“Your heart is going to explode if you keep chugging those like that,” Jessa said as she read the label of her unopened can.“You should’ve gotten one of these.Mine’s healthier.”
“There is a time to be healthy and a time to be awake.”Emily held up her phone and grinned.“Selfie to show we’ve arrived in bonnie Scotland?You refused at the airport.”
“Fine, but better make it quick.Looks like we’re pulling into the station to make our switch.”Jessa rose and leaned across the table so she and Emily would be cheek to cheek in front of the window.She held the smile until Emily plopped back down into her seat and started tapping on her phone with blinding speed.
“All posted,” she said as the train slid to a smooth stop.“Just in time.”
Jessa rose and secured her denim backpack onto the handle of her rolling suitcase.As she wheeled it out into the aisle, she halted and stared at a man up ahead who scowled back at her.It washimagain.Mr.MacSexy.Dressed in those clothes that had to be from a historical reenactment, a travel agency ad, or a movie set.Unable to move, barely able to breathe, at least she didn’t crumble into a gasping mess this time.She closed her eyes tightly, then slowly opened them.The man was gone.She stretched to see around the passengers getting off the train, trying to find him again, but he was nowhere to be found.She raced to catch up with him.
“Jess!Wait up,” Emily called out.
As they stepped onto the platform, Jessa debated laying her hard-sided suitcase on its side and standing on it so she could see farther.
“Jessa!”Emily sounded like a frustrated mother trying to keep track of her overactive child.“What is going on with you?”
Jessa hurried to shake her head.“Nothing.Just thought I saw someone we knew.”
Emily frowned.“Who?”Suspicion dripped from that one word.
“Josh from the internet cafe,” she said, knowing that if she told Emily the truth, it would throw her into a panic and cause a ripple effect through the entire Mithers family.“He mentioned planning a trip to Scotland the last time he worked on my laptop.”
“Liar.”Emily narrowed her eyes, fueling the accusation with concern.“You thought you saw Mr.MacSexy again, didn’t you?”
“Come on.”Jessa ignored the question and threaded her way through the crowd.“We don’t want to miss our connection.The other platform’s just up ahead, and people are already loading.”A hard tug on the strap of her backpack pulled her to a stop.
“We’re not going a step farther until you fess up.”
“I’m just tired.Once I’ve napped and adjusted to the time difference, I’ll be fine.”She forced a reassuring grin that would’ve done any award-winning actress proud.“If I’m not, you can dunk me in those healing waters until I come up giddy for an adventure.”
“Don’t think I won’t.”
Jessa didn’t doubt for a minute that Emily would take great joy in sousing her under until she gave in and embraced all the goodjujuthat Scotland had to offer.
* * *
MacAlesterKeep
Scottish Highlands
Year of our Lord 1785
“Old Mairwen is here.Wants a word with ye.”
“Dinna call her old, lest ye want yer willy cursed to shrivel and fall off.”Grant MacAlester leaned back in his chair and rubbed his tired, gritty eyes.He’d stared at the logbooks for hours, making certain he and the clan had not been cheated on the latest haul of tea, tobacco, and brandy.
“Ye ken why she’s come, then?”Henry Skelper, more a brother than a friend, shifted in place until the floorboards groaned under his massive weight.He was such a bear of a man that he could toss Ben Nevis over his shoulder as if it were naught but a pebble rather than the mightiest peak in all the Highlands.
“If I were the bettin’ sort…” Grant stopped scrubbing his weary eyes and let his hands drop to the arms of his chair, “and I’ve been known to place a wager or two.I’d say the clan has nettled her into speaking with me about taking another wife.Some seem overly concerned about an heir for the earldom.”He jabbed a finger at Henry.“And if ye call meLord Suddie, I’ll skin ye.”
“But ye are Lord Suddie,” Mairwen said from the doorway.
An eerie shiver raced through him.It was always the same whenever the white witch, as Grant always thought of her, appeared on his doorstep.“Be that as it may,” he said as he stood out of respect, “I prefer not to be addressed as such.”
The petite, silvery-haired matron had eyes such a startling shade of blue that they made the clearest of skies seem dim.She narrowed them at him long enough to set his teeth on edge, then made her way into his office, moving with such effortless grace she seemed to float across the floor.“And the clan has not nettled me into coming here.I came of my own accord.”
“Ye have the hearing of a wee owl.”Grant motioned to the chair in front of his desk and gave a nod for Henry to leave.He couldn’t resist chuckling as the massive man, who feared nothing except Mairwen, almost tripped over his own feet in his hurry to get out the door.“What did ye do to poor ol’ Henry this time?”
“Do?”
