Highlander's Secret, page 24
Hope.
Thank you for reading HIGHLANDER'S SECRET. If you loved Marjorie and Konnor's story, get your free bonus epilogue now:
https://mariahstone.com/bonus-epilogue-highlanders-secret/
* * *
Also, find out what happens next when Ian, Marjorie's lost brother returns, and meets his own soul mate from the future, Kate, in HIGHLANDER'S HEART.
* * *
She’s a lost time traveler. He’s a haunted Highland hero. Can their romance survive the test of centuries?
* * *
Read HIGHLANDER'S HEART now >
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I've been reading all Scottish books and authors for 4 decades now: this one is among my favorites - and I am saying this with tears in my eyes!”
* * *
Fancy a Viking?
And other mysterious matchmakers are sending modern-day people to the past too, also to the Viking Age. If you haven’t read Holly and Einar's story yet, be sure to pick up VIKING'S DESIRE.
A captive time traveler. A Viking jarl on a mission. Will marriage be the price of her freedom?
* * *
Read VIKING’S DESIRE now >
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Fabulous! What a great way to start a new series!”
* * *
Or stay in the Highlands and keep reading for an excerpt from HIGHLANDER'S HEART.
Inverlochy Castle, Scotland, July 2020
* * *
Kate Anderson stood in front of the ruins of an ancient castle. This was the farthest she'd ever been from home, from New Jersey. Her whole life, she'd wanted to get away, and now that it happened, she wished her sister, Mandy, and her nephew, Jax, were with her.
Instead, by her side stood Logan Robertson, the man who would define her restaurant’s and her family’s future.
Kate's heart pounded. She tapped her palm against her hip to relieve the nervousness building up within her. She should just relax and enjoy the private excursion he'd taken her on. It wasn't like one wrong word from her would make him kick her off his chef training program.
The day was warm and lush with greenery. The air smelled of grass, wildflowers, and a barely noticeable whiff of river water. Cars whirred by somewhere in the distance from time to time.
“This is my favorite place in the neighborhood.” Logan brushed his hand through his dyed blond hair. Funny. He’d appeared naturally blond on TV. “If only those walls could talk, aye?”
After three days of training in the TV studio, Kate was finally somewhat used to talking to an international star like she would to a regular human being. He was as charming and as pleasant to talk to as he seemed in his shows, especially with his soft Scottish burr.
“Oh yes.” Kate didn’t even have to look up that much—turned out he was only an inch taller than her. And from close-up, his forehead was too smooth to be natural, and the skin around his eyes was frozen. Did he get Botox treatments? “The walls would probably say ‘thank God these people don’t roast boars every day.’”
Logan laughed and shook his index finger at her playfully. “You’re a funny lass. Keep that up when we film. People will love you. They will queue up at your restaurant to get a spot.”
He’d given Kate a couple of looks that she thought might be flirtatious over the past couple of days. He always laughed at her jokes, which weren’t as good as they were nervous. But she’d told herself she was reading too much into it.
“Hopefully they’ll come for my food, not for my jokes,” she said. “I’m okay with the first, but I can barely keep up with the second.”
Logan shook his head once. “When I’m finished with your restaurant, you won’t need to settle. You’ll be famous, lass.” He winked. “Shall I show you around?”
They walked through the ruined gate under the ancient walls into a green, sunlit courtyard with four crumbled towers that rose at its corners. Even looking at them, Kate still couldn’t believe she was actually in Scotland.
“I’m so fortunate you picked Deli Luck,” she said, her insides vibrating with excitement. “When my sister, Mandy, told me we won—”
“Your sister?” Logan glanced at her with curiosity. “They called your sister first?”
“Yes. She applied. I had no idea. If she’d told me from the beginning, I’d have locked her up in the storage room until she changed her mind. Never in my life would I have thought you’d pick us.”
