A Time Apart: Time Travel Historical Highlander Romance (3 page)

The unreal feel of everything that happened in the last few hours was like a nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from. She was coming to understand it was real, however, even if she couldn’t explain it.

“Is this ever going to end,” she muttered.

She crossed the room to the opening and looked through to the tin bathtub sitting inside. The whole experience she was suddenly living seemed from another era and she was struggling to comprehend everything that was going on. She moved back to sit on the seat again and couldn’t stop the tears flowing.

“You need to take your damp clothes off or you’ll catch your death of cold.”

Jenny wiped at her cheeks as she looked up to see Aggie returning with a younger girl following behind. They were both carrying large buckets of water and the steam rising up showed it was hot. She watched as they stepped through the opening and heard the splashing sound of the water being poured in the bathtub. The young girl walked straight back out the room, but Aggie made her way to the cabinet. She opened it to take out a green tartan dress not unlike the one she herself was wearing.

“You can wear this,” she said as she put it on the bed. “It’s dry and will keep you warm.”

“Where am I?” Jenny asked.

Aggie’s wrinkled features creased even more as the suspicious expression returned to her face.

“At Lochbrae Castle,” she replied.

“What…” Jenny tried to go on, but she was interrupted.

“I’m not the person to answer your questions,” Aggie said. “You should bathe before the water gets cold.”

Jenny let out a sigh and nodded her head. The man she really needed to speak to for answers was nowhere to be seen and a warm bath seemed like a good idea to take away the chill in her bones. She got to her feet to walk back through the opening and stood by the bathtub. There was no way of getting any privacy and she waited until she heard the sound of the bedroom door closing before stripping off and testing the water in the tub. It was a bit too hot, so she picked up a nearby bucket that was filled with cold water. She added some then tested the temperature again before stepping over the side and sitting down.

Her body eventually stopped trembling as she enjoyed the warmth of the water, but the prospect of someone returning to the room made her bathe quickly. There was no towel to use when she got out of the tub, so she dried herself as best she could with her damp blouse then quickly went through to the bedroom to get the tartan dress. It was a size too big for her, but she felt better once she was clothed. She sat on the bed and the chill of the night crept up on her again after a few minutes, so she got under the covers.

Her mind went over the events of the last few hours, but there was no making any sense of them. She started the evening having some fun with her friend at a local fair and ended it…

That was the part she couldn’t explain and it went round and round in her mind. Coming up with a reasonable explanation proved impossible and she tried to clear her head of thoughts. The comfort of being tucked up in bed went some way to relaxing her and her eyelids began to droop. In minutes she was breathing deeply as the tiredness of a long day overwhelmed her and sent her to sleep.

Chapter Three

It was the early light of dawn that brought Jenny out of a deep sleep and a frown creased her brow as she blinked her eyes and looked around. She rubbed a hand across her forehead as the unfamiliar sights confused her and for a few seconds she wondered what was wrong with the bedroom in her apartment. It was only when the fog of drowsiness faded from her head that some of what happened the previous evening began to come back to her.

“This is real,” she muttered as she stared at the bare stone walls of the room. “I’m lying in the bedroom of a Scottish castle.”

She tried to go over in her mind what actually took place at the fair the previous evening and could make sense of it up until she slipped on a rock by the lake. The words of the fortune teller reared up in her mind again and she wasn’t so quick to dismiss them this time. When she stood outside the tent after the eerie encounter, she scoffed at the warning that water was a danger.

“Should’ve kept that coin,” she let out quietly, but didn’t believe what she was saying even as the words came out.

She moved across the mattress to the edge of the bed and swung her legs to the floor. The touch of them on a stone floor was cold and she shivered for a second or two when she got to her feet. Picking up one of the covers, she wrapped it around her shoulders and walked across to the small open window. She closed her eyes to think about the view out the bedroom window of her apartment and memories of the buildings and busy street flooded her mind. The wish came in her mind that they were there when she opened her eyes.

