My Highland Lover (32 page)

Gray gathered her closer, tightened his arms around her. He nestled her head under the crook of his chin and stroked her hair with a shaking hand. He gently rocked her to-and-fro as heart-wrenching sobs broke free and echoed her despair across the winds.

“I will nay lose her to the future.” Gray walked a slow circle around the cushioned bench where a grim-faced Granny and a frowning Coira sat. “Tell me what it will take to make her stay—other than placing her in irons.” Gray didna add he would also not hesitate to lock Trulie in her chambers. He would do whate’er it took until she came to her senses.

Granny worried the strings of her apron as she stared off into space. “I don’t know how we can convince her the future really isn’t any safer from heartache than the past.”

“Ye best come up with a pretty good example or Mistress Trulie is gonna call ye a grand hypocrite.” Coira hopped up from the bench, backed up to the hearth, and smoothed her backside toward the heat.

“Coira,” Granny scolded. “Is that ladylike with a man in the room?”

“Me arse is cold and I’m a servant. I dinna have t’worry with actin’ the lady.”

Gray took in a deep breath and rubbed his fingertips hard into his throbbing temples. For some reason, it greatly disturbed him that his wife’s independent attitude appeared to be rubbing off on the servants. God help him if they all adopted her ways. “Why did ye say Granny would risk looking a hypocrite?”

“If Granny had nay taken Mistress Trulie and her sisters to the future, the youngest girls would ha’ died when they were but a few weeks old.” Coira turned and extended both hands toward the cheerful flames licking across the logs. “Mistress Trulie would surely have died too. She spoke of a weakness with her heart when she was just a girl.”

Gray turned back to Granny. “Is this true? Did ye jump to the future to escape the danger of the past?”

“That was different.” Granny snorted a disgusted huff as she slowly rose from the bench. “I did what I had to do to keep my babies alive—I was not running away from what I feared. There’s a big difference between what I did and what Trulie is about to do.” Granny toddled across the room and lit the candles of the black candelabra centered on the table. “Trulie is running from her feelings. She thinks she can outrun her pain. Somehow she’s gotten the misguided notion that if she returns to the future, life won’t be so hard to bear.” With a tired intake of breath, Granny leaned both hands on the table. “We’ve got to find a way to make her realize heartache finds you anytime it wishes. A particular century won’t protect you from its touch.”

A plotting look knotted Granny’s brow. A small grin sprouted at the corners of her pursed lips as she began pacing around the room.

Good.
Gray breathed easier with the realization that Granny had shifted into the calculating frame of mind that usually ended up being a verra large pain in the arse. Hopefully, this time would be more successful. Gray was willing to risk it. “What are ye plannin’?”

“What if…” Granny paused with eyes narrowed. “Why couldn’t…” Granny started again as her face brightened with whatever was blossoming in her mind. She clapped her hands together, a full-blown plan sparkling in her eyes. “I need to look into Trulie’s future—the one that would take place if she stayed here. There’s got to be something we could show her that would convince her she needs to stay in this time. I’ve got to find something so awesome Trulie would never want to miss it.”

Granny’s logic made Gray’s head hurt worse. What the hell did she mean by looking into a particular future? The verra idea of what Granny might discover twisted his gut. Gray scrubbed a hand across his weary eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lore, he felt to be a hundred years old. “Yer scarin’ the livin’ hell outta me, old woman. Are ye certain it can be done?”

“Absolutely.” Granny snapped her fingers and smiled. “Futures are created by our choices. Every choice in life has its own particular future. The multiple possibilities from each choice are the strands that create the web of time. You know this, Gray. We showed you this with your parents.”

Gray chose to ignore Granny’s lecturing tone. “Yer certain ye can find the future Trulie needs t’see?” Gray didna ken if he liked the sound of that or not. What if Granny picked the wrong one and showed Trulie a possibility she could nay stomach?

“Let me see what I can find.” Granny rubbed both hands together in anticipation. “I haven’t played the strands of time in weeks, but I’m sure I can find the perfect choice to convince Trulie to stay.”

Gray swallowed hard. This had to work.

Trulie pulled the last gown from the wardrobe and held it up. Coira might be able to wear it if Granny took an inch or two off the length and added an inch or two to the bust. Her friend might be shorter but she was exceedingly better endowed. Trulie added the gown of deep green to the pile on the end of the bed. There. That should do it. All the things she had acquired since arriving in this century had been fairly divvied up.

