A Slip In Time (26 page)

She scrambled to retrieve the key, but as
she reached for it, the piece vanished from sight.

Julia straightened, feeling the change in
the air and finding the door had disappeared. Still she could hear
Lord Eaton calling her name and the heavy clump of his boots.

He would appear momentarily and, no matter
in which time she stood within the chamber, he would still be able
to find and seize her. Her pulse beating erratically, Julia rushed
across the room for the arched door and passed through its portal
and onto the stairwell.

Closing the door firmly, she heaved for
breath and braced herself against the wall. Time had shifted much
earlier than expected. But that also meant Rae must be near in
order for the phenomenon to have occurred.

Her spirit rising, she held the torn pieces
of her bodice together and hastened down the stairs in search of
him.

»«

Roger Dunnington stalked into Julia’s
bedchamber, blood still on his lips. He swiped it away, moving
deeper into the room.

The floral scent of her perfume
lingered in the air, yet the chamber stood empty. He prowled its
confines, peering under the bed and throwing open the
armoire.

“Where are you?” he
growled.

Silence answered.

There could be but one explanation,
something he’d suspected all along — a secret passage. Likely, it
led to his uncle’s bedchamber.

They’d not get away with their little
deception any longer, Roger vowed to himself. Julia was probably
crying in his uncle’s arms this very moment. What better time to
catch the two in an indisputable and scandalous
situation?

Roger quit the chamber for the
marquis’s room, emboldened.

When he was done, he’d have his boon
from both of them — funds from his tight-fisted uncle, and from
Julia . . . Roger smiled as he envisioned her creamy flesh, naked
beneath him.

»«

Julia lingered in the alcove at the
base of the stairs, debating whether or not to leave its shelter.
Lord Eaton might be able to see her once she stepped into the hall
— that is, through the wall of the keep to the outside
grounds.

During her latest outing with Rae, Sir
Henry and Mr. Thornsbury had watched the keep from without, yet
never saw her emerge from the tower or pass down the road. Nor did
they see her return, though they kept vigil for hours.

It would seem, during the course of a
time slip, once Julia passed beyond the chamber into the stairwell,
she truly stepped into the past and was no longer visible to anyone
in her own time. Similarly, it was only in her room that she could
see Lord Muir and any others present. Once beyond its walls, she
perceived only those living in Rae’s time.

Still, Julia feared to
trust this assessment, for the time slip phenomena was
notoriously
unpredictable. It could differ from
experience to experience, witness to witness, as Lord Muir had
amply demonstrated in the many cases he had recounted.
D
uring a single time slip, one person
might see into the past while their companion could not. Yet, on a
subsequent occasion, both could witness the event.

No, she must not assume she would be
invisible to Lord Eaton any more than she should assume she would
be able to observe him or his approach. Clutching the ruined pieces
of her gown together over her breast, she held no wish to do battle
with Lord Eaton again this day.

Glancing out into the hall, Julia scanned
the people gathered there, assuming Rae to be near. He must be, she
reasoned, or the shift could not take place. Still, her spirits
slipped when she failed to spy him.

Perhaps, he tarried with his men
outside, unaware time had shifted early. She took comfort in the
thought, confident he would come soon.

Julia continued to gaze into the hall,
watching a grandmotherly woman bestow treats from her hearth on
two carrot-topped children. As the mites ran to a corner and bit
into their prizes, a blond woman stepped into view. Julia
remembered her from before, beautiful and stately, her gown far
richer than the others.

Julia could not help but wonder who
she might be and what position or relationship she enjoyed in the
castle. A thought drifted to mind, a pricking reminder. Rae would
one day sire a son named Donald who would succeed him as laird and
accomplish great deeds for the clan. When the doors of time
slipped no more for Rae and herself, he would need to choose a wife
and fulfill that portion of his destiny. Might he choose the
blonde?

The thought rankled. Julia knew she must be
unselfish and understanding in this regard. History could not be
altered, Rae must father the child. But for now, he was hers, and
she shut her mind to the reality that he must marry, especially
that he might marry with this woman.

Julia withdrew from the alcove and climbed
the stairs, brambles of jealousy sprouting in her heart. Better
she wait on the steps outside the chamber, than torture herself
below.

She concentrated her thoughts on Rae.
Surely, he was on his way now and would join her in the coming
minutes. Even then, she did not intend to reenter the room until
the last possible moment, lest Lord Eaton lay in wait there, with
or without Lord Muir and his associates.

As Julia completed her climb, she
noticed a small niche with a pretty porcelain pitcher tucked in it.
Strange, she thought, that these Scots would place such an object
in a stairwell. Examining it closer, she saw that something lay
behind the pottery, something white. Her curiosity piqued, she
lifted the vase from its place only to find her corset where Rae
had hidden it.

Triumphant, Julia reclaimed the garment.
Other than needing new lacings, it appeared in perfect condition.
She pondered that as she seated herself on the step near the
chamber door.

Amazingly, the piece had traveled
intact from one century to another without problem, held in Rae’s
grasp. Evidently, once the door between times had closed, Rae had
been able to physically put down the corset without having it
disappear, even though it was no longer under the influence of his
stone. Julia found this fascinating. It stood to reason, if she
kept hold of the corset, she could travel forward with it in time.
Her greatest challenge lay in concealing her find from
Rae.

But that was also the least of her
problems, she sighed, glancing down to her dress. How would she
explain its damage, a tear reaching a good ten inches from the
neckline downward over her left breast. Thankfully, her camisole
and combination had not been torn and granted her a modicum of
modesty.

Thankfully, also, neither Rae nor Lord
Eaton could see or confront one another. She didn’t want to begin
to think of what a fifteenth-century Highlander might do to
vindicate his lady’s honor.

