All The Time You Need (6 page)

“Lissa’s gone outside the walls. We’re going to bring her back.”

Not too much information, but enough to alert his friend to the potential for danger. Finn simply nodded, his face an expressionless mask.

Alex picked up speed as he crossed the open ground between the keep and the wall, with Finn matching his stride, step for step. By the time they exited out through the tunnel gate, they were trotting, comfortably keeping pace with one another.

The arbor was set a goodly distance away, well beyond the back walls. If the Gordons were roaming the area looking for a chance to strike, the laird’s only daughter would make a fine target indeed. As far away as they’d be from the keep, no one would hear her no matter how loudly she might scream. And considering it was no secret that the Gordon laird had declared that he would stop at nothing to claim a piece of the MacKillican lands for his own, Lissa would make an attractive bargaining chip.

A noise ahead of them brought a knot to his stomach. Next to him, Finn unsheathed his sword and held it at the ready.

The knot in Alex’s stomach continued to grow, cinching itself tighter and tighter, until at last he caught sight of Lissa through the trees. Exactly as he expected, she’d made her way back to the arbor. He’d barely had time to think the first words to a prayer of thanks before she set his heart pounding again.

“A nimble lass, that,” Finn said, clearly seeing the same thing Alex did. “But perhaps no' quite nimble enough.”

Ahead of them, Lissa scrambled up onto a wooden bench she’d brought with her from the keep, and grabbed on to the sharpened spikes of the iron gate that closed off the arbor. Before Alex could do more than hasten his steps, she had hoisted herself up in what appeared to be an attempt to straddle the top of the arbor wall. Though his sister was fearless, her gown was less than suitable for the task she’d set herself. It tangled around her legs, causing her to lose her hold. She slipped, and would have fallen if not for the chain around her waist, which snagged around one of the spikes, holding her captive as she dangled helplessly several feet off the ground.

Served her right, Alex thought, and he briefly considered leaving her there long enough to allow her to think upon the error of her ways. But that wouldn’t do in this situation. Not out here, exposed and vulnerable to attack from the Gordons. Rescuing her was his only recourse, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy teasing her about this mishap for days to come.

He started to yell her name, but stopped as he realized Lissa wasn’t alone. There, on the other side of the locked arbor gate, kneeling on the ground, her hands clasping the bars, was a woman he’d never seen before.

“What’s this?” Finn asked, the amazement in his voice indicating he’d spotted the stranger as well. “I wasn’t aware you imprisoned women here at Dunellen.”

Alex wasn’t aware of such a thing either. His gaze locked with the woman’s, and any words he might have formed froze in his throat at the sheer terror reflected in her eyes.

* * *

Annie felt as if she were swimming her way up through a million layers of gauze, struggling against an exhaustion such as she’d never felt, in order to reach the light that penetrated her eyelids. She might have given up and allowed sleep to reclaim her if not for the intense, throbbing pain in the side of her face. She managed at last to open her eyes, and found herself on the ground in a strange place, crumpled beside a stone bench.

It took a few moments for her to put her thoughts in order to remember where she was. Scotland. She’d come to her grandmother’s cottage. Her cottage now. It all came back to her in sharp focus. She’d gone in search of the arbor where her grandmother had loved to spend her time, and she’d found it.

And then the earth had, quite literally, begun to move beneath her feet.

Apparently there had never been an earthquake like Annie had experienced during any of her grandmother’s visits. If there had been, Annie was sure that her Nana Ellen wouldn’t have loved it quite so much. Because as far as she was concerned right now, mysteries or no mysteries, this arbor was the last place she’d ever want to come again for a relaxing afternoon.

She held on to the bench to pull herself up to her knees and then, finally, to her feet. A few deep breaths to ward off the waves of dizziness that rolled over her, and she managed to stand upright. But only briefly. Only until another wave of dizziness washed over her like a tsunami, buckling her legs and slamming her back to the ground.

Now, both her face and her bottom throbbed equally.

“I think I hate this place,” she groaned.

Tears seemed perfectly in order, and she allowed herself that luxury before dragging herself up to stand once more. This time she held on to the tree, fastening her hand around its trunk to give herself some time to get her bearings.

Everything seemed somehow…wrong.

The earthquake—which was what it had to have been that she’d experienced—hadn’t done as much damage as she might expect. Though the tree, the bench, even the arbor walls still stood exactly where they had before, they weren’t at all the same as they had been. She would have sworn that the tree had been massive and old, but clearly, the trunk of this one was hardly more than a few inches in diameter. Even the gate was… Wait!

What the hell was going on with the gate?

Annie lurched forward, fastening her fingers around the iron bars before pushing with all her might. Granted, what she’d been through had taken its toll on her physically, but the gate that had been barely clinging to the stone walls by a single rusted hinge was now firmly in place and securely locked. She could understand if the earthquake had knocked a gate that had been in pristine shape off its hinges, but this was the exact opposite. This wasn’t just wrong, it was bizarre. Bizarre and totally impossible.

“Hello?” she called out, her voice husky and cracking.

It felt beyond foolish to even try to call for help, but if, for some unknown reason, workmen had come to repair the gate while she was unconscious, surely they would have attempted to give her some sort of aid. It certainly wasn’t as if she had been invisible, lying there in front of the bench, big as life. And even if they’d chosen to go for help rather than try to revive her themselves, why in heaven’s name would they have locked her in here?

“I don’t get this,” she whispered. It was all just too weird.

A rustling noise followed by a grunt caught her attention, and she pressed her face up against the bars in an attempt to see in the direction where she thought she’d heard the sounds. A young woman headed toward her, struggling under the burden of what appeared to be a heavy wooden bench. From her wild, copper-colored curls to her lady-in-waiting costume, she looked like someone on her way to a Halloween masquerade party.