She was quick to see they weren’t when she looked out of the window. The morning light sparkled on the rippling surface of the loch and her gaze went across open countryside to heather-covered hills. She couldn’t deny it was beautiful, but it wasn’t the cityscape she was used to seeing every morning. More to the point, it wasn’t the view she wanted to see.

Jenny tried to understand where she was, but again came to the conclusion that there was no rational explanation. At least not one she could come up with. She fell in the lake in the grounds of Albany Manor House and should have come to the surface in the same place. Instead she came up in…

“Rannoch Moor,” she said out loud as if that would somehow help her understand.

That was the name that James mentioned when she asked him where she was the night before. It wasn’t one that was familiar to her, but it definitely sounded Scottish and everything she’d seen suggested that was exactly where she was.

“Ridiculous,” she spat out as she turned away from the window.

She went back to sit on the bed and put her head in her hands.

“There must be a sensible explanation,” she tried to convince herself, but again didn’t believe what she was saying.

She needed to speak to James to get some answers, but didn’t even know where he was. He could be anywhere in the castle, if he was there at all, and she didn’t think it was a good idea to just go wandering in the hope she might find him. All she could do was wait for someone to come to her, so she rested her head on a pillow and closed her eyes.

She sat up straight away when she heard the sound of the door opening. Her gaze went to her wrist to check the time, but her watch was no longer there and she suspected it must have been lost in the struggle to get out the water. Jenny looked across the room to the sight of the young girl that helped fill the bathtub the night before.

“You need to come with me,” the girl said.

“Where to?” Jenny asked.

“The clan council has assembled in the Great Hall of the castle,” the girl went on. “Master James has told them the story of how he saved you on the moor last night. They now want to speak to you. I was sent to bring you down.”

“Shit,” Jenny cursed quietly.

A meeting of the clan council sounded like a serious affair and she guessed it wouldn’t be her that was asking the questions. More to the point, she didn’t have the slightest clue how she was going to answer what she suspected she was about to be asked.

“Please,” the girl urged. “You need to come right now. The council is waiting for you.”

Jenny let out a long sigh and knew that there was no real choice but to do as she was asked. Her anxiety grew as she got to her feet and walked across the room. The girl opened the door to step out of it and she followed as they made their way down the stairs. She looked around the small courtyard when they got outside and remembered her arrival the night before. They moved through a small passageway that led to a larger courtyard area and she saw that they were in front of the main castle building.

She began to tremble as they entered it and walked towards a large door. The murmur of sound came to her as they approached it and seemed to grow louder with every step. The huge hall they walked in was packed with men and women all clad in the same green tartan that she herself was now wearing. The sound of talking slowly died away as more eyes came to her and by the time she approached the long table at the front of the hall there was almost total silence around her.

She saw James sitting at the table and met his gaze. The smile that flashed across his face gave her no confidence and anxiety turned to fear as she glanced at the harsh expressions on the faces of the others around him. The oldest man in the center pointed to a seat and Jenny moved to sit down. A murmur of noise began to build again, but the man put up his hand as a signal for quiet and the sound died away.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Jenny,” she replied.

He grasped his chin and swept a touch down his long white beard as if he was pondering his next question, but didn’t get the chance to ask it when the younger man next to him exploded to his feet and knocked his chair over.

“We need to kill her now and show those bastard Glennets that we won’t fall for their plots,” he shouted.

Jenny’s fear grew at the aggressive words and threat of death. She glanced around as a thunderous cheer echoed around the hall and guessed that many of the people staring at her agreed with the view of the man that just spoke. He certainly seemed to have the backing of his fellow clansmen, but the older gent in the center again raised his hand for quiet.

“Sit down Donald,” he told the younger man.

“But father…” he went on.

“SIT DOWN,” the old man said harshly.

An evil look crossed Donald’s face as he stared at Jenny, but he submitted to his father’s command and picked up his chair to sit.

“My son James here…,” the older man said after a pause, “…has told us how he saved you on Rannoch Moor last night. Why were you out there in the dead of the night on your own?”

“She wasn’t on her own,” Donald muttered. “I’m telling you that witch is in league with the Glennets.”

