Not Without Juliet - By L.L. Muir Page 0,14

herself against it.

He just stood there in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips like he still didn’t believe there was any danger. But he looked none too pleased.

"Old women?” he asked. “Twins?"

Oops. They’d probably saved her life, or at least postponed her murder, and she’d ratted them out.

"Yes, twins. Like eighty or ninety years old, going on a hundred? They said they had another place they could hide, but the hole was my only option. You obviously know them, so that shoots your little fifteenth century story to hell."

He was nodding his head, but not like he was agreeing with her.

"Muirs, and no mistake. Far too many twins among them. Every century has them, it seems."

“Every century. Right,” she said and rolled her eyes.

He looked at her sideways. “If I didna ken that Jillian was both a MacKay and a Ross, I’d have worried that the pair of ye might be Muir witches as well, aye?” Then he just waited, like he was expecting a confession.

“Witches? Now I know you’re messing with me.”

“Messing? I doona understand.”

“Oh, give it up, would you?” She almost wished the hitter would come and get it over with. She was tired of arguing with Bushy-head.

He tossed his hands in the air. “Ye’ll see, soon enough I reckon. Whenever the hole’s been opened, the Muirs ken it. Somehow.” He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "Too bad yer set of Muirs didna think to trick Monty back into the hole. I could use his aid. I'm right desperate for it."

"And Monty is Montgomery?"

Ewan frowned as if by not knowing Monty she’d spouted some sort of blasphemy. "Jillian's husband. The former laird of Clan Ross and my cousin. I'd be ever so happy to see his gob, but e'en more so, now that I've..." He grimaced, reached for the torch, then turned to the door.

"You've what?"

He sighed and raised the light higher. His shadow swung around on the wall behind him as he turned back to her.

"I've lost his great nephew."

Jules shook her head. "I don't understand. His great nephew? How could you have lost someone that can't possibly have been born?"

"Jules, is it? I told you plain. ‘Tis the year fourteen hundred and ninety-seven, and so it is. Monty is from this century. The nephew is from yours."

The wall wasn’t much to hold onto, so she leaned sideways onto a stack of smaller barrels. She started shaking her head but then couldn’t seem to stop. If she hadn’t eaten the chocolate, she probably would have been passing out again.

"So I've somehow gone through time? This tomb is like some kind of tardis?” She’d watched only a couple of episodes of Dr. Who, but apparently it was a couple too many. She wouldn’t have even known the word tardis if the bookkeeper at the restaurant and one of the waiters hadn’t been big Dr. Who geeks.

"I dinna ken the word tardis, lass. But they go inside, they doona come out. 'Tis all I’ve seen. I'll not try it myself, mind ye."

"You’re Montgomery’s cousin? He’s from...here? No wonder." Then she realized what this Ewan had been trying to tell her. “And a little boy is missing?”

"The lad's name is Quinn. But he’s no wee laddie.”

She was so relieved. The thought of a little kid—from the twenty-first century—getting lost out there in Medieval times, was just too sickening to think about. If, of course, she believed that Medieval Scotland was truly out there.

“Quinn’s a man grown. Looks to be Monty's own spit, he does. So when Monty needed to go to your time, to be with Jillian, Quinn came back here, to take Monty's place. And now, The Gordon has ‘im."

No friggin’ way! There was another Highlander, just like Jillian’s husband. Just like him.

Maybe, just maybe, I should say my prayers more often.

Above their heads, there was movement. Not from the great hall, but from the tomb.

"Where the devil are ye?" a man muttered.

The hitter!

How the hell had he gotten inside the tomb without going through the bottom, like she had? No way could he have broken through the wall, or she’d have heard it!

Her missing boot fell through the hole and landed on unholy wet ground.

Holy shit!

Jules snatched the boot up and put a finger over her lips, then motioned for Ewan to hurry out of the room with her. Thankfully, he followed without argument, bringing the torch with him. The door opened outward and Jules shut it behind her, then