Page 14 of A Bride for the Highlander (Wishing for a Highlander #1)

CHAPTER 14

“Is it meant to be this… wobbly?” Adeline whispered to Logan, her thighs aching where she’d been gripping the saddle for at least twenty minutes.

He sat behind her, one arm around her waist. “Ye’re nae goin’ to fall. Do ye have such little trust in the hold I have on ye?”

Oh, if only you actually knew the hold you have on me .

Her mind flitted back to his study. She liked to think she had some semblance of willpower, but she was fairly certain that she’d been about to make the same mistake again. If that silver-haired man hadn’t walked in when he had, she’d have kissed Logan—there was no point denying it.

“I can’t remember the last time I rode a horse,” she said, ignoring his remark. “I think I went on one pony trek when I was about six and another when I was eight, maybe, but that’s pretty much my entire experience.”

“If ye cease wrigglin’, it willnae feel so shaky,” Logan told her. “Though, I daenae mind it.”

Flashing him a disapproving look, she pulled herself forward an inch or two… but that didn’t do much to help her escape the press of his muscular thighs against hers, nor the secure arm around her waist. Not if she didn’t want to tumble off, anyway.

And it felt… nice. Too nice, maybe. Being that close to him was treacherous; the near-miss in the library had taught her that. But what could she do? It wasn’t like she could be trusted to ride her own horse without becoming the one who needed medical treatment.

“Who is Ben?” she asked, focusing elsewhere. “You mentioned him before.”

“Ben Donohue. He’s the old healer’s grandson,” Logan replied. “Without a real healer on the island, all the duties of a healer fell to him.”

Adeline frowned. “So, you do have a healer?”

“Nae exactly. The lad is barely six-and-ten, and he dinnae listen much to what his grandfaither taught him.” Logan sighed. “He’s a poor substitute, but he’s all we have.”

Adeline looked ahead, astonished by the stark beauty of the island. They were following a wild path through wind-tossed hills, where nothing but spiny shrubs and twisted trees grew. Here and there, huts and small stone structures could be seen, but they had not seen another soul since leaving the keep, as if the island were deserted. It should’ve been ugly if Adeline was being honest, but there was an intangible charm to the landscape. An ancient mystique that thrilled her.

Now, I think I understand why you like all of this so much, Jane.

“And who is your brother? You never said you had a brother.” Adeline looked back at Logan. “Come to think of it, your mom and sister didn’t mention you had a brother either. Don’t you get along with him? Is he, like, a stepbrother or a half-brother or something? Is that why you sent him off the island?”

Logan furrowed his brow. “Which question would ye like me to answer first? I wasnae expectin’ a barrage.”

“Whichever you like.”

“Oliver is me brother. Nae a step or half.” His face pinched, a dark look narrowing his eyes. “He’s… a rough lad, but he’s family.”

Adeline laughed awkwardly. “So, you don’t get along with him, but you don’t want to say so outright. I can understand that. Families are difficult. Most of them have a black sheep.”

“Do ye have family?”

She turned her attention back to the wild horizon, watching a cluster of rabbits freeze at the sound of the horses approaching. Their ears flicked back and forth, sensing danger. And she was a rabbit caught in headlights, similarly panicked.

“I have siblings,” she replied, pretending she’d misheard the questions. “Well, one sibling. A sister. Funnily enough, she’s somewhere out here right now… somewhere in Scotland, just… not at the same time.”

“Where is she? Perhaps I ken the place.”

A lightbulb flashed in Adeline’s mind, wondering if that was the key to getting home, but she quickly turned the light off again. That couldn’t be it. It had something to do with the snow globe or the storm, not the location, or her sister. And she couldn’t actually remember where her sister had said she was—Jane had probably told Adeline a thousand times, but the name hadn’t stuck.

“In the Highlands somewhere, I think,” she said, deciding that sounded about right.

“Do ye get along with her?”

Adeline’s heart clenched with sadness. “I love her more than anything else in the world. So, yeah, I guess you could say we get along. I mean, we used to fight like cat and dog when we were kids, but… we couldn’t be without each other now.”

