Highlander Undone (Highland Bound Book 5) by Eliza Knight Read Free Book Online

should have known she wouldn’t understand. He should have thought a moment, come up with a plan. How could explain it? It wasn’t like he’d gotten a warning other than feeling dizzy and weightless. There wasn’t some magical voice that said: I’m sending you here for this reason . Nay, he was simply sent, and the first thing he thought of when he got here was Moira. “I came here to get ye.”
    “To get me?” She laughed, but it was not a humorous laugh. Nay, it was filled with derision. “Well, I’m not going to let ye get me . The only thing ye’re getting is jail time.”
    “Moira, listen please.” How the hell was he going to convince her? Ballocks! This had seemed so much easier when he’d been walking over here initially. “I’m not a criminal. I swear it.”
    She stared into his eyes, searching, and he could see pain there, he could see hope. But she shook her head at him, shuttering her emotions from his view. “I can’t believe a word ye say, Rory. I trusted ye before. Trusted ye with my body, with my home, my sister. And the two of ye ran away together. Is that it? She can’t be bothered to call me because she ran off with the guy I loved?”
    “Ye loved me.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
    Moira let out an annoyed groan. “Past tense, arsehole. I’ve moved on.”
    That stung. He didn’t want her to have moved on to another man. Jealousy reared inside him, and if her new lover had been there, Rory would have pummeled him to the ground.
    “Go back to Shona. I don’t even know why ye came here.”
    Rory hung his head. Maybe this was a bad idea. He wasn’t into self-torture. Maybe for her sake, he should just let her go. But he couldn’t. His heart still beat for Moira and his blood still ran hot when he thought of her. He’d never fallen for Shona as Moira accused, only tried to protect her and help her get used to her new world five hundred years in the past. He couldn’t control the Fates, or the Devil, whoever it was that ruled his journey as though he were a puppet. And somehow, he had to convince Moira of the truth, or else he wasn’t going to be able to make it back to his time. At least, that seemed a likely result.
    The sound of the door shutting had him looking up sharply. She’d gone inside. Not even said goodbye. He heard the click of her lock. She was shutting him out. And Shona, too. Did she truly believe her sister capable of such a thing? He could understand, even though it hurt, that she might think he would. After all, they might have known each other intimately—again and again—but they’d only been acquainted for a year or so before the time gods had yanked him back to the 1500’s.
    Judging by the placement of the moon, it would be midnight in a couple of hours. He didn’t have any place to go tonight, but he could use a drink. A stiff whisky. If he recalled correctly, there was a tavern around the corner. He didn’t want to go back to the place he’d worked, as they likely wouldn’t serve him since he’d up and disappeared. He trudged back up the street until he found MacTavish’s Tavern. Rory pushed open the door, studied the room to be certain he’d not find any trouble. There were only a few patrons so far, and none of them paid him any attention.
    He approached the bar, pulled out a stool and sat.
    “What can I get ye?” the barkeep asked.
    “Whisky, make it a triple.” Didn’t matter what time period he was in, he could always order his whisky the same way.
    The barkeep nodded, plunked down a medium sized glass cup and filled it to the brim with amber liquid.
    “Ye look familiar,” the barkeep said.
    Rory nodded, and gulped down the entire contents of the cup in one swill. He tapped the cup on the bar and was rewarded with another pour. “I was here a year or so ago.”
    “Aye, I remember.”
    Rory drank down the second cup, feeling the whisky warm his belly.
    “Ye were with the Ayreshire lassies, and ye worked at