Page 37

They’d arrived at the Cameron clan’s Tor Castle. Laird Ewen Cameron was huge, with black hair and blue eyes and the chiseled look of a romance novel cover model. But it was the ginormous sword poking up from between his shoulders that currently held her attention.

“He’s not going to try and use that on Will, is he?” Felicity’s eyes shifted from the laird, to his wife, and back again.

“My husband likes to carry a big stick.”

“Uh-huh.” Felicity eyed Lily Cameron, noting the toddler’s pudgy hand held in hers, the baby on her hip, and poor thing, the belly ready to burst with her third. “I’ll say he does,” she blurted without thinking.

But instead of laughing, Lily narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. Even after Felicity turned away, she sensed the woman assessing her, could see her poufy white- blonde hair out of the corner of her eye.

“Och,” Will gave a good-natured growl, “I’ve known Ewen since he was a stripling. If he tries to move on me, he knows I’ll give him a sound thrashing.”

Ewen’s deep voice exploded into laughter. “Have a care, Rollo, or I’ll use your wee staff to skewer you and eat you for supper. Now come. We’ve much to discuss. Lily can show your woman around.”

His woman? A Neanderthal and his baby- machine wife. Great. Where the hell had Will taken her?

She gave Rollo her best please-don’t-abandon me look, but he just smiled in return, traipsing off with Ewen, and leaving her with the blonde and the two kids.

Felicity realized Lily was still watching her, light dancing in her eyes. What’s her deal?

The laird’s wife giggled and said, “My husband can be an acquired taste.”

Felicity could only stare dumbly. American accent? Recovering, she asked, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No.” Lily smiled at her. “And I could tell from the get-go that you’re definitely not either.

” She hiked the baby higher up on her hip.

The kid seemed huge already. If the size of the laird was any indication, the woman was going to need some serious chiropractics when all this baby making was done.

“Now come on,” Lily said. “I’ll have one of the maids show you your room. ”

“Uhh . . .” Oh goody , she thought. More household staff for her to be nervous around. More impenetrable accents and strange looks.

“Ah.” Lily gave her a quick nod. “Got it. Let me just drop the rug rats with Kat, and I’ll show you around myself.”

It was when Lily took extra time to carefully explain the finer points of castle plumbing that Felicity finally began to relax. Who’d have thought a castle would have such a cool little stone toilet? Once you got used to the freezing air blowing on your bum, that is.

By the time Lily dug up an old gown for her to borrow, the two of them were chatting as if they were old friends. “Seriously,” Lily said, pushing the gown into Felicity’s hands. She rubbed her belly, adding, “I’m not going to be fitting into any real clothes anytime soon.”

“Well, seriously ,” Felicity mimicked the other woman’s word with a smile, “I don’t see how I’m going to fit into this either.” Smoothing the dress out on the bed, Felicity tucked at the bosom, creating imaginary darts. “If you haven’t noticed, you’ve got a lot more going on upstairs than I do.”

Lily giggled, then asked, “East Coast or West?”

“Excuse me?” Felicity spun, staring at the woman. Will had alluded to other women traveling back in time. Could this be one of them? “What did you just say?”

“Will didn’t know about me, did he? No, he wouldn’t have,” Lily mused, answering her own question. “I think it’s been years since he and Ewen have seen each other. Well, if Will didn’t already know where I’m from, my husband’s probably telling him right now. Over a whisky, if I know my Ewen.”

“I’m sorry,” Felicity said tentatively, sitting down on the bed. She’d felt an instant connection with this woman, almost like she recognized Lily. But actually meeting another woman from her place, her time, would be too much to ask. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“No, I’m sorry.” Lily smiled. Supporting the small of her back, she eased herself onto the bed next to Felicity. “I’m getting way ahead of myself. Where exactly are you from?”

“I . . .” Felicity faltered, unsure of how to respond. “I’m from Glasgow.”

“If you’re from Glasgow, then my name’s Britney Spears.”

An incredulous laugh burst from Felicity. She never would’ve guessed it’d ever feel so fantastic to hear the name Britney Spears.