Kate was surprised Mandy had taken such initiative, considering the depression she struggled with sometimes kept her from getting out of bed at all.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Aye, Deli Luck isn’t exactly what we normally go for. It’s too American. Too traditional. And that’s where, I think, the problem lies. You’re too safe with your burgers, spareribs, and fries, aren’t you?”
Kate’s neck burned and she looked down. She picked at a rock with the point of her boot and kicked it as they walked. Those had been her exact thoughts right from the beginning. It was her clients who had forced her to abandon the creative pot roast with a Thai coconut sauce, quinoa burgers, and spareribs masala. She’d wanted to combine unusual with traditional since the beginning. As the owner and the chef, she was ashamed to admit to him that the community had pressured her into changing her menu.
And now, bankruptcy threatened Deli Luck in about a month if nothing changed.
“That’s what the market in Cape Haute, New Jersey, wants, Logan,” she said. “They don’t want anything different.”
“True. But what you have is too familiar. That’s why you’re barely makin’ ends meet. You need to find that fine line between old and new. That’s where I come in. Dinna worry, lass. You’re a family restaurant, right? Tell me how you started.”
Kate put her hands in the pockets of her jeans, something she always did when she felt uncomfortable. Talking about her past hurt. She’d never even discussed their childhood with Mandy, let alone reveal things to a stranger.
“I never knew my dad. My mom died when I was eighteen. To support my sister and myself, I worked in local restaurants. I cooked my whole life, and people love my food. After a couple of years, some locals loaned me money to open my own place. In a way, it’s a community restaurant. I haven’t repaid them all yet. That’s where the biggest chunk of income is going to. Your show helping us with renovations and the whole new design of the menu and billboards and all that—that’s going to be exactly what we need to save the restaurant from the bankruptcy.”
Bankruptcy would mean losing the whole building—including the apartment where Kate, Mandy, and Jax lived. The three of them would be on the streets. Mandy wouldn’t have her antidepressant meds and the therapy she needed to stay afloat. They wouldn’t be able to send Jax to a decent school and make sure he got medical care if he needed it.
This show was Kate’s last hope.
“A community-funded restaurant.” He narrowed his eyes and studied her with curiosity. “Great story. But don’t you feel like they own you?”
Kate chuckled, her cheeks heating up. “Of course they own me. Hence burgers, ribs, and fries.”
He tilted his head back and laughed. “This is goin’ to be a fabulous show. When they find out what I have planned—it’s goin’ to be a Boston Tea Party in New Jersey.”
Kate hugged herself. She wanted to stand out, to be liked because she was different. Instead, she’d spent her whole life trying desperately to be liked because she fit in.
And look where it had gotten her.
She chuckled. “As long as Deli Luck turns out to be a new independent country afterward…”
He tilted his head back and laughed. When he looked at her again, his eyes became intense, taking her in as though he were peeling off her clothes. Kate chided herself for imagining a star like Logan would be interested in her.
“You’re a bonnie lass, aren’t you?” he mumbled and took a step towards her.
Kate tensed, physically making herself stay in place and not back away from him. She opened her mouth to make a joke out of it when his phone rang.
“I need to take this, lass.” He lifted the phone to his ear and walked to the other side of the courtyard towards the big gate.
Kate exhaled, the tension in her muscles softening. She wasn’t used to being treated kindly. And he had no reason to be nice to her other than to make a great show.
She looked around. What a beautiful, mysterious place this was. She agreed with Logan—if those stones could talk, they’d tell many stories. What would cooking in a medieval kitchen be like? What dishes did they make in the past? What spices and kitchenware did they use? Her stomach growled with hunger. Thank goodness she always packed food with her—the aftereffect of her childhood.
Kate was a hoarder. Well, not literally. Mainly, she hoarded food in her stomach and fat on her thighs. She never knew if she really was hungry or if she just felt panicked to stock up while food was available. Something she’d done ever since she was little.
