Page 20 of Treachery in the Highlands
Kieran MacTaggart isn't buying that story.I can't leave Rachel out there alone to deal with her dad.
So, I hastily pull on my medieval clothes---somehow without either Rachel or Kieran noticing it---and burst out of the closet.I drop my medieval garb on the floor.Then I dust myself off casually, as if men pop out of closets in women's bedrooms all the time."Hey there, you must be Rachel's father.I'm Joey Finnegan."
Kieran glowers at me with a seething hatred in his eyes---and a huge sword in his hand.
I adjust my medieval coat and clear my throat."So, Mr.MacTaggart, is it true that you're the last laird of Dùndubhan?"
"Where did ye get such an asinine idea?"
"I heard it in this castle---back in the twenty-first century, before I was chucked into the Middle Ages."
"Are ye claiming to have traveled through time?"Big Daddy growls."Rachel might have brought ye to our home, but ahm the one who's about to make certain ye leave."
Oh, crap.Kieran's tone is not friendly.He glares at me with all the seething anger of a man who just found a stranger hiding in the bedroom of his only daughter.
Bye-bye, Joey Finnegan.You are going to die.
Chapter Eight
Rachel
"Athairich, no!"I place myself between Joey and my father, using my own body as a barricade.The man who gave me blissful pleasure mere moments ago gazes at the laird of Dùndubhan with a smirk playing on his lips and a canny gleam in his eyes."I said, no, Father.You will not harm this man."
I must stand up to my father.I shan't let him harm Joey.
"Father, how did you find this chamber?"I demand."No one had entered this room until I stumbled onto it a few years ago."
"Did ye think no one else knew?"He huffs."Ahm aware of everything that goes on in this castle."
Guidheachan.My private sanctuary is not a secret after all.
Cursing in my mind willnae alter the situation.But I couldn't stop myself from thinking that phrase.It means "son of a bitch."
My father squints at me, then snarls a litany of Gaelic profanities.When he finally gives up, setting the tip of his sword on the floor, all the fight seems to have drained out of him.
I feel a wee bit faint as I stand my ground in a manner I have never done before, not with my father.His eyes dart between Joey and me as if he's figuring out how to handle the situation.
Father swings his claymore in a circular motion as if he's trying to instill fear.He knows that won't work with me."Rachel, step aside.This interloper has no place here.And what is he doing in your chambers?Has he molested you?"
"Of course not.Do ye think I'd let a stranger into this room without being certain I could trust him?Ahmno a fool."I lift my chin, channeling every ounce of stubbornness I've inherited from him."Joey stays, Father.He is under my protection now."
Kieran MacTaggart's eyes narrow to slits, and I swear I can see the wheels turning in his mind."Protection, ye say?And what makes ye think ye have the authority to offer such a thing?"
I take a deep breath, knowing my next words will change everything."Because I am a MacTaggart witch---just like you."
My father eyes Joey with deep suspicion."Who is this man?Why did you bring him into our home?And by God's bones, whyever did you invite him into a room I have ne're seen before?'Tis dangerous,mo nighean.He might be a brigand."
Should I confess to the actual way in which I met Joey Finnegan?I feel Joey's hand brush against my back in a silent show of support.But my father's gaze bores into me, demanding an answer I dare not give.Not yet.I swallow hard against a lump in my throat, knowing I can't reveal the whole truth without risking even more chaos.
"He is...well, he's not from here, Father," I say, carefully choosing my words."Joey comes from a place far away, and he needs our help."
"Far away?"Father scoffs."Ye mean he's a Sassenach?An Englishman?"
I shake my head."No, not English.He's from...somewhere else entirely."
Joey steps forward, his whisky-brown eyes aimed straight at my father."Mr.MacTaggart, I mean no disrespect to you or your clan.I found myself here by accident, and your daughter has shown me great kindness."
Father's grip on his sword tightens."Accident?What sort of misadventure brings a man to Dùndubhan, laddie?Even members of my own clan rarely visit us."
