He nodded. “May I come closer to speak with you?”
“I . . . um . . . yes, sure. Oh, and I promise I’ll give you back this cloak as soon as I can. I suppose you’ll need it for the re-enactment.”
His blue eyes narrowed. “The what?”
She stared at him. Utter confusion appeared on his face, as if he didn’t know what a re-enactment was.Don’t panic, don’t panic. He’s just staying in character.
“I’ll give it back to you later,” Mary said. “In the meantime, maybe you could help me find my tour group?”
He shook his head slowly. “There is no one here. But if you’re needing food and shelter, I can give you that. Perhaps there might be a gown you could borrow.”
A gown? She gripped the edges of the cloak together. One minute at a time was all she could handle before going crazy. Was this the man she was supposed to encounter? The one who had to love her before the third day, or she would die?
“I appreciate your help.” She walked alongside him towards his horse. “What is your name?”
“I am Cian MacCorban, chief of the MacCorban clan. Or what’s left of them.”
Mary introduced herself, and Cian reached out to assist her on to his horse. When he swung up behind her, she was startled at hisbody warmth. Though it was early summer, the weather wasn’t as warm as the Florida heat she was used to.
His arms came around her waist to grip the reins, and Mary felt self-conscious at his inadvertent touch. Wasn’t this a dream? She’d had vivid dreams before. Surely this was one of them. But the sensation of riding a horse and feeling a man’s arms around her was all too real.
It felt safe, being with Cian. Though she knew it wasn’t wise to go off with strangers, she didn’t have a choice. If shewasdreaming, then there was no harm in it. And if shewasn’tdreaming, then she was already half-dead to begin with, and it didn’t matter.
“Are you the man I was supposed to meet?” she blurted out. “The one waiting for me?”Great, Mary. That made a lot of sense. He won’t think you’re crazy now.
Instead, his grip tightened around her waist. “I’ve seen you in my visions for over twenty years, Mary Samson. I’ve dreamed about you every night, wondering when you would finally be here.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t think of what else to say. It should have felt creepy, like he was a stalker. Instead, there was a strange sense of relief. She’d made her wish, and here he was – the man fate had paired her up with. If he’d been waiting for her for over twenty years, then it shouldn’t be so hard to make him fall in love with her, should it?
But she was supposed to love him back. And if she’d learned anything from her relationship with Garrett, it was that love couldn’t be forced. It either happened, or it didn’t.
She rode in front of Cian for nearly an hour before she saw a ruined fortress ahead. Built upon a small crannog, the ring fort probably housed ten to fifteen people. But as they rode across the bridge and through the gate, her suspicions sharpened. The place was falling apart, with hardly anyone to take care of it. Rotting hides and animal manure gave the place an indescribable odour, one that wasn’t at all welcoming. She saw only four other men, and they were all staring at her.
After Cian helped her down, she took in her surroundings. “Is this where you work? Is this a re-enactment village?”
“This is my home.” Distaste lined his face, as though he didn’t care for it either.
Though her brain warned her not to ask, she couldn’t stop herself. “Cian, is this real?”
“What do you mean?”
She swallowed hard, her heart hammering against her chest. “What year is this?”
“It is the Year of Our Lord 1173.”
No. No, it wasn’t possible. But itwasas if she’d stepped back in time, into a medieval world where the men wore swords and the women sewed their own clothing. No modern medicine, no cars. No toothbrushes or personal hygiene.
Her brain was screaming. Maybe it was better to just let herself die. After all, surely they had toilets in heaven. She didn’t like primitive conditions, and the stone roundhouse certainly qualified as that. She’d never even been camping, for heaven’s sake.
Cian adjusted the fire, dropping more peat bricks on top of it. He gestured towards a pile of furs. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Make yourself comfortable.”
And though she promised herself she wouldn’t do anything stupid like pass out or scream, her knees buckled of their own accord, and she found herself crouching on the ground.Breathe. Just breathe.
Cian was at her side instantly. “Are you all right,a chara?”He sat down, pulling her on to his lap.
She almost laughed. All right? She’d been sent back in time nearly a thousand years and he wanted to know if she was all right? If she recalled her history properly, they burned crazy women at the stake.
You’re already dead,her conscience argued.Well, almost.
