All for the Heiress (20 page)

“Sorry,” she muttered, surprised she could get the word out past the lump in her throat.

He reached over and took her by the shoulders, giving her a shake. “Aye, ye should be, ye wee fool. And ye say I’m the daft one.”

She grabbed his hands to stop him shaking her and looked up at him. “What?” She tried to step back but he kept a firm grip on her.

“The money doesna change anything, Mel. Nor did I chase after ye because I’m afraid of this life.” He glared at her, taking a step closer. She had to tilt her chin to maintain eye contact.

“Why did you chase after me, then?”

“Ye’re going to make me say it?” he asked.

He loosened his rough grasp on her shoulders and slid his hands up the sides of her neck, tipping her head further back. She nodded the best she could, and held onto his jacket, pulling him closer. She didn’t know if she was trying to keep from falling down or floating away. She couldn’t name the thing she felt, fear and elation, plus anticipation and impatience all rolled together. It was how she imagined being in love should feel. He’d come back. He’d come back to be with her.

“I think you should say it.”

He opened his mouth to answer when Lachlan poked his head out of the carriage window and hollered at them. “Have ye troublemakers sorted your nonsense out yet, so we can be on our way?”

Shane and Mellie turned to stare at him and Shane went a deep shade of red.

“No,” he shouted. “If ye have somewhere ye need to be, please dinna tarry on our account.” He then took her by the arm and pulled her further away.

Mellie was shocked at his completely fearless manner and turned to see Lachlan shake his head before pulling it back into the carriage.

They looked at each other for a moment, Mellie almost forgetting what they’d been talking about, when she suddenly thought of something.

“Lachlan doesn’t seem surprised about this, does he?” she asked. “Piper as well. He’s acting like he’s in such a hurry now, but they kept dawdling about, almost as if they were waiting for you to show up.” She remembered how much she missed him in the short time they’d been apart and wanted to hit him again.

He took her hand and smiled, pulling her closer, so she was only inches from him.

“That must mean we’re still together in their time,” he said.

“Still together?” she asked with a biting laugh. “We have to get together first.”

“So let’s get together,” he said, putting his arms around her so the last few inches between them disappeared.

She put her hands on his chest and looked up at him. The smile on his face was so sure, all the cold despair of the carriage ride began to slip away.

“You’re choosing me then, over Catie?”

She expected him to roll his eyes or laugh, but he never dropped his clear gaze, never blinked.

“It’s not a choice, really,” he said, leaning in and resting his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes and relaxed into him. “I dinna think I would have come to this time at all if ye hadna come with me. I tricked myself into thinking I wanted Catie, but it’s always been ye, Mel.”

“That was pretty risky.” She couldn’t help herself and added, “And pretty daft.” Instantly contrite, she grabbed his shirt in case he wanted to pull away.

“I know.”

“Stop agreeing with me when I’m mean to you,” she said, feeling worse when he smiled radiantly down at her.

“Ye could stop being mean to me instead.”

She sighed, then felt his lips press against hers. She kissed him back, linking her arms around his neck and running her fingers into his hair, careful not to bump his stitches. The first kiss he’d given her had been wonderful while it lasted, but left her feeling confused and lost. This one was better in every way. The love she thought she’d have to cram to the back of her heart and try to forget could now be free to bloom. He’d come back. He hadn’t turned around at discovering Catie was an heiress. He hadn’t come back because this time was for the birds, he’d come back for her.

He pressed her closer to his chest and she burned with the desire she’d been fighting during the journey, felt a lovely warm glow where his hands and lips touched her. She loved the sensation of tiny fireworks exploding all over her skin, his strength as she melted into him, and she opened her mouth for more.

A loud, amused throat clearing sent them flinging themselves away from one another and they turned to see Lachlan once again leaning out the window.

“I can think of a thousand more comfortable places for ye to continue this in your own time,” he said.

Mellie thought she would burst into flames from embarrassment, but Shane merely clasped her hand and led her to the carriage.

“Too right,” he agreed with Lachlan. “Hot water, cell phone, a bed without chiggers.” He waggled his eyebrows at Mellie and she turned and glared out the window, mortified.

Lachlan sent Shane’s horse back with one of the guards and they set off again. Now that they were all together, Lachlan had the driver go as fast as they could, assuring them they’d be to the castle that night.

Mellie snuggled up to Shane and he put his arm around her, resting his cheek against the top of her head.

“You guys knew all along he would come back, didn’t you?” she asked Piper. She turned to Lachlan. “You even knew he was here in the first place, and I know Magnus didn’t see him.”

“It’s probably because we’re inseparable in their time,” Shane said, squeezing her arm.

That thought made her dizzy and she glanced at Piper, who looked like she was bursting to tell them everything. Curiosity overwhelmed her.

“What year are you from,” she badgered.

“Not a chance,” Lachlan said mildly, not looking at her.

“How old is Daisy?” she tried.

He turned to her then, a stern look on his face. “When ye return, ye must promise not to breathe a word of what ye know, aye? I canna have anything get messed up because of ye, got that?”

Mellie earnestly crossed her heart, and nudged Shane, who nodded. “We won’t,” she promised, then thought of a new line of questioning. “Are we really still together after all those years? It has to be around ten, based on Magnus’s age.” Lachlan gave her a last dirty look before ignoring her some more, but she persisted. “Just tell me how they, I mean, you lot reacted to us being together. Was it a shock? Did you try to talk me out of it?”

Lachlan furrowed his brow. “I honestly dinna remember. Perhaps ease us into it, just to be safe from our recriminations.”

Shane made an offended noise. “Recriminations? What could they, I mean you, have against us being together?”

“I’m sure I was delighted for you,” Piper said, unable to keep still any longer. “But why did you go in the first place?”

