Love Beyond Dreams (A Scottish Time Travel Romance): Book 6 (Morna's Legacy Series) (9 page)

“I am a fool to have signed up for that mess. I think they bought it, but I havena been in a room with that much palpable angry tension since our wedding, Anne. And then, it was only because you were angry at your sister for wearing white. That old man is a crazy, hateful bugger.”

Aiden stood with his back toward Orick while he talked to Anne and didn’t stop talking for some time.

“I canna imagine why Jane and Grace went to all this trouble for his benefit. Why, the way he talked to ye and Gillian…I wanted to punch him in the teeth. He’s left, along with the old woman. They dinna like that Grace refused to send Cooper back with them for schooling in the States, and they left in a heated fury of curse words. Why the poor lad certainly learned a few words to toss around the school yard this night.”

Anne, who clearly didn’t know how to address everything Aiden said, just responded as if Orick and I weren’t there.
 

“Oh, that’s terrible. Everyone gone off to bed then?”

“On their way there. I know that ye meant to stay up with Gillian so the two of ye can pretend like yer fourteen again, but I need ye with me. The whole evening was too much for me to take.”

I decided to interrupt before he made everyone uncomfortable with further bedroom talk.
 

“It’s fine, Aiden. You can take her, but first, I think there’s someone you should meet.”

He spun quickly. His face gave way to his embarrassment for one quick second before he saw on Orick. Then, his eyes turned to horror, and he backed into Anne and knocked her flat on the ground.
 

I rushed over to help her up as Aiden stuttered and sputtered his words.
 

“Wha…It…I…Gillian, I told ye to no go speaking about ghosts. Ye invited him in ye did.”

Anne, once standing, laughed and rubbed her husband’s back gently.
 

“He’s not a ghost, you silly man. He’s just not dead like everyone thought.”

The fear in Aiden’s face dissolved at once as he spoke to Orick.
 

“Oh. Well, good on ye then. I suppose ye are glad about that.”

Then, with as much matter-of-fact attitude as I’d ever seen from him, Aiden turned to address me, an ornery twinkle in his eye.
 

“Gillian, I think I’ve dealt enough with this family tonight. This bloke here and whatever ye mean to do with him, is on ye. I’m going to take my wife to bed and intend to stay there until the whole lot of them have left.”

I started to protest but he didn’t give me much chance, swinging Anne over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing at all. I called after her for help but apparently, a night spent making love to her husband was more appealing to her than the complicated situation that sat in my bedroom. All she did was lift her head and wink at me as they walked out the door and closed it behind them.

Orick and I were now all alone.

CHAPTER 12

I allowed him to finish off the pizza. Despite the rumbling in my stomach, I imagined that he needed it far worse than I. He didn’t say much as he ate and that suited me just fine for it allowed me a few moments to think on how the rest of the evening would progress.
 

I knew that I couldn’t very well place him in a spare room with the way Cooper ran about and did as he pleased, and I couldn’t stay somewhere else for the very same reason. So, with no other solution that I could see, it seemed we would have to share a room for the night.
 

He also needed to be cleaned. While a shower would be easy enough with a bathroom now connected to my room thanks to Aiden’s modernized restorations, I didn’t have any clean clothes to give him. At first I thought about running down to Aiden and Anne’s room but then thought about the glint in Anne’s eyes as they’d left and thought better of it.

After that, I would just put him to sleep and allow him a good night’s rest before the overwhelming events that were bound to occur tomorrow.
 

“Might I ask yer name, lass? Ye were kind enough to give me my own. I’d like to know yers as well.”

I couldn’t believe I’d overlooked sharing that with him before.
 

“Of course you can ask it. It’s Gillian. My name is Gillian.”

He tested the name out by mouthing it before he said it.
 

“Gillian. ’Tis a bonny name. Might I ask ye a few others.”

I smiled and nodded while I handed him a cloth napkin so he could wipe the remaining pizza crumbs and sauce from his fingers and mouth.

“Are ye married, Gillian?”

“No.” I laughed and gestured around the room. “Do you think I’d have you sitting inside my bedroom if I was?”

He smiled sheepishly. I didn’t miss how his cheeks reddened at the implication of my words. “Aye well, fair enough. Do ye know…do ye know if I am married?”

The thought, in all honesty, had never occurred to me. Not while I’d dreamt of him and certainly not once I’d seen him in the flesh. I hoped that he wasn’t. But a man that looked as he did, with such a kind way about him…how could he not be married?

“I don’t know. You’ll find out tomorrow, I guess. Have you had enough to eat? If you’re still hungry, I can slip downstairs to the kitchen and round something up for you.”

I secretly hoped he would say yes just so I’d have an excuse to get myself something to eat as well. He quickly turned down my offer.
 

“Oh no, lass. I’ve already eaten more this night than I have in many days. I’m just so pleased to no eat fish that I doona think I could eat another bite. Thank ye for all that ye’ve given me though.”

I tried to hide my disappointment as I talked over the growl of my stomach.
 

“It’s no problem. Do you want to get cleaned up?” I saw the discomfort on his face and knew that I’d worried him again—that I’d made him think I was insulted by his manner of dress or offended by his cleanliness. I quickly made haste to clarify my question. “Not that you need it. A shower just feels very nice sometimes when you’re tired. The new hot water heater works very well.”

“Aye, I wouldna consider it kind of me to stay inside yer lovely home covered in dirt as I am, though I doona wish for ye to bring water up for me. If ye will show me where, I can do it myself.”

“What? There’s no bringing water anywhere. Come over here.”

I waved him over and into the bathroom. Once he stood near me, I opened the shower door and turned on the water.

