Prescribed for Love (2 page)

***

Keith
knocked on his sister’s door, but
let himself
in
when
Cat
failed to answer.
He reasoned
s
he
must
have been delayed by the train—
her particular branch of
the
green line never seemed to run on time.
Looking around the unit, he saw Cat had managed to pack almost all of her belongings.
Rather than waste time wai
ting for her, he started to load
the truck.

Once Keith
finished filling the back, he tried calling
Cat’s
cell;
he hung up upon
hearing
her
voicemail
.
He really did not want to wait around for her—he wanted
to beat the worst of the traffic
.
After a brief mental debate,
Keith
decided he
could
come back for Cat after rush hour
.
By that time, she may have even managed to finish packing. He grabbed one more
box to put in
t
he passenger seat.
Sheesh
, what’s in this
thing
? Bricks?
Looking in the box, Keith saw all of his sister’s
romance novels—or lady-porn, as he liked to call them. No real man expressed his emotions the way all these Fabios
did
.
Keith had tried to argue this point with her once, but Cat had just called him an ‘emotionally-challenged dimwit incapable of relating to anything with an intellect beyond the scope of a rock.’ He then had asked is she was PMSing. Keith was still surprised he had lived through that evening.

Making a mental note to give Cat a ha
rd time about the books
later, he carried the box into the hall and then
retrieved his
keys
from his back pocket. As he locked the door behind him,
i
t never even occurred to
Keith
t
hat he had not needed to use a
key
when he first entered
.

***

Scotland,
Duart Castle
, 1412

“
Ach las
s
ie
, how are ye feeling?” asked
Alasdair
MacLean
.

“
I am well enough
,” replied his
sister
. He smiled sadly upon hearing her answer
.
Ailsa was ten years his junior, so Alasdair had always been protective of her well-being
.
But, just as he always tried to save her from any harm, she always tried to save him from any grief. Her reply belittling her current illness was a perfect demonstration.

Ov
er the past
months,
Alasdair
had
watched in dismay as his sister
had grown
increasingly
ill.
While life had not been easy since
becoming
laird, nothing
weighed as heavily on his shoulders
as wat
ching his sister waste away
.
Helpless to do anything himself
,
Alasdair
had sent for every healer within the area, but none had
wrought any improvement
.

Having grown d
esperate
,
Alasdair
had
recently
begun to take
more
notice of
rumors
among his clan
.
The gossip told of a witch living almost as a hermit in a hut about a
half
day’s ride from here.
She was reported to have preternatural
knowledge of the magical realm
, but
Alasdair
had always dismissed these murmurings as
nonsense
.
However, looking at the gaunt figure of his once robust sister,
he decided it was t
ime to take a chance.

“Where are ye going?”
asked
Ailsa
at his abrupt departure
.

“To see the witch.”

***

Catriona
opened her eyes,
confused by her
terrible headache.
As she tried to clear the blurriness from
her vision, she remembered hitting her head.
Ugh, I hope Keith didn’t see that—he’ll tease me ruthlessly
.
Now able to
focus
, Cat began
to scan the room to ensure
her brother had not been witness to her clumsiness.  However, her perusal only resulted in
further confusion
.
Where
in
the
hell am I?
Looking aro
und, she found herself inside
an incredibly rustic hut.
The building
seemed to contain only the one room she currently occupied
.
Sure, her studio apartment had not been very spacious, but this was absurd!
Everything looked to be handmade, but not in that
‘
shabby-chic
’
way that had been so recently popular.
This place i
s practically medieval!

She was prevented from f
urther inspection when
the hut’s only door swung open
without warning
.
Catriona
was completely transfixed
by
the appearance of
an incredibly large man
within the doorway
.
The
herculean figure
before her
was not only well-built, but gorgeous to boot!
He had a chiseled jaw and blue eyes in which a woman could drown
if she gazed too long
.
While Cat normally preferred short hair on a man, his long
, sandy-blonde hair
just
begged to be touched.
She had to fight the urge to lick her lips as her inspection continued to the
opening of his linen shirt
.
My goodness
!
The man has chesticles!
L
etting h
er eyes drift even further
, she
was surprised to see the man was
wearing a ki
lt and a
ll the appropriate accoutrements
.

