Free Bannockburn Binding (Beloved Bloody Time) by Tracy Cooper-Posey Page A

Ryan replied. “So relax, big guy.”
    Brenden went back to his office, his head high, happy.
    Nayara picked up the reading board and handed it to Ryan. “What was it you didn’t say to Brenden?”
    Ryan blinked. “You caught that?”
    “You held something back. A thought occurred to you that you nearly spoke aloud, but you changed your mind and spoke about Christian’s skills instead.”
    Ryan nodded. He glanced toward Brenden’s office, then the workstations surrounding them. Some were occupied, but none of them near enough to hear him. He lowered his voice anyway. “It occurred to me that Demyan, who would be the most obvious one to send back for Tally, has spent nearly all his life passing as some sort of fighter. Military, para-military, mercenary. He would find a way to extract Tally from her situation, I have no doubt. But Christian has other skills and if she has been in 1314 for five weeks, unable to jump back, then he might be more useful.”
    “What skills?”
    Ryan grimaced. “In at least three centuries of his life, he’s been a medical doctor.”
    * * * * *
     
    Tally held her hand out so the sunlight spilling in from the opening of the tent illuminated the back of it and examined the flesh carefully. It looked healthy, soft and unmarked. No liver spots. No wrinkles.
    “Whatever are ye doing, Tally?” Rob asked, his arm sliding around her waist from behind. As she wore only her kirtle and was bare beneath that, she could feel every inch of him pressed against her. She tried to harden her heart before the warmth spilled through her.
    “Wondering when you are going to let me go, Rob MacKenzie, so I can collect my manservant and plague you no more.”
    “And now ye’re lying to me.” He turned her around in his arms and lifted her chin to make her look at him.
    Damn it, but when he held her like this, she could barely think. Barely breathe. “I’ve not lied to you,” she protested.
    “There’s the small matter of a basket of mushrooms,” he reminded her.
    “Which has probably gone to dust by now. It’s been weeks, Rob. The English are coming and you must be ready for war. You need to let me go.”
    “And then ye’ll be gone for good, won’t ye?” he said softly.
    She tamped down the childish wail that built inside her every time she considered this matter. “I have to. I must. It is my duty and there’s no way around it.”
    “Yer duty,” he repeated in a tone filled with disbelief. “A maiden’s duty is to marry well and I don’t know a father in this land that would protest a match with me.”
    “Hush. For god’s sake, hush, Rob. Have you not figured out that maidenly concerns long since passed me by?”
    He grinned and pressed her hips into his. “I’d suspected some of it.”
    She pushed against his shoulder. “I mean it. Do you not understand that there are some things you cannot resolve, that you cannot fix for me? There are some things that will stop you from keeping me.”
    “Tell me those things. I’ll remove them.”
    She sighed. “I can’t do this anymore, Rob.”
    His smile faded. “There’s no ‘can’t’. I’m keeping ye here. I’m keeping ye safe and I’ll fight the whole blighted world to a standstill to make it so.”
    “There’s more than the world against you this time,” she whispered.
    Finally, her dread seemed to communicate itself to him. “Who are ye?” he asked gently. “I love every inch of ye, but I know not who ye are.”
    “Someone you cannot keep, Rob. I must return home. Soon. Time is running out for me.”
    Natália. Can you hear me?
    She quivered inside Rob’s arms and began to shiver. She recognized the light mental touch immediately.
    Lee? She whispered in her mind, hope and disbelief battling within her.
    “Ye’re shaking, Tally,” Rob said. “What ails ye?”
    I am at the marker. Bring me to you. Lee’s mental voice was as commanding as his normal voice.
    Thinking words would take too long and Rob was already