Ghosts of Culloden Moor 06 - Fraser Read online

  Rick said nothing.

  “Maybe this will jog your memory.” Austin bit his bottom lip, sneered, and pressed a button. His own voice sounded in the room. “Marrying her would have cost me a whole lot more than moving the wedding party to Scotland.”

  “Yeah, but it would have been worth it.”

  “You think?”

  Austin turned off the recorder. “Is that what you played for her, buddy, when you went to check on her one last time?” He straightened and faced her. “I can’t expect you to forgive me, Chelsea, for letting this snake get between us.”

  “I like to call him The Worm. Weasel works too.”

  “He cut off the part where I said I could either marry Erica and be powerful, or marry you and be happy for the rest of my life. What idiot chooses power over happiness?”

  She smiled. “That’s just what I thought you would say. Just what I needed to hear. So I told that kid to ask you to come talk to me. I knew if you did, I would be fine.”

  “But I let Rick go instead.” He shook his head. “I was so worried about what it would look like, if I walked out, that I jumped at his offer. I should have suspected something when it took him a good ten minutes to come back and say that you’d run off.”

  It sounded good. It always sounded good when Austin talked. He was just so…perfect.

  “Look, sweetheart. I’m not making you do anything you don’t want to do. I’m just letting you know,” he pointed at Rick without looking at him, “that this scum is out of my life for good. There’s plenty of room now, and I’m saving all the seats for you.”

  He then frowned and turned to face Alexander. “I think you can let him up now.”

  Alexander narrowed his eyes and studied Austin for a minute, then nodded and stepped back, taking his weapon with him.

  Rick rolled onto his knees, then stood, holding one hand against his bloody neck. “You’re going to jail,” he told the Scot.

  Austin stepped up into his face. “And when I asked you to call the airline, you said she’d already flown home.”

  He bent his arm and gave an uppercut to Rick’s jaw with his very solid elbow. The guy went flying backward and landed on the floor in front of the couch, then he curled into a ball and screamed while holding his chin.

  Austin turned to Alexander and held his hand out. The Scot moved his weapon to his left hand and shook Austin’s. But Austin pulled him off balance with a jerk and planted a left hook into the side of Alexander’s face.

  “That’s for falling in love with my fiancée. Don’t bother denying it.”

  The Scot narrowed his eyes, picked Austin up, and rushed toward the hearth.

  “Don’t!” she shouted.

  Alexander skidded to a stop and dropped Austin’s butt onto the bricks, but the way her fiancé grunted when he bounced, she thought the Scot had probably given gravity a little help. When he turned to her, he wasn’t happy.

  She shrugged. “He might have hit his head on the fireplace.”

  Alexander nodded sharply. “That was my plan.”

  She laughed, knowing he must have been joking. At least, she was hoping he’d been joking. “What now?”

  Austin got to his feet and stretched his back. “Now, you choose.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Austin gave her a sad little smile, then walked to the couch and pulled Rick to his feet. The guy was still moaning. “I’m going to take this garbage into town, and then I’m returning to the castle. If you don’t come by sundown, I’ll know you didn’t choose me.” He stopped in front of her, dug keys out of his pocket, and handed them to her. “Here. You can have the rental at the bottom of the hill. I’ll take Rick in the one he parked on the street.” He paused for a second or two, then sighed. “Believe me when I say I still want you as much—no, more—than I did a few days ago when I was standing in that chapel. And if you want, we can start over, see what the world looks like without Rick in the picture.”

  She bit her lip and nodded, but resisted the urge to reach out and touch him. She didn’t want to hurt him any more than she already had, and a gentle touch would give him hope.

  He gave her a wink and forced himself to smile, then turned and dragged Rick out the door. She turned back to Alexander and nearly jumped out of her skin when she found they were not alone.

  A young woman in a long black robe stood next to Alexander with her arm wrapped around his waist. Obviously caught in the middle of a hug, the girl stepped back and let go of him.

  “You’re Soni,” Chelsea said, but she hadn’t meant to sound quite so snotty.

  “And ye’re Chelsea.”

  She had to admire the way the girl didn’t sneer at the way she was dressed. It was obviously taking effort to keep her gaze from dropping to the pink monstrosity.

  Finally, the girl giggled and pointed to the old-lady sneakers on Chelsea’s feet. “I must apologize for my aunties. I told them to bring you clothes. I didn’t mean for them to bring you their clothes.

  Chelsea would have laughed along but it was sinking in—she was standing in front of a real witch, a girl who had known she was stuck in a cottage with only a wedding dress and a sheet.

  And Alexander really had been a ghost since 1746. She thought she’d already come to terms with it, but apparently, she hadn’t.

  Alexander moved fast, got behind her, and caught her before she realized she was collapsing.

  “There, ye see?” he said. “I finally caught ye before ye fell.”

  Yes. He’d caught her, and he felt very solid at her back. There was no way this guy was just going to disappear.

  “’Tis time,” said Soni.

  Chelsea wished she didn’t know what she was talking about. Alexander scooped her into his arms and carried her to the couch. For the span of a couple of heartbeats, he squeezed her tight while she held on to his neck for dear life.

