Chapter 1
Piper paced nervously, waiting for her Highlander husband to return so she could tell him the news. She had led him to believe there was nothing worth fussing about, but that he should get back to the castle as soon as he could. She knew he could tell by the tone of her voice that something was definitely worth fussing about and gruffly said he’d be home in a trice.
Being American and from the twenty-first century, she still wasn’t sure exactly how long a trice was, but she knew with Lachlan’s long legs and his eighteenth century Scottish tendency to fear the worst it wouldn’t be long at all.
Catie’s gasp from the window told her he was in sight of the kitchen. Piper’s young sister-in-law had been stalwart up until then, swearing she wasn’t afraid and would face her brother like the adult she now was.
Piper rolled her eyes when Catie ran to the pantry, shutting herself in with a clatter of the heavy door.
“Hopefully she’ll stay in there and not take the passage all the way to the roof,” Mellie said.
Despite not having called her live-in housekeeper, Mellie arrived home soon after Catie and Oliver showed up. The old friends had a tearful, hug-filled reunion.
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Piper asked, not especially wanting an audience for what was coming. “Why are you even home right now?”
Mellie shrugged. “My gossip sense started tingling.”
Which meant Piper’s best friend Evie should be showing up at any moment. Ever since she moved to Castle on Hill, their tiny adopted village, Evie had become a raging gossip, seeming to know everything about everyone.
Oliver Cliffstone, Catie’s partner in time travel crime, looked aghast at the pantry door.
“She deserted me, the wretched coward.”
“Might as well join her,” Piper said. She could hear Lachlan scraping his boots just outside the kitchen door. “He’s home.”
His face went white, then started to turn green. At first he straightened his shoulders and Piper thought he might face Lachlan like a man. When the door handle creaked, he audibly gulped and fled to the pantry.
Piper looked mildly at Mellie, wondering if she would also flee. “I’ll stay until the shouting starts,” she said, pouring herself a cup of tea.
That wouldn’t take long. Lachlan burst into the kitchen, snow clinging to his coat. It had been the coldest winter since she moved there, and being from Texas, she still wasn’t used to it. She shivered as a chill wind gusted in behind him and wondered if it wasn’t partly nerves making her tremble.
“What is it, love?” he demanded. “Why did ye call me from the far north field if nothing’s wrong?”
“Well, technically nothing’s wrong,” she said. “Yet. Sit down first and let Mel pour you some tea. You have to promise not to get upset.”
He groaned and his eyes cut to the pantry. “Nay. It canna be. Tell me it’s not true, Piper.”
Before she could get a word out, he flung open the pantry door. Two squeals of horror came from inside it.
“Should have taken the secret passage,” Mellie said, earning herself a glare.
“Lachlan, honey, sit down. Let them explain,” Piper said, tugging on his arm.
The man was a mountain and not to be budged. His body seemed to grow even bigger as he sucked in a deep breath, his face growing redder by the second. Piper knew when he turned purple, that’s when he would blow.
“What in blazes are ye doing back here?” he bellowed. “Get your cowardly selves out of the closet.” He reached in and yanked Oliver out by the collar. “Ye wee scoundrel. Explain why my foolhardy sister has convinced ye to come through again. I know her reason is because she doesna have a lick of sense, but I thought better of ye.”
Oliver all but dangled from Lachlan’s grasp and he looked at Piper for some help.
“Let him go. You’re probably cutting off his air supply,” she said, coming around to help pull Oliver away.
As soon as he was free, she shooed him to the other side of the big plank table. He wouldn’t exactly be safe, but safer anyway.
“We didn’t mean to come through at all, sir,” Oliver said shakily.
“Of course ye didna mean to,” Lachlan said with a roll of his stormy blue eyes.
There was a scuffling and a grunt from the pantry and Piper saw that Catie was indeed trying to pry open the secret passage that was hidden behind a large sack of potatoes.
“Oh, you little—” She grabbed the monstrous brat and hauled her to a place at the table. “Sit down. You too, Lachlan. Let’s discuss this like civilized—”
Nope.
“What are ye wearing?” he shouted. “Did ye come here straight from your bed?” He turned a death glare toward Oliver. “Explain why my addle-pated sister is in such scandalous night clothes. And I had better like your answer, lad.”
Catie rose from the bench, propelled by her own rage. “Are ye suspecting me of impropriety? Ye of all people?”
