Read Online The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance by Trisha Telep - Free Book Online Page B

of his pool. Watching her curly hair billow like a dark cloud under the light of a full moon his chest tightened. God’s teeth, he longed to hold her, to claim her.
    But then he was only a warrior without a liege. He had his sword and this glen but naught else to tempt her to remain. She was one of the gifted, a teacher, who could read and write, which he could not. Aye, she was well beyond his grasp, yet he wanted her. Wanted her as he’d wanted little else in his life, with a need so bone deep it hurt.
    At his approach she looked over her shoulder and her full lips parted into a smile that made his heart stutter.
    As he settled next to her on the lush turf surrounding his pool, she asked, “Are they asleep?”
    “Aye or soon will be.”
    She pointed skywards. “Look at that.” Her voice, soft and sweet, was filled with awe. “In a world without street lights – lit only by fire – you can see so many stars.”
    Seeing only the heavens as they always were, he cleared his throat. Before he could speak his heart, however, she asked, “Do you have many visitors?”
    “Nay. Ye and yer bairns are the first.” When she frowned, he shrugged. “I think it odd as well.” Peddlers and armies had marched past many times over the years yet no one had ever taken notice of his glen. ’Twas almost as if he and this wondrous place did not exist. “’Tis almost as if this place were …”
    “Shrouded in magic?” She smiled.
    “Aye, so why not remain? Ty’s most content here, blossoming as ye say.”
    She sighed. “If I had only Ty to worry over, I think I would remain. I’ve been content here, too. Happier, in fact, than I have been in years.”
    Emboldened by her words, he ran a finger along her jaw. When she looked up at him and smiled he cradled her cheek in a broad calloused palm. Looking deep into her eyes, he whispered, “I dearly lust that ye do remain, Sarah. I truly do.”
    Dare he kiss her? Aye, he must. How else would she ken what lurked beneath his breast, in his soul? He settled his lips on hers, marvelling at their soft texture. When a groan escaped her, he, heart soaring, deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, stroking her as his hands longed to do.
    Please say aye, that ye’ll stay.
    Too soon she pulled back and his arms, which had boldly found their way about her, reluctantly fell away.
    “Oh, Hamish.” She traced his lips with a delicate touch. Seeing her bonnie brown eyes grow glossy, his hopes again soared.
    “I want to stay. Truly. But the other boys have parents and they’re doubtless frantic with worry by now. I have to get them back. Somehow, some way. I don’t want to leave. I have to.” She took a deep shaking breath. “I understand why you can’t take us to Edinburgh but would you be willing to lead us part of the way? So we won’t get lost.”
    So, ’tis the end after all.
    He took her right hand in his and heaved a resigned sigh. “Ye dinna have to go to Edinburgh, lass. I think – nay, I believe – all ye and the lads need do to return home is to wish whilst in this pool. ’Tis all I did to make the fish and coos come. To make ye and the lads come.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Whilst bathing, I was pondering this place, how lovely ’twas but how lonely. I wished I had someone to share it with and—” he snapped his fingers “—there ye all were.”
    She shook her head. “An explosion sent us here.”
    “Mayhap, or mayhap my wish and your world simply aligned.” He forced a smile. “Or collided.”
    The next morning at dawn Hamish stood in his magic pool next to Sarah. The lads, silent and dressed again in their yellow livery, stood by her side. Praying his stoic countenance would remain intact – wouldn’t collapse and expose the heartache already tearing him asunder – he reached betwixt the folds of his plaid and pulled out the five wooden animals he’d made for each of the lads. The most complex, a long-horned coo, he gave to Ty. “To