  “What if we never let go?” she whispered.

  He pulled her shoulders close and kissed her on the forehead, then lowered her to the couch and stepped back.

  She shook her head and tried to inhale the tears building up behind her eyes. “You lied, you know.”

  He grimaced and nodded.

  “You said you wouldn’t harm me, and you did. You’re hurting me now. So if you mean to keep your promise, you have to stay.”

  “Nay, lass. Ye ken I canna be kind to ye now, for the kindness itself would be the meanest act of all. I’ll put yer things in the car, and ye must go. Every breath ye take worries at the strings of my heart and I cannot endure much more of it. Go,” he repeated. “And smile as you do, so I can know that a bonny lass will live happily ever after.”

  “And you’ll go too?”

  “Aye. I must.”

  “Then I will never come to Scotland again.”

  He tipped his head back and she watched his neck move while he swallowed once. Then twice. “Nothing for you here, lass.” It ended as a whisper and he hurried into the bedroom.

  Soni sat quietly on the hearth and stared out the open doorway while Chelsea counted the teardrops alternating down her cheeks. She lost track of the number before Alexander strode through the room with a wedding gown under one arm and his hands gripping her fancy shoes and her purse.

  She stood and somehow made it to the door. He met her at the top of the steps.

  She smiled like he’d asked. “Alright, then. I’m going,” she whispered.

  He whispered back, “And I was never here to begin with.”

  She let the tears flow as she made her way down the drive since no one could see her face. The footing was slippery due to the rains that had fallen all night. She wondered where she’d be the next time it rained…

  Once she was in the car, she was careful not to look up the hill again. It took a second to figure out the controls. She hadn’t driven on the wrong side of the road yet, let alone the wrong side of the car. She had worried that she would need to be left handed in order to pull it off well, but thankfully, not all the c
ontrols were reversed.

  Thank goodness she only needed to go a couple of miles to the castle.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Alexander closed his eyes to keep Chelsea’s retreat from being branded into his mind for eternity. Then he tipped back his head and prayed Soni would spare him.

  “Take me now, Soni. Take me back to young Rabby. Spare the pair of us from another moment of this.”

  Chelsea’s engine turned, but the hum of it was quickly silenced. The ground fell away beneath him and returned just as quickly as it had gone. He opened his eyes and found himself standing on Culloden moor, on the footpath near a vivid expanse of pink heather. The color immediately brought to mind a certain questionable jogging suit…

  Soncerae stood next to him. “What will ye say to Rabby?”

  “What would ye do with the laddie? Surely you’d not have his heart broken as ye’ve done to me.”

  “Nay, Alexander. And yer heart might not have been broken when all was said and done. But ye gave up yer boon to speak with Rabby again, remember?”

  “Ye mean to tell me, Chelsea would have otherwise been my boon?”

  She wagged her head neither one way nor the other. “Might have. For I might have been able to leave ye with her, had her love been strong enough. And had ye not forced that promise from me before ye left the moor.” She winced. “Auch, I shouldn’t have told you. No good will come of it, only to make ye sadder. Forgive me?”

  He heaved a heavy breath in and out again, then shook his head. “Nothing to forgive, Soni. She truly did belong with Austin. She’ll be happiest going back and claiming his heart. He seems a fine man.”

  The lass rolled her eyes. “Generous to the end.”

  A sudden thought twisted one of his cheeks with a sly smile. “Aye. Generous. Only the man won’t think so when his bride thinks of me from time to time. And she will.”

  He looked about the moor for a moment, remembering the desire to see it in the full light of day while he still had human eyes to see it with. The mosses were bright and green. The turf around the clan stones was rich emerald. The stones of the cairn had been freshly washed with the night’s rain, and the air filled his lungs with memories.

  Rabby sat in his usual place petting the hide off Dauphin, but his attention caught on Soni and he hurried forward without hesitation. The rest, milling about in their pale forms, seemed not to notice they’d returned.

  Soni tugged on his sleeve. “We’ve only a moment or two, lads. Say yer piece.”

  “Sir! Ye’ve come back after all! I told the others ye would. And I’ve told Dauphin a hundred times—”

  Alexander turned to Soni and gave her a sober look. “I asked what ye had in store for the lad…”

  “Everyone gets their chance to be a hero, each in his own way, aye? And only happiness awaits this laddie on the other side of tomorrow, I swear it.” She grinned at the boy. “But ye dinna wish to hear it from me, do ye Rabby?”

  The boy ducked sheepishly, then peeked up at Alexander. “Is it true, then, sir? Ye were able to prove yerself?”

  He nodded firmly, only that moment coming to realize that it was true. If he’d have tried to keep the lass to himself, he’d have been a most selfish scoundrel and unworthy of her. But his heart wouldn’t see reason and twisted in his chest to punish him for his surrender.

  “Aye, laddie. I proved myself, and I’ve spent my boon. Now I’m away to better things, aye? So if ye’re a canny lad, ye’ll do as Soncerae suggests. She loves ye like her own. As do I. We’d not lead ye astray.”