She punched him in the chest, only to bounce backwards, rubbing her fist. Piper glanced over to see Mellie had already disappeared. It was up to her to be the voice of reason. If only those damnable Scots she loved so much weren’t so unreasonable.
“It’s not a nightgown, Lachlan,” she said, once again pushing Catie onto the bench. “They came from a different time altogether. The nineteen twenties. It’s a perfectly stylish, non-scandalous dress. Can you please let them explain?”
He tore off his coat and chucked it at the chair near the fireplace. “Explain, then,” he only half shouted.
“We were—” Catie started, pausing when Oliver cleared his throat loudly. “Er, that is, I was leaving for Spain. I got a position as a governess to a nice English family there.”
There was a long pause. “As this is neither Spain or your proper time, I suggest ye keep explaining,” Lachlan said, finally in a normal tone of voice. “How did ye end up in the nineteen twenties and how did Oliver end up traveling with ye?” He turned to Oliver with a raised brow. “Did ye also find employment in that country?”
“I didn’t want Catie to be alone on the journey,” he said.
“Well, that makes sense, and I thank ye for looking out for her. But why didna my daft brother supply her with a chaperone? I know he married a woman from the same time as my lovely Piper, but has he grown so forward thinking as to possibly think that was a wise idea?” Lachlan snorted a humorless laugh.
It was well established he thought his brother was an idiot, which Piper didn’t think Quinn deserved at all. Once again a heavy silence descended.
“Quinn didna know anything about it,” Catie said. “I, er, made the decision on my own. I’m of an age,” she added with a pout.
Now Piper had to snort. “How old are you now? It’s only been about six months since we saw you.”
“I’m eighteen. Fully grown. And I wanted to go to Spain. Quinn was pestering me too much about getting married.”
“Finally something Quinn and I agree on,” Lachlan said. “So ye ran off and Oliver here hied off after ye to keep ye from being sold into slavery or worse.” He gave Oliver a begrudging smile. “Why not just marry Oliver here and make everyone happy? Ye’d get your fortune and the poor lad could go home again. I assume ye’ve been at the farm this whole time, waiting for this bampot to come to her senses?”
Both Oliver and Catie flamed with embarrassment. Piper couldn’t get a read on Catie as she was still too upset, but it was clear that Oliver was as in love with Catie as ever. Poor thing.
“Then what happened?” Piper said, trying to lead the conversation back to its origins.
She had heard a bit about their harrowing journey while they waited for Lachlan, but was as clueless as he was about most of it.
“We were kidnapped by pirates,” Oliver said. “Apparently there was one of them already on board our ship. They had some misinformation that we were worth something in ransom so we were taken aboard their ship in the night.”
Piper gasped. “Were you hurt?”
“We were roughed up a fair bit, aye,” Catie said, going for pity.
“They’re both clearly fine now,” Lachlan said, giving none. “Ye’re now on a pirate ship. Ye should have let them send the ransom request to Quinn. He would have fixed it and ye’d be home.”
Catie perked up at that, rushing in with more of the story. “That’s the thing, Lach. I knew the pirate captain. Ye’d recall him too, I’m sure. Rory Ferguson, who used to live in the village? His da was the bookbinder? His uncle or some sort of relation had a ship—”
“Aye, I think I recall the lad. He turned to pirating?”
“Only after a string of failures at honest work. But once he remembered who I was, and then who Quinn was, he knew he couldna ransom us or Quinn would skin them alive and then make sausages with it.”
Lachlan nodded thoughtfully. “Aye, and make them eat the sausages, no doubt. Keep on with the story, lass, as I still canna see how ye ended up here.”
Piper was amazed he was being so calm. “There was a portal in the middle of the sea,” she said, already hearing the part that related to her. “You’ll never guess who was on the boat that rescued them.”
“Rescued ye from Rory?” Lachlan asked, completely confused. “Did the whole bloody ship go through one of those hellish portals?”
“Sorry,” Piper said, abashed. “I jumped ahead a bit.”
“There was a storm,” Oliver explained. “While we were on Rory’s ship. And,” he sighed deeply as if he couldn’t believe any of it himself. “And some real pirates, with actual murdering and looting experience, had boarded us just as we were about to be dashed to pieces. Catie and I made it into a lifeboat.”
“And that awful wee boat was dashed to pieces,” Catie added with a shiver. “Oliver got washed away and I was about to give up hope, but Rory came after us in another wee boat. He saved me and all of a sudden the storm stopped. It was a glaring, bright summer day and Oliver was waving at me from another ship.”
