Wild About The Witch Part 15

Piper sighed. "I don't know. If she does, we're screwed."

"Why, my love? Do ye speak of the foul grimoire? What became of it?"

"I burned it," Evie admitted. "And kicked the ashes in the lake."

Lachlan, to his credit, tried not to go stormy, but his eyes clouded over. Piper took his hand and laced her fingers with his to calm him.

"You couldn't have known," she said, patting Evie's knee.

"You knew," she said in a tormented voice. "You didn't want me to destroy it, you fought me the whole way."

"Don't do this to yourself, Evie. I was nuts at the time. Something bad might have happened if you didn't burn it. There's no point in beating yourself up."

"She's right," Lachlan said, leaning back in his chair. "Looking to the past willna get us anywhere. If the witch wants her book back and the book is beyond reach, she'll just have to ..." he shook his head. No one knew what would happen next.

"She'll just have to suck it." Evie stood up. "I am so sick of her." She rubbed her stomach and got up to rummage for a snack. "Sorry," she said, as she took a bite of apple. "Gotta keep a little something on my stomach. It's the best way to fight the nausea."

Piper realized she was famished as well and joined her at the counter. Eating a m.u.f.fin tethered her back to the moment at hand and the lingering fear that followed her from the lake dissipated in the warm kitchen, with her favorite people.

She turned to see Lizzie come in from the front, rubbing her eyes as if she just woke up. Her blonde hair was messy and her gown rumpled. She looked around and her face dropped.

"Where is everybody?"

"I don't know," Piper answered, turning to Lachlan for answers.

"My fool brother spit out his pain pills," he said, shaking his head. "He wanted to be gone at once. He and Catie barely said goodbye to me."

"What?" Evie teared up and put down her apple. "I thought Catie was going to stay."

"They left without me?" Lizzie sounded both angry and devastated. "Oliver would never- when did they go? Maybe I can still catch up."

"It was hours ago, la.s.s," Lachlan said, and Lizzie staggered to the bench and sank onto it.

"I thought you were staying, too," Evie said.

Piper was completely lost as to who was meant to stay or go. "Yes," she said, filling a cup from the kettle for Lizzie. "Don't you want to get back to your life? I'm sure we could help you come up with a feasible story for your absence."

"Digging wells somewhere," Evie suggested. "People love that. You'll get your career back before you know it."

"I don't want my career back," Lizzie said dejectedly. She looked at them one by one and lowered her head. "I only want Quinn."

"Ah, dear G.o.d," Lachlan said. "What is it about that lad?"

Piper wanted to swat Lachlan for such an insensitive statement, making poor Lizzie feel as if she were just one of a long list. Even if it was true, it didn't make her feelings for Quinn any less real, and it had clearly taken a lot out of her to admit them.

Piper prayed things wouldn't get any more convoluted. But of course they did, when Catie and Quinn tramped into the kitchen, wearing complete opposite expressions from each other.

Lachlan jumped up to help Quinn to a seat, getting brushed off angrily for his trouble. Catie rushed to hug Evie and ask where Magnus was.

"He's at home with Sam. What happened, why didn't you say goodbye?"

Catie bobbed on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet in her happiness. "There was no time. But, it didna work. Quinn couldna do the spell. We canna go back."

Lizzie stood up, took a step toward Quinn, then stopped. It hurt Piper to watch, as he refused to look at her. Someone who didn't care at all didn't need to work that hard to look like they didn't care.

"Ye needna act so excited," Quinn said sourly. "Ye may take a moment to remember our friends are still in need of medicine."

Catie dropped her chin to her chest and frowned.

"Where's Oliver?" Lizzie asked, giving up on trying to make Quinn see her and turning to Catie. Her hands shook as she reached out to her.

Catie shrugged. "With Mellie, last I heard. They're driving across the b.l.o.o.d.y countryside."

"What?" Three separate voices rang out incredulously.

"I knew he wouldn't go without me," Lizzie said under her breath. "But, what do you mean, it didn't work? How will we get back?"

"We need to back up a d.a.m.n minute," Piper said, holding up her hand. She looked apologetically at Lizzie. "Don't worry, both Lachlan and I can do the spell. But what's this about Mel and Oliver?"

Catie fished her phone out of her bodice and Lachlan and Evie both sighed with disgust.

"You were going to take that back with you?" Evie asked. "How many times do I have to say it? No good can come from taking back modern things."

"It willna even work," Lachlan said. "The magic drains the battery."

Catie ignored them both in true teenager fashion and scrolled through her messages. "It says they are going to see his ancestral land in Perth, to see what it looks like now." She raised her brows at Lachlan. "That's quite far, aye?"

