“Ahh, wonderful,” she murmured then drooped on top of him.
“More like magnificent.” He couldn’t move. ’Twas as if she’d drained his life’s blood, and not on the battlefield, but the dusty floor of the stables. She wielded such control over him. “Sorry, my sweet.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I didnae mean for that to happen again, to come inside you.”
“It’s fine.” Her eyelashes fluttered up. “I have something inside me which prevents pregnancy. I meant it when I said there won’t be a child.”
“And as I’ve told you, ’tis impossible.”
“I know you did. Believe what you will, but I’ve no wish to lie to you.” She ran her thumb over his lower lip then leaned in and kissed him.
“I cannae allow such a mistake again.” Never had he lost his thoughts as he did with her. “Mayhap we should abstain. I dinnae seem to be able to keep my promise as I—”
She pressed her fingers over his mouth. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but while I am, I want to be your wife in all ways. I mean it.”
“You’ll be here a year.”
“Sometimes things happen outside of our control.”
“You may have slipped out of MacLeod’s grasp, but you willnae slip out of mine.” He rolled them and stood. “We need to talk, and you will speak of how you arrived here unescorted. This time, I’ll have the truth.”
After straightening her clothing, Anne walked inside the keep with Alex leading the way. Great. How could she make him believe her?
“After you.” He opened his chamber door.
She trudged inside. “I don’t know what to say that I haven’t already.”
“We’re no’ leaving here until I have the truth.” He crossed to the side table under the window and poured water from the jug into the basin.
“I’ve told you the truth, but you won’t believe me.”
“Dinnae speak of coming from the future and I will.” He removed his plaid, soaked a cloth and washed his face and body until only the spicy scent of his soap lingered in the air. His wet skin gleamed and she itched to trace his golden skin. Too soon he covered himself with a clean shirt and trews, then tapped his foot. “I’m waiting. I’d never harm you.”
“I know you wouldn’t.” To the unexplainable depths of her heart, the knowledge was clear in her mind. “All right. I’ll start with the Fairy Flag, the powerful talisman of the MacLeod clan. Have you heard of it?”
“The MacLeods have fairy blood. That is the legend they tell. Apparently their Fairy Flag holds mystical powers.”
“It does.” She rubbed her damp palms against her skirts. “The flag is hidden somewhere at Dunvegan in this time, but in the future it’s kept on display, or at least that’s what I’ve heard.”
“In this time?” His brows slashed down. “No’ again.”
“Ah, yes.” She drew in a deep breath to fortify herself. “I’m not Anne MacLeod, or at least I am, but not the Anne MacLeod you believe me to be. I live in the future, in the year two-thousand and fourteen.”
“You’re speaking nonsense.” Arms crossed, he snapped, “I want the truth, no’ some fairy tale.”
“It is the truth. I came here through a portal the night you returned from your search. I’d booked a tour to visit Dunscaith’s ruins, and I was clinging to the drawbridge’s ledge when the hole opened. James pulled me through, from my time to yours. I swear it’s the truth.”
“You’d already been here a sennight. Stop with the lies.”
“That was Annie who was here. I’m directly descended from her, and we look exactly alike. Annie is the one who first made the wish upon the Fairy—”
“Nay, no more lies.” He ground his heel against the floor. “Give me the truth.”
“In truth I live around the other side of the world, in a country as yet undiscovered.” Since she’d begun, she might as well lay out all the facts. “In the 1850s ships sailed from England, taking men, women and children to settle in the newly discovered land of New Zealand. That’s where my ancestors traveled to.”
“Right, and somehow you sailed right back here again?”
“No, in my time one can catch a plane. You board it and the machine takes off and flies across the sky.”
He snorted. “You have a wild imagination.”
“If only I did. I promise you, many amazing things happen in the future, and Annie traveled there. When she visited Dunvegan in the future and looked upon the Fairy Flag, she was transported back to the past. She ended up here a week before I did. That’s how she arrived unescorted, and I spoke to her. The night I arrived was the night she was pulled back.”
“Pulled back to—” He shoved up his hand. “Cease. I’ve heard enough of this drivel and I shouldnae be encouraging you.”