Wild about the Witch (14 page)

“No, I dinna need to go,” she said, stiffening her spine and turning toward Lachlan. “I’m going to the lake,” she hollered, pointing to where Piper stood at the water’s edge.

He put his hand to his eyes and peered in that direction, finally nodding begrudgingly. “I shall see ye soon, lass. We have much to discuss.” With a glare at Shane, he turned and stomped back inside.

“Ah, Catie. Maybe ye better just go inside now,” he said. “I need to get started with the goats, anyway.” He grabbed her hand for a quick squeeze, but not before making sure Lachlan was good and gone. “I dinna want ye to get in trouble and miss tonight.”

She couldn’t fault him for being so reasonable, but she was irritated that she now had to walk down and greet Piper, so she gave him a look that wasn’t altogether charming. He shrugged and went on his way, leaving her to either slink inside without giving Lachlan a chance to cool off or be civil to Piper.

Honestly, she would rather muck out all the stalls in the stable than do either, but she noticed Piper leaning over the water, then pacing agitatedly back and forth. Perhaps she lost something in the lake. Curiosity won out over getting yelled at, and she started down the hill.

***

What Piper thought was an ordinary nightmare, though she hated that they were becoming an ordinary occurrence again, ended up being real. She jerked awake, to find herself ankle deep in the lake, heart pounding and covered in a cold sweat.

Her hands were filthy, dark slivers of dirt jammed deep under her fingernails. She dropped to her knees, splashing water all over her clothes, not her pajamas, but warm up pants, a green silk blouse and a giant sweatshirt that Lachlan had been wearing until he got into bed.

At some point she got out of bed, took off her nightgown and put on these random clothes, then found herself at the lake. The sense of panic that enveloped her when she first woke up slowly subsided. She had the strange feeling that she’d been looking for something, and checked her left hand. Her engagement ring was still there and she breathed a sigh of relief. Embarrassment and fear built up in her and she scurried out of the water and looked around.

It was still early in the morning, the sun only just rising. Lachlan might be getting up and realizing she wasn’t in the castle. The boys would be out in the pasture soon to deal with the livestock. What happened?

The last thing she remembered was Lachlan peeling off the same sweatshirt she now used to dry her legs. She was searching wedding ideas for Evie, and even finding some for her and Lachlan, when he’d cleared his throat and she looked up from her screen to see his glorious, chiseled chest on full display just inches from her. They’d had a very enjoyable time before falling asleep in each other’s arms, and now she was out here, panicking over something in the water.

Piper relaxed when she realized no one was out and about yet, and sat down in the grass to try to figure things out. She focused on the ducks floating near the edge and wished they could tell her when she arrived, how long she’d been out there, and if she’d said anything. The greedy things were used to getting fed by anyone who ventured to the lake and as soon as she sat down, they made their way towards her.

“No, sorry. As you were,” she said, tossing pebbles at them.

They gave up thinking they were getting any bread and she went back to worrying. She’d used sleepwalking as an excuse before, to try and hide something she shouldn’t have been doing, but she hadn’t actually done it before. That she knew of. Hugging her knees, she thought about the odd thing that happened yesterday after Catie stormed off with Evie.

Lachlan had been railing about his fool brother Quinn screwing everything up as usual, and how stubborn and bratty Catie was, and she made some fresh tea and benignly agreed with everything he said until he calmed down enough to see reason. She poured out two big mugs for them while standing at the counter in the kitchen. The next thing she knew she was bent over in pain, one of the mugs broken at her feet.

She wasn’t sure what happened, because she didn’t know how she got from the counter to the table, where she slammed her shin on the bench and dropped the cup. Lachlan steadied her and took the other mug before she spilled the scalding tea all over herself, and she laughed it off as clumsiness. It had only been a few seconds of blacking out, and yesterday she wrote it off as stress and not paying attention. Today, sitting in cold, wet pants by the lake, she wasn’t so sure.

