Highland Passage Read Online Free PDF

shrugged again. “Running.”
    “In the woods? You weren’t on the road; I came from the same direction.”
    Mac glanced around. “Yeah, I like nature. So what’s in the bag?”
    David pulled a bagel from the small paper bag in his hand and offered it to her.
    “No, thanks. I’m not hungry.”
    “Not hungry?” David chuckled. “I don’t know what that is.” He was baiting her now; he knew how she hated the way he could eat all he wanted and not gain an ounce. He grinned, expecting a reaction.
    Mac tried to smile back, but her stomach was churning. A ferocious Highlander had just attacked her. Her heart had not yet stopped hammering in her rib cage. No, she was not hungry.
    “Here, you can save it for later.” He took a bite of his bagel and offered the bag to her. “There’s another for you in the bag.”
    Mac set the bag down on the porch rail and then sipped the warm coffee while awkward silence hovered between them.
    “David, why are you here?” She had not meant to be blunt, but she was too shaken for small talk.
    “I was in the neighborhood.”
    “David, no one’s just in the neighborhood here. I live in the woods on the side of a mountain.”
    He smiled. “Busted. I was worried about you.”
    “Worried? Why?”
    “I don’t know. Lately, you’ve seemed a bit off.”
    “Off?” If “off” meant gone mad—well, then yes, she was a bit off. She had lost the only man she might ever have loved, and mere minutes ago, she had fought off a feral time traveler who had leapt out of the chamber and sent him packing. Her heart sank as she realized that, in her frantic need to escape her attacker, she had missed a chance to pass through the chamber to Ciarán’s time. She must have gasped in dismay, for David was eyeing her with alarm.
    “Mac?” He touched her shoulder. When she flinched, he let go immediately.
    Mac’s attention shifted down the road to the sunlight that now brightened the trees on its way to the stone chamber. “Look, David. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go.” She thrust the coffee cup at him and turned, leaving him standing agape, coffee in hand, as she trudged down the road toward the stone chamber.
    “Mac?” Met with silence, he called out again and followed her. “Got to go where? Got a date with a fox?” He laughed at himself.
    Without turning, Mac said, “Sorry. I can’t explain now.”
    Several minutes later, she reached the chamber. She went inside and turned back toward the sunlight. David caught up to her at the entrance.
    She swatted at him. “Move, David. You’re blocking the sun.”
    “What?”
    “Just wait out there.” When he failed to move, Mac added, “Please?”
    He thought she was nuts. It was all over his face. But he did as she asked and moved out of sight, to the side of the entrance. Mac stood inside the stone chamber, facing out toward the sun, and waited. She glanced over her shoulder but saw only stone. Still, she waited. The warmth of the sun washed her face in light. David peeked around the corner, but she gave him her stern teacher face, and he pivoted back. She shut her eyes and tried to remember what Ciarán had done before he vanished. But he had not done anything except stand there. He had held his palm out to stop her, and something electric happened. He had not been surprised. He had known it was coming. Clearly he had done it before. She remembered the sensation—like an electrical tingle. She felt none of it now, and the light gave way to thick clouds.
    David flinched as she emerged from the chamber. “C’mon, let’s go warm up that coffee.”
    Ignoring his wrinkled brow, Mac started back toward the road.
    Minutes later, they were at her kitchen table, hot coffee in hand. David leaned his lanky frame back and propped his feet up on the chair beside him. “So, Mac, do you want to tell me what that was about?”
    “No.” She got up to refill the small pitcher of cream even though it did not need refilling.
    David quietly