arran sought. The second was larger and held the seal of the Conall clan, a signet which Alasdair most likely used to seal and sign letters. It was this ring that caught the man’s interest. Such an item would be of great use to Laird Kinnaird, a way to swing the odds of the upcoming battle even further into his master’s favor.

Turning his head, he reached and removed the rings as quickly as possible, holding the first in the palm of his hand and silently slipping the second away, out of sight.

Chapter 29

Present Day

“I don’t know where else to look, but we have to find that damned ring. It’s only two more weeks until the anniversary, and I will not let her be left there.” Adelle sat down. Dirty, exhausted, and on the verge of panic, she placed her head in her hands to cry.

She was surprised to feel Blaire’s arm come around her shoulder to offer her comfort. “Doona worry, we will find it.”

“Yes, we will. I can’t allow myself to consider that we won’t. She’s my only child, Blaire. She’s all I have, all I’ve ever had. She’s the only person I’ve ever known that could put up with my flakiness and still love me. I was never the mother I should’ve been to her, and I won’t fail her now.”

“Oh, ye should no say such things. I doona believe that Bri thinks that ye were a terrible mother. Why, ye have treated me with more kindness and allowed me more freedom than anyone I’ve ever known.”

Adelle lifted her head and patted Blaire on the knee. “Thank you for that. I’m so glad that you’ve been here to help. And you’ve handled everything beautifully. You’re a wonderful girl. Now, we have to think about where else the ring could be. Everything else on site has already been excavated and is in the Edinburgh museum, and the collection of items does not include the ring.”

“We know that the spell book is powerful. Tis what brought me here and sent Bri back in my place. Do ye think tis possible that we could convey a message to yer daughter through it?”

Adelle stood, shaking her head. “I doubt it. I didn’t read a spell for anything like that.”

“I think ye should give it a go, anyhow. Why not write a note to her in the margins of the spell we are working on? Perhaps, she will see it, when she looks at it.”

It was too much to hope for, and Adelle didn’t want to get her hopes up over such a ridiculous possibility. Blaire was trying to help, and it wouldn’t hurt to humor the girl, pointless as the act would be.

“Alright, why not give it a try? I’ll just tell her that we are working on the spell, but we haven’t been able to find the ring.” Adelle opened the spell book and obligingly flipped to the appropriate page.

* * *

Blaire didn’t believe her own suggestion would work any more than Adelle did, but it bothered her to see her new friend so distressed. She couldn’t imagine the pain the woman must be feeling after having her daughter ripped away from her so inexplicably.

She desperately wanted Adelle to get her daughter back. But—just as desperately—she never wanted to return home. She couldn’t bear the thought of it: being married to Eoin and living in the same place as Arran. Every glimpse of him would break her heart all over again.

If Arran didn’t want to be with her, she’d rather stay here in this strange and foreign time, where at the very least it was acceptable to live independently. She would be free to live her life without putting her heart in the hands of someone else. She could live a guarded, simple life all alone. And, with her heart and soul broken, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more.

Even if they found the ring, she wasn’t going to go back. They’d simply have to find a way to bring Bri forward without making a switch.

* * *

1645

I was deliciously sore and as happy as I’d ever been when we set out on our return journey early the next morning. I’d fallen asleep wrapped in his arms, only to be awakened a few hours later by his lips kissing the side of my cheek and trailing down my neck.

I smiled into his lips and faced him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I don’t have the energy to do it again tonight, Eoin. I’m a bit out of practice.”

He kissed the tip of my nose before pulling back to prop himself up on his elbow. “Aye, that may be so. But ye were no a virgin, aye?”

At first I was a bit taken aback by his question. At my age, it seemed odd that he would assume that I was. At second thought, I realized just how surprising it most likely was to him to find that I wasn’t. While most men in this time found themselves in the bed of another far before marriage, any respectable woman would never have let herself be “ruined” before reaching her marriage bed.

“No. I wasn’t. It’s different where I come from. People often have sex before marriage.”

He frowned at my answer. “I see, lass.”

“Does it bother you that I wasn’t?”

“Nay, I canna fault ye for the life that ye lived before ye came into my life. But, I’ll nay say it pleases me. Thinking of another man holding ye and touching ye as I just have stirs a rather dreadful feeling in my chest. I’d like to bludgeon the lad that did so.”

I smiled, pleased at his jealousy. “All three of them?”

He sat completely upright in the bed. “Three! My God, Bri! Tell me, lass, were ye a harlot in the time ye came from?”

It was my turn to frown. “No, I was not! I can assure you that for someone my age that is a very respectable number! Just ask Mitsy! She’s got me beat for sure!”

“What’s a Mitsy, lass?”

“Mitsy is a person. A friend. Who, come to think of it, is probably worried sick about me.”

He lay back down and draped an arm over me as he snuggled in closely. “I’m sorry, lass. I suspect there are a good many things that I doona know about ye that would surprise me.”