And if I can’t make it out of this era, back to my own, she’s going to be all alone…

She settled back into the sturdy support of Logan’s chest, taking comfort from his warmth and solidity. It was the only thing she could do to distract herself from the realization that, when Jane found out she was missing, it would seem like she had vanished off the face of the Earth, leaving no explanation behind whatsoever.

And knowing Jane, she would search forever for an explanation that would never come.

Logan had made the island sound tiny, but it felt like an eternity before signs of civilization came into view. A small village, smaller than any settlement Adeline had ever seen, appeared out of the greens and browns of the wilderness.

Two stone cottages acted as gateposts, showing where the village began, but the rest of the structures were wood—huts and cabins, dotted around haphazardly. Some of them were way too close to the lip of the high cliffs for Adeline’s liking, the thought of the sheer drop to the churning sea below making her stomach lurch.

She’d never been a fan of heights.

“Remember who ye are,” Logan whispered, his arm tightening around her waist for a moment. It felt like a squeeze of encouragement, and though it should’ve comforted her, she was terrified.

“Miss Adeline Clark. Daughter of a famed healer, come all the way from… Where am I from again?” Her heart fluttered wildly, nausea rising.

“Wales,” he replied patiently.

“Not like the sea creature?”

Logan shook his head. “Nay, nae like the sea creature. It just sounds the same.”

“And where is Wales?” Adeline felt like she was cramming for an end-of-year test again, and nothing was sticking.

“To the west of England.”

Adeline nodded. “It’s an island?”

“Nay, it’s attached to England, but it’s separate,” he said.

“That’s not confusing at all.” Adeline took a breath. “I can do this. I can do this. It’s what I’m good at.”

Within minutes, it was time to put her money where her mouth was. The horses came to a halt just in front of the stone cottages that marked the village boundary, and Logan slipped down from the saddle.

He reached his arms up to her. “So ye daenae fall at the last moment,” he explained.

Gingerly bringing her leg over the saddle, so she sat facing him, she leaned forward to take hold of his broad shoulders. Muscles rippled underneath her hands, their faces within kissing distance as his hands settled on her waist. Like a male dancer lifting a ballerina, he plucked her off the saddle like it was nothing at all and slowly set her down on the ground.

But Adeline’s legs were still shaky from the ride, and her badly timed nerves. She clung onto his shoulders for a few moments, catching her breath and steadying herself. Meanwhile, his hands stayed on the curve of her waist, his beautiful blue eyes peering down at her with concern.

“Are ye well?” he asked.

She made the mistake of looking back up into his eyes. “I will be.”

“I can send ye back with Theo if ye cannae do this,” he said. “Ye’re still recoverin’ yerself.”

She loosened her grip on him and stepped back, rallying. “I’m fine. Just… get me to the people who need help, and I’ll do what I was born to do.”

She reached into the horse’s leather pack and took out the jars she’d pilfered from the old healer’s chambers. She’d only been allowed a few minutes in there before Logan had insisted on them leaving, and the writing on the jars was impossible to read, but she hoped she had the right remedies. Figuring out how to use them was going to be the hard part, since they didn’t come in handy, little pills.

As they approached the village—Adeline, Logan, Dallas, and Theo—some of the villagers began to emerge, to welcome the arrivals. The people who hadn’t yet succumbed to the mystery illness, or so Adeline assumed. But it wasn’t long before the wary glances started darting in her direction.

“This is a guest of mine,” Logan announced, nudging her forward. “She’s a gifted healer, come all the way from Wales at me invitation to help rid us of this curse, once and for all.”

Adeline put on a nervous smile. “Hello there.” She took a deep breath. “If you wouldn’t mind taking me to the sickest folks first, I can get started.”

She was aware of every word that came out of her mouth in a way she never had been before. It was like sitting a Spanish exam, having to translate every word in her mind, then picking out the right words before speaking.

“Do as she says,” Logan encouraged.

An elderly woman, with so many wrinkles that her face seemed to be stuck in a constant frown, beckoned to Adeline.

Adeline immediately followed, her shoes squelching through the churned-up mud that served as a road through the village. Eyes peered out of darkened doorways, narrowing as she passed, and whispers made her ears burn.

A chill ran up her spine, wondering what these people would do to her if she put a foot wrong, and they started to think she really was a witch.

Maybe it would’ve been wiser to stay behind, after all.