When she nervously wet her lips, he almost groaned but staunched it before it escaped. “I think I can stand now,” she said, then glanced toward the open doorway leading to the outer walkway that encircled the tower. “Walking should be good too.”
He helped her stand, rising beside her and holding her arms until satisfied that she wouldn’t fall. “I feared the steps would be too much for ye.”
She cut him with a hard, side-eyed glare. “I had to try.”
“Aye, that ye did.” The beauty had some fight to her, and that made him glad. She would need it to adapt to this time. “Come.” He gently led her to the walkway, keeping a firm hold on her arm. “Look out upon my precious sea. I have never found a better tonic for what ails me.”
The way she parted her lips when her awestruck stare took in the sparkling waters made him ache to kiss her. She leaned forward and rested her hands atop the stone wall as the waves danced and rippled out to the horizon. The breeze caught holdof her long dark hair and lifted it, fluttering her curls out behind her like an angel’s wings.
“So beautiful.” Her voice echoed with wonder and reverence. She pulled in a deep breath, her delicate nostrils flaring with the effort. And then she smiled, a genuine, relaxed smile, and he knew he was powerless against her. Anything she asked of him, anything she wanted, he would move heaven and earth to give her whatever she desired.
She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the breeze; her smile becoming even more serene. “I always wanted to make it to the ocean someday.”
“And now ye have.”
She opened her eyes and nodded. “And now I have.” Ever so slowly, she meandered along the walkway, running her hand atop the wall as if fearing she might lose her strength again. She kept her gaze locked on the view, as if unable to pull her attention away from the sea. “Are we on the east coast of Scotland? Is this the North Sea?”
“Aye.” He pointed at the docks below. “And that is my ship. The Selkie.”
“The Selkie,” she repeated softly, then leaned forward and rested her cheek atop her arms folded on the wall.
“Harley?” Ronan caught hold of her by the waist.
“I’m fine.” But she didn’t lift her head, just stared out at the sea.
He moved closer and wrapped an arm around her. “Let me help ye into the tower room. Ye can rest upon one of the benches while I fetch ye more water. I should never have brought ye up here in yer weakened state. Pray forgive me.”
“No, this is what I needed.” She shifted against him with a deep sigh. “It reminds me of home. How I’d lay on the riverbank and daydream about floating down to the ocean—like a mermaid or something.” Her sad smile as she lifted her head made him hurt for her. Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears. “My parents will be so worried when they can’t find me.”
“And yer husband too, I expect?” It was selfish of him to ask sucha thing, but he couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth.
Her jaw flexed and hardened. “No husband. I dodged that bullet just in time.”
Dodged that bullet?He would have to ask Mother about that saying to be certain he understood what Harley meant.
She eased away, putting a disappointing amount of distance between them. “I guess we should go downstairs now. No sense avoiding the inevitable any longer.”
Her emotionless tone weighed heavily upon him. Their earlier closeness had disappeared like mist hit by the rising sun. He reached for her, wondering if she would relent and take his hand again. “We shall go then. If ye feel ye are ready.”
She stared at his hand so long with such a bleak expression; he readied himself to snatch hold of her in case she tried to throw herself over the wall and be done with Scotland, the year 1407, and him. When she slid her hand into his, he released the breath he hadn’t realized he held.
“I’m ready,” she said, but her tone implied otherwise.
Harley scrubbedher hands on her jeans, the nervous sweat dampening her palms making her even more self-conscious. She glanced around the cavernous room before moving to the chair Rachel directed her to with a smile and a nod.
Up on the dais, with a multitude of tables and benches arranged in rows down the center of the room, Harley felt like she was either the main course or the centerpiece being given away as a door prize. At least the other tables were empty. She wondered if Rachel or her husband, the laird, had ordered that done to give her a chance to grow accustomed to her surroundings. She almost snorted at that thought. It was going to take more than an empty room to get her used to the impossible to believe situation she had opened her eyes to just hours ago.Just hours ago. So much had changedin but a few hours. She huffed a mirthless laugh at time’s cruelty. It felt like she’d been trapped in this craziness for an eternity.
She raked her fingers through her windblown hair, trying to tame it and tuck it behind her ears while wondering if mirrors had been invented yet. Of course, she might be better off not knowing what a mess she looked like.
A loud crackle and pop drew her attention to the impressive fireplaces on opposite sides of the room. They were large enough to hold fully matured trees.A young man, probably in his teen years, tossed massive trunks into the already blazing hearths, handling the monstrous pieces of wood as if they were matchsticks. If Ronan had spent his youth doing such chores, it wasn’t any wonder he had the body of a muscular superhero now.
As the boy turned from stoking the fires, he bowed to her, then smiled. She forced a weak smile back at him, then tried to curl into her chair and disappear. She did not belong here. How had she ended up in this place and time?No matter how many times she tried to backtrack and remember, she couldn’t recall anything other than waking up in the feather bed upstairs.She remembered her life before this craziness—just couldn’t quite seem to locate the one memory that might explain how she came to be here.
She jumped as Ronan took a seat beside her.
“Easy there, lass. ’Tis just me. The food ye are about to eat will help as much as the sea air did. Trust me.” He reached as though about to touch her arm, then stopped and rested his fist on the table instead.
She jerked again as three men as tall, muscular, and massive as Ronan entered the room.Each of them arched a brow at him as though communicating without speaking.
