A Highlander's Home (10 page)

             
Raine chewed her lip.  “I am sorry, but I am certain we have never met before.  You must have me mistaken with someone else.  I have never been to this country before.”

             
Lady MacGregor gingerly rose from the bed.  She touched Raine’s long golden hair that she had not bothered to put up in a braid today.  Her hand traced Raine’s jaw, then her eyebrows, until stopping at the corner of her mouth.  She nodded.  “I know you.”

             
Raine muttered, “Believe me,
ma’am
, I assure you that we have never met.  I guarantee it.”

Leith said carefully, “Mother, perhaps y
e
should rest.  Mac should be here momentarily to check on y
e
.”

             
On cue, the old monk entered the room, his brow furrowed with concern for the wife of his oldest and dearest friend, Leith’s father. 

             
“Madam.” 

He went to her side and immediately began poking and feeling her head, shoulders, arms.

             
She gave a small laugh.  “Mac, my dear, I am fine, I assure you.” 

She glanced at Raine from beneath her lashes.  “Tell me, Mac, do you still have that old, black leather bound book that my grandfather gave you when we were children?  The one that speaks of that silly curse on Hell’s Gate?”

             
Mac stopped his perusal of her body and
met her gaze
. He followed her gaze to Raine and then back, then back again to Raine.  Lady MacGregor touched a strand of Raine’s
hair again, then grabbed her chin and tilted it to catch the evening light.  He gasped.  How had he not seen this before?  How could he have been so stupid? 
Leith
had given him all the information and he had overlooked it.  He realized that she was somehow connected to the stones, but it was the stones themselves that he had concentrated on, not the lass who was the catalyst of the two.

             
In unison, Mac and Lady MacGregor said softly, “Rayanna.”

             
Leith
stared at them in bewilderment.
 
T
hey had both lost their minds. 
Raine was chewing her bottom lip so fiercely he was waiting for the blood to come forth at any moment.

             
The bell sounded for dinner
,
and he grabbed at the opportunity to end this.  He took Raine’s hand in his and his mother’s in the other.  “Dinner, my ladies.” 

             
As they entered the dining hall, he seated his mother on the opposite side of Mac in the hopes of discouraging any more talk of this legend
,
but they just
craned their necks and
spoke around him or over him.

             
“Believe me,
Leith
, she is identical to the girl in the book.  I have not seen
it in many years but I know it,
”
his mother whispered excitedly.
  She grasped his hand.  “I know it.”

             
Mac chimed in, “I find it difficult
to admit that I did not make
the connection myself, since it is my duty to know everything in the books that occupy my shelves.”  He took a bit of venison.  “Especially after you told me that she was inquiring about the stones.”

             
“Stones?” his mother repeated
, frowning
.  “What stones?”
  After a second of thought, her face lit up.  “The stones!” she exclaimed. 

             
Leith
briefly retold the story that he had previously explained to Mac.  Lady MacGregor leaned back in her chair and shook her head.  “I never thought that I would live to see it, but my grandfather always said it would happen soon.  Hell’s Gate will prosper and will no longer be considered the boil on the
Queen
’s arse.”

             
Leith
choked on his wine.  “Mother!”

             
She patted his hand absently.  She continued as if speaking aloud to herself, instead of carrying on a conversation with others.  “He said that a girl of hair the color of the sun and eyes the color of the sea would ensnare the heart of the Laird of Hell’s Gate and would breed magnificent warriors who would one day rule the land as far as England’s shores.  The land would prosper, the crops would be bountiful, and the water would flow as clear as crystal.  The women would start to have babies again and Hell’s Gate would no longer be cursed.”

             
Leith
dropped his fork. “It is not cursed, Mother.  We have crops, we have clean water, and there are plenty of children running amuck.”

             
Mac and Lady MacGregor, and Raine as well, looked at him.  Raine was not sure of the crops or the water, but the lack of children was evident.  The youngest child she had seen was at least ten years of age.  Strange she had not noticed that before.

             
“Och, the land is barely able to feed the people through the winter and the water is, although acceptable for most cases, quite on the murky from all the silt it carries.”

             
“If your nephew, Alisdair, would stop raiding my borders and polluting my waters, there would be plenty of clean water and lots of babies to be birthed if their father’s were not killed in the raids,” Leith replied pointedly.

             
“Well, the land could use a good dose of reproducing and so could the people, my lord.”  Mac glanced at Raine, causing a blush to creep up to her cheeks.

             
She decided to interject her own two cents. 
If she could find the stones the Professor had used, she could return home. 
“So, since it is evident the stones exist in your books, as you said, is it possible for me to see them?  Just for curiosity’s sake.”  She added a smile for good measure.

             
Leith
glared at her.  “The stones are a myth.”

