Page 29 of Desire of a Highlander
“Someone who knew about horses.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I’m going to give.”
She rolled her eyes. “You do realize not answering questions only makes people more curious?”
“So I’ve been told.”
“And?”
“And I’m comfortable with that.”
Elodie huffed. Ronan’s lip quirked in amusement. As they traveled through the landscape, Elodie found herself more relaxed than she’d been in an age. She felt strangely content in the company of this man, his horse, and his dogs.
But finally Ronan pulled Angus to a halt. “This is the place.” He pointed to the bottom of a squat hill. It was almost bare of vegetation, with just a stunted tree growing from the crown.
“Oh.”
Elodie didn’t recognize anything, but she wasn’t surprised by that. After all, she’d been very disorientated when she’d been here last and it had been blowing a gale. With some effort she managed to slide down from the horse, stumbled as her feet hit the ground, and righted herself.
So this was it. The place where it all began. She scanned the hillside. The rocks. The heather. The slope descending towards them. Memories flared of rain and howling wind, of slipping and sliding, then...nothing. Just a sense of strong arms around her and waking in Faye’s cottage.
But up there, if she was right, lay the gateway that would take her home. Shielding her eyes against the brightness of the sky, she squinted up at the hilltop. She spotted nothing familiar. No arch. No shimmering in the air. Nothing but a bald, empty hilltop and that stunted tree.
“Are you sure this is where you found me?”
Ronan swung down easily from the horse, landing on the ground at her side. “It is. From the footprints, it was clear ye had come from the brow of the hill.”
Yes, she remembered that. She remembered emerging onto the hilltop and seeing the Highlands stretched around her like some giant tapestry.
Ronan was watching her steadily. “What are ye looking for, lass?”
How was she supposed to answer that? Oh, nothing much. Just an archway through time. A magical portal. A doorway between centuries.
“I...” she stammered. “I...um...”
His expression softened. He whistled, and the dogs came bounding over. “Perhaps we should climb. Maybe then ye’ll find what ye are looking for.”
He pointed at the ground. Bran sniffed where he pointed. Then Skye. Moments later both dogs set off, sniffing the ground as they trotted away.
“Shall we?”
Elodie nodded, and they set off, following the dogs. The trail wound up the hill through rocky outcrops and patches of moss and short grass. The dogs had found a trail—her trail, she suspected, even though it had rained since she’d last been here—and followed it confidently. Elodie followed a little less confidently. What would she find when they reached the top?
The climb was steep. Ridiculously steep. She’d tried descending this hillside in the rain? No wonder she’d fallen and hit her head!
As they finally reached the summit, and the wind gusted so strongly it sent Elodie’s hair streaming out behind her, the dogs suddenly stopped. Bran lifted his head and looked around. Skye sneezed. Both dogs looked puzzled and began walking around in circles and whining. Then they sat down, thumping their tails against the ground.
“That makes no sense,” Ronan muttered.
“What doesn’t?”
He crouched, examining the ground. “They’d picked up a trail. It was yer trail I thought. The rain had washed away yer footprints, but Bran and Skye are exceptional trackers. There would still be enough scent for them to follow. But it just...ends. Like it vanishes into thin air. I dinna understand it.”
But Elodie did. Of course her trail would disappear as though she’d appeared from nowhere.
This was the place where she’d entered this time. But if that was so, where was the shimmery portal thingy? She turned in a circle, taking it all in. The hilltop was wild and desolate with nothing in sight beyond the gnarly, twisted tree she’d noticed when she first arrived. There most certainly was no sign of a magical portal that would take her home.
