Wild Highland Rose (Time Travel Trilogy, Book 2) (10 page)

Allen
'
s eyes narrowed. 
"
I dinna fash how ye can let that woman touch ye.  She
'
s a witch, that one.
"

"
I asked for a doctor.
"

"
What did ye say?
"
  Allen
'
s frown deepened, and Cameron knew he
'
d made another mistake. 
"
Ye hate the crazy
bastards
more than I do.  When ye broke yer arm, ye practically skewered the mon who tried to fix it.
"

Cameron shook his head, fumbling for something to right his mistake. 
"
I only meant that a doctor would be better than a crazy woman.
"
  He smiled at his brother in what he hoped was a conspiratorial manner, and was rewarded with a skeptical look.  Allen wasn
'
t buying. There was shrewdness under all that hair.

"
Aye, I suppose it
'
s a bit like being stuck between the devil and a banshee.
"

"
And the point is, I
'
ve survived.
"
  Cameron said, still struggling with the damn plaid.

Allen tugged at the top, then deftly pinned it into place. 
"
Ye should have brought Aida.  She
'
s got a sure hand when it comes to dressing a body.
"

There was subtext here he was missing, but there was no way to decipher it. 
"
Who
'
s Aida?
"

"
Yer mistress.
"
  Allen frowned. 
"
Dinna ye remember anything?
"

"
That seems to be the question of the day.
"
  Cameron tried but couldn
'
t keep the anger from his voice.
 
"
And unfortunately the answer is always the same.  I can
'
t remember anything.
"
  Not about his life, not about Ewen
'
s.  It was as if he
'
d been dropped into the second act of a play without knowing his lines.  Hell, without knowing the story.

Allen slammed a beefy fist against the wall. 
"
They
'
ve
done this to you, and by the saints, I
'
ll see that they pay for it.
"

"
Who are you talking about?  Marjory?  She had nothing to with what happened.
"

Allen moved closer, his eyes narrowing to slits. 
"
I wouldna be so quick to let her off the hook, brother.  I saw the place where you fell.  Had our men examine it carefully.  I
'
m convinced it wasna an accident, Ewen.
"

He fought a wave of dizziness. 
"
You
'
re sure?
"

Allen nodded. 
"
I canna say who was behind it for certain, but ye know as well as I who would best benefit from yer death.
"

"
Marjory?
"
  He was more than aware of the fact she despised him, but the idea that she
'
d try to kill him seemed ludicrous. 
"
I can
'
t believe she
'
d stoop to that.
"

"
She
'
s a Macpherson.
"
Allen spat, as if it explained everything, but of course it didn
'
t.

"
And we hate each other.
"
  Cameron lifted a hand in exasperation. 
"
That
'
s already been made abundantly clear.  What I don
'
t know is why.
"

"
Because Manus Macpherson killed our mother.
"
  Allen
'
s features locked into harsh lines, his hatred radiating off him with almost palpable heat.

"
Marjory
'
s father?
"
  Cameron let the news settle.  It certainly explained a lot.  The forced marriage for instance.  But somehow it didn
'
t sync with what he
'
d observed about the Macpherson household.  There was obviously more to the story.

"
Aye.  I canna believe you dinna remember.
"
 
Allen
'
s frown was fierce.

"
Look, Allen, I wish I remembered too.  It
'
s not like I haven
'
t tried.
"

Again his look was skeptical.  As if he didn
'
t believe a word.  And Cameron wondered just exactly what the brothers
'
relationship had been. Cordial certainly.  United against common enemies, but still a far cry from friendly.
 
"
If I were you,
"
Allen was saying,
"
I
'
d trust no one.
"

An apt sentiment.  Cameron studied the man before him, wishing he could read minds.

Allen met his gaze, his own hardened. 
"
Father would no
'
forgive me if anything happened to you.  I
'
ll deliver ye safe and sound or die trying.  And I
'
ll no
'
let a bit o
'
skirt like Marjory Macpherson get in the way.
"

"
Father
'
s close?
"
  Cameron chose to ignore the implication of Allen
'
s words, concentrating instead on applying a name to the menace that seemed to surround them all. 
Torcall Cameron
.  To hear Marjory talk, the man was next in line to the devil himself, but, in truth, Cameron hadn
'
t any idea who he should believe.  His brother or his wife.

