Nope. Definitely hot enough.
Tavish sat up with a grunt. He slanted a look at Albie, then fixed a knowing, maddening smile on me. “Sleep well, Princess?”
“Fine,” I said, brushing moss from my skirts.
I had to get home. I’d made a terrible, spectacular, horrible mistake that absolutely could not happen again.
Tavish stood and stretched, his kilt riding low on his hips. He’d pulled his shirt off before we slept, and sunlight gleamed on his bare chest. He caught my eye, then deepened his stretch, easing his hips forward. A corner of his mouth lifted, and he twitched one of his pecs.
Hard.
I turned away and began picking moss from my hair.
Albie rose more slowly, adjusting his spectacles and shoving a hand through his blond waves.
“We should try the spell,” I said.
Albie nodded. “Aye. But this time, we need to be deliberate. Think of your own time, lass. Hold an image of it in your mind like a painting.”
“I’ll try.”
Moments later, we stepped out of the cave. The rain had stopped overnight, and the forest sparkled like something out of a fairy tale. Dewdrops shivered on the leaves. Birds trilled to each other from tree branches.
Albie pulled the velvet bag from his jacket and handed it to me.
The bag filled my palm, the plum-colored fabric a solid weight in my hand. It was like holding a bag of putty…or maybe sand. I didn’t dare risk squeezing it to find out.
The men flanked me. Tavish slid an arm around my waist. Albie found my free hand and laced his fingers through mine.
“Ready?” he asked.
I thought of home—of Castle Beithir and my mother’s face. Of my fathers standing with their arms slung across each other’s shoulders, boyish grins on their faces and garish scarves around their necks as they watched Scotland beat England in rugby. I pictured Malcolm at his computer. I imagined my mother’s laugh. Heard her shriek when my father swung her into his arms and carried her toward the castle’s swimming pool.
“Niall Balfour, I swear to the gods, if you throw me in…”
Please work,I thought.Please,please, take me home.
I opened the bag.
The world twisted.
Cold slammed into me like a fist.
I fell to my knees, my head spinning as the world righted itself. Tavish and Albie crouched on either side of me.
Purple twilight reigned, and a winter sky speckled with stars stretched overhead. Snow piled around us. Our breath fogged the air. Mountains soared everywhere, their peaks shadows in the dark. A curvy road cut through the landscape.
“Fuck,” Tavish muttered, getting to his feet. He pulled me up and drew me against him as he stared at our surroundings. “Where are we now?”
Albie eyed the mountains. “Not Scotland.”
Snow swirled around us, flakes quickly sticking to my hair and eyelashes. Icy fingers of wind went down the front of my jacket and up my skirts, and I hunched against the cold. We’d been dressed for spring in the Highlands, not…wherever this was.
A sound rumbled in the distance.
Albie grabbed my arm and hurried me behind a drift shielded by rocks and snow-covered foliage. Tavish cursed under his breath as he joined us.
The noise grew, the unmistakable sound of an engine filling the air. My heart soared. Maybe I’d landed in the right time, after all. The men froze.