No matter. Annie was desperate for help from anywhere she could get it.

“Hey,” Annie called, hoping to attract the woman’s attention. She’d barely heard that herself so she cleared her throat and tried again, a little louder. “Hey!”

The young woman’s head snapped up and her eyes widened as she spotted Annie. She dropped the bench she’d struggled with and lifting the long skirts she wore, she ran forward to the gate to fasten her hands over Annie’s.

“Yer unharmed, thanks be,” she said breathlessly. “Well, perhaps no' completely unharmed, but no' as badly hurt as I’d feared when I first spotted you there on the ground.”

She brushed a finger over Annie’s cheek, and Annie flinched, a spasm of pain shooting through the spot.

“I guess I hit it on the bench when I fell during the earthquake.” It was the only rational answer she had for the pain in her cheek. “I probably should get some ice on it.”

As soon as she could get out of here and back to the cottage.

“Aye, that would be a comfort, would it no'? Too bad there’s no ice to be had this time of year.”

No ice? That made no more sense than anything else that was going on. It could be that the stranger was only referring to the fact that there was no ice nearby.

It didn’t matter. Annie didn’t have the energy to try to piece together what the woman meant. There were more important things to worry about, and her strength seemed to be fading quickly as another wave of overwhelming exhaustion washed over her.

“Can you please help me get out of here?”

“That’s exactly what I intend to do.” The young woman smiled and ran back to the heavy bench she’d left behind, to drag it toward the gate. “I only need to get up to the lock and we’ll have you out in no time. I’m Alissaundre MacKillican, by the way,” she said as she lifted her skirts and scrambled up onto the bench. “Though my family calls me Lissa. By what name are you called?”

“Annie,” she answered, sinking to her knees. Standing had simply become more effort than she could manage. And though it felt as if her mind had clouded, one thing Lissa had said stood out. “Lock?” she managed to ask, her tongue feeling much thicker than it had only moments before.

Lissa must be mistaken. There was no lock. The gate hadn’t even been connected to the wall.

“No worries, Annie,” the young woman responded, pulling herself up to throw one leg over the top of the pointed iron bars. “I’ve keys to deal with that. If only I can—
eep!”

Annie looked up after she heard the strange little noise Lissa had made just before she ceased speaking to see the other woman had slipped and was now hanging from the iron bar by the chain belted around her waist.

It appeared they were both captives now.

She would have laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of their situation if she’d been able to summon the energy, but she couldn’t. Instead, she rested her forehead against the bars and looked out toward the freedom she so desperately desired, just in time to spot the two large men headed in their direction.

It was possible they might be friends of Lissa’s. They certainly were dressed as though headed to the same masquerade party. But the angry scowl on the face of the first man and the all-too-real-looking sword held aloft by the second certainly didn’t scream
friend.
And then there was that beast of a dog. At least, she thought it was a dog. That or some massive, hairy horse disguised as a dog. Even at this distance she could see his lips drawn back in an angry snarl.

Her eyes locked with those of the first man, and the only thing she could think was how very grateful she was to be on the inside of the locked gate.

Her second thought was of her would-be rescuer, who was on the outside, and completely vulnerable to attack.

“Can you get yourself loose?” she asked, not breaking eye contact with the approaching man. “Or at least hoist yourself over onto this side of the gate so you can get away from them?”

“Get away from who?” Lissa asked, her attention focused on the chain belt that held her tightly.

“From them,” Annie answered, dragging herself up to stand by sheer force of will. “Those men.”

She had to do something to help the woman who had risked her own safety in an attempt to rescue her.

It was clear the moment Lissa looked up from her busy fingers and spotted the danger. “Oh, bollocks,” she muttered to herself before calling out to the men. “I can explain this. I did try to tell you, did I no'?”

Neither of them looked like they were ready to have anything explained to them.

“Keep trying to get off there,” Annie encouraged, leaning over to gather the only weapons within her reach, a few loose sticks and stones.

The effort almost did her in, but she fought against the encroaching black tunnel that fogged her vision. She couldn’t pass out. Not now. Lissa needed her help, and the men were almost upon them. A shaft of sunlight glinted off the evil-looking sword, and any doubt about its realness disappeared. Plastic didn’t reflect sunlight like that.

“You guys had better just turn yourselves around and go back the way you came. You and your dog, too,” she called out. “Keep away from us and you won’t get hurt.”

She sounded as brave as any heroine in every book she’d ever read. With any luck, they might actually believe her bluff. She was just beginning to believe it herself when the first man drew his sword, scanning the forest around them as if he expected to be attacked at any moment. With both of the approaching men wielding weapons, panic bubbled in her chest. She started to warn them off again, but the one in the lead captured her gaze with his own and refused to turn her loose. Worst of all, both of them continued on the path toward the arbor.

So much for the effectiveness of her great bluff.

“Have you made any progress?” she whispered to Lissa, keeping her eyes on the man in the lead, unable to turn away from him. Hearing nothing but a hissed curse from her rescuer, she drew back her arm to throw, and called out one last warning. “I mean it. Stop where you are. Don’t you even think of coming any closer to her!”

“To her?” the big one asked, his voice a deep, rolling brogue. “Best you should be worried over yer own self, is it no'?”

She should have expected the accent. She was in Scotland, after all. Even Lissa had one. It was just that it had sounded so different in his baritone, like something from a movie she would want to watch over and over again.

“Last warning,” she called, shaking her head to clear away the ridiculous sensation.