Highlander’s Curse by Melissa Mayhue Read Free Book Online

his way around to her side of the vehicle.
    “Dinna fash yer bonny head, Cousin. Yer husband will never have cause to ken what we’ve done this night. And if he does, I’d no allow you to take the blame for it. Just you sit tight until I return.”
    “Yeah, well, just you remember to own up to it if he does find out,” she grumbled behind him. “And hurry up. It’s cold out here.”
    He didn’t bother to respond now any more than he had the other twenty times she’d muttered the same on their late-night journey to this quiet location. A
neighborhood,
Mairi had called it.
    Abby’s neighborhood.
    Keeping to the shadows was no problem on a moonless night such as this. Nor was the light snow that had started to fall a short time ago. Distinguishing between the seemingly endless number of buildings was another matter. It was all so very different from what he was used to, the homes of the masses so very much larger. So very much nicer than those of his time.
    Life had certainly changed in the past seven hundred years.
    Rounding the corner, he spotted Abby’s home immediately, the tidy house framed by two large trees in the front, light streaming from the large windows.
    Though he’d debated what he’d do when he reached this spot, he had no better idea now than when he’d first approached Mairi with his request to come here. He knew now only what he’d known then, that he felt compelled to see Abby one last time before he traveled to Wyddecol.
    He hesitated there in the shadows, reluctant, now that he’d arrived, to make his way up to her door. He might not know what he wanted from this visit, but he did know that whatever it was, it concerned only him and Abigail.
    Somewhere out here in the dark at least one other lurked: the spy sent by Coryell to observe Abby’s every move. And though the man might well be a craftsman at his work, Colin had no intention of allowing his visit to be observed and reported back to his cousin’s employer.
    That alone ruled out simply walking up to the front door and knocking.
    Decision made, he backtracked past several housesbefore crossing the street to locate the entrance to the alleyway behind. From here it would be easy enough to slip over the low fence surrounding her property and make his way to the door he’d seen leading out of her kitchen.
    Approaching the back of her home, he quickly realized he’d need to shift his plans yet again. The door opened and he dropped to his knees, hugging close behind the bramble of leafless bushes that lined her yard.
    Abby herself stepped out into the night, her figure in sharp relief against the light shining through the opening. She hovered around a massive wooden box that sat just outside her door, moving quickly from one corner to the next, leaving little flickering lights wavering in her wake.
    Candles?
It made no sense to him why she’d be needing the poor illumination of the wax pillars when she had access to that fine, bright light shining through her door.
    All thoughts of candles fled a moment later, replaced with visions of witchery when she lifted the lid on the great box and clouds of smoke billowed out into the night. Short-lived visions, since her next move robbed him of his ability to think at all, leaving him grateful he was already on his knees.
    The fluffy robe she wore opened and fell back, pooling at her feet as if in worship, just as he might have if he were at her side. Under the robe she wore nothing. Or, more accurately, next to nothing. Two brightly colored strips of cloth, hardly enough to cover her most intimate parts.
    She paused, looking out over the yard before tilting her head to the side as if she listened for something. Apparently satisfied, she reached inside the door and, with the flip of a switch, the lights went out, leaving her barely visible as she climbed up what looked to be a small ladder before descending into the candle-ringed box.
    Though the incident had lasted only seconds, the image was