“That’s when we all went through the portal,” Oliver said. “It was a miracle.”
Lachlan had grown quite pale, listening to how many times his little sister’s life had almost been snatched away, but Piper could see the red rising.
“A miracle neither of ye deserved! Of all the foolish, idiotic, bird-witted—”
Piper placed her hand on his arm. “There’s more,” she said. “Might as well save it until the end.”
“Listen up to this next part, Lachlan,” Catie said, her own ire riled up again at his name calling. “And ye’ll see why we worked so hard to come back to this time. And I dare say ye’ll be thanking me instead of insulting me.”
There was a stare down between the stubborn siblings that lasted so long Piper had to clear her throat loudly to get them to break it.
“Go on then,” Lachlan said, finally sitting down.
“We came through in 1923.” Catie waved at her dress. “Where this dress is the height of fashion, though I admit I think it’s a bit ugly. What’s the use of having a trim figure if…” she noticed Lachlan’s rising impatience and hurried to get back on track. “At any rate, it was Bridget who set up the portal. Er, it probably doesna matter why.”
“Then dinna tell us,” Lachlan interrupted.
Piper laid her hand on his arm and shook her head. She wished she had the kind of bell they used at boxing rings.
“Well, we all landed at Blackpool, down in England. It was so amazing. Ye wouldna believe how much fun we had there. Ye must go someday, Lach. Ye’d love it, too, Piper.”
“Blackpool? Amazing? I don’t think so, not anymore,” Piper said.
“Really? What a shame. Tell them about the roller coaster, Oliver.”
Oliver pressed his lips together and looked nervously at Lachlan. “We were waiting for the train so we could get up here to find the herbs needed for travel. We weren’t lollygagging, I promise.”
“Perhaps ye ought to finish the tale, Oliver,” Lachlan suggested.
“Yes, of course. We landed at Blackpool and meant to come up here as soon as we could. But Bridget was arrested. And then Rory disappeared. I think he went to try and rescue her, the daft fool. Er, no offense to your clan, sir.”
“None taken. I’m certain we’ve our fair share of daft fools, same as any clan.”
“At any rate, we didn’t know what to do, so we followed the original plan to find the herbs and get here to seek your help.”
Lachlan nodded. “That was the only part of any of it that makes sense, lad. We’ll get ye both to your proper time at once.”
“No sir, you don’t understand—”
“I want to see wee Magnus before ye drag us off anywhere,” Catie broke in, turning to Piper. “Is the dear lad well? And what of Sam and Evie?”
“They’re all fine, hon. In fact they have a baby daughter now called Marigold.”
“Ah, how lovely. I must see them—”
Oliver gripped Catie’s arm hard enough to cut off her sentence. He let go at Lachlan’s low growl.
“Catie, are you forgetting about Bridget and Rory? The only reason we came to this time?” Oliver shook his head in disbelief. “I could have gotten us back to our own time.”
“Then why didn’t ye?” Lachlan’s voice rose with each word.
“Ah, that’s right!” Catie clapped her hands on the table top. “I was so excited to see ye both, aye, even ye, Lach, that I forgot our mission.”
Piper’s stomach turned over. “Here we go,” she muttered.
“Where do we go?” Lachlan demanded. “What mission?”
Piper held up her hand to keep Oliver or Catie from spinning their wheels anymore.
“We need to find Bridget and Rory,” she sighed.
She’d been so happy putting her Christmas wreaths together. Too happy apparently. Couldn’t have that.
“Why, pray tell, must we do that?” Lachlan asked.
The three of them looked back and forth amongst themselves. Finally Catie spoke up.
“Because Bridget Isobel Glen is Piper’s great-great-grandmother. And she’s lost her husband. We fear for Piper if we canna find the scoundrel.”
Lachlan hissed a string of swear words. Piper slumped with disappointment.
“My great-great-grandfather was a scoundrel?”
Catie nodded sadly. “It seems so. But we thought it might be better if your great-granny was born. Or else things might not go so well for ye, aye?”
More swearing, then a deep sigh. “I suppose we should prepare ourselves then,” Lachlan said.
He reached for Piper’s hand and she could see the fearful determination in his eyes. He hated when she was at risk of not being born almost more than she did.
“To 1923?” she asked, already mentally going through the inventory of her great-grandmother Fenella’s old store of clothes.
“Seems so,” Lachlan said.
Catie raised her teacup in a mock toast. “To 1923!”
Oliver put his face in his hands. No one joined in her toast.