He almost didn’t dare hope for it.
Chapter 31
Emmahad never in her life been so grateful for the sight of a house that didn’t belong to her as she was for the sight of James MacLeod’s little cottage on the edge of the woods. She would have thought she had dreamed the past few days, but the fact that she was filthy suggested otherwise. The fact that she was holding on to a man who looked as if he’d spent almost two weeks in a medieval dungeon was conclusive proof.
She paused, because she wasn’t sure Nathaniel could move much more. He was shaking badly. She didn’t know why the gate had swung open for them so easily and at the moment, she honestly didn’t care. For all she knew, James MacLeod had been standing there in the shadows, key in one hand and treatise onHow to Matchmake Like a Proin the other, and he’d been responsible. She suspected she would only have the answer over blades.
“Can you make my house?” she asked.
“The saints preserve me if I can’t.”
She smiled at him. “My Gaelic isn’t that good, Nathaniel.”
“I think your Gaelic is amazing,” he managed, in English. “At the moment, I think all I can speak ismoan.”
She smiled. “My house or yours?”
“Mine, but let me rest on your porch for a minute or two—actually, nay. We’d best keep going. If I sit, I’ll never get back up.”
“I’ll drive you,” she said.
“Are you mad?” he asked. “I’m not getting in your Audi in my current state.”
“You can sit on the hood.”
He laughed uneasily, then had to stop and cough. He straightened and shook his head. “I need to walk. Just prop me up against that tree there for a minute or two whilst I catch my breath.”
She did, then looked him over. He was filthy and his plaid was disgusting, but he looked more like himself than he had before. She wished she had pockets to put her hands in, but all she could do was hug herself.
They had made it.
She wished she felt more at peace.
“How did you know?” he asked. “Where I was, I mean.”
“Patrick said as much.”
He leaned his head back against the tree and looked up at the sky for a moment or two before he looked at her. “I wonder if you would be open to another brief but fond embrace?”
She nodded. She supposed it would be indiscreet to say anything about how hard he was shaking, or the fact that she’d had to help him put his arms around her, so she simply held on to him and was grateful for it.
He sighed and rested his cheek against her head. “Did you hear my conversation with Jamie?”
“Yes.”
“You wanted to call me a foul name just then, didn’t you?”
“I did,” she agreed. “It’s a testament to how happy I am to see you that I refrained.”
“I wanted to keep you safe.”
“I know.”
“You realize we can’t carry on like this, don’t you?”
She didn’t dare move. “Traveling back and forth in time?”
“Nay, with your chasing me all through the centuries because you simply can’t resist my charming self.”