Shane groaned. “I talked her into it. It was all my mad idea.”

“Well, that’s a given,” Lachlan said gruffly.

Mellie knew he didn’t care for Shane due to the crush on Catie. Her stomach sank unhappily at the thought, but she reminded herself he was with her now, and apparently many years into the future. She hoped that Lachlan changed his mind, as he was like an older brother to her, and she’d hate for him to disapprove of Shane. She had to do some damage control, starting now.

“It wasn’t all Shane’s fault,” she admitted. “I was, I mean, I am having a quarter-life crisis.” She realized that everything would still be waiting for her, unfinished classes, undecided goals, her dreams completely sideways. “Everything was— is, so awful. I don’t think I want to be a nurse anymore, but I wasted so much time and money so I think I’ll probably have to.”

“You’re not a nurse, you’re a doctor. An obstetrician,” Piper said. “In fact, when you were still in med school, you helped deliver Daisy.”

“Piper,” Lachlan said warningly. “Ye should say no more.”

She frowned at him and pressed on. “There was a big storm and the bridge was out, and it was just you and me and Lachlan. If you hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened, because she wasn’t easy to get out.”

“Piper!”

“I don’t care,” Piper said, reaching across and taking Mellie’s hand. “You’re like a little sister to me and I didn’t even notice how miserable you were back then.”

“I wasn’t that miserable,” Mellie said, choked up at the outpouring of love from Piper, and overwhelmed at her future.

She couldn’t imagine becoming a doctor, especially when she didn’t think she could make it through nursing school, but now the seed was planted she felt certain it would grow.

“Now that I know ye’ll be a doctor, ye’ll never get rid of me,” Shane said. He leaned closer to Piper. “I was unhappy too, in my own way. What becomes of me?”

“No,” Lachlan said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Absolutely not, ye’ve said too much.”

“That’s not fair. Just please tell me I’m not a computer programmer,” Shane said, sitting back.

Mellie could tell he was at least somewhat relieved not to know, and she let her breath out slowly, realizing she wanted her future to have some surprises.

Piper shook her head. “It’s something good,” she whispered quickly.

“Bloody hell,” Lachlan boomed.

“It’ll be okay,” she assured him, reaching to pull the curtains shut. “Let’s all get some rest.”

Shane slid down and rested his head on her shoulder and she turned and kissed his forehead, smiling across at Piper before closing her eyes. The future they spoke of was too far away to be overly concerned about, the thought of medical school both terrified and excited her. Shane seemed to sense her whirlwind thoughts and laced his fingers with hers.

Being with him was right, everything else would settle into place. Everything would be okay.

Lachlan took them past the castle, stopping at the edge of the woods near the bridge. Piper hugged them both fiercely and assured them she’d get them back to the right time.

“Not a whisper, d’ye hear me?” Lachlan said for the thirtieth time. “It makes my head spin to think of what this has done to our timeline. Ye best pray it’s nothing.”

“Lachlan, don’t make them think you’ve turned into a crotchety old man,” Piper said, shaking her head at him.

“We won’t say anything,” Mellie said.

Before she had time to get sad about missing them, or confusing herself that she’d see another version of them in a short time, it was over. She opened her eyes to see the forest still surrounding her, but the weather, while still brisk, felt almost cozy compared to the extreme cold they’d left behind.

“Do ye think it worked?” Shane asked, already heading toward the road. They’d only gone into the woods a short distance, and the sight of the paved highway made her want to kiss the asphalt. Remembering Shane’s reaction to her joy at finding the road to the Ferguson farm, she restrained herself.

They’d both changed into their regular clothes, but were still filthy, covered in bites, and Shane’s stitches would be definite cause for alarm if anyone saw them.

“My house is closest, and nobody’ll be home,” he said. “Let’s get cleaned up, and maybe ye can think of one of your world class cover stories to explain my head.”

They walked inside the tree line, and she grinned foolishly every time a car zoomed past, felt giddy at the thought of hot water pouring over her when she got to Shane’s house. Thinking about the smell of shampoo almost made her laugh out loud.

He took her hand and linked his fingers together with hers and she felt a rush of nerves. They’d made a declaration of sorts back in the eighteenth century and now everything was different. Better, she told herself as she gave him a shy glance. He caught her and smiled, making her feel even more nervous. Yes, things were better, but she didn’t know what to expect once they were alone together in his house.

She could see how exhausted he was when he led her toward his room, then veered into his parent’s room, returning with a robe for her.

“I’ll run our things through the washer,” he said. “Ye can’t go home looking like that.”

He left her alone while she got her dirty clothes off and slipped into the robe, which was warm and soft and smelled like lilacs. A few minutes later he came back, wearing sweatpants and a clean t-shirt. She wanted to hug him he looked so cozy. Even his knobbly wool socks looked like home to her. She’d never want to leave again, not this time or the village. Every single thing she wanted was here.

“Here, Mel. Take a forty minute shower if ye like, and use all the towels. I want ye to be truly glad ye came back.” He placed a tall stack of plush towels on a chair next to him.

“I am, don’t worry. And not just for the hot water.” She glanced past him toward the bathroom, feeling shy again at being alone with him.

“Ye can relax, I willna pounce on ye.”

“Don’t you want to pounce on me?” she asked, looking down at her bedraggled clothes, her arms still blotchy from the scabies. As nervous as she’d been two seconds before, that exact amount of disappointment took over.

He made a long, irritated noise. “Aye, I do, of course. I’m being a gentleman.” The look he gave her was so rude and ungentlemanly, she had to laugh.

“Okay. Well, thanks.” She hugged him, feeling warm all over as soon as their bodies touched. “I mean it, thanks.” She stepped back and took the heavenly pile of thick towels.