“Och, laddie, ye dinnae ken that,” Angus said, his voice laced with annoyance.
Lady Fiona glanced from her husband to Malcolm, one dark brow raised. “What happened to her?”
“She fainted,” he said.
He couldn’t say why she had fainted, but he assumed everything that had happened to her since her arrival was too much for her to handle.
“I saw it with me own eyes. Ye did, too, Da. She fell through a rip in time.”
Angus grunted is disagreement. “I’m going to bed.”
“Well, from the future or no, she’s a guest here. Let’s get her to a bed so she can recover,” Lady Fiona said. “And then ye can tell me exactly what happened and where she came from.”
She motioned for him to follow her through the keep. Duncan fell in step with him, too. Malcolm glanced down at her as he walked and admired the way her lovely face seemed to be in repose. The resemblance to Evie was unmistakable.
Lady Fiona led him up the stairs and down a long corridor where she pushed open a door to one of the bedchambers. She hurried to the bed and pulled back the blankets.
“Put her here. Duncan, get the fire going in the hearth.”
As Malcolm placed her gently on the bed, Lady Fiona eyed her strange attire. She wore dark blue breeches that hugged every curve from her hips to her thighs to her calves. She wore strange looking white shoes. An oversized tunic in a fuzzy material that also hugged her every curve.
Not that he’d noticed.
“I’ll find her some suitable clothing,” she said. “After ye tell me what happened.”
Duncan finished placing logs in the hearth, then brushed his hands together. “It was incredible, Mam. It was like the world split open for a moment and then, there she was.”
Lady Fiona gave Malcolm a curious but questioning glance, as if she wanted to confirm what her son said. He nodded.
“Aye, ‘tis the truth of it.” It also did not escape his notice that Chloe had the same big emerald eyes as Lady Fiona.
“Da saw it, too, with his own eyes,” Duncan said. “And yet he still doesna believe.”
“I’ll speak to him,” she said waving away the thought, as though her husband’s beliefs didn’t matter. “Do ye ken who she is, Malcolm?”
“She said her name was Chloe. She fainted when she heard the name Angus Sinclair.”
Lady Fiona chuckled. “Most bonnie lassies did when they saw my husband in his younger days. However, I dinnae think that was the case this time.”
She moved closer to the bed to get a good look at her. Chloe’s hair was the same deep auburn as Lady Fiona’s.
“She’s a Sinclair,” she announced, as though she knew this for certain.
“From the future?” Duncan asked from his crouched position in front of the hearth. He finally got the fire going.
“Aye,” she said. “She must be. ’Tis the only explanation.”
“There was also a man who followed her through,” Malcolm said. “He attacked her.”
“And ye saved her,” Lady Fiona said with a faint smile.
He nodded. When the man had jerked her up by her hair, something inside him snapped. But Lady Fiona didn’t grasp how much the strange man had wanted to get his hands on Chloe. There had been fierce determination in his eyes. It was why Malcolm had remained between the two of them with sword drawn.
“Well, ye must be famished. Duncan, run along to the kitchen and fetch Malcolm and his guest some food. I’ll find her something to wear.”
Duncan followed his mother to the door.
“I do thank ye, my lady, for the hospitality,” Malcolm said.
