A Slip In Time (31 page)

Julia found her voice clogged with
emotion and her eyes stinging with tears. She wished to hug the
crusty Scotsman who’d gone a “wee bit” soft. Instead, she reached
out and squeezed his arm warmly.

“Thank you, Mr. McNab.”

“Angus.”

“Angus.” She smiled.

On reaching the Long Gallery they found Mrs.
McGinty and Betty waiting at the far end, near her chamber
door.

They greeted Julia with a mixture of
courtesy and curiosity, leaving her to wonder how extensive an
explanation Lord Muir might have offered them. Mrs. McGinty still
held herself with rigid composure, but the lines in her face had
softened. Betty offered her a ready smile, as ever, though Julia
noticed she plucked nervously at her apron and stared back at her
with eyes rounded wide.

As Julia and Angus joined them, she felt the
need to offer some explanations of her own.

“I understand Lord Muir
has informed you of the unusual activities — that is to say,
the
paranormal
activities — that have been occurring in the tower
bedchamber. I can assure you there is nothing of which to be
fearful. There are no ghostly manifestations for which your
Scottish castles are so famous. This phenomenon is entirely
different. If you have any questions, I will be pleased to answer
them for you.”

Betty twisted her apron in her hands.
“H-his lordship has set out instruments in your chamber, Miss. He
suggested — if you have no objection that is — of course, I imagine
you do—”

Mrs. McGinty placed a quieting hand on
Betty’s arm and continued for her. “Lord Muir suggested Betty and I
keep company with you this evening and observe for ourselves the
instruments’ recordings. If that is agreeable to you, Miss
Hargrove.”

“Yes, I believe that is a fine idea.”
Julia turned to Angus. “Would you care to witness the time slip,
also?”

“Me? Oh, nay, miss. ‘Twouldn’t be
proper.” He took several steps back, fidgeting with the buttons on
his jacket and scratching his whiskers. “And besides, I must be
attending his lordship. Indeed, ‘tis time to be checking on
Himself.” Slipping a glance at his pocketwatch, his brambly brows
rose high. “Ach, see there. What did I tell ye? Far past time.”
Angus hastened swiftly down the gallery and out of
sight.

Julia chuckled to herself as she
turned toward her chamber and entered in. Mrs. McGinty and Betty
followed with marked reserve, darting uneasy glances around the
room.

As the threesome waited over the next few
hours, Betty fluttered about, fussing with this and that, scarcely
able to contain her emotions. Mrs. McGinty sat in a chair by the
fire, calmly embroidering a fine linen handkerchief.

Sooner than Julia anticipated, the air
grew heavy. She rose from her place on the bed and gestured for the
other women to gather around the instruments. Amazement lit their
faces as they watched the needles jump.

As the room shifted before her eyes, Julia
looked to the fireplace. Rae stood there smiling, consuming her
with his look.

“Would ye like tae gae for
a stroll along the burn,
mo cáran?”
He held out his hand for her.

Forgetting all else, Julia smiled.
“Yes, I would love to.”

Taking his hand, she walked by his side and
passed through the arched door, onto the stairwell. Julia halted,
looking with some concern to Rae.

“Is there somethin’ wrong, my
heart?”

“I hope not.” Julia turned back to the
door, worried that she’d not prepared the women for the nature of
her departure. Poor Betty might not survive the shock of seeing her
pass through a stone wall.

Reentering the chamber, Julia glanced to the
empty space where the women had stood just seconds before. A
whimper drew her gaze downward.

There on the floor she discovered Betty,
kneeling beside Mrs. McGinty who had fainted dead away.

Rae rode for Dunraven at the head of
his men, vexed by the wasted day searching for naught, vexed to be
arriving back to the keep far later than he’d hoped.

As the light fell, a number of his men
continued to search the surrounding hills, avowing ‘twas the best
of nights to do so, for they would have the advantage of the full
light of the moon.