Like most things he suspected the answer was somewhere in the middle, and until he knew the whole truth, he wasn
'
t making any judgments.

"
I
'
ve just had a message.  He
'
s through the pass and should be here on the morrow.
"

"
Does Marjory know?
"

"
No
'
from me.
"
  Allen shrugged. 
"
'
Tis no
'
my place to tell her.  Although her kinfolk will no doubt send word that he
'
s near.
"

"
And when he arrives?
"
  Ewen
'
s father
'
s arrival seemed to represent some sort of catalyst.  A cataclysmic one, if Cameron had to call it.

"
When he arrives,
"
  Allen said, his expression grim,
"
Marjory Macpherson will pay for all that she
'
s done.
"

*****

Cameron sat on the bench, eyes closed, leaning back against the cool stone tower wall, letting the afternoon sun warm his face.  Allen had helped him down the stairs, then gone off to check on his men.

It was a beautiful day, but it was hard to enjoy it.  Not with all the information swirling around in his head.  It seemed that not only had he woken up to find himself inside another man
'
s body, he
'
d also landed into middle of a feudal war.
 
Ewen Cameron at the heart of it.

And
Marjory
.  The thought of her made his blood heat, despite the things Allen had said of her.  It was difficult to believe she
'
d want to kill him.  No matter how much she despised him.  Yet, Allen was his brother, and he
'
d been certain the landslide was intentional.

A conundrum if ever there was one.  Add to that the fact that he couldn
'
t remember who the hell he really was and it increased from conundrum to calamity.  Possibly a deadly one.

Which of course left him with the primary question.  Who the hell did he trust?

What he needed was a way out.  Or more realistically a way home.
 
But was that even possible?.

He was feeling much better, the lumps on his head greatly reduced in size and the drummers seemingly departed for their next concert stop.  But that didn
'
t mean he was up to the trek back to the mountain.  If he even could find the place again.

Still, the little voice in his head insisted, leaving was worth any risk, if he got back where he belonged
.
  The blonde
'
s face flashed through his mind, as if underscoring the thought.  He had a life, and it wasn
'
t here.
 
He couldn
'
t let these people and their problems get to him.  Not Grania, not Allen, and certainly not Marjory.  He had nothing to offer any of them.  And even if he did, he wasn
'
t certain he
'
d offer it.

A cold thought, surely, but a man had to protect himself.  People weren
'
t to be trusted.

He frowned, wondering where the hell that thought had come from.  Not exactly a Pollyanna moment.  He laughed at himself, surprised at how bitter he sounded, and for the first time it occurred to him that maybe he hadn
'
t been all that happy in his old life.

As quickly as the thought came, he pushed it away. Good or bad, he needed his own identity.  Any thoughts to the contrary were the result of listening to Grania  with her endless predictions and enigmatic ways.

If he believed in such things, he
'
d have to agree with Marjory
'
s assessment that Grania was touched in some way.  Or maybe they were all enchanted.  A Grimm
'
s fairy tale run amok.

Definitely not his style.

With a sigh, he opened his eyes, surprised to find Marjory Macpherson perched precariously on a rickety looking wooden ladder in front of a shed just across the way.  She was obviously content to ign
ore him, and just at the moment
the fact suited him just fine.

He couldn
'
t help admiring the soft curve of her backside.  It was something just this side of mouth watering, and he was happy to note that his borrowed body responded like any red-blooded male to the sight of a beautiful woman.

Even a deceitful one.

Marjory barked something at a man standing below her at the foot of the ladder, and, with a fatalistic shrug,
the guy
passed her what looked to be a handful of straw.  As she reached for it, the ladder shook ominously, but held, and Marjory began to weave the straw into a hole in the shed
'
s roof.

An accident waiting to happen, if ever there was one.  But far be it from
Cameron
to try and share the information with Marjory.  The woman was prickly at best, and since the moment in his room when they
'
d practically electrified the tower, she hadn
'
t so much as acknowledged his presence.  Besides, if Allen was right, she was more than cantankerous.  She was an enemy. Possibly a deadly one.

He blew out a breath, and dismissed all ideas of intervening.  The building wasn't high and he didn't think a fall would result in serious injury as long as someone was there to catch her.  She
'
d be just fine without him.  And he
'
d be better off without getting involved.  Entanglements only resulted in pain.

And he
'
d had enough of that for a lifetime.