Lachlan got dangerously quiet. "Love, we must send them back." He pulled Piper close to him, as if he feared she would dissolve into thin air. She wondered if that might not be for the best.

"We should go now, and Oliver can return when he's done gadding about the country." Lizzie stood.

"Lizzie, there isna longer any reason for ye to return," Quinn said, casting a pall over Lizzie and sending everyone into an awkward silence. "I am well enough to go. We found Catie and have the medicine. Ye did well, but ye're home now."

Evie took Catie's arm and pulled her toward the door. "Let's go to Piper's office. I'll print you out some pictures of Magnus to take with you. I'm sure something like that won't affect the fabric of time."

Piper thought leaving Quinn and Lizzie alone for a few minutes seemed a very good idea and she tugged Lachlan's hand to get him to leave the room as well. He stood like a giant, disgruntled oak tree, glaring at his brother.

"Dinna tarry too long," he said. "Too much time has already been wasted and even taking the golf cart, the trip back to the woods is long."

Quinn narrowed his eyes, but before he could retort, Piper said, "That's ridiculous to go all the way to the forest again. Bella and Pietro know you're coming." She pointed at Quinn and then Lachlan. "You two lived there for several months, think of a room n.o.body ever goes in. We'll do the spell here in the castle. If someone sees, I really don't care at this point."

She jerked Lachlan's hand and stomped from the room, with a last hopeful glance at Lizzie. She'd keep her fingers crossed that she got what she wanted.

In the hall, Lachlan turned to her, his eyes dark with anguish. He gently took her face in his powerful hands and leaned over to kiss her before speaking. "I canna risk losing ye while those two argue."

"I'll be fine," she said, standing on her tiptoes for another kiss. He frowned, but gave her one. She rested her cheek against his strong chest. "I'm tired, Lachlan. Whatever happens next, we have to let it happen."

He gripped her shoulders and stared down into her eyes. In his frustration, he gave her a little shake. "I will never accept losing ye, and we dinna have to let anything happen. We can always fight. Ye dinna know what ye say, love. Let's get my idiot family home, and then I shall run ye a bath."

"Okay," she sighed against him. It sounded heavenly, and she knew it wouldn't take much cajoling to get him to join her. He loved the spa tub. "But give them a minute. A minute won't hurt anything," she argued at his look. "If Quinn refuses to let her go, her heart will be broken. Just let them say their goodbyes."

"If she truly loves him, she willna let him refuse."

They looked back at the closed kitchen door. No screaming or broken gla.s.s sounded from behind it, which she hoped to be a good sign.

Chapter 18.

Lizzie wanted to be calm, but she was distracted by Quinn's face. He refused to look her in the eye, and the hard set to his jaw confused her.

"I don't understand," she said, clearing her throat at the weak sound of her voice. "I thought you forgave me."

She thought everything was fine, or close to fine, between them. So much had happened and so fast, she couldn't be sure now. If only she could get things back to how they were, but she wasn't even sure how far back she needed to go. She reached out for him but he took a step back. Was that a fearful look? Was he afraid of her?

"Quinn?" she asked, when he continued to look at her silently.

"It isna that I dinna forgive ye," he said, running his hand through his hair.

The dark burnished gold strands glinted in the overhead light of the kitchen and she longed to smooth the tangled ends that curled at his collar.

She turned her head to the side, wanting him to elaborate, but he remained maddeningly quiet. She didn't know if he was thinking or waiting. She'd never been good at knowing whether to wait or charge forward in sticky situations like this and she had to press her lips together to keep a rush of words from flying out- excuses, reasons, begging. But she couldn't stand the silence.

"This is your home, Lizzie," he said, his voice steady and final. "Ye waited so long to get back here, and now ye finally are."

"But things are different now," she said, barely letting him finish his sentence.

She flinched at her impatience and took a breath. G.o.d, she wanted to touch him. If only he would let her, they could melt into the comfort of each other. There was never any lack of surety when they were in each other's arms. Slowly, she took a step forward, keeping her eyes locked with his. He glanced over her head at the door. She knew he was thinking they had to go, there was no time for this, and her heart sank.

But then he took a step forward to fill the small gap that remained between them and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. She smiled and kept herself from closing her eyes, in case this was the last time. She had to savor it.

His lips touched hers, tentatively, then hard. He wrapped his hand behind her head and pressed her close, and she finally gave over to the kiss and enjoyed it, instead of struggling to commit it to memory. She couldn't let it be the last. When he released her, they stayed close and she took the hand that hung next to his body in the sling.

"Ye mustna feel guilty or that ye have any obligations to me or my family. I see ye struggle to make me see that ye want to make amends, and ye dinna need to. I only want ye to be happy."

She tipped her head back to gape at him, not sure what the h.e.l.l he was saying. He closed his eyes and stepped back, shaking his head. His hand slipped out of hers and a cold emptiness filled her.