The older man let out a sigh at the interruption before going on.

“My son Donald believes you to be a spy for a rival clan. Is that why you were on the moor?”

“No,” Jenny replied. “I don’t even know who the Glennets are.”

“Liar,” Donald shouted, but was silenced by a glance from his father.

“So why were you on the moor?” the old man repeated.

“I…” Jenny started and desperately tried to think of something sensible to say. She couldn’t even explain to herself why she was there and didn’t think those packing out the hall would believe her story if she told them about the fair and the fall in the lake. “I was lost,” she finally came out with and it even sounded lame to her own ears.

Donald’s derisive laughter was suddenly the loudest sound in the hall and others around Jenny joined in.

“So…, where is your home?” the old man persisted.

“I live in the city,” Jenny replied. “I want to go back there.”

“This is pathetic,” Donald roared as he sprung to his feet again. “There can only be one reason why she was on the moor and that’s to help the hated Glennet clan conspire against us.”

“No, it’s not true,” Jenny replied in an anxious rush of breath. “I didn’t even want to come here. I…”

“Lies,” Donald interrupted. “She’s telling us nothing but lies. Why else would she be here other than to do us harm.”

“No,” Jenny let out in a despairing voice, but it was drowned out in the jeering noise of the crowd surrounding her.

The situation was quickly spiraling out of control and she could hear the menace in the voice of Donald and others around her. She glanced at James, but he said nothing.

“I say we crucify her to the drawbridge and show our bastard enemies what happens to their spies,” Donald went on. “The Glennets will come for her if she’s important to them.”

“And if they don’t?” his father asked.

Donald shrugged his shoulders and dropped back to his seat.

“Then she dies,” he said.

Jenny’s panic erupted at the discussion raging around her. They were talking about killing her as if she was nothing.

“You can’t do this,” she screamed.

The old man got to his feet and held both hands above his head to bring some calm back to the proceedings. He stroked his beard again when he dropped his hands back down.

“You can’t do this,” Jenny shouted again to be heard.

“Why not?” the old man asked.

“I’m not a spy for the Glennet clan or anyone else,” Jenny said and dropped to her knees on the floor. “Please…, you have to believe me. I’m telling you the truth.”

“Then why are you here?” he demanded to know in a raised voice.

“Because he saved me and he brought me here,” Jenny replied and pointed at James. “I didn’t even know this place existed before last night. All I want to do is go home.”

“Go back to the Glennet clan and tell them what you’ve found out about us,” Donald muttered.

The old man let out a sigh and it was obvious that he was struggling with the decision he needed to make.

“We can’t let you go now,” he eventually said. “It’s too dangerous for us.”

“I’ll take her,” James said as he finally entered the conversation.

“NO,” Donald shouted. “We can’t take the risk of…”

“Father,” James cut in and grabbed the old man’s arm. “She was on her own on the moor last night, I swear it. If I hadn’t been there she would have died in the water and I can put my hand on my heart to say that there was definitely no one else there with her last night. I have no idea where she comes from and how she came to be on Rannoch Moor, but I don’t believe she’s here to do me or anyone else harm. Let me take her.”

“I tell you she’s a spy,” Donald persisted in a loud voice. “We can’t let her gather intelligence on the strength of our forces and report it back to our enemies.”

The old man looked between his two sons, but his gaze finally settled on James.

“What would you have her for?”

“Aggie is getting older and needs more help,” James said. “I have use for another maid.”

“What?” Jenny let out in a surprised voice and saw James glare at her.

Despite the situation she found herself in, she was rankled by the suggestion that she serve as someone’s maid. A glance at the malicious intent on the face of Donald was all it needed to knock that stupid notion out of her head. She suspected the man staring at her would kill her in the blink of an eye if he got the chance. James was handing her a lifeline and she needed to grasp on to it.

“I accept,” she blurted out.

“I wasn’t giving you a choice,” the old man said and turned to James. “I discharge her to your care for the time being. Let me know immediately if you find out any more about her and make sure she is kept under control.”