Free Reunited (Book 2 of Lost Highlander series) by Cassidy Cayman Page A

take any of this,” she said. “You shouldn’t bring stuff from our time to theirs.”
    She went to the table Lachlan and Sam were working at and beckoned Piper over to look at the pile of things Sam had accumulated for their journey. There were road flares, lighters, a compass, and a little can of mace on a keychain. Piper picked it up and dangled it in the air.
    “You can’t take any of this stuff. No anachronisms. It’s practically the first rule of time travel.” Evie grabbed the keychain. “If there actually were rules, that is,” she said, looking sheepish.
    Sam scrubbed his hands over his face, ruffling up his hair. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about anachronisms, as long as they’re safe.” He turned to Piper. “Just be careful not to lose any of it.”
    “We should listen to Evie,“ Piper said, and instead of gloating, Evie tenderly smoothed down Sam’s hair.
    Piper’s heart constricted. What if she never came back, never got to see those two get married, never got to see little Magnus or Dakota?
    “What am I going to wear?” Piper asked, pushing aside her dark thoughts.
    She had loads of period clothing at the museum she’d opened to showcase all her great-grandmother’s things, there had to be something more suitable than jeans and a sweater.
    “Should I call Padma and ask her if she can bring something over?”
    Evelyn gasped at the mention of Padma and Piper shot her a look. Evelyn couldn’t possibly still think Padma had a thing for Sam, could she?
    Piper had been around them hundreds of times since she’d opened the museum and hired Padma to be the curator, and while she might have had the tiniest crush on Sam, it was absolutely unrequited. Piper tried to convey all this in a look to Evie, but Evie was already tearing up again, damn her.
    “I can bring ye a dress from the castle when we return,” Lachlan said, clearly not wanting to waste any time waiting on clothing deliveries. “Most of the women there are tiny like ye are, it should be no trouble.”
    “That sounds like the best idea,” Evie said quickly.
    With only a little more arguing about what they could or could not bring without destroying the continuity of the universe, they finally decided to leave with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Lachlan would borrow some clothes for her and would either find a way to introduce her as a visiting cousin or hide her somewhere.
    Then they would get down to the business of finding Connor McKellen, toss him into the path of Isobel Glen and hope they fell in love.
    “Are ye ready, Piper, love?” Lachlan asked, when they’d started going over the same things again and again, mostly trying to put off the inevitable.
    She took a breath and nodded, reaching over and clutching his hand so she wouldn’t run screaming from the room. He looked down at her, then at everyone else in turn.
    “I shall protect her to my dying breath, and return her to ye unscathed,” he said.
    Mellie and Evie burst into fresh tears. It was time to go.

    ***

    Lachlan led her to a clearing a short way into the woods. If she craned her neck and squinted she could see the top of the tower through the trees.
    He dropped the linen drawstring satchel, a compromise since Evie wouldn’t let them take a backpack, and knelt down on the hard packed earth. Piper sat down beside him.
    “What do you do now?” she asked, starting to feel jittery.
    “We must take out the herbs and sing. I’ll say the words, then we’ll make a wee cut on our hands. Ye must think verra hard about how much ye want yer ancestors to meet. I shall concentrate on getting us to the proper time, but ye must have a true feeling about why ye want to go, aye?”
    She nodded. “It shouldn’t be a problem,” she said.
    “I shall hold onto ye verra tightly, the whole time,” he told her, and she relaxed somewhat.
    He pulled a folded bit of paper out of the satchel and opened it to reveal several dried leaves. He shook them onto a fold of