Laughing to herself as she observed the man’s large sword (and the do
uble entendre
it suggested
) Cat
came to a conclusion
.
There was only one
reason why a man so perfectly mol
ded
and dressed as he
would be before her
—
she was dreaming
.
I must have hit my head harder than I thought!

***

Since the witch was taking the time to so thoroughly inspect him,
Alasdair
returned the favor
.
He had expected a woman with her purported knowledge to
be an old crone. Instead, a woman barely older than his sister sat before him
.
Granted,
she could be using her magic to keep her visage so young
.

As the witch rose from her chair,
Alasdair
observed
she
was incredibly petite; her head would barely reach his shoulder if she were to stand next to him.
Her face had a pleasant heart shape, framed with brunette locks.
But, that was where the normalcy ended.

Alasdair
frowned as he took note of her attire.
She was wearing one of the strangest caps
he
had ever seen. The dark object fit tightly on her
head
, but
was then topped with
a flat square resting on her crow
n; there was even an odd
tassel hanging from the center.
Her
gown matched the ridiculous bonnet
in its oddness
.
The garment
was also black, but unlike the cap, di
d not conform to her body
.
At first, he thought its
purpose must be
modesty, but upon seeing an indecent amount of her
shapely
calves, he dismissed
the notion.

The witch’
s attire worried
Alasdair
;
he sincerely hoped the woman was not
as
deranged
as her appearance
. Lifting his
head to
meet
her eyes, he was somewhat reassured by the keen intellect
revealed within their dark depths
.
Determined to explore every possibility
to help his sister, no matter how unlikely it may seem
, he asked
,
“Will ye come with me?
I have need of yer skills.”

“Well, I,
um,” murmured the witch, “Yes.”

“Gather w
hat ye need and meet me outside.”

***

Cat’s first instinct had been to deny the man’
s request,
but then she remembered this entire scenario was just
a very vivid dream.
A
nd in your dreams,
if
a hot, sexy, hunk of man-flesh asks you to go with him—you go
—no questions asked
.
Quickly glancing over
the
various items within the
hut, s
he wo
ndered
what
she would need
.
She considered going out to ask
the man what kind of help he
required
, but
then thought better of it.
Realistically, she would have no idea what to do with
any of the items anyway.

Cat gave the hut one last once-over to ensure she had not missed anything. She was glad she did when her eye was caught by an object on the table—it was
the book she had been reading before this whole fantasy started.
She snickered to herself.
Who knows?
Maybe I’ll have to make some nettle tea to help some poor woman lactate!
Since this was the only item
with which
Cat had any familiarity, she picked it up and started to walk
toward the door
, but paused
when
she felt something hit her side.
Nice! I even have my purse with me!
Sadly, it made perfect sense she had her purse with her, even in a dream;
she never left
home without it.
Cat
always made sure she only carried the ‘abs
olute necessities’ in her purse. So, of course, the bright red bag was the size of a small suitcase
and weighed a ton
.
Feeling content
she could
now handle any
thing
, Cat
added the book to her purse’s content
s
and
went to meet the man outside.

As soon as Cat
came within
arm’s
length
,
he helped her onto his horse, and then
mounted behind her
.
Without any further explanation, t
hey began their
adventure
.
De
termined
to enjoy the dream, Cat
took the time to
observe her surroundings
as they followed a lightly used dirt path
.
She was
awe
struck by the harsh beauty of the land.
She had been living in the city
for so long
Cat
had almost forgotten how wonderful the outdoors could be.
When a faint breeze blew by, she was taken aback by the wonderfully fresh aroma.
Never
before
had Cat had such a detailed dream.

The two
continued their ride in silence as the path began to widen and grow more traveled.
Still content to
soak in the beauty of the scenery
, Cat reclined against the man’s chest
, falling into an almost meditative state
.
But
,
her
peaceful
repose was not to last.
Cat
began to fidget as nature began its call.
Seriously?
I’m relaxing in the arms of the sexiest man I’ve ever seen, and I’m dreaming about have to p
ee—there
is something severely wrong with me!
Unable to ignore the urge any longer she asked, “Can we stop for a few minutes?”