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Colin ended up with Keir. They’d had much in common with their Da’s being chieftains and difficult fathers to say the least. Not only that but they shared a love for battling and lasses. Naturally, such passions sparked an instant friendship. Soon enough, Valan began bragging about not many lasses but just one . Apparently he’d met her when traveling through time. None could compare to her beauty. None could compare to her grace. None could compare period. He’d heard it all. So, unbeknownst to his friend, he’d finally decided to follow.
    What harm could it do?
    Little did he know.
    Though Colin had not known time travel existed he wasn’t overly surprised. If magic existed then why not the ability to travel through time? According to Valan, it was something often done by wizards. In fact, he’d met many time travelers when he went wherever it was he went to see his lass.
    Yet when Valan stood at the massive, odd rock formation in a field overlooking the ocean then vanished, Colin was still amazed. He’d never seen magic quite like that. Curious, he followed his friend several more times, listening, watching and learning the murmured words that allowed Valan to vanish into thin air.
    Eventually, Colin ventured alone to the massive window overlooking the sea. Hopping up, he stared down at the raging ocean far below. Whenever his friend went wherever he did, it was by hopping over the edge and muttering the same few words. Was Colin curious about Valan’s lass? Sure. But that had nothing to do with his greater curiosity.
    This spot and where it led.
    Strong in magic, he couldn’t help himself.
    He jumped.
    Not into a raging ocean but into something far different.
    He still recalled the sharp pain and odd sense of losing reality. Twirling, fast, disorienting, he didn’t like it. But it fast faded and he fell not into the ocean but to the ground. Though his arse hurt for a moment and the forest swirled in his vision, things righted themselves in no time.
    Colin soon realized it was fortunate that he was a MacLeod. It seemed he’d ended up on land not that far north of his castle and clearly still occupied by his clan. When he came across a few kinsmen, he asked the year, claiming he’d taken a bump to the head. The men were in their cups so easily gave the answer.
    It was 1007 and just through the woods was the Highland Defiance.
    So he’d traveled back 242 years in time.
    Not daunted in the least, he found the whole concept fairly interesting. He eyed the Highland Defiance on approach. It hadn’t changed much through time. Still occupied by the MacLeod clan as an outbuilding for defense, it was tall and square. Where it was stone in his time, it was still made of wood in this era. He knew little of its history save it was supposedly built by Adlin MacLomain himself a very long time ago.
    Celebrations had been underway and the MacLeods were merry. He saw no reason not to join them. Eager for a skin of whiskey, he was nearly to the peddler when Torra spun and almost walked into him. That moment would be forever etched in his mind. Beautiful beyond compare, he swore his heart literally stopped beating. But it wasn’t just her beauty that froze him in his tracks and made speech impossible.
    Nay, it was what he saw in her eyes.
    To this day, he didn’t understand it but there had been instant familiarity. It was as if he’d looked into her enchanting gaze a thousand times before. Time ceased to exist. The world seemed to stop. In that singular moment, he’d fallen unexplainably, irrevocably in love.
    Torra’s gentle words pulled him from memories of the past.
    “You’re far away, my love,” she murmured.
    “Never from you,” he said softly. “Just remembering our time at the Defiance.”
    A warm smile bloomed on her face. “They were verra good times.”
    Captivated as always by her appearance, he flattened his palm against her lower back determined to keep her body tight against his. But as it had