Page 59 of Highlander Unraveled
“Ready?” I asked.
“Never more.” He leaned in, kissed my temple, and I pressed my hand to his heart, breathing in his scent and feeling calmer.
Hand in hand, we rushed across the asphalt of the parking lot until our feet hit the grass. A car honked behind us and Logan jumped.
“Just keep going.” It was likely no one we knew, maybe someone cheering us on. From the looks of it, we might have been running off to the woods for quickie. No one knew we were actually running for our lives. And why would they have any reason to believe we were? Our story was completely our own. Our world was one in which fairytales were carved. Not the visualizations of reality.
As soon as we cleared the trees, we slowed to a stop, and I shivered with nerves and the fall chill. There was no time to grab a jacket and the thin black dress I wore was definitely not weather appropriate.
Logan searched our surrounding area, a habit I knew, and one that left me feeling safe. He seemed to have super human powers when it came to his senses. He could hear things, see things, and smell things well before I could.
“It appears no outlaws or Sassenachs are within the vicinity,” he said.
I chewed my lip, trying to figure out the best way to tell him the woods now were a lot less scary then they were in 1544. “I don’t think we have to worry about that so much now.”
He raised a brow, frowning, a slow nod slightly bringing his chin down and up. “Right. I think ye mentioned something about Scotland and England uniting.”
I nodded, wrapped my arms around his middle. “I know this is all so confusing and different for you.”
“What about outlaws?”
“It’s rare for them to live in the woods now, though you do find the occasional hermit, or serial killer.”
Logan grunted. “So then we could still face dangers.”
“Yes, but it is unlikely. The biggest worry I have is that if we were followed from Edinburgh, they will recognize Mrs. MacDonald’s car and come searching for us. Mr. McAlister did put a tracker on the car and we were in such a hurry, I forgot to remove it. Maybe we should walk a bit further from the road, rather than contemplating the box here,” I suggested. “Just in case anyone sees the car and comes looking.”
“Good idea.” Logan studied me, seeing me shiver and rub at my arms.
He unpinned his plaid from his shirt and tugged it over his head, revealing the ridges of his abdomen, his muscled chest, before passing it to me. “I dinna want ye to freeze afore we get to where we need to be.”
I smiled and pushed it back, though I truly did want to pull its warmth over me. “Thank you, my darling, but I don’t want you to freeze either.”
He smiled and puffed his muscular chest, a sight that made my heart skip a beat. “I never freeze. Wear it, for me.”
“All right.” I pulled it on, grateful for the instant warmth. The shirt still held some of his heat, all of his intoxicating earthy-spicy scent. The fabric swarmed around me, coming to just below my knees. The arms were easily six inches past my hands, so I rolled them up. “I am very warm now.”
“I am pleased.” Logan held out his hand to me. Once I’d slipped my hand against his larger, coarser palm, he scanned the woods. “Any idea where to?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it will matter. Maybe a mile or so?”
We walked for about fifteen minutes, Logan keeping pace with my smaller strides. I was thankful that at Gealach I’d ignored his edicts to stay in bed after having the baby, or else I wouldn’t have had the stamina I needed now to walk quickly and far, while being extremely exhausted.
We stopped in a natural clearing with a large flat stone, warmed from the sun that shone through the bare trees. I sat down, trying to soak up the warmth.
Logan sat beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. I leaned my head on him, absorbing some of his strength and heat.
He kissed my forehead and then my lips, a languid, loving kiss.
We stayed like that for several heartbeats. Just the two of us, quiet and peaceful, one with nature. Funny how this part of the woods, so far from any sort of technology or modern life, could have been any time.
We changed, what we could do transformed, but the world around us, it stayed the same. Tranquil, wild beauty.
Logan whispered. “Let’s try to go home.”
I nodded, pulling the black box from my purse with trembling fingers.
There was a small latch on the front, and when I opened it, it looked a little like a miniature, but thick, laptop. Almost like one of those handheld games from my youth. There was a screen, a power button, a keyboard, and a red button, that like in all movies, I assumed was the emergency “don’t ever press this,” button.