The Full Moon. He must reach Dunraven
before time slipped. He’d not lose one precious moment with Julia.
Where had the last days flown? He’d spent as much of them as
possible with Julia, cheering her with several brief outings,
loving her thoroughly. But the duties of lairdship intruded with
demands, binding his time. Reivers had struck yet again, drawing
him away early this morn.

Curse them. And curse the dissensions
that continued to divide his men. Iain helped matters not at all
with his harping to ride after the Camerons and blood their
swords.

Och, what had come over Iain? Wild, he
was — rash, unruly, and, Rae was beginning to think, a touch mad.
Of equal concern, Iain possessed a fiery persuasiveness that
stirred the men’s blood and captured their minds, winning them to
his constricted way of thinking.

Rae pressed his garron on, grim
thoughts crowding.

‘Twas no secret there were those
amongst his clansmen who lamented he, not Iain, was laird. Iain
exuded warlike characteristics that Highlanders prized so greatly
in their chieftains — daring, bold, aggressive, brave. Added to
this, Iain’s reddish brown hair and stature reflected strongly of
their esteemed father, Alasdair. Rae was ever mindful his clansmen
had expected Iain to step into their father’s shoes as Third Laird
of Dunraven.

If some thought to depose him, Rae
knew ‘twould not be the first time a new leader was unseated for a
perceived lack of warrior prowess. But Rae stoutly believed one
needed solid cause to spill clan blood, and certainly proof of a
grievance.

The Mackinnons would risk
much to recklessly attack the Camerons of Lochiel. They were a clan
of considerable size. Iain, he knew, would argue back that Rae had
gone soft as a
sassenach
in London Tower and had lost his capacity for a
good brawl. Even now, his brother remained with those who searched
for the trail of the reivers, and, in Iain’s case, for more than
cattle, but for a few Camerons as well.

If Rae was not quick to rise to a
fight and unsheathe his sword, ‘twas with reason. A week past, he
and his men had discovered carcasses in a nearby cave. One would
think the thieves, burdened with cattle, would choose to follow the
old paths that crisscrossed the fingerlike glens and which offered
an easy escape south toward Perth, or west toward Cameron lands, or
north to the Dee. Instead, the cave lay east in a place not easily
accessible.

‘Twas obvious someone had feasted
there, but the bones were not new enough to belong to cattle just
lifted. Nor were they so very old.

Donald brought up the subject of James
Graham and his conspirators hiding in the Highlands both before
and after the king’s murder. Donald ventured that possibly not all
the conspirators had been seized after all, that there were others
who had been part to the plans and aided the murderers who might
now be still hiding in the surrounding glens and
mountains.

This raised many a brow and Iain was
quick to ridicule Donald’s assessment, which was typical enough
for Iain to do. But the theory continued to prey upon Rae’s mind
ever since. ‘Twas the best explanation put forth thus far.
Remembering the recountings of the brutal tortures inflicted on
Graham, Atholl, and their followers — some administered by Queen
Joan herself — Rae sincerely hoped none of his own clan had abetted
the murderers after they fled Blackfriars in Perth.

Dunraven came into sight. Long moments
later, Rae rode into the courtyard, feeling sweaty and smelling of
horses for having spent his day in the saddle. On entering the
hall, he ordered a hot bath to be set up in his room and drew a
cup of heather ale.

Grumblings rippled round over the
effort this would take, lugging the tub and water upstairs. Beitris
complained ‘twas late to ask such a thing.

The pressures of the day and the
uncertainty of the future suddenly slammed into Rae full force.
After tonight, the reivers would remain, but his Julia would not.
He’d not make love to her on this, most likely their last night,
smelling of horse and leather.

“I am still laird, am I no’?” he
snapped, sending the others scurrying about. Rae downed the cup of
ale and headed for the stairs. He arrived at the same time as the
great oaken tub. In short order, it steamed with hot
water.

Bolting the door and stripping away
his clothes, he sank into the tub. Och, but the heat was heavenly.
Closing his eyes, he shed his concerns and relished the moment.
Reaching for the small crock of his aunt’s soft heather soap, he
began scrubbing himself.

