“I think I’ll take the doctor’s advice and rest now,” Nancy said, tearing her gaze from those intense green eyes as she headed out.
She had a lot to think about, and undoubtedly a few more headaches to endure before she finally got any sleep at all.
One question lingered in her mind as she made her way through the labyrinthine hallways to her bedchamber, hoping she was going in the right direction:
How much of history can I change before I break it?
CHAPTER 14
On a wooden benchin the castle gardens, Nancy held Freya under the arms, her cute, tiny feet balancing on Nancy’s thighs. The baby kept sagging down onto her bottom, her legs notquitestrong enough to push up, burbling and babbling all the while.
It’s weird that this is how we all start out,she mused, her heart growing heavy as she tried to picture her own mother holding her like this.
She couldn’t even begin to imagine what a monster of a baby Hunter must have been, considering how gigantic he was now. He looked like someone who had come out of the womb fighting and fully formed.
She grimaced at the idea, and the baby laughed, no doubt thinking she was making funny faces again.
“Would you miss me, huh?” she asked as she lifted the baby again, and chuckled as those little legs tried to work with the instinct to push up.
It had been a few days since Adeline had given her a dose of hope and dismay in one injection, and mixed with the cocktail of the highs and lows of her kiss with Hunter, her mind was all over the place.
Of course, she was over the moon that there was a way for her to go back, but to return to the future and never be able to reveal what she had discovered? It was an agonizing situation.
She didn’t want to be a sly journalist who didn’t care who she hurt as long as she got a good story, but there was also a sneaky little part of her that thought,How would Adeline or Jane ever know?
“I wouldn’t do it,” she lamented, pulling the baby closer and kissing her downy hair. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. And this Emma woman would know; she’d probably come and kick my ass. That Hellen woman, too.”
She inhaled deeply, drinking in the sweet, milky, powdery scent of Freya’s head. As it turned out, babiesdidsmell good, and they weren’t bad company either. Nancy could rant and grumble as much as she liked, and as long as she did it in a sing-song voice, Freya would lap it up, giggling and babbling merrily.
“I want to go back. Ishouldgo back, but I doubt I’ll have a job when I do, and Emily is probably still on her research trip, so Iwon’t have anyone to tell until she gets back,” Nancy continued. “It’s not as simple as you’d think, Freya. At least here, I like my job. You’re definitely cuter than my boss and that—pardon my French—asshole Bob.”
But she couldn’t be a nursemaid forever. For one thing, babies grow up. For another thing, she was awriter,ajournalist, with ideas to put to paper and stories to chase, and she couldn’t very well do that with someone else’s child attached to her hip… three hundred years in the past.
However, the hardest part of the last few days hadn’t been the baby or Adeline’s bargain at all. The hardest part was ignoring Hunter, who’d made his stance perfectly clear in the dungeons, but seemed to always be somewhere nearby, staring at her like the bird that had given him his nickname of ‘Hawk.’
She still had faint bruises on her thigh where he’d grabbed her, right as things were about to reach new heights of passion. They didn’t hurt, and hadn’t when he made them, but every time she caught sight of them in the mirror or the bathtub, she’d remember howgoodshe’d felt in those fleeting moments. And she’d remember that she’d never feel that again. Not with Hunter anyway.
Who am I kidding? Once you go Highlander, what else is there?
She had to laugh, thinking of Adeline and Jane and the unknown men they’d stayed for. She knew Adeline’s husband was named Logan, but she hadn’t asked about Jane’s.
“Careful, Nancy, or else ye’ll sniff all that wispy hair right off her head.” Elsie’s cheery voice brightened Nancy’s mood. They weren’t quite friends yet, but they were getting friendlier by the day.
Nancy grinned. “I can’t help it. She just smells so good. Like… vanilla cake.”
“That sounds delicious.”
“It is.” Nancy’s stomach growled, though she’d eaten two plates at breakfast and a huge luncheon.
There must’ve been something in the Highland air that was giving her an insatiable appetite… and not just for what was served at mealtimes. Frankly, she couldn’t rip into a duck leg fast enough when Hunter was sitting opposite her at the dining table with his collar open and his biceps flexing, his chest partially visible through his thin shirt, his neck so tempting.
The castle was lucky she didn’t eateverythingin order to stop herself from sweeping it all off the table and crawling over to Hunter, to sit in his lap, to taste the only thing that would quell her longing: him.
“Shall we walk?” Elsie suggested, her hand rubbing slow circles on the swell of her belly.
“Are you sure you want to? Aren’t you exhausted?” Nancy asked with a sympathetic chuckle as she tucked Freya into her side and got to her feet.
Elsie waved a dismissive hand. “Lady Gibson said it’s good for me and the baby to stay active. I trust her implicitly, even if most of the walkin’ will be waddlin’.”