She could go back without his blessing, without his say so. She knew she could make him see he still loved her, he just had to accept it. But what if he didn't? If she went back and he still refused to let her into his life, could she live there without him? She didn't know if she was strong enough.

"I know ye still love another," he said, forcing out the words as if they were stabbing him in the gut.

Lizzie reached out to the wall, staggered by that p.r.o.nouncement. She shook her head. "Trent? No. Just, no. We were never engaged, we never lived together. He'd get irritated if I wanted to use his shower."

"He's worked verra hard to find ye," he said, as if he felt sorry for the man all of a sudden.

"I have no clue why he's doing that. He's an attention seeking fame hound." Frustration made her slap the wall and turn around, wanting to run from this ridiculous argument. Clenching her fists, she turned back and faced him. "I'm telling you now, that we are not together."

It was Quinn's turn to smack something, and he paced to the fireplace, punching the stone mantel.

"I heard ye speaking on the-" he frowned. "Ye said ye loved him and wished ye could see him and could never forget him."

It dawned on her what he was rambling about and she laughed. "No, Quinn, that isn't what you heard."

"Lizzie, please dinna lie to me anymore."

That stung, and the pain made her angry, want to fight harder. "You heard me on the phone?" she asked. "I was speaking with my oldest friend, to let her know I was still alive, and explain to her what happened. I told her that I missed her, but wouldn't be returning to London." She sighed. "Because I would be going back with you."

Another silent staredown, and she let him ruminate, ready to pounce if he tried to walk away.

"Ah, Lizzie," he said quietly, looking down at the ground. "Do ye only want to come back with me because it might be easier than facing your life here after so long?"

She could not believe he was trying to psychoa.n.a.lyze her, this Highlander from the eighteenth century. It hit her that he might be onto something and she gasped. It would be awful to try to explain, worse than awful to face interviewers. But if she were to stay and try and get her career back on track, there would be no way around that. Still, the audacity.

"Are you b.l.o.o.d.y kidding me?" she asked. He shook his head and she continued to rail. "Do you honestly think any inconvenience in explaining things here could possibly match the horrors of the eighteenth century?" She pointed to the kitchen sink. "Running water alone would be enough to make anyone stay in this time. Not to mention better roads, better medicine." She waved at her dress. "No b.l.o.o.d.y corsets."

His eyes saddened as if she'd just made his point for him, and she knew he wanted her to come back with him, believed it fully for the first time. He was being a freaking gentleman.

"I dinna want ye to resent me," he said. "What ye say is true. My life is hard compared to what ye know."

"I don't care," she snapped, barrelling forward and laying her hands flat against his chest. "I don't care about any of it." In her urgency to make him understand, she shoved him backwards, gripping his plaid. She tried to shake him but he was an unshakable mountain. "Look, I'll lay it out for you. I'm going back. You're under no obligation to me, but I'm going to be there, and I'm going to make it difficult for you to ignore me. But if you find a way to do it, then I'll make my way back to London and you needn't think of me anymore. But I'm going back." She hit him in the chest with each word. "I'd rather live a shorter, unwashed, corseted life with you, than any life that's here for me."

He smiled. "Ye can wash," he said. "Every day if ye like." He pulled her closer, then ran his hand up her side. "And I dinna mind if ye want to go without a corset."

She dropped her head against his chest, exhausted from her battle, and took a moment to rest in the glory of victory.

He tipped her chin back and leaned down to kiss her, and instead of merely accepting the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him.

"I couldna stand it if ye wanted to leave me," he said into her hair. "I only want-"

"Stop," she said. "We have to stop." She ran her fingers through his tangled hair, patted his shoulders and adjusted his sling, reveling in touching him. "Let's start fresh," she suggested. "You don't worry about me and I won't worry about you."

He furrowed his brow and squeezed her waist. "Do ye think we can do that?"

Instead of answering, she lifted herself onto her toes and kissed him.

They decided to do the spell in one of the secret pa.s.sages that Quinn swore was there in Bella and Pietro's current time. Piper hoped he was right.

When they arrived, they'd be close to the sleeping chambers and could easily find their way to Bella to give her the medicine. Piper gave Lizzie the instructions Dr. Stone had written, and before they entered the pa.s.sage, pulled her a bit away from the others.

She held out a few heavy gold bangle bracelets and a ring. "These are from around that time," she said, trying to get Lizzie to accept them. "They're solid gold so you should be able to get a nice sum for them." She paused and her eyes twitched over Lizzie's shoulder. She was happy that things seemed settled between her and Quinn, but for how long? Did Lizzie really know what she was in for? "Just in case," she finished awkwardly, pressing the pieces into her hand.