She rubbed her arms, a damp chill slipping
into her bones in the unheated stairwell. Somewhere unseen, a bird
twittered outside the high, slitted window. The sky appeared
overcast there. How she wished she could see out and perhaps locate
Rae.

Julia rested her head against the stone
wall, her thoughts drifting as her wait stretched out. The sun
brightened, emerging from behind a cloud and sending shafts of
light lancing through the windows, striking the wall and glancing
down the steps. As Julia watched the shifting light, something
sparkled on the steps below, netting her attention.

Laying the corset aside, Julia rose
and moved down the stairs. Even at a distance, she suspected it to
be a large gemstone. Her pulses quickened as she recognized Rae’s
talisman, its silver chain sprawled over the steps,
broken.

Julia’s heart plummeted. Rae
was not connected to the stone. He might not even
be at Dunraven. Had he returned safely last night? Without the
stone, their link was severed across time.

Still, time
had
shifted, she
reminded herself. She need only to retrieve the talisman and put it
in a place easy and logical for him to find. She hurried down the
stairwell, intent on recovering the stone. The chain must have
broken and dropped from his neck. She wondered if he even realized
it was gone.

As she neared the stone, a woman’s
voice sounded at the entrance to the alcove, seeming to give
orders. In the next instant, the blonde appeared and started up
the stairs toward Julia. The woman paused, her gaze lifting in the
direction of Rae’s bedchamber door. She smiled and smoothed her
gown, tugging down its neckline to expose more cleavage. Julia
blinked, realizing the woman was more than a little interested in
Rae Mackinnon.

The blonde started up the
stairs again, then halted as her gaze fell on the
talisman, gleaming
upon the step
before her. Julia’s heart leapt as the woman bent to pick it
up.

Racing down the few remaining steps,
Julia grabbed for the stone, colliding with the woman and
propelling her against the wall. An audible “oof” escaped the
blonde, but she managed to hold fast to the chain and stone. As she
clutched it in her hand, her eyes widened as Julia materialized
before her eyes.

Screaming, the blonde threw her hands
in the air, dropping the stone. But just as suddenly, she stopped
and darted a look all around, obviously unable to see Julia
anymore. Her mouth opened wide again and she ran shrieking down the
stairs and into the hall.

Julia’s heart beat light and fast but
she collected her thoughts long enough to recover the stone and
fold it safely in her palm.

“Rae, where are you?” she pleaded
softly as she returned to sit by the chamber door.

Several people appeared from the hall and
made a brief and nervous check of the stairwell. From below, Julia
still could hear the blonde crying out a stream of Gaelic.

“He will come,” Julia assured herself,
leaning against the wall. And if he did not appear before time
slipped, she would step through the door at the last possible
moment and leave the stone on his pillow.

The minutes passed slowly. Waiting, she
watched the sky alter its mood, darkening as rain began to fall
without.

Shivering, Julia hugged herself for warmth,
then yawned. As she listened to the babble in the hall, her eyelids
fluttered shut.

The voices melted together then faded as a
grogginess overcame her, and she drifted into a light sleep.

»«

Julia wakened with a start to pitch darkness
and stale, dank air. She knew at once, time had shifted, sealing
her in the ancient stairwell.

She started to rise, then remembered
Rae’s talisman. It was no longer in her hand nor on her lap.
Quickly, she felt the stone surrounding her, thinking it must have
slipped from her fingers while she slept. A part of her prayed she
wouldn’t find it, that it had remained in Rae’s time for him to
find and for time to slip again.

Her fingers closed on something smooth and
sticklike in the dark, a small pile of them. She recoiled, her
breath leaving her as she realized the sticks to be bones.

She scooted back, gasping the musty air. But
a moment later she regained her wits, and realized what she felt
were the remains of her corset, the garment having disintegrated
as it came forward in time.

Her hands shaking, she reached out
again and fingered the “bones.” She took a swallow and calmed
herself. Yes, these were corset stays, nineteen of them.

Julia began to search again for Rae’s
stone and had worked her way down several steps, when she heard
something scuttling about in the dark, further down. She retreated
back to where she had begun.

Her gaze lifted to the window where the moon
shed its soft, glowing light.

“Rae,” she whispered softly, her heart
cleaved in two.

Please God, let the stone
be with him,
she prayed. For if it was
not, there would be no hope of ever finding him again across time.
And she would remain trapped in the stairwell of Dunraven’s ancient
keep forever.

Rae arrived at Dunraven ahead of his
men and dismounted, tossing the garron’s reins to little Eamonn,
who dashed forward to greet him.

Rae headed toward the keep, looking
neither right nor left and certainly not back. His men’s bickerings
still rang in his ears. Let them have it out amongst
themselves.

He had no answer for what they’d
found, or insight into who was responsible. But likewise, he wanted
an end to the dissensions that embroiled his men and most
especially his brothers. He’d not lead them out to pick a fight
with the Camerons, as Iain insisted he do. As to Donald’s theories,
they troubled him deeply and needed more thought.

If the past hours had not been
calamitous enough, he’d been unable to return to the castle in time
to meet Julia, and even worse, he’d discovered his healing stone
gone from around his neck.

Rae lengthened his stride,
the thought ravaging him anew. He
must
find the stone, or Julia would
be lost to him forever. If he must retrace every step, turn over
every rock where he’d trod this past day, he would and
more.

But a black fear clutched at him,
warning the stone could be anywhere, mayhap never to be
found.

Entering the hall, Rae found those within
gabbling excitedly like a flock of ruffled geese. On seeing him,
their movements and chatterings ceased. For all of two heartbeats.
Half rushed forward while the others hung back, anxious looks
scoring their faces.