Trulie swallowed hard as she shoved both hands deep into the pockets of her jeans. She glanced at the folded bits of parchment neatly lined up on the table. Her written good-byes would be found in the morning, long after she was gone.

A twinge of guilt twisted through her as she backed up to the fire. Trulie supposed writing out her farewells was the coward’s way, but it was all she could manage right now. Her nerves were raw from the last few weeks. She couldn’t take much more.

A light knock from the inner door of her sitting room pulled her from her thoughts. Who the devil could that be? It was nearly midnight. With a frustrated glance at her twenty-first-century attire, Trulie crossed the room in a few hurried steps, then pressed her back against the door. “Who’s there this late?”

“It’s me,” Coira chirped with another rap against the door. “Let me in.”

Trulie locked her knees and wedged her body harder against the wood at her back. She wasn’t about to let Coira in. That would be like sounding a warning alarm for the entire northern tip of Scotland. Coira was more efficient at spreading news than the Internet.

“Go away. It’s late and I’m tired.” Trulie leaned her head back against the door and waited.

A hard thud bounced against the lower half of the door. “Let me in, Mistress Trulie. Now!”

Trulie crossed her arms.
Wow.
Coira was uncharacteristically bossy tonight. “You can kick the door all you want. I am not letting you in.”

“I ken what yer about. If ye dinna allow me in, I’ll wake everyone in the keep and tell them.”

Trulie straightened and stared down at the latch. How the hell did Coira know what she was up to? She had to be bluffing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Go away. I’m trying to get some sleep.”

“So be it,” Coira snapped from the other side of the portal. “I’ll just go to the chieftain and tell him yer about to time jump again.”

Well, crap.
Coira wasn’t bluffing. Trulie lifted up the iron latch and yanked the door open.

“See? I knew ye were about t’leave!” Coira stabbed a finger toward Trulie’s jeans. “I knew tonight would be the night ye picked t’leave us all behind.”

“So what do you want?” Trulie spoke the words carefully. If she didn’t play this just right, Coira would sound the alarm in a heartbeat.

Coira raised both hands with a shrug as a mask of innocence covered her face. Karma sat beside her with his ears perked and his tongue lolling out of one side of his mouth in a toothy, doggy grin.

“What, Coira? What the hell do you want?” Trulie didn’t like the look on either of their faces. It was that smug
I’ve got you right where I want you
expression that always meant they had the advantage. Trulie made a mental note to scold Karma later. The dog needed to realize where his loyalties belonged.

“Come to the outer sitting room. There is a visitor ye need t’meet afore ye go.” Coira nodded to the door behind her with a knowing smile.

This could not be good, but what choice did she have? Trulie yanked her denim jacket firmly in place and closed the door tightly behind her. Kismet was probably lurking somewhere in the shadows and Trulie wouldn’t put it past the sneaky cat to take off with her carefully written notes of farewell.

“We won’t keep ye o’erly long,” Coira promised with a toss of her red curls.

An eerie shiver raced across Trulie’s flesh as Coira led her into the main sitting room shared by the Sinclair women. A young woman sat perched on the edge of the high-backed bench aligned with one side of the hearth. A wild mass of out-of-control ringlets dark as coal tumbled across her shoulders and spilled down her back. But it was the girl’s eyes that stole Trulie’s breath and made her heart thump harder. Trulie had only seen such an icy-blue, lightning-filled shade in one other set of eyes. And it was those unusual blue eyes that had started the undoing of her life. They had taken hold of her heart and soul and refused to let go.

Gray sat in a broad-backed chair opposite the grinning girl. His hands trembled atop the chair’s wide armrests. He sagged slightly to one side, as though remaining upright was a struggle. What the devil was wrong with him?

The dark haired girl giggled behind her hand. Mischief glinted in her eyes as she hopped up from the bench and bounced toward Trulie. “I’m so verra glad ye agreed to see me. I feared ye wouldna come.”

Trulie slid her gaze from the sweet girl’s beaming face to Granny’s smug grin. “I don’t know how long you’ve known these people, but there are times when they’re pretty stubborn. Did they bring you here?” Trulie returned her attention to the animated girl fidgeting in front of her. It wasn’t the child’s fault Granny was up to no good. Trulie didn’t know how Granny had managed to come up with a child—one who looked to be in her early teens—that had Gray’s eyes, but she had to admit, Granny was playing her little game very well.

