Highlander Unraveled (Highland Bound Book 6) Read Free

handed me a bathrobe, which I slipped on, the feel of the scratchy old terrycloth a reminder of the one my mother used to wear before she died.
    “When did ye have your bairn?” she asked.
    I swallowed hard, again touching the softness of my belly. “Saor was born six weeks ago.”
    “Saor. I like that name. Seems fitting, given your situation.” She cocked her head, like she was going to say more but instead, said, “We’ll get ye back to Saor.”
    I nodded, even though I was pretty certain Mrs. MacDonald had no idea how to get me back to my child. Or that I’d even time traveled in the first place.

Chapter Two

    Logan
     
    July, 1544
     
    I woke with a start, the bed beside me cold. Saor wailed in his cradle, the same one I’d howled in as a bairn. Carved oak, a tale of our history etched in the posts, much the same as the four-poster I shared with my wife.
    “Emma?” I sat up in the bed, swinging off the covers, standing nude.
    I turned in a circle, stretching and frowning. Our chamber was empty save for Saor and I. His tiny fists of fury punched at the sky as he yowled at the injustice of having been left alone.
    “Where is your mama?” I crooned to the tiny lad, lifting him from his cradle and sticking my finger in his gummy mouth to suck on until she came back. “Must have gone to the privy.”
    Of course, there had to be a logical reason behind Emma leaving our chamber, and the privy it must have been. My mind wanted to travel toward another explanation, however, as it often did if I couldn’t find her right away. One we’d both feared would come. If she’d been brought to me from another time, when would she be taken away?
    I refused to think of that. But it was odd that she was missing, given she normally used the chamber pot in the middle of the night. But, mayhap, her stomach was feeling unwell and she needed privacy.
    I paced the room with the bairn sucking at my finger until that no longer satisfied and his wails once more climbed up to echo in the rafters.
    Many minutes had passed and with each ensuing second, I became more and more worried about what could have happened to my wife.
    Granted our child was only six weeks old, but in the past several weeks, she’d not once left in the middle of the night.  Nor had she done so the entirety of the time she carried the child within her womb.
    Unable to wait another moment, I placed the bairn back in his cradle, his cries growing louder as I tugged on breeches, not bothering to tie them closed. I scooped Saor back up, wrapping him in a soft plaid blanket and opened the door, carrying him out to the corridor. The bairn quieted, his tiny eyes roving over the change in place. All was quiet; the moon still high in the sky and darkness blanketed the Highlands.
    “Emma?” I called, walking down the length of the long corridor toward the end, my feet silent on the stone floor. The doorway to the privy chamber was slightly ajar, no light from a candle seeping through the opening.
    The closer I got, the quieter the night seemed to become. The stiller the air, as though we were the only two beings in the world.
    “Emma?” I called again, and still she did not answer.
    I pushed open the door, finding the privy empty, the stench of waste made worse by the heat of the summer.
    Saor whimpered, shoving his fists against his tiny lips.
    I frowned, asking the bairn, again, “Where is your mama?”
    In answer, Saor howled, his little body growing tense with his anger, his back arching.
    “My laird?”
    A sleepy looking nursemaid opened the door to the chamber she’d been housed in across the hall from Emma’s and mine, in case she was ever needed, though Emma had yet to call on the lass.
    “Can ye take the bairn? Have ye seen Lady Emma?”
    The woman rubbed at her eyes and shook her head. “I’ll take him, and nay, my laird, I haven’t.”
    I handed the bairn over to the tired lass; ignoring the appreciative glance she gave my bare chest. It never ceased