She would make sure she didn’t leave his side again. She’d come to Scotland to find her roots, to see where her ancestors had come from. Even though she’d never expected to find Alex, he was a man she wanted to belong to, in every sense of the word. Without a doubt Annie had made her wish to leave the past, but in doing so, had granted Anne her greatest desire.
She lifted her face to the velvet canopy. “I wish upon the Fairy Flag hidden somewhere here within Dunvegan, that my parents survive the terrible fire which took them. Allow Annie to travel through time as she wishes, but please, do not take me from Alex, not now I’ve found him.”
All around lights shimmered, as if the stars had escaped the sky and blazed above. A mist rose and surrounded her. The stars blinked out.
“No.” She clutched her belly as it rolled. “No!”
Her scream echoed through the dense fog, reverberating in her own ears.
Chapter 7
This couldn’t be happening. Alex had just arrived and she hadn’t had enough time with him. Thunder boomed and a cold wind whipped her nightrail against her legs. What had she been thinking to make that wish? Yes she wanted her parents alive but—
In the darkness hands grabbed her. “Anne, hold still, or you’ll topple us both off this ledge.”
Her feet swayed in midair. “Donald? Where did you come from?”
“I haven’t left. Don’t fight me.” Breath heaving, the tour guide yanked her up from the abyss and onto the thin ledge beside him. “Damn, that was close. Are you hurt? Hell, where are your clothes?”
The wind beat against her. “I—I—”
“Here, take my coat.” He whipped it off and wrapped it around her. “Why’d you try to jump?”
“I didn’t. James pulled me through.”
“Who?”
“The man who ran out of the castle.” She clutched his shirtfront. “Alex rode in on his horse and the men spoke as if from centuries in the past.”
“Yes, but they disappeared as you jumped.” He flattened his hand against her forehead. “You feel all right. Are you certain James pulled you through? To where?”
“To the past, to the year fifteen-ninety. I’ve been there over a week, with both your ancestors and mine.”
“Unbelievable. I made a grab for you as you jumped, and I thought I’d missed then suddenly you were there again.”
“Please, believe me, Donald. I’ve had enough of everyone thinking me delusional.” She flung open the coat he’d given her and exposed her nightrail again. “See. I’ve been back through time. What else could explain this?”
Swirling, eerie fog enclosed them completely. “I told you strange things have happened at these ruins, events that can’t be explained. We shouldn’t have crossed here. This is my fault.”
“You believe me?”
“Yes, look at what you’re wearing.”
“Someone who finally believes me. Thank you.” She grasped his hands. “Although my traveling back through time would have happened no matter where I crossed. There was another Anne, one from fifteen-ninety who made a wish upon the Fairy Flag at Dunvegan. Her family call her Annie, and she traveled to the future, while I traveled to the past. I don’t know where she is, but I met her there before she disappeared again. I was supposed to travel.”
“I’ve heard old folk stories, ones told of unexplained disturbances near the ancient stones. These ruins too.”
The ruins. Alex was gone and now she balanced on the edge of the stone drawbridge at the time right after she’d met him. The sea roared and the surf washed in against the rock’s sheer surface below.
Water splashed her nose then her cheek. The heavens opened and rain hit in a torrent, wiping away the fog in one hard blow. On the rock, Dunscaith emerged from the dark, the castle no more. Rubble was all that remained.
She was back in the future.
“Alex.” She grasped her head as it spun.
After stealing back downstairs, Alex eased onto his pallet. Leaving Anne had his gut rolling with turmoil. He wanted to return and hold her through the night. When had she eased her way into his affections so strongly? Or when hadn’t she? Aye, from the morn of their handfast, he’d not been able to keep his hands off her.
’Twas just as well she’d declared her place was with him. He’d hold her words close. She was his wife, and a year no longer seemed enough. He had to get her out of here and back to Dunscaith where he’d wed her proper and once done, MacLeod couldn’t interfere. Aye, her chief wouldn’t stop him for long.
He was here, and he wasn’t leaving without—
An ear-piercing scream ricocheted around the hall.
“Anne!” He bellowed her name, shot upstairs and threw open her door.
From behind him his men drew their swords. He stormed to her bed, ripped open her curtains.
Nothing but the bedding tossed around.
“Where is she?” Alan gaped.
“Search the castle,” one of her kinsmen yelled.
“I’ll get the chief,” another snapped as he tore from the room.
Alex eyed each of his men. “She has to be somewhere. Aid the MacDonalds in searching for her. We dinnae rest until my wife is found.”