“It can’t be,” she said, struggling against tears.

More than a month had passed since her heartbreakingly failed visit to her grandma Rose in the eighteenth century. She’d been accused of witchcraft, which wasn’t entirely false since she was possessed by her ancestor Daria, and her grandmother almost convinced her the only way to rid herself of Daria’s spirit was to let herself be drowned.

If it hadn’t been for Evie convincing her that was a load of codswallop, and Lachlan nearly getting himself killed fighting off angry villagers, she never would have made it back from that trip.

After she got Lachlan all fixed up, they went on a much needed island vacation, and everything had been wonderful. Not a peep out of Daria’s spirit. Had she been foolish to think she was so easily rid of her?

As soon as they came back to Castle on Hill, things all went haywire. First Catie’s surprise visit, and now this. Didn’t her evil ancestor know she was trying to plan a wedding?

As she stared at the gently rippling water, she wondered if she was led out here to actually look for something. Not just sleepwalking craziness, but perhaps there was really something to find at the water’s edge. Her heart started to pound again, not wanting to find anything. She was sick of finding things!

If it was something important, though, she needed to find it, and paced along the shore, looking into the murky shallows. With great trepidation, she focused her mind inward as she looked, trying to get in touch with that annoying little voice that had tormented her up until about a month ago.

Silence, not even a whisper. And there didn’t seem to be anything in the water or around the bank, unless Daria was working with pebbles and moss these days.

“Pardon me, may I help ye find something?”

The meek little voice made her nearly jump out of her skin and she whirled around to see Catie twisting her long prom dress skirt and looking miserable.

“Oh, Catie, you startled me,” Piper said, picking her way out of the reeds. Great. All she needed was for Catie to be even more suspicious of her. “No, I didn’t lose anything, but thank you. I come out here a lot to enjoy the sunrise.” She winced at the terrible lie as Catie turned completely around to see the sun rising over the woods. “And feed the ducks,” she hurriedly said. “I thought I saw something shiny, but it turned out to be nothing. Just a pebble.” Piper put her hands on her hips and tried not to look insane or possessed.

Catie shrugged and stared out at the water. “Well, I dinna want to go in just yet,” she said. “Do ye have any more food for the ducks?”

“What?” Piper asked, then remembered it was her reason for being out there. “Uh, no. Ducks, ha! More like pigs. They gobble everything up so fast.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on.

“Is Lachlan verra angry with me?” Catie asked.

Piper felt like a jerk, being so concerned with hiding her own mess, that she forgot about Catie’s mess. She sighed. “Yes, but he’ll get over it. I think he’s more angry at himself.”

“Good,” Catie said, but without any rancor. “No offense to ye, miss, but I dinna understand why he left us. Not just me and Quinn, but the clan and the farm.”

“I think you should talk to him. I’ll make sure he doesn’t yell at you, if you can try to promise the same.”

“I can
try
 to promise,” she said, with a hint of a smile.

They found Lachlan in the kitchen, looking sour and gripping a coffee mug dangerously tight. He didn’t question her about why she was down by the lake at all, let alone so early, but started right in on Catie. Piper sighed, her promise to keep him from yelling already broken.

“I’ll have ye explain to me what ye were doing with that lad so early in the morning,” he thundered. “Have ye lost your mind as well as your good sense? Wait, I beg your pardon. Ye never had a bit of good sense to lose, did ye?”

“Lachlan!” Piper said, horrified.

Is this how he would treat their own children one day? She needed to get him some parenting books, and fast. But then she realized what he said. What lad?

“Shane was kind enough to give me a ride to the castle this morning, since Evie isna coming until later,” Catie said, eyes shooting daggers at him. “And we’re watching a film together later,” she added defiantly.

“Like hell, ye are,” he said, rising from the bench. “For one thing, I’ve heard some unsavory tales about that lad—”

Catie slapped her palm against the table and interrupted him. “Aye, and so have I. The people in this place canna keep from wagging their malicious tongues. I would have thought ye better than to be a part of it. But Shane has been nothing but a gentleman to me, and I judge people by their actions, not the words of others.”

