Chapter 2

 

 

Jamie Cameron inhaled a deep breath and sighed. The sun shining on the trees and grassy banks never looked so good. He never should have stayed away so long. He set off down the brae. Years of boyhood happiness came back to him. He played in these fells, built forts in the woods, fished in these rivers, and followed his brothers on countless adventures over heath and heather.

This was his place, his own home, the land belonging to his Clan. He knew everyone in every house from here to the open sea, and he couldn’t wait to see them again.

He took his time wandering down the river toward his home village of Kinlochleven. One of these days, he would have to go back to Urlu to rejoin his brothers. When that happened, he had no way of knowing when he would ever return to this old country he knew so well. He wanted to savor every moment of his time here. He wanted to imprint it into his memory so he never forgot it.

He spotted his cousins Malcom and Daniel by the ford. He took a step forward to hail them, but something in their expressions killed the words on his lips. He hovered in the shadows and watched them for a minute.

They carried weapons. That was unusual, and they kept casting fleeting glances, first uphill toward the village, and then the opposite way over the ford. They murmured to each other in low whispers, and they stole uncertain looks around the woods in anxious anticipation of something. They didn’t look happy and carefree the way Jamie remembered them.

He backed away into the woods. He continued on his way to the village, but the sight dampened his happiness. Something was going on. What was it?

He got as far as the hill overlooking to hollow before he stopped. The same old village spread out before him. The same kids and dogs and chickens ran around flapping their mouths. That much never changed. His heart burst with love for the place. He spent more time here in his youth than at his father’s castle some distance up the Leith. Once he got old enough to move around on his own, he ate and slept in these houses more than his own.

He strolled into the village and headed for the nearest house. He planned this months in advance, though he never told his brother Callum this was what he planned to do. He rehearsed this moment a thousand times in his private moments. He replayed every sensation, every shade of facial expression and emotion.

He entered the doorway of the tumbledown cottage. The lintel over the door still sagged in its socket where the mortar started to give way. The roof needed thatching, and the rotten spot near the back corner showed more daylight than he remembered.

A young woman kneaded dough on a hewn wooden table near the fire. She cast one glance up from her work when Jamie appeared, but she never missed a beat in her kneading.

“Hello, Marri,” he murmured.

“I always kenned ye’d come back one day, Jamie Cameron,” she replied. “I always kenned ye’d show up at my door just like that.”

He eased over to the table and buried his nose in her neck. “Did ye miss me, Marri? I missed ye so terrible I’d like tae die withoot ye. I dreamed o’ seein’ ye again just like this.”

She slammed the dough into a wooden bowl and carried it around the table, away from him. She set the bowl on the hearth, punched the dough down with all her might, and covered it with a towel.

“Ye cinnae ha’e missed me o’ermuch, fer ye ha’e no sent word tae tell me whether ye were alive or dead, these two laing years.”

“Two years!” he exclaimed. “Is it that laing we ha’e been gone.”

“Aye, it has,” she replied, “and wi’ the whole countryside sayin’ ye and yer brothers were dead on the heath somewhere, I had no time tae miss ye fer keeping body and soul taegether fer all that.”

Jamie straightened up. “Weel, this is a fine homecomin’ fer a mon that’s been gone two years. Ye hadnae e’en kissed me since I set foot in yer hoose.”

She leveled her clear brown eyes at him, exactly the way he remembered her. “I’ll ne’er kiss ye again, Jamie Cameron. I’m married tae Daniel and expectin’ me first bairn come the springtime. Right glad I am tae see ye alive and weel and as full o’ brass as e’er, but it’s two laing years since I ha’e seen ye alive, and I couldnae wait fer a man as like tae be dead.”

Jamie reeled against the table. “Daniel!”

“He’s a livin’ mon, Jamie,” she replied. “He’s alive and he’s ’ere in this village while ye’re out somewhere else. The heavens ainly ken what ye done since ye ha’e been gone, and I dinnae want tae ken. It’s enough tae ha’e a livin’ mon in me hoose withoot ye tae haunt me.”

He turned away from the sting of her words. Never in all the months since he left this country did he ever consider she might find someone else, that she might not want to wait forever for him to come back and claim her.

What was he thinking all this time? He certainly wasn’t thinking of marrying her and taking her home to Urlu. He never dreamed of telling her he was a dragon. His brothers married human women, but Carmen and her friends weren’t normal Highland maids like Marri—not by a mile.

He stumbled to the doorway. He leaned one hand on the doorframe and hung his head. He had to get his mind to function. He had to reevaluate his whole plan for this visit. The rest of the village wouldn’t be waiting with bated breath for his return, either, no matter how much he dreamed they would be.

What a fool he was to puff himself up into some kind of returning hero. He considered launching and flying home to Urlu that very minute. No one but Marri ever had to know he stuck his foot in it by coming back here. His brothers would be delighted to have him back—unlike these country people with their hearts in their stomachs.

He raised his head, and his eye fell on the planter in the middle of the village. A woman sat on the wall, but she resembled no woman he ever saw in this village before. She wore a plain navy-blue skirt and jacket, a white blouse with a chunky bead necklace around the lapels, and she wore some kind of stockings above her bare feet.