“See? The water just comes. Seeing it now, do you remember how to work it?”

I twisted to look at him, and I could see recognition flicker in his eyes as he grinned.
 

“Aye, it seems verra strange to me, but I believe I do know how. ’Tis almost as if I’ve stood under such a spray before.”

I couldn’t resist a small giggle and, turning off the water, I flicked the drips from my fingers at him playfully.
 

“Well, I should sure hope so.”

“Marion dinna have one, though she dinna have much of anything. I bathed in the fishing hole among the rocks and the caves. I canna tell ye in a way ye might understand. It feels as if I have memories hidden from two separate worlds. One in which Marion’s cave seems a fine sort of home and the fire where we cooked our daily fish was more than suitable. In the other, a warm waterfall such as this seems the only reasonable way to rid yerself of dirt. Even the way ye have things lit is no strange to me. Does it make any sense to ye, what I mean?”

It didn’t, not really, but I tried to take a guess at what he meant.
 

“Do you mean that while your memories of people and things that have happened is gone, you still understand the way things work? All of your skills, all of your common sense has remained?”

He nodded and shrugged, and I knew then that I’d missed the mark. Still, he remained polite and agreeable.
 

“In a way, though everything seems more at odds with each other in my mind. I only hope that when I see those who know me, the memories will come back to me. I doona believe they are gone for good for ’tis as if I can feel them lying in wait below the surface of my skin. If only I could scratch deep enough, they might rise to the top.”

It made me ache for him, for the misery he must feel at being lost for so long. I could think of little worse than losing my memories, even the worst of them. For every single one was an integral part of who I was.
 

“I can’t imagine what that must be like for you. I’m sorry for it. I’m sorry that this has happened to you.”

“Ach, doona feel sorry for me. I doona feel sorry for myself. We each have our trials. This is mine.”

“I suppose so. Now,” I stepped out of the bathroom to give him some privacy. “I’ll leave you alone to get cleaned up. I’m afraid I don’t have anything for you to wear though. You’ll have to…” In mid-sentence, I noticed my dark green robe hanging on one of the hooks in the bathroom and moved to lift it up and open to gauge its size.
 

It swallowed me whole and, as I looked it over, I imagined it would fit around him well enough, though it would need to be a good foot longer to be a decent length for him. Still, it would cover his most intimate bits. And if it didn’t, I guessed I would just have to suffer the torture of catching a glimpse of his rear end.
 

“Why don’t you put this on when you get out of the shower until the clothes you have on now are dry.”

He looked at it suspiciously, but then stepped toward me causing his shoes to squeak from the way they were soaked through. Taking a glance down at his still-wet clothes, he relented and reached his hand out for it.
 

“Verra well. Thank ye.”

The moment I shut the door to the bathroom, I heard the shower start to run and the soft sound of his clothes dropping to the floor.
 

*
 
*
 
*

“Did ye roll onto the floor, lass? Why else would ye no be in yer own bed?”

The sound of Orick’s voice startled me, and I jumped up from my pallet on the floor so quick that my head spun as I stood. I only meant to prepare my mat for sleeping and instead fell asleep within a matter of moments.
 

“No, I didn’t roll off the bed. I left it open for you.”

He looked ridiculously adorable in my robe and nearly did give me a peek of his jewels when he puffed his chest out in reaction to my explanation for being on the floor.

“Do ye mean to tell me that ye intend for me to stay here with ye? In yer room? I couldna shame ye in such a way, lass. ’Twas fair different in the cave than here.”

“Oh, come on now, Orick. I’m flattered that you’re worried about my reputation, but don’t be such a prude. You need a good night’s rest. I insist that you take the bed. I’ve got plenty of blankets right here. It’s pretty comfy actually. But you do have to stay here with me. We can’t risk you staying in any other room. Not until they’ve seen you.”

“No, lass. I willna have ye sleep on the floor.”

He walked over to the bed and pulled at the top blanket, setting it down on the other side of the bed before he disappeared from view as he lay down on the floor.
 

I rolled over and looked at him from underneath the bed.
 

“What’s the point in this? If you sleep on the floor, I sleep on the floor, too. I’m very stubborn. You do not want to try me on this.”

He looked over at me, and one corner of his mouth pulled up in an appreciative smile.
 

“So what are ye saying? That if I want ye to sleep in the bed, I must sleep with ye?”

It did make me seem like a hussy, but I’d been raised to be a better hostess than that. I simply wouldn’t stand for him to sleep on the floor just as he wouldn’t allow me to either.
 

“No. I would prefer that you just get in the bed and let me lay here, but if you won’t without me being in it, it’s not going to hurt me any to share it with you.”

“Are ye no worried that I’ll take advantage of ye? That the temptation of ye lying next to me would be too much?”

I laughed and pushed myself up as I dragged the blankets from my pallet back onto the bed. I knew what my hair most likely looked like now that I’d fallen asleep on it, and I also knew the sounds I made in my sleep—neither were attractive. Even if I’d been with a man far less polite, I wouldn’t have been too worried about me presenting myself as a temptation—not that I intended to place myself in such a situation with strange men ever again.
 

“I’m not worried. Should I be? You don’t strike me as the type.”

“No, lass. I swear that I willna touch ye.”
 

Seeing that I meant every word, he slowly followed my lead, rolling the blanket he’d pulled from the bed into a long snake that he lay down its middle as a sort of separation between the two of us.
 

After I flipped off the lights, we both settled in the bed a comfortable distance from the other, and I started to drift just as quickly as before when Orick’s voice spoke to me in the darkness.