Kate opened her bag and fetched one of the BLTs she’d made for her and for Logan. It was made with fresh ciabatta bread, crispy bacon she’d picked up at the local market yesterday, cherry tomatoes, and a touch of the truffle mayonnaise she’d bought in an artisan food shop in Edinburgh. Instead of simple lettuce, she used romaine salad. She settled on a rock baking in the sun, near a tower with a railing around the entrance. Turning her face to the sun, she closed her eyes and imagined sitting here many years ago when the castle wasn’t ruined yet, back when it swarmed with people.
What sounds would there be? Would it smell like grilled meat? Like mud? Like horses?
“The wee bread ye have, lass, it looks delicious,” a female voice said next to her.
Kate opened her eyes. A pretty young woman in a long dark-green cape with a hood stood by her side. Her hair was red and shone in the sun. She stared at Kate’s sandwich as though it were the food of the gods.
“Uhm,” Kate said. “Do you want some?”
Kate cooked food for a living, but she didn’t remember anyone staring like that at what she prepared.
“Oh, may I?” the woman said. “Ye dinna mind?”
She had a much stronger Scottish accent than Logan, stronger than anyone Kate had ever met, in fact. Her voice sounded beautiful, melodic, almost like a song.
Kate held the sandwich out to her. “Help yourself. You aren’t allergic to truffles, are you?”
The woman took the sandwich with both hands, a smile full of wonder on her lips. “What are truffles?”
“It’s a delicious mushroom, well, a fungus…”
“Oh, I’m sure I’m nae allergic.”
“There’s also mayonnaise, so eggs and—”
But the woman had already bitten into the sandwich and was chewing. She rolled her eyes in ecstasy and was producing sounds that could only be associated with very good sex.
“Oh, sky and stars,” she mumbled through a full mouth, “and kelpies unhinged, ’tis the best food I’ve ever had!”
Kate studied her, amazed. She had to give it to the woman, Kate rarely saw people so openly enjoying their food. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had given her a compliment like that. Was it because she was bored cooking the same stuff over and over? Or because she was actually a bad cook?
The woman continued her feast of one. Kate would have taken Logan’s sandwich, but if he came back now, she wouldn’t have anything for him. So better she was hungry than offend him and make him change his mind about the TV show. Deli Luck really needed this.
“Are ye a cook?” The woman sat down right on the grass and continued chewing.
“Yes. From the United States.”
“Oh. Aye. I’ve met someone from there. Verra nice people. What is yer name, dearie?” She bit into the sandwich again.
“Kate. Yours?”
“Sìneag.”
She said it as Sheen-ak.
“What a pretty name. I’ve never heard it before.”
“That’s because ’tis ancient. Like me.” She giggled. “Is that man yer husband?”
“What? No! I just met him three days ago. He’s a colleague, I suppose. Or a boss, rather.”
“A boss? Like a master?”
Kate laughed. “Yes, in a very innocent way, I suppose he is.”
Sìneag stared at Logan who was still speaking on the phone, his back turned to them.
“He likes ye, I can tell.”
“I’m sure you’re wrong. It’s Logan Robertson.”
“Ye’re saying it like I should ken who that is?”
“You don’t?”
“Nae, I dinna. But I can tell ye this. He isna the man for ye.”
“Well, duh. I could have told you that. He’d never go for someone like me.”
“Someone like ye? He’d be lucky to have someone like ye, lass. But dinna fash, I ken a man just for ye.”
Kate shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m not looking for a relationship. I need to get my restaurant back on its feet, and Logan is helping me. I have no room for men in my life. All spaces are occupied by my sister and my nephew back in Jersey.”
“Oh, ye poor lass. I understand. Sìneag will help. Look, it was the year 1308 when Ian Cambel, a warrior long thought dead came back home. He’d been imprisoned and enslaved in Baghdad for several years with nae hope for freedom. But luck turned around and gave him a second chance. He became free and returned to the Highlands. But he was broken. Slavery made him believe he doesna deserve to be happy, to be loved. He was forever lonely after that.”