“Yes, I’m sure there are. We are from different worlds, Eoin.”

“Aye, lass. But for now, they are the same world, and that’s all I can bear to think of now.”

* * *

I thought back on those words as I rode in front of him, now only a short distance from arriving back at Conall Castle, as we could see it in the distance. It surprised me how much I could relate to what he’d said. I found it hard to think of our worlds separating, as well.

Thankfully Eoin pulled on Griffin’s reins, slowing him to a stop before I could allow my thoughts to descend so negatively. He said nothing as he dismounted, turning to lift me off of the horse.

He dragged me until my back was against the side of a tree and his mouth was on mine.

After kissing me ruthlessly, he pulled back, his eyes hungry. “When we get back to the castle, we shall all be busy with preparations. I doona want to end this constant companionship with ye, and I must take ye once more before we arrive at the castle.

I reached forward to pull him toward me, gladly fulfilling his desire.

* * *

God, he wished he could spend his life buried deep inside her. He leaned forward, deeply breathing in the smell of her hair as the breeze lightly lifted it toward him. Each time he made love to her, he found himself wanting to go deeper, to claim every inch of her, to melt her with himself so that she would stay his forever.

In past experience he’d found that once he slept with a lass his fascination was gone, that having her for one night was enough. Not with Bri. She’d captured a part of him he’d never lent to anyone, and if he let her go, he knew that she would take that part of him with her when she returned home.

He squeezed her tightly around the middle as they pulled reins at the stables where Kip was waiting for them, ready to care for the travel-worn Griffin.

As they made their way up to the castle, hand-in-hand, Eoin caught sight of Mary waiting at the entrance. Mary glared at him as she saw him and quickly called Bri to join her, for there was something she wanted to discuss with her.

Knowing better than to deny Mary, Eoin squeezed Bri’s hand, encouraging her to leave him. As the two women entered the castle, worry started to build. Whatever Mary was going to tell Bri, he had a feeling it wasn’t going to mean anything good for himself.

Chapter 30

I was definitely about to get into trouble. For what, I had no idea. But from the look on Mary’s face I could tell she was not overjoyed to see us back at the castle.

She didn’t let go of my hand, nor did she stop moving until we reached Morna’s spell room deep below the castle. Once inside, she released my hand and pointed to the wooden stool in the corner.

“Sit.”

I finally understood how my kindergarteners felt when they had to sit out during recess. “Is everything alright, Mary?”

“Nay, lass. What exactly do ye think yer doing?”

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what she was talking about. “I don’t think I’m doing anything. What’s the matter with you?”

“What’s the matter with me, lass? What’s the matter with ye? Ye and Eoin were up to no good while ye were away, and doona try to tell me that ye were no.”

I couldn’t repress a smile. “Define ‘no good.’”

“Ach! Why, ye have been tupping, and enjoying every bit of it, have ye no?”

There was no reason I should’ve felt guilty for my recent activities with my sort-of husband, but Mary was quickly succeeding in making me feel so. It instantly made me defensive. “I don’t believe that’s any of your business, Mary.”

“Oh, ye doona think that it is, do ye? Well, pardon me, but while ye’ve been away, the whole castle has been running ragged trying to find the ring for the spell so that ye can return home, and ye go off and act like ye no want to go.”

“I do want to go home,” I paused, unsure if I believed my own words. “I think.”

“Aye, there ye go, lass. That’s the first truth ye’ve spoken. Ye doona know if ye want to go home. And would ye like me to tell ye why that is, lass?”

“I feel quite sure you’re going to anyway.” I smiled, but she seemed unamused.

“Aye, that I will, lass. Ye doona know if ye want to go home because ye have let yerself fall in love with Eoin. How could ye be so foolish? Ye know that it canna be so.”

I stood, feeling angry and inexplicably on the verge of tears. “It’s not like I meant to fall in love with him, Mary. Have you seen him? I don’t think I had much say in the matter at all. And why can’t it be so? If I look just like Blaire, what’s the problem with me staying?”

“Ach, lass, I doona know the lass well, but I expect that Blaire is ready to return home. I’m sure she’s right scared out o’ her mind being trapped in yer strange time, where she’s most likely been forced to dress with cloth that rises up between her legs! Not to mention that yer own mother is desperate to have ye back!”

I was sure that my heart nearly stopped at the mention of my mother. “Wait! Why would you say that about my mother?”

Mary reached for the spell book, which still lay open on the table, and thrust it in my direction.

“She wrote to ye. Look around the edges of the spell. I noticed it when I was down here looking for the damned ring. A handwriting I dinna recognize caught my eye. I could no read it, o’ course, but I had Arran come and look, and he told me what she said. She’s working on the spell too, Bri. And she needs the ring as well. She’s worried sick that ye might not be safe.”