Read Online Love Across Time by B. J. McMinn - Free Book Online Page B

teeth, probably, because he didn’t believe her.
    Ursula tilted her head sideways and rubbed her wet cheek against her shoulder. “Och. That be years ago. I brought ye a fine bowl of stew fer yer nooning. Do ye need help to feed yerself, lass?”
    “N....” At the hopeful look in Ursula’s hazel eyes and the memory of how she’d barely feed herself earlier, she relented. “Yes, thank you. I feel weak after getting up, even for that short time. But I will never regain my strength if I stay in bed. Each day I intend to exercise. Walk around.” When Ursula began to object and shake her head, Maggie insisted. “Short distances at first, then as I become stronger, for longer periods of time.”
    Ursula’s gray head bobbed up and down. “I see ye be a stubborn lass.” She settled into the chair next to the bed, held the bowl, and aimed a spoon at Maggie’s mouth. “Now eat.”
    With her mouth open, her gaze strayed to the gown on the peg across the room. Gone! She swallowed the half-chewed food so fast she choked.
    “Ursula, where is the gown that hung on the wall.”
    “I be mending it.” With a nod toward the chair, Ursula indicated the material she’d been sewing. “It tore when ye fell, and I be too busy ’til now to repair the damage.”
    “Oh.” She glanced down at her bare hand. “And my ring?”
    Odd, she’d felt such an intimate connection with the ring, yet apparently she hadn’t worn it long enough to leave a white line around her finger.
    “Yer hand swelled, and Liam took the Claddagh ring to keep safe fer ye.”
    “Claddagh ring?” Had she found someone who could explain the significance of the odd piece of jewelry?
    “Aye. The three symbols be fer friendship, love, and loyalty.” Ursula’s narrowed eyes held what she could only interpret as a warning. “Something the Laird be needing in his marriage.”
    What could Maggie say? She couldn’t hurt Liam since she wasn’t his wife, and any promises she made, Margaret wouldn’t be obligated to keep. She clasped her hand over the place where the ring should have been and raised her fists to lie between her breasts.
    “What happened to my brooch?”
    “I ken naught about yer brooch.”
    Maggie stared down her nose cross-eyed at the spoon held an inch from her mouth. She opened for another bit of the delicious stew. Her gaze darted to the gown lying in the chair. If the brooch wasn’t still attached, where could it be? Her heart thumped heavily in her chest. She had to find her possessions soon and return home.
    If Abby returned from vacation and discovered her missing, she’d think Maggie’s family had claimed her and she’d left without saying goodbye. Then she wouldn’t look for her. Of course, she wouldn’t find her even if she bothered to search. Which put her right back where she’d began before she’d left the twenty-first century: lost, no memory, and no family.
    At the thought, her spirits sank lower.
    “Thank you, Ursula. I am full.”
    Ursula dropped the spoon. The ping of the metal against the side of the bowl ricocheted off the rock walls. “Oh, aye, ye near ate three spoonfuls. Ye’ll be back on yer feet in nae time with such a great appetite.”
    A teasing twinkle lit the old woman’s eyes. The cagey rascal knew she’d won by playing on her desire to gain her strength as fast as possible. Maggie parted her lips. Open mouth, chew, swallow, repeat. She duplicated the process until the bowl was empty.
    With the soup finished and a cup of cider to quench her thirst, she snuggled down into the covers to formulate a plan to search the castle.
    The chair creaked as Ursula once again took up her vigil.

CHAPTER 5

    Mounted on Raven, Liam raced from the stables as if the demons from hell were after him. And, maybe they were. His poor, wee wife thought herself a time traveler. The bash she’d received to the head when she’d fallen must have jolted something loose in her mind. What else could account for her farfetched