Piper put her hand over her mouth and shook her head as Lachlan looked at her for help. “Point to Catie on that one,” she said. “I like Shane very much.”

Catie turned to her with a pained expression, as if it hurt her that they were on the same side. She nodded a curt thanks, which Piper was glad for at this point. Lachlan’s shoulders slumped, not wanting to concede.

“But love, they shall be in the darkened theater. If she goes, we must go as well.”

“Mother of mercy,” Catie yelled. “I was about to be married in our own time.”

Lachlan raised a brow at that. “I dinna think this Shane has marriage in mind, lass, though he may be after the benefits of it.”

Piper waved her hands behind Catie’s back, trying to make him stop talking. She was completely mortified, and couldn’t begin to imagine how Catie must feel. This couldn’t possibly end well.

“Ye are one to talk,” Catie said with a dark laugh. “Do ye and Piper here sleep in separate bedrooms, then?”

Piper wanted to grab her hand and run from the kitchen, save them both. Lachlan’s face drained of all color to be slowly replaced with the most violent of purples. She’d never seen him so angry. At first she feared for Catie, then she thought perhaps Lachlan was having a small stroke of some kind. She couldn’t stand the charged silence another moment.

“Catie, things are different in this—”

“No,” Lachlan said, pointing to her. “Dinna try to help.”

Quite affronted at being dismissed, Piper threw up her hands, poured herself some tea and had a seat at the bar. Catie glanced at her sympathetically, but she only shrugged. Let them tear each other to shreds so long as they didn’t break anything.

Lachlan took a long breath and stared at the ceiling before sitting back down. “All of this is moot,” he said. “There’s no reason to get attached to the lad as ye must go back before Quinn follows ye here, trying to rescue ye.”

“Funny how Quinn and I care about each other enough to try and do something so foolhardy, eh, Lachlan? Who would ever think to aid a family member who was in trouble?”

Lachlan folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them. Piper had to grip the edges of the bar to keep from rushing over to comfort him after he’d highhandedly ordered her not to help. Still, her heart ached to see him so out of his depth. He was a better provider than he was a nurturer, and even though she knew he cared about Catie, he was having the devil of a time showing it.

“Please, Catie, can ye not see reason?” he asked without looking up, his voice muffled.

“He canna come through, though,” Catie said. “Even if Miss Burnet told him everything, Lord Ashford willna be back to that time for a year.”

Lachlan straightened up. “Who is Miss Burnet?” he asked.

She grimaced. “My chaperone in London. They had a dalliance.”

“Of course they did,” Lachlan sighed. “Bloody Quinn.”

“What’s that have to do with anything?” Piper asked, unable to help herself and joining them at the table. “And who is Lord Ashford?”

Catie acted put upon and hurriedly explained how she got there in the first place.

“So ye tricked this man into bringing ye here, trapping that poor lass in the past?” Lachlan asked, shaking his head in disgust. “If ye’re sure she and Quinn had a dalliance, there’s yet another reason he’ll come to this time. He’ll want to help her get home.” He groaned.

“Did ye not hear me say Lord Ashford willna return for a year? They canna come forward, Lach.” Catie seemed eager to get the blame off her shoulders, even though Piper could see leaving the hapless Miss Burnet behind weighed heavily on her.

“Quinn knows a way,” he said. “I left him details on how to do it.”

Catie shuddered. “Is that what that was? The evil instructions with the blood and chanting?”

“Ye wee sneak, ye must learn to stay out of other people’s things,” Lachlan said. “The spell isna evil, but it isna especially easy to master. Quinn could be wrestling the great lizards now for all we know.”

Catie’s eyes filled with fear and Lachlan looked like he would burst from how badly he wanted to say he told her so, but he refrained, much to Piper’s relief.