A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader TXT) 📕

Fear. A fear she needed to conquer if she everwanted to move on with her life and find happiness once again,fulfilling her husband’s final wish for her.

Claire wasn’t saying that a fling with Hughwas necessarily what Matt or her family had been suggesting withtheir urging, but if she did decide to play a little, would it beso wrong?

“’Eighteen fuckingtimes!’” Robin Williams bellowed from the computer and Hugh drew ina deep breath and finally took a step back, putting what was toClaire’s mind some much-needed distance between them.

“… dinnae use a ‘weefooked up stick.’”

“What?” Claire asked confusedly beforerecalling herself to the moment. “What did you use?”

Hugh proceeded to give hera history lesson, for a change, on the sport of golf. Grateful forthe distraction, Claire asked more questions about the equipmentthey had used in the past and the courses they had playedon. Soon she was leading him out to thegarage to examine Robert’s clubs so that he could see thedifference between then and now.

Technology had had its hand in golf, as ithad in so many other things over the years, and Claire explained tohim about shaft flexibility, the different club head angles, andhow just about any golf store could do a swing analysis to tell himexactly what sort of clubs he could use. Back inside, Claire usedRobert’s computer again, this time to pull up pictures of differentgolf courses from around the world for Hugh to see. He was suitablyimpressed, and slowly confessed that perhaps it would be somethingthat he might try to pick up again in the years to come.

It was the first time thatHugh had mentioned his probable future, Claire realized. The firsttime he had vocalized the inevitable, but from his closedexpression, he didn’t want to pursue the topic. Claire let it go,though she wanted to assure him that everything would be fine, thatshe admired how well he was handling himself so far.All things being equal, as she had thought backin Spokane, it was surprising that Hugh wasn’t locking himself in adark closet shrouded in denial.

A lesser man would have been, but Hugh wasdealing with the shocking transformation Earth had undergone sincethe mid-1700s remarkably well, which was encouraging since Clairewas 99 percent certain that, no matter what little tidbits ofinformation her brother Danny might be able to hack into for them,Hugh was destined to live the remainder of his life in thetwenty-first century.

There were serious doubts in Claire’s mindthat she would have fared half so well in Hugh’s time. Evenknowing—at least conceptually—the history of the world, could shehave coped with the changes any better? She couldn’t even light afire without matches or cook a decent meal over one. And if sheappeared there in her clothes of this time, would she have beentaken as a witch? Probably a prostitute, Claire thought wryly. Hughhad generalized women’s fashion as “beyond the pale,” whichcertainly sounded negative, and the way he studied every outfit shewore, it was blatantly obvious that he wasn’t used to women inpants, especially ones as tight as a pair of skinny jeans.

But when he looked at her, there wasinterest there. Appreciation.

And that kiss …

Shaking away the thought, Claire forced herattention back him. If they managed to escape the authorities andsecure his freedom, he would have to build a life for himself hereor in Scotland. Sure, he could play golf, but Claire wanted to makesure he was more prepared for her time than that. Hugh would haveto find some way to support himself. He might even get marriedsomeday.

Claire bit her lip at the thought. Damn.

“Sorcha? Are ye well?”

Not even a little.

Claire went to thelibrary, pulled out a voluminous tome she had seen there earlier,and turned to Hugh, who had followed her in. “Here,” she said,handing the book off. It was Roberts’s nearly one-thousand-pagebook, The History of theWorld. “This should keep you occupiedwhile I make dinner.”

Chapter 18

Day Four

“I could travel in such a way each daywi’out tiring of it,” Hugh said as they stepped onto the deck atthe bow of the ferry the next morning after leaving Claire’s car inthe hold below. “’Tis more akin tae the travel of my time than yercar might ever be.”

“We would have to compromise on that becauseI’m not sure I was made to ride in a carriage or a wagon. Tooslow,” Claire told him. The May morning was cool, the brisk breezesnapping at her cheeks and nose, but Hugh seemed oblivious to thechill, turning his face into the wind with visible pleasure as hiskeen gaze absorbed the sights that had been lost to the darkness ontheir previous trip. The buildings of Seattle, Mount Rainier, thepeople.

And she was absorbed in him. Watching hisreactions and expressions as he took it all in.

“Of course, with the ferry, you might get arelaxing commute but you have to be willing to work within theschedule,” Claire sighed, knowing she wouldn’t mind it at all witha travel companion like Hugh.

She didn’t know if it was the Scot in him,the courtier, or just the fact that he was from another time with adifferent set of rules, but Hugh wasn’t one to allow an awkwardmoment to taint the hours following. He was charming andentertaining and had kept their conversation at the dinner tableflowing smoothly. Afterward, they had taken a walk down the beachwhile Hugh had told her more about his time, his family and what hehad read about the years following his departure in the book shehad provided.

When the temperature dipped and Claire hadshivered in the cold breeze from the sound, Hugh had once againgallantly offered his coat, gently teasing that one day Claire mustlearn to bring her own.

He was so damn likeable, she thought.Interesting and intelligent. Was it going to be the end of theworld if she admitted—if only to herself—that she found himattractive? Or wonderfully handsome?

Or sexy?

There was no denying that Hugh was justthat. Claire slanted him a covert look up and down. The wind at hisface tousled his hair as he stood tall, broad shoulders thrownback. His thin, V-neck sweater molded to him with the breeze,showing the definition