The girl winked a dark-fringed eye at Coira as she bubbled, “Oh, I’ve known Coira and m’dear sweet Granny all m’life.” Merriment fairly glowed from the girl as she patted a hand over her mouth and ducked her chin. “Sorry. I wasna supposed t’say that.”

That was impossible. Trulie looked from Granny to the girl and over at Gray’s intense stare. “Who are you?” Trulie asked. She couldn’t be who they wanted her to believe the girl really was. How in the world had Granny managed to find a girl that looked so much like Gray?

“M’name is Chloe,” the girl responded with a perfect curtsy.

Chloe. Trulie almost lost her footing as her heart leapt into her throat. Trulie had always loved that name. One day…if she had ever had a daughter…Trulie shook away the thought and cleared the knot of emotions from her throat.
You know who she is. You’ve never told anyone how much you love that name.
Trulie shook her head against the taunting inner voice.

“Are ye all right?” Chloe asked. “Do ye need me t’fetch ye some water?”

“I’m fine.” Trulie swallowed hard. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets to hide their trembling. Trulie nodded toward the full moon shining a path of white light through the far window. “Won’t your parents be worried about you being out so late?”

Chloe’s grin widened into a sparkling smile. “Nah. Da kens for sure where I am and Mother will soon ken it as well.”

Gray pushed himself up from the chair. An excited shiver coursed through Trulie. Did Gray’s shoulders somehow seem wider? His chest broader? Was the man actually strutting with pride? Trulie took a step back and knotted her hands in her pockets. She hadn’t seen Gray so relaxed, so happy, since…She closed her eyes against the thought.

“Ye ken who she is,” Gray whispered as he pulled her into his arms. His warm breath tickled against the sensitive skin just beneath her ear. His arms tightened around her waist as he pressed a kiss against her temple.

“She can’t be,” Trulie rasped in a strained whisper. Yet how could she deny the proof right before her eyes? Trulie turned and opened her eyes to Chloe’s knowing smile. “Why are you here, Chloe?” It felt so strange to say the name, and yet so natural.

“Ye ken why I’m here,” Chloe murmured as she tugged on her sleeve until Trulie pulled her hand from her pocket. She slipped her small hand into Trulie’s as she glanced toward the window. “But I canna stay verra much longer. They said I mustn’t tarry o’erly long beyond the path of the moon.”

Chloe grinned up at Gray with a teasing glance before she leaned in closer to Trulie. “I had to come. Ye had t’know what ye would miss if ye chose to leave Da and go back to yer modern future.”

Chloe’s face grew serious as she squeezed Trulie’s hand hard. “But I will warn ye that the world would most likely be a much better place if ye rethought about bringin’ Ian into it.” Chloe’s mouth puckered with an irritated scowl. “Me own lot in life would be a great deal easier without that numpty always pokin’ his nose in things which dinna concern him.”

Trulie’s mood lightened in spite of the ever-weakening voice of conviction whispering in her head that opportunity was slipping away. If she was going to return to modern-day Kentucky, she needed to leave—now.

“Who is Ian?” Trulie couldn’t resist asking. Chloe’s bubbling personality chased away the darkness from her soul. How could she not feel happier knowing that at some point in the future, if she chose to stay in the past with Gray, Chloe would join their lives?

Chloe rolled her eyes and blew out a disgusted huff of air. “Ian is the youngest and by far the biggest pain in the arse of all me brothers.”

“All yer brothers?” Gray repeated as he pulled Trulie tighter into his embrace.

“Aye.” Chloe nodded. “Would the two of ye please bear in mind that after bringing four worrisome boys into the world, the chances of gifting me with a little sister are fair slim and ye should set aside the tryin’.” Chloe’s eyes grew wide as she glanced toward the window, then edged into the beam of moonlight. She held up both hands and patted the air as though bidding Trulie and Gray to take care. “Just leave it be, will ye? I canna stomach another brother who thinks he can tell me what t’do.”

Trulie pressed a hand to her mouth and blew Chloe a kiss. “Thank you, Chloe.” Warm happy tears streamed down both cheeks as she held a shaking hand up in farewell to her daughter.

Chloe smiled and waved as her image faded into the moonlight. “Bye, Mother! Bye, Da! All m’love to ye both.”