“You don’t think I could pass?” Lily picked up a swath of her hair, studying it. “I guess my hair is a little too curly. And I’d never be able to do the—what is it—a Louisiana accent? I’m a Cali girl after all.”

“Oh, California!” Felicity exclaimed, her eyes wide. “Really? Me too.”

“Yep,” Lily said, her voice growing wistful. “San Fran, baby. Late nineties. And what I wouldn’t do for an avocado right about now. You?”

“I can’t believe this is happening. I live . . . I lived there too. In the Mission.”

“Crazy . . .” Lily shook her head, marveling.

“I always wondered when we’d meet someone else.

There was another, Robert, Ewen’s foster brother.

” Lily’s smile faded, and her voice grew subdued.

“He died. Though lately we’ve been talking about the whole time travel thing.

It seems like there must be some way to .

. . Well, that’s a whole other story.” Lily brightened her features.

“You still haven’t told me, when are you from? ”

“A little later than you. But not by much.” Felicity’s initial surprise was waning, replaced by an absurd pang of jealousy. She wanted to be the only one whose love was so great and so perfect the universe sent her back in time for it. “Did you make a wish to get here?”

“Wish?” Lily tilted her head, confused. “No way. I . . . sort of . . . fell here. Through the labyrinth. Wait, did you come through the maze too?”

“Maze?”

“Long story.”

“Oh.” A maze. Felicity hadn’t needed a gimmick. She’d made a wish, and the universe had delivered Felicity directly to her One True Love. The thought perked her back up. “You could say I wished for him.”

“You wished to come here?” Lily laughed. “Then I guess you weren’t as freaked out as I was.”

“Not really, actually. Tell me,” Felicity said, pinning the laird’s wife with a serious look. “What did you do to get Ewen to let you stay?”

“What?”

“How’d you convince him? To let you stay in the past.”

“We reached a point where . . .” Lily blushed crimson. “Well, I don’t think he’d have let me leave if I tried.” She gave a little grinning shrug that was like a dagger in Felicity’s chest.

Ewen loved Lily. Wouldn’t let her go.

Sadness and desolation swamped her. Why wouldn’t Will want her to stay too?

“But . . .” Felicity hesitated. “It seems so dangerous here. Aren’t you scared? Like, aren’t you afraid to be pregnant in the past?”

She could tell she hit a nerve somewhere. She saw the flicker of it in Lily’s eye, and it made her feel a little guilty. But all the laird’s wife said was, “When you love someone, I guess it conquers all fear.”

Lily studied Felicity, as if seeing her anew. “Why?” she asked. “Are you scared to be here?”

Felicity was grateful they were interrupted by a knock on the door and a teenage boy bursting into the room. A handsome kid with the devil in his eye. The spitting image of Ewen.

“Da’s looking for you.” Though he was speaking to Lily, the boy’s gaze didn’t budge from Felicity.

“Is he now? It’s not simply that you wanted to meet our new guest?” Lily winked at him. He screwed up his face, looking as though he were trying to summon lasers from his eyes with which to melt her. She grew very formal, and said, “Felicity, this is our son John.”

“Pleased, mum.” He gave a curt bow, then turned back to Lily. “But Da is looking for you,” he said, before racing from the room, cheeks blazing red.

Lily giggled. “We don’t get much new blood around here. You’ve stirred up quite a lot of buzz. Though I’m sure Will tells you all the time how pretty you are.”

Felicity promptly ran through her memories, cataloguing what Will had told her when, and decided she might just have to cast bait for a pretty compliment. She could use one of those at the moment.

“Speaking of pretty,” Felicity said, “you look way too young to have a son John’s age.”

“I’m not his biological mom. Ewen was a widower when I met him.”

“Really?” Odd. Did that mean Ewen really was Lily’s One True Love, or really wasn’t? “You’ll have to tell me the whole story while we go find the guys.”

“The guys,” Lily muttered, taking her arm. “It’s so nice having someone to talk to like this.”

Felicity felt another stab of guilt over her competitive thoughts. Lily was a total sweetheart, and Ewen was clearly hot in a brooding sort of way.

But no man was as great as her Will. They were meant for each other. In her mind, no other relationship could compete with theirs.

Felicity frowned. She had only a matter of time now in which to convince him of that fact.