He’d need soothe Beitris’s ruffled
feathers, but, for now, all he wanted to do was soak his aching
muscles and make himself pleasing for Julia.

As Rae lathered his hair, he
envisioned Julia behind his closed lids. Feeling for the small
pitcher beside the tub, he grasped it then scooped up the water to
rinse away the soap. At last, he rested, sinking further down in
the heated water, his arms braced atop the tub’s rim.

Soon, the familiar weightiness charged the
air, thickening it. His pulse began to pound solidly in
anticipation. Pulling open his eyes, he found Julia standing before
him, returned across Time.

His mouth went dry at the sight of
her, a vision of gold, her pale hair tumbling past her shoulders,
reaching near to her waist. She wore a thin, flowing gown, gilded
by firelight — nay, no gown, but a robe woven of a soft, clinging
material from her time. A single ribbon secured it at her waist,
the open neckline revealing the creamy flesh and silken swells of
her breasts.

Julia sent him a smile, a
tremulous smile he thought. Could she yet be shy or nervous before
him at the prospect of their making love? But then her gaze turned
toward the unshuttered window where the moon climbed the sky.
Moisture glazed her eyes and he well understood her distress. ‘Twas
a blade in his own heart that Time would
soon
close its door between them.

But tonight would be
theirs, each and every moment Time would yield, and he’d love
her
completely — long and well.

Rae rose, water sluicing off of him as
he stepped from the tub and stood before his love. He pleasured in
how her eyes traveled over him, downward and back again, taking in
the full sight of him. She moistened her lips then smiled as she
lifted her bewitching green gaze to his. Och, but she was a woman
ready for lovin ‘— his lovin’. The sweetness of that thought
swelled through him, quickening the beat of his heart.

He caught up the linen
folded beside the tub, and began toweling himself as he crossed
the short distance between them. Smiling, but still silent, Julia
drew the cloth from his hand and began blotting his chest and
throat and shoulders. She then followed the same path with her
lips, spreading warm kisses over his flesh
, sometimes
diverting to catch the droplets of water with the tip of her tongue
and to trace a pattern over his skin
.

“Teach me, Rae,” she
whispered against him, then rose on tiptoe to
press a kiss beneath his jaw.

“Teach ye, love?” Rae touched her
bright hair, skimming his palms downward over its golden
fall.

Julia caught his hands in hers and brought
them to the slender ribbon at her waist.

“Teach me how to pleasure you, as you
do me.” She began strewing more kisses over his chest.

“Ye are all
pleasure,
mo cáran,
the sight and feel and joy of ye.”

“Truly, Rae, I want us both to
remember this night always. I want to give you the greatest joy,
know every part of you, and hold tonight’s memories forever in my
heart.”

Rae read the love and sincerity in her eyes,
and the undisguised passion there, too.

“Aye, we shall share the greatest joy
together and leave no secrets between us this night,” he vowed
softly.

Drawing his gaze to where his hands
rested at her waist, he tugged the ribbon free and drew aside the
wisp of material, slipping it from her shoulders and arms. His
heart caught at the perfection of her naked beauty. As he continued
to drink in the sight of her, the robe pooled at their feet and
disappeared.

Lovingly, Rae caressed her breasts, brushing
his thumbs over the soft peaks, then bent to sample each. Sweet, so
sweet. Julia would have her wish. Neither of them would be denied
the least pleasure on this, their last night.

Lifting her in his arms, Rae carried her to
the fireplace, apart of the tub. Fortunately, he’d had the
foresight to lay out a fur on the chest earlier. Catching it with
one hand, he tossed it to the floor before the hearth, then sank
with Julia onto his knees.

Their tongues mated, spared and parried,
their desires mounting as they knelt before the fire. Rae urged her
to follow his lead and they began exploring one another’s body,
mapping the contours with their lips, kissing, tasting, seeking one
another’s pleasure points.