Kate nodded, thoughtful. The story resonated somewhere deep in her heart. “Yes, some things break us and we can never heal.”
“Aye, well. If two broken souls can connect through time, that might bring them both happiness, aye?”
“Through time?” Kate laughed. “That’s romantic, I suppose. And impossible.”
Sìneag pushed the last bite of the sandwich into her mouth and moaned. “What’s impossible is that I havna tried this bread before. And traveling through the river of time is verra real. In fact, there’s the rock this castle has been built upon, which is saturated with the powerful magic of time travel.” She gestured behind them, where the ruined tower stood. “Mmmmm. Thank ye kindly for this treat, lass. Ye truly made my day.”
The tower looked absolutely normal, just a crumbled circular wall of old stones and mortar. And it was supposed to contain a time traveling rock? What a weird story.
“And what about that rock…” She turned to Sìneag.
The woman had disappeared. Kate stood and looked around. Birds chirped, and wind rustled the leaves of the tree growing outside the perimeter of the castle.
“Sìneag?” she said.
The courtyard was empty except for her and Logan, who’d finished talking and was walking towards her, his eyes fixed on her. He looked like a blond wolf who’d seen a chicken and were about to devour it. Men normally weren’t interested in her, and this attention made her throat clench. She rubbed her forearm, and took a step back. What was he going to do? Either devour her or kiss her?
Her life consisted of spending long hours at Deli Luck, then returning to the apartment above the restaurant and collapsing on her bed. Mandy and Jax would be long asleep by then. The next morning, Kate would wake up early and go down to make sure coffee was ready, pancake batter was prepared, and eggs and bacon were available for the early birds. Usually her first customers were Hank, their police officer, and George and Luke, who were both mechanics at the local tire factory and had the first shift.
There was no space in her life for romance. She’d only dated three guys in the last ten years, and she’d had sex just a handful of times. She had no idea how to flirt, or what to expect from a guy who was coming at her with wolf eyes like Logan was.
No. She was about to make a huge fool of herself or, even worse, of him. She needed to do something. To distract him. To reject him without rejecting him.
She backed away, hands shaking, until her back touched something hard. Metal rattled, and she turned around. The grating across the opening to the tower. The tower that had allegedly been built upon a time traveling rock. Yes, she could talk about that.
She went behind the grating and walked towards the gaping entrance to the tower.
“Do you want to take a tour of the dungeons, darlin’?” Logan pushed past the grating.
A crooked smiled played on his lips.
“Uhm, no.” Kate smiled nervously. “I just had an interesting talk with someone who I assume can only be a local.”
Logan came and stood by her.
Too close.
So close, it felt like he was looming over her, and she could smell his expensive body wash. Kate blinked rapidly and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Oh, aye?” he said. “What did they tell you, beautiful?”
He raised one hand and stroked her cheek. Kate suppressed an urge to jerk back. Instead, she laughed nervously and took a couple of steps to stand next to the tower entrance. Cold air wafted up at her. It smelled like wet earth, dust, and rocks. It was so dark, the only thing she could see was the round stairs that began a step or two below the entrance. The ruined steps led down—and she had no idea how anyone could even attempt to walk on them because they were crumbled. Some of the steps were almost worn away. Others looked like flat-lying rocks.
“She said somewhere there is a rock that allows people to cross time. Have you heard a local legend like that?”
Logan chuckled softly. His eyes half closed, he walked to stand by her side, with the same proximity as before.
“Nae,” he said. “Havna heard anything like that. But sounds intriguing. Would you like to travel in time, darlin’?”
He reached out and cupped her jaw. Only with an effort did Kate manage to stand in place and not run from him.
“Dinna be afraid, darlin’,” he said. “You’re a bonnie woman despite your weight. You’re just like your restaurant. Need a makeover to make you really shine.”