Her shoulder-length chestnut hair swept around her face, and the sun caught a pair of golden earrings tucked under the wisps on either side. She observed the village around her with a serene smile on her face.

Jamie studied her. She definitely didn’t come from this village, so who was she? An inkling of excitement crept into his guts. He had to find out more about her.

Just then, Marri came up behind him. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I didnae mean tae hurt ye so. I shouldnae bear ye any grudge. I’m right glad tae see ye so weel. When ye first left wi’ yer brothers, I thought I’d die o’ the loneliness. I didnae die, and Daniel was there. He allus ga’e me a kind word, and after a time….”

“Who is that woman?” Jamie interrupted. “I dinnae recognize her.”

Marri jumped. “Her? No one kens who she might be nor where she comes from. She’s a stranger.”

“How did she come tae be ’ere, o’ all places?” he asked.

“Who kens?” Marri turned away. “She speaks a strange tongue. No one can understand a word she says, but she ne’er causes anyone any harm. She just sits there, or walks around the village. She smiles at e’eryone. Then she leaves.”

“How laing has she been ’ere?”

“Ainly since yesterday. She just appeared out o’ nowhere. No one e’en kens her name.”

Jamie took a step forward. He got all the way to the planter before he realized he hadn’t taken his leave from Marri. Oh, well. She married another man, so she no longer kept any hold over him. He could come and go as he pleased.

He arrived at the planter. The strange woman smiled up at him, and he smiled down at her. “Hello.”

Jamie sat down on the wall next to her. “How do ye come tae be ’ere? Ye dinnae come from ’ere.”

She scanned the brae beyond the village. “I’m actually not quite sure how I came to be here. I just showed up, but now that I’m here, I don’t want to be anywhere else. I love it here.”

“It is sort o’ peaceful when ye think aboot it.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She looked so different from the others.

“What about you?” she asked. “I thought I recognized everyone in this village, but I’ve never seen you before. I would definitely remember if I had seen you.”

“I was born up the brae there.” He swept the rising country running up the mountains. “I ken all the people around ’ere, and I ne’er saw ye, either.”

“I just got here,” she replied. “I…well, I just sort of appeared here, kind of like you, I guess.”

She flashed him a bright grin, and the sight sent a bolt of lightning through his guts. He wanted to get near her, to touch her and make her smile like that all the time.

He slid closer on the bench and laid his hand over her bare knee. “Ha’e ye some place tae stop fer the night? Ye cinnae stop out ’ere. Ye’ll catch yer death.”

A beautiful blush colored her cheeks at his touch. “I don’t have anywhere to stay, but I don’t think I can stay here. I have to go home.”

His eyes flew open. “Home! Where?”

“Back where I came from. I have to go back. Like you said, I can’t stay here—not overnight, anyway.”

“How will ye gang back?” he asked.

“Through the doorway, of course,” she replied. “I can go back and forth whenever I want. I guess I’ll come back tomorrow, but…well, I do have stuff to do back there. I might…. well, I might not be able to come as often in the future. I might just have to come some of the time. I might have to keep this for…you know, special times.”

Jamie’s mind reeled. “Ye can go back and forth whene’er ye want tae?”

She nodded. “I’ve already been back about five times. I only came back to get a good look at it, but I have to go back soon.”

He slid closer. Her skin under his hand felt so intoxicatingly inviting. He had to touch her while he had the chance. He slid his fingers a little lower on her knee where the skin turned soft. It invited him to sneak up under her skirt and…

“Ye mun’ stay ’ere,” he breathed. “Ye mun’ stay and….”

He couldn’t continue. He pressed his mouth against her ear and moved the rest of the way against her. She let out a little peep of surprised excitement. She turned her head aside, but she didn’t pull away. She grabbed his wrist to stop his hand. “Don’t do that. I can’t. I’m married.”

He breathed his hot breath into her ear. “Ye dinnae belaing there. Ye mun’ ken it yerself. Ye belaing ’ere. Dinnae go back. Stay.”

She pulled away ever so slightly, just enough to get the message across. She pulled his hand away from her leg. “I can’t. I have to go home. My husband is waiting for me, and I have a life back there. Maybe I’ll see you again sometime.”

She stood up. She took a step away from the planter, but she didn’t leave. She turned around to face him. Her skin glowed with rosy excitement, and she smiled down at him. “Sorry. I forgot to ask your name.”

“Jamie Cameron.”

Her eyes widened. “Cameron! All these people are Camerons.”

“They’re me Clan,” he replied.

She let out a deep sigh looking around the village one more time. “That is so nice. This place is so beautiful and peaceful. I would give anything to belong to this Clan and live here forever.”

“Ye can,” he replied. “Ye can…”

“I better go,” she told him. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Wait, lassie,” he called. “Ye didnae tell me yer name.”

She gave him that exquisite smile one more time. “I’m Grace.”

He stared at her while she walked away. She moved through the houses to the glen. He followed her movements beyond the green hills until she vanished among the trees.