Embarrassment heated Mairi’s face as she rushed across the kitchen. “It was the only way I could get him into the car. We were soaked to the skin and needed to get home to a nice hot shower.”
“Okay.” Lilia stretched out the word as though attempting to guide Mairi through a set of difficult instructions. “So . . . how far did you have to up the ante to get him upstairs to your shower?” Her expression shifted to a slyI want every detaillevel.
Heavy footsteps thumped down the back staircase then Ronan stepped into the room with nothing but his plaid wrapped around his waist.
“My my . . . what a beautiful morning. . . .” Lilia rose from her chair and leaned against the counter beside Mairi, openly gawking at Ronan’s muscular expanse of broad chest. She giggled as she elbowed Mairi then smiled at Ronan. “Mairi didn’t say at the shop but I don’t suppose you have a brother?”
“Nay.” Ronan’s brow creased with a confused furrow as he glanced first at Mairi then politely shook his head at Lilia. “I have no brother.”
His deep voice triggered a delicious visceral response in Mairi’s nether regions. He had growled the wordayeandnayto her all through the night. A lot. She shifted in place. Mercy, the kitchen was hot this morning.
“Damn, sis.” Lilia nudged Mairi again. “No wonder you’re walking bowlegged this morning.”
Mairi fixed Lilia with ashut the hell uplook. “There should be some smashed dog food in that cup over there. Even though he is your responsibility now, if you’ll get him fed, I’ll run upstairs and get dressed so I can take him for a walk before he leaves any more presents on the floor.”
Lilia winked then made silent kissy faces at Mairi. “I don’t blame you. I’d be anxious to get back upstairs too.”
Eliza cleared her throat and returned her teacup to its saucer. “That’ll do, Lilia. A lady never overly advertises her appetite. It is quite unbecoming. Yer Granny would tell ye such is the behavior of the common whore.”
Mairi bit her tongue to keep from laughing when Lilia turned her back on Eliza and made a snarky face that told Mairi exactly what her sister thought about Eliza’s advice.
“And dinna be rolling yer eyes and making yer faces. Ye ken I see everything ye do.” Eliza spared a narrow-eyed glare at Lilia before turning her attention to Ronan. “Please have a seat, chieftain. I am sure ye must be quite famished.”
Instead of sitting at the table, Ronan moved across the room to Mairi. The closer he drew, the harder her heart pounded. If he touched her, she would surely burst into flames.
“Did you sleep well?” Her voice squeaked and broke like a thirteen-year-old boy fighting the throes of puberty.
His unreadable expression shifted with a calm knowing smile. Then he cradled her face in one hand and brushed a light kiss across her parted lips. “Aye, m’love. Last night I was blessed with the sleep of a fully satisfied man.”
Mouth dry, nipples so tight and hard they burned, Mairi hitched in a sharp intake of breath. “Me too,” she whispered as she floated in his silver-eyed gaze. A sigh escaped her. She finally blinked as though breaking free of a stupor. “I mean . . . not a fully satisfied man but a woman. I slept . . . oh, never mind.” Mairi shifted back a step and fanned the open throat of her robe as she turned to Eliza. “What’s the furnace set on? It’s hot in here.”
Eliza arched an incredulous brow at Mairi then swiveled in her seat and shot a disapproving look at Lilia, who stood with her hand across her mouth, snickering. “The furnace is fine. Why dinna the two of ye go upstairs . . .” Eliza slammed a ring-covered hand hard on the table at Lilia’s sudden peal of laughter. “Lilia. Take the wee dog to the garage, feed it, then take it outside and dinna come back in this house until ye can control yer outbursts and keep yer mind on something besides yer sister’s affairs.”
Lilia alternately teetered and snorted as she scooped up the saucer of dog food and tucked the puppy under her arm. On her way out of the kitchen, Lilia smiled up at Ronan. “Did yourself proud, did you?”
“Lilia. Out. Now.” Eliza rose from the table. Her bracelets rattling wildly up and down her arm as she jabbed a pointing finger at the door.
As the kitchen door swung shut, Eliza turned back to Mairi and Ronan. She waved a hand at the kitchen chairs while pinching the bridge of her nose with the other hand and slowly shaking her head. “Sit. Please. The both of ye.”
Eliza’s tone was like a dousing of icy water. Mairi snugged her robe tighter around herself and retied the belt. This was the first time she had ever seen Eliza in such a strained mood. Her dear guardian was always an eclectic soul of bubbling energy. “What’s wrong? What has you so . . . tense?”
Ronan started to speak but bit back the words when Eliza stopped him with a raised hand and a quick jerk of her head. She pulled out the center kitchen chair and wearily sank into it.
A nauseating wave of dread rolled across Mairi. Something was very wrong. Not only was Eliza acting like the world was about to end, but she had sucked Ronan into it too—and he didn’t look a bit surprised by her behavior. The relaxed lover of just a moment ago was gone. He now looked like a man ready to go to war.
Mairi forced in a slow deep breath, then just as carefully released it. This couldn’t be happening—not after last night. Please don’t spoil this. Please.
The corners of Eliza’s immaculately penciled and painted mouth drew down in a sorrowful frown. She held out her hand, palm up, waiting for Mairi to take it.
Mairi stared down at Eliza’s hand. What a seemingly innocent trap. If she touched Eliza’s hand and listened to whatever ill tidings the sweet old woman needed to share, the wonderful magic of the previous night would be gone—lost forever. Mairi laced her fingers together in a tight-fisted knot and propped her hands on the table. Hell no. She would be damned if she threw her happiness away so easily.She jerked her chin at Eliza. “Just tell me. Straight.”
Eliza deflated with a heavy sigh, shaking her head as she reluctantly withdrew her hand and stroked the table with a slow hypnotic wipe. “Ye must go back. Now. Much is at risk. Lives could verra well be at stake.”
Mairi clenched her fists so hard that her fingers went numb. She stole a glance at Ronan and her heart fell. He didn’t seem the least bit curious or shocked by Eliza’s words. Instead, he seemed . . . resigned. And too damn knowing. Dread knotted in the pit of her stomach, tightening like a snake coiled to strike. She really didn’t want to know what Eliza meant but forced herself to say the words. “Whose lives?”
Eliza stared down at the table. “Many.” She leaned forward, her hands pressed together as though she were about to pray for deliverance. “Chieftain Sutherland’s best friend and his mother are unwell. And the peace of the MacKenna clan could verra well be in danger too. Ye must go back. Ye are the only hope to save them all, Mairi. Ye are the one.”
Chieftain Sutherland’s best friend and his mother are unwell.In the past. In the thirteenth century.With shaking fingers pressed to her temples, Mairi sucked in another deep breath, struggling to control the time bomb of emotions threatening to explode. She had been played. Played and betrayed. Totally reeled in and screwed in every sense of the word. The protective wall she kept around her heart rapidly reconstructed itself, brick by brick, growing more impenetrable with the mortar of Ronan’s subterfuge and lies. She tensed with the sickening realization as she turned and faced him. “So, you are from the past. The thirteenth century?”
