Reginald waded into the fast-running water, sucking in his breath as the cold numbed his legs, up to his knees. But he couldnae help the lass if they each stayed on opposite sides of the stream.
“Of course, I do,” she countered, watching him cross with her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, again. “Ilivein New York,” she finally added when he made it to shallower water. “It’s where I’m going, here in Scotland, that I can’t find.”
“Ye’re just visitin’, then?”
“My sisters and I are here to help my Aunt Phoebe get her home and business ready to sell,” she added absently, her eyes and attention fixed boldly on his lower half. She appeared to be fascinated by something. So much so, he looked down to see if anything had gone awry in the water. All appeared normal. At least, to him.
“Sisters? Are they waitin’ up there, with yer weightlifter, then?”
“My...weightli…? Oh!” She dipped her head. “No, I had some last-minute work to finish up, so my two sisters flew in a few days ahead of me.”
“Flew?” He exited the water, trailing icy droplets from the edge of his kilt onto the rocky bank. “And they wouldnae share directions tae yer aunt’s home, wi’ ye?”
She took a couple of awkward steps back, hobbling on her ankle, still watching him closely. “Of course, they did. I had the coordinates in my phone,” Lauren countered. “I also had my aunt’s address in my phone’s GPS. I was fine until my stupid cell told me to turn right, up a narrow dirt road. More of a track, really,” she muttered, as if correcting herself. “But since Aunt Phoebe’s business is a riding stable, I wasn’t all that alarmed…at first.”
Reginald watched her brows dip and her lips purse as if she was having a whole new conversation with herself. Even in the dusk, he could see the myriad of rapidly changing thoughts and emotions playing across her face. ’Twas like trying to capture a butterfly. Though ’twas charming to watch, the poor lass would be a dismal failure at deception.
“Excuse the interruption, lass, but I ken we’d both feel better if ye’d sit on that big log behind ye, tae rest yer foot.”
She glanced over her shoulder where he’d indicated a thick tree limb, likely washed against the bank, at some point in the past. “Okay, fine, but you stay where you are.”
He nodded, grateful he dinnae have to watch her struggle to stand any longer.
“Anyway,” she continued, once she’d made her way to the log, and sat with an audible sigh, “as I was explaining, the road I was traveling dead-ended in this huge mass of trees and brush. When I tried to turn around, I high-centered on a big rock, hidden in some weeds.”
High-centered. Try as he might, he couldnae imagine what that meant. He pictured her sitting high, atop the rock, but he couldna ken why that brought her such distress. “Ye dinnae wish tae be on the hiding rock? So ye decided tae search for some bars?”
If he hadnae come close enough to see that she was fully sober, he’d think the lass had already visited a few taverns, before falling down the embankment. Mayhap ’twas fatigue from the long trip here, that made her seem a wee bit unbalanced.
“Exactly! I had to dosomething. There weren’t any bars for service, where I broke down, and I needed help. I couldn’t just sit there. I’d traveled a long way up that road and I didn’t relish walking all the way back to the turnoff. Besides, I already knew there wasn’t any reception in that direction because I’d been trying to get in touch with Phoebe all the way up the road, to be sure I was on the right one.”
With a muffled moan, she shifted on the log and readjusted the angle of her foot. “So, I left the car and trudged off in the opposite direction, through that mess of bramble and trees were the car is. Then things opened up a little, and I thought I might get lucky and find some bars if I just went a little further. And then there were more trees, and I thought maybe there could be a house or something. Then suddenly, I stumbled, or rather tumbled, down here.”
She stared at him, waiting, as if everything she’d said made perfect sense. It didnae of course, but in the gathering darkness, he could no longer see her expression clear enough to judge if she was being truthful. For all he kenned, the lass could be a wee bit daft. But if so, why was there no one watching over her?
“And what of yer American weightlifter? Could he no’ help ye locate the bars? Or tend tae yer car? Or,ye? He allowed ye tae wander about, alone?”
Dipping her head, she brushed some dirt from her jeans. “Okay, so, I…might have made him up. But look, Reg, I had no idea who you were when I tumbled down here.” She tossed a hand in the air, uttered an exasperated sound, and hunched her shoulders. “Who am I kidding? I still don’t know who you are. You could be Jack-the-Ripper, for all I know.”
He blinked at her.Jack-who?The lass acted as if he should recognize the man’s name. And now she called himReg?No’ even Reggie, as before? Could she no’ even remember the nameshe’dgiven him? Mayhap she hit her head in her tumble, which might explain her confusion.
Clenching his jaw in frustration, he stared at her. Why dinnae Soni, or Wickham, prepare him for what he’d be required tae ken of this new world? Like, cars. And bars!
And American women.
“Aye, well, I’m no’ yer…Jack-the-Ripper.I’m merely, Reginald McColl, as stated.”
She raised a skeptical eyebrow and folded her arms over her waist. “Okay, Reggie, you know all about why I’m here. Let’s hear about you. You said you’re headed home? Where, exactly, is that?”
“As I mentioned earlier, ’twas land my ancestors lived on. Centuries ago,” he added. “I only wish tae see the place. Then I’ll be movin’ on.”
“To where?” she asked, her look expectant, as if it actually mattered to her.
“I…dinnae ken where, after that.”
“Really? You’re that free and easy?”
He couldnae tell if she was accusing or curious.