  Misty ghosts of tears swirled in the corners of the lad’s eyes and trickled down his cheeks. He turned to Soni. “I’ll be happy to go now, miss. If I need not wait until dark, and your strange fire.”

  Soni nodded. “Ye go say yer goodbyes to the lads, then, and I’ll be right along. I need to finish with Fraser first, aye?”

  Rabby threw his arms around Alexander’s middle and to their mutual surprise, the lad was as solid as could be. Alexander felt the embrace all the way to his bones, and it gave him a peaceful satisfaction he’d never expected.

  “Thank ye, sir, for watching over me all this while. It has been strange indeed to spend a day away from ye. I can only imagine—”

  “Nay, laddie. I’ll see ye on the other side. Ye just do what ye can to prove yerself so I willna be waiting long, aye?”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Soni waved the lad away toward the clan stones and after a quick wave of his own, he hurried away.

  “Thank ye, lass.”

  “A boon well-spent, I’d say.”

  “Aye.”

  Soni stepped forward and gave him a heartfelt embrace as well. It made him feel as if he were king for a day.

  “Do you know the problem I have with a man like you, Alexander Fraser?”

  “Nay, lass. Tell me.”

  “You do nothing but earn boons, aye? Ye never cash them in.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Ye do a noble deed, looking out for Rabby all these years, for example. Ye help mend a lass’s heart and remove a nasty thorn from her life, aye?”

  “Aye.”

  “And instead of accepting a boon for such noble deeds, ye earn yet another boon for sacrificing more just to see a wee lad’s mind set at ease, when ye ken full well I would have done right by him. Do ye see?”

  He tilted his head, not daring to misunderstand. “What is yer point, Soni?”

  She sighed. “Only that ye make it difficult to do my work here. I’ve only so many boons to offer, truth be told. And I find I have an extra one in my pocket, as it were. For apparently, the boon ye requested, to come back and speak with the laddie, cost ye no boon at all.”

  He took the muddled lass’s head in his hands and forced her to look him in the eye.

  “Boons in yer pocket? Discard the balderdash, Soni, and say what ye mean to say.”

  “I was stalling for time.”

  “Why? Must we wait until night to finish it?”

  She shook her head and his hands fell away. She lifted an arm and pointed to the car park. “It’s a full eight miles from here to the cottage. Ten to Castle Murray.”

  Still not understanding what distance had to do with the death he was about to experience, he followed her gesture. A red SUV pulled into a stall and stopped. Two vaguely familiar, but still unwelcome faces grinned his way. He said a quick prayer for patience and was just turning away when the back door of the vehicle opened and a pair of shocking pink legs appeared.

  “My favorite shade of pink,” he murmured.

  “What’s that?” Soni mocked. “Ye make no sense, Alexander. Get to the point.”

  He spared her a glance over his shoulder as he started toward the car park. “The point is I love ye dearly, ye soft-hearted witch!”

  He didn’t slow until he was within three meters of her. She finally slowed as well, but it was too late and they slammed into one another. It nearly took his breath away. He jumped back and looked her over, sure he’d broken something.

  She only laughed.

  His mind scrambled for the perfect thing to say, but he couldn’t wait for inspiration. So he said the first thing that appeared on his tongue. “Chelsea, lass. How do ye feel?”

  “Seriously?” She laughed again.

  “What I mean is, do ye still feel as if ye belong to a certain someone?”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, I get it. You want to know if I’m still spoken for.”

  He frowned. “Aye. I wasn’t there to see which way you turned.”

  She nodded. “Well, I headed back to the castle.”

  He held his expression and waited.

  “I mean, I had to get my suitcase and get out of this get up, right?”

  He nodded slightly, still waiting.

  “But there was this red SUV parked sideways in the road. Apparently their “job” was to keep me from going back to Austin.” She picked at her pink jacket. “They wouldn’t even let me go back for my clothes
.”

  He cocked a brow. “And a good thing too. Another minute or two and I might have been gone.”

  All the teasing was replaced by horror and she clutched at his arms. “Really? I’m so sorry.”

  He shook his head and pulled her closer. “A jest, my love. Apparently I had another boon I hadn’t cashed as yet.”

  “The sisters…” She pointed to the car. “They said… Well, you are still here, and you don’t feel like a ghost…”

  “I’m nay a ghost lass.”

  “So the boon is?”

  “The boon I choose is ye.” He sealed his pledge with the most sincere kiss he could muster, and yet she laughed. He gave her a frown for good measure.

  “It’s a good thing I choose you, then, isn’t it?”

  ~

  When Chelsea married him a few days later, surrounded by Muirs who honestly made them both nervous, it was in the small ancient chapel of his childhood village. There was no roof left of the church itself. The walls had worn down to half their original height, but the flowers blooming where the pews had once been made for a pretty picture.

  The bride insisted that the location would give him closure. And while they stood there and waited for permission to kiss again, he decided that all he truly needed in his life was for the woman holding his hands to be content holding them.

  For she was a boon he would never, ever surrender.

  THE END

  Next will be RABBY’S short story!

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