Page 73 of Edge of Yesterday

He snorted. “Dinnae tell me you have second sight.”

She shuddered. “Nae. Thank the Almighty. But I have a brain.”

That she did.

“Lennox will no’ be satisfied until he has his answers.”

She was more right than he wanted to consider. It was as if scales had fallen from his eyes and he could see for the first time. The analogy wasn’t far from the truth. Knowing what he now knew, he realized just how strange he must have appeared to Lennox and Julianna—and it scared the hell out of him. He was surprised Lennox hadn’t killed him—or tried to, anyway. How was he going to live long enough to get to Heatheredge and find the damned portal back to the twenty-first century? He’d been here four days and had nearly gotten killed four times. He marveled that the human race had survived the medieval period.

“What about you?” he asked before he could stop himself. “What do ye think about me?”

Lady Julianna paused and shifted her gaze to his face. She stared for a long moment as if trying to read his mind, then returned her attention to her healing work. “I know there is something very different about you.” She gently packed sphagnum moss along his wound, then wrapped another bandage around his arm.

“You have a good touch.” He smiled.

To his surprise, a blush crept up her cheeks. Good God, she liked him. He’d noticed the attraction earlier today, but had seen a twenty-first century woman who would face him on common ground. Now he knew her for what she was—or rather, when she was. If he said the wrong thing, she would call for a priest to cast out the demon that possessed him. Or burn him inside a spiked barrel as Lady Searforth did the Brahan Seer.

Cailean bit back a curse. He was in medieval Scotland, with no knowledge of how he came here, or how he might return home. A chill snaked through him. What if Charles Dillon was here? What were the chances he’d survived? Disappointment swept over him. What were the chances the rabbit hole had dropped them in the same place?

The door opened, and they both looked up as Lennox entered.

A lancet of fear slid into Cailean’s belly. He recalled Lennox’s reaction to him calling Julianna by her given name instead of addressing her as Lady Julianna. If Lennox guessed her attraction to Cailean—or worse, his attraction to her—Christ, he didn’t want to think how bad that could go.

Lennox closed the door, crossed to them, and said, “I want the truth.”

Cailean grunted a laugh. “If the idea of me being gifted with second sight is hard to swallow, then you don’t want the truth.”

Lennox’s stare bored into him. “Are you about to tell me that you are God himself, returned to the earth?”

“That might be easier to believe. I am not the first seer to exist.” He winced inwardly at the word. He viewed psychics as charlatans. Who knew he’d be impersonating one in fourteenth century Scotland? “What can I tell you that you would believe?” he asked.

“That you were in league with Murray, and regretted your part in abducting Julianna.”

Cailean’s morbid humor evaporated. “Then there’s nothing I can tell you to alleviate your concerns. I am not in league with Hugh Murray or anyone else.”

Lennox leaned toward him. “You are a Ross.”

“I’m not going to argue that every Ross is not a kidnapper. It’s too ludicrous.”

Julianna finished tying the bandage. “Mayhap he truly does have a gift of the second sight,” she said.

Lennox studied him. “I have never met anyone gifted enough to know things as he does.”

“It sounded as if you were defending me in the great hall,” Cailean said. “Why come with accusations now?”

“Because I didnae want Sir Lawren involved.”

Cailean would bet that he didn’t want his mother involved either. She would be angry to discover her son and daughter had a stranger living under their roof. He now understood why they didn’t want him meeting her before last night.

He shrugged. “There’s nothing I can tell you. I’m not in league with Hugh. I’ve never met the man.” Cailean looked at Julianna. “I would never harm Lady Julianna.”

“He saved me that first night, Lennox. He defended me on the road, and risked his life at Strone Hall. It doesnae make sense that he would have planned this with Hugh.”

“What do we know about how a Ross thinks?” Lennox folded his arms across his chest.

“Wait a minute,” Cailean said. “You distrust me because you believe the Ross clan attacked you twenty-four years ago.”

“It isnae what we believe,” Lennox snapped. “ ‘Tis the truth.”