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seconds. A zip of desire shot
straight through her. He glanced up into her eyes again, but his
own had turned a dark green. No longer hazel, but were now a forest
of color.
    “That can’t be,” he said softly.
    “I know. I don’t believe it either, but here
I am.”
    “That can’t be.” He repeated.
    “I ken .” She emphasized his Scottish
word usage.
    Briefly, he smiled, but it was lost once he
said, “The fae are playing a trick on me.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t think fairies
had a part in this. And besides, it was me they threw back
in time.”
    He sucked in a breath. “Ye’re from the
future?”
    The way he’d said it, with such incredulity,
it made her laugh and think of all the Back to the Future movies. When she was a girl, she’d watched them over and over again
at the community center in her hometown of Porcupine, South Dakota.
She remembered them with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that
made her heart hurt. Still, she nodded. “I guess. Unless, none of
this is real. Unless, I’m dreaming you.”
    He shook his head and returned to walking the
horse. “No one would dream of me.”
    At first, she didn’t think she’d heard him
right, because the words had been said on the quietest of a
whisper, and probably only for his ears. But the wind had taken his
words and given them to her. It cracked her heart to hear the big
man say such a thing. He was stoic, yet...captivating with his
voice gone so soft, with his ever-changing-colored eyes, with that
huge scar down his cheek and through his red eyebrow. Fleur thought
when she’d been down on his level she’d have liked to kissed his
scar, because she thought that injury was just one of thousands the
man wore. Inside and out.
    He walked toward a large stone house, one
that looked surprisingly modern without a sod roof, but some kind
of tile. It was a long home with arched windows, and Fleur couldn’t
guess where to get the glass for such a thing during this time.
Lovely was the only word Fleur could think of for the house,
looking more from a fairy tale than anything of reality with high
stone walls and bright green ivy sprigging cheerfully up the
dwelling. A huge colorful garden mixed with vegetables, flowers,
and herbs, just like what her Na would have had, welcomed her.
Duncan tied the horse to a rail of the fence that surrounded the
estate. With a swift move he had Fleur by the waist and eased her
down.
    Right against him.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    D uncan’s eyes widened slightly,
perhaps was a bit shocked, maybe even confused. But he stayed
still. Fleur was wedged between the horse and him and didn’t mind
in the least. Looking up, she smiled as he tightened his hold of
her. Her breasts pressed against his iron chest and part of her
stomach against his. That’s when she realized she was almost on her
toes, not quite touching the ground. Because if she did, she wasn’t
sure their bodies would link like this. He was so tall. A foot
taller than her, maybe more. But what impressed her the most was
his build, so broad and powerful. Her breasts felt achingly heavy,
and her nipples contracted.
    His breath became shaky, and his face was so
close, his lips only a few inches from hers.
    “Duncan? That ye lad?”
    At that, he released her and almost jumped
back. He looked over the horse in the direction of the female voice
calling.
    “Aye.” He stepped around the mount and with a
wave, gestured for Fleur to walk ahead.
    As she did so, he spoke over her head. “Ma,
ye have a visitor.”
    Circling around the horse, Fleur saw a woman
on the porch of the house and stopped dead in her tracks. Duncan
stepped into her, held her by her hips, but even his magical touch
didn’t stir her from staring at the woman. Holding a shawl tight
around her thin shoulders, she looked so much like Rachel, Fleur
could hardly believe it. She huffed with recognition, but the woman
had far more gray in her hair than Rachel had. Further, it was tied
neatly