Highlander's Heart (Clan Matheson #2)

“Where’d Cherub go?” Tor loped toward her under the tree, his billowy white tunic’s ties loose at his neck and his black hair sweeping his shoulders. He pressed one hand to the bobbing hilt of his side belted sword and steadied it.

“To the castle, I believe, or wherever Kirk is.” Cherub never traveled far from her soul bound mate, and thankfully at the moment Kirk and his brother, Finlay, were in charge of Gilleoin’s castle and his lands until their chief returned from Stirling. Which she hoped would be soon. She missed Nessa terribly. Gently, she brushed a scattering of pine needles from Tor’s shoulders. “It looks like you’ve been rolling around on the ground. Have you shifted recently?”

“Aye, my bear is riding me hard, always demanding I make the Change and search for my chosen one. It looks like you’ve been rolling around on the ground as well.” With a grin, he plucked a leaf from her hair and passed it to her.

“I may have.” She set the leaf he’d passed her in the center of her palm and touched a finger to one crinkly edge. “Did you have any luck at finding your chosen one at the village?”

“None whatsoever. I didn’t sense even an inkling of desire for one of the lasses who might be the one I’m looking for. I also felt driven to return. I thought I’d speak to Cherub about it, see if she could offer me any advice since she can sense when two are mated. Except she has a terrible habit of disappearing at the wrong time. I’ll have to head back to the castle and track her down.” He stepped closer, curled his hand over her shoulder, his fingers brushing lightly over her gown and his thumb stroking wider and gliding over the skin of her neck. “But first, I also need to speak to you.”

“About?” She lifted the leaf to her lips and blew on it. It fluttered free and with a swish of her fingers and one thought from her mind, she sent the leaf twirling high and whisking away on the gentle afternoon breeze.

Tor watched the leaf flutter high and smiled. “That’s an incredible skill you and your father have. The ‘power of thought.’ I love seeing you move things without any need for touch.”

“’Tis a skill we consider a gift, and one we dinnae take advantage of.” As it would be so easy to do. She picked up the swaying ends of his tunic’s loosened neck ties, the deep V of his neckline exposing a smattering of dark chest hair. “You were saying you wished to speak to me.”

“Aye, Gregor mentioned you received a prophetic poem this morning from Nessa. It’s the reason why I had to track you down as well.” He wrapped his hands around hers as she played with his ties, his palms so warm and big and fully enveloping hers.

“Did Father speak of the details within the poem?” She hadn’t asked Father to keep the poem’s contents to himself, but she expected he would have all the same.

“He told me only that I should seek you out and take a look at the prophecy Nessa sent you.”

“Honestly, I’ve no desire to share Nessa’s prophecy with anyone else yet. I’ve already shown Cherub and she has offered a little advice. ’Twill do for now.” Certainly if the first verse was about him as Cherub believed, then she needed more time to consider all Nessa had shared.

“I promise I’ll keep whatever’s contained within it between us.” He inched closer, until the tips of his black leather boots touched her slippered feet. “Show it to me.”

“I know you would, but Nessa has a habit of raising more questions than she does answers with her prophecies. Later. I’ll show you another time.” She tightened his loose laces, made a bow at the top and as she did he leaned in, touched his nose to her neck and breathed deep. A low rumble vibrated in his chest and she laughed at him. “Are you trying to smell me again, Tor Matheson?”

“My bear loves your scent, has since the first day we met. I’ll never forget that moment when you walked into the chief’s solar wearing a deep red gown, your golden curls bouncing down your back and a circlet headpiece of pretty red flowers with red and white ribbons fluttering down from the top. You held a tray of ale and oatcakes in your hands, set it down on the chief’s desk then walked toward me and proceeded to loosen the ties on my tunic with your mind alone, right before you tightened them in the same way. That was the first time I’d ever come across someone with your fae ability.”

She’d never forget their first meeting either. The cook had bid her to take refreshments to Tor and his brother, Tavish, upon their arrival through one of Cherub’s portals into their time. All the lasses in the keep had been so curious about the future and the place where these warrior shifters from the twenty-first century had come from. “You sniffed me that day too.”

“Your scent is the most tantalizing one I’ve ever taken in. You smell delicious, like sweet, wild cherries.” He lifted his gaze to the canopy high above and the heady scent of the ripening fruit. “Gregor told me about this tree, that his wife planted it here.”

“I was also born here.”

“Is that why I find you out here so often?”