             
“On the contrary, my dear.”

             
All eyes were on Lady MacGregor.  “I have seen them.”

Chapter 9

Raine had fought the entire way as
Leith
half dragged and half carried her through the castle and up to her room where he promptly deposited her on the bed, turned on his heel, and bolted the door from the outside as he left.  Her objections and screams fell on deaf ears.

She pounded on the door, realizing the denseness of the heavy wood was withstanding the beating much better than her fists were.  She paced a trail in the floor rushes, pounded on the door a couple more times in case someone might be within earshot, and then flounced on the bed unappreciative of the hand designed silk coverlet.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened and there stood that giant of a man whose mother knew the location of the pieces of rock that could get her back home.

             
Leith
did not enjoy arguing with his mother but tonight he’d had no choice. 
He knew that Raine would now hound him endlessly to be escorted to the stones in the hopes of conjuring up magic to return to some imaginary native land.  He was rea
dy to pull his hair out between. 
His mother had insisted that her father had
brought her on a family
pilgrimage
as a child
,
and they had stopped to view the stones.  She had said that she remembered vividly the story he had told her about the magic and power that these stones held but that only a select few could access it when the moon and stars were in perfect alignment.

             
However,
Leith
was practical.  While he believed that Raine believed the craziness of her tale, he did not put much faith into its authenticity.  He also did not put much faith into a tale a father told his young daughter about magic rocks.

             
“Are you taking me to the stones?” Raine could contain herself no longer and had to voice the question. 

             
Leith
continued to stare at her, frowning. 

             
She shifted on the bed.  “Are you?”

             
He stared. 

             
She stared back.

             
He cocked his head, still staring.

             
She jumped to her feet, exclaiming, “Well?!”

             
He
turned to the window and replied heavily, “Well, what?”

             
She wanted to scream but almost choked trying to say calmly, “Are you taking me to the stones?  If your mother knows where they are, I can get back to my own home.”

             
She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm.  “Please.”

             
He did not move even though the heat of her had made its way up to shoulder and down to his groin.  He had a thought, a delightfully wicked thought.

             
He met her pleading gaze and wanted to drown in the green depths.  “I will take you to the stones.”

             
Her mouth fell open,
and then
she let out a small cry as she jumped and clapped her hands in delight.  That was much easier than she had anticipated.

             
He gave her a half smile.  “After the wedding.”

Raine stomped down the stairs and made her way to the barn.  She continued stomping and kicked the toe of her shoe into the remains of a withered tree stump that had been cut long ago.  She grunted as her toe made contact but refused to acknowledge anything but the anger that was boiling inside of her.  That man was despicable.

             
The previous evening had held much promise
,
or so she had thought
,
while at dinner.  Even when she had been manhandled and locked away in her room after the meal when
Leith
’s mother had announced that she not only knew of the stones but had actually, physically
seen
them, Raine had thought there was hope.  Hope that she would soon return to her own world, her own time, her own life.  A life which did not include leaving behind a husband.
  Becoming a spinster was not on her agenda, but handing her virginity over to a medieval Scottish lord hundreds of years younger than she was did not sit well with her either.

             
She grabbed the saddle hanging by the oversized door and dragged it towards the stall of the horses
, stopping when she reached the one
labeled
“Ellie”
.  Ignoring the intricate detailed workings of the leather, she slung it onto the mare.  Lady MacGregor had mentioned that she would like to go riding while she was in residence and that this was the mare
that
was docile enough to be handled by the older woman with few complaints.
  She would suit Raine just fine for although she had had some experience with her
grandparent’s
farm, she was far from being able to handle a spirited animal at the moment.

             
The horse let out a soft whinny with the weight of her new rider.  “Oh, now, I’m not that heavy, old girl.”

             
She lifted the reigns and steered her onto the well-worn path that led to the fields and hills, away from the castle.  Some fresh air would cool her temper and the long ride would give her time to think of an alternative to a Scottish wedding to a Scottish highlander.

             
Ellie was a fine golden mare with strong muscles and sure feet.  She needed little guidance from Raine and soon took her head while Raine frowned at the rolling hillside without seeing it while she pondered her impossible situation.
  How was she going to convince him to take her to the stones without the agreement of marriage?  And why was he so
insistent
upon marrying her anyway?

             
While staring at the ground and absently wrapping Ellie’s mane around her finger, she jerked at the first clap of thunder.  The dark clouds rolling over the mountains had escaped her attention and were now threatening to release the
ir heavy load.

             
Raine searched the horizon, twisting in her seat to find some sort of shelter from the torrent of rain that was sure to come in a few moments time when she spotted a small ramshackled barn that had seen better days.  Ellie needed no encouragement as she turned toward it before Raine had even nudged her in that direction.