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

the shift of his thighs against his jeans. While it wascertainly nice to be out among people once again, the trip hadn’tdone anything to curb her desires. He was simply too appealing forhis own good. No one had the right to look so freaking hot innothing grander than an untucked dress shirt and a pair ofjeans.

Unpeeling the wrapper from her straw, Clairepoked it through the plastic lid of her cup and turned for thedoor. Hugh straightened with a broad smile that warmed her to thecore and stepped forward to meet her … walking straight into thepath of a pair of elderly women wearing Space Needle T-shirts andcropped floral pants.

The more rotund of the pair began to rail athim immediately as Hugh bent to retrieve the bags they had dropped.More than likely they were complaining about the rudeness of thelocals toward the tourists or some typical nonsense, but as hestood, Hugh put a hand under his abuser’s elbow and bent his headlow, speaking.

From a distance, Claire couldn’t hear whathe was saying, but a moment later the woman who had been near to astroke minutes before was patting his cheek and smiling up at himwhile the other beamed just as brightly.

Hugh glanced at Claire from the corner ofhis eye and winked. Claire grinned back, shaking her headexaggeratedly, dumbfounded that he had soothed them so quickly butmore flabbergasted to realize that his charm had manifested itselfas some sort of inside joke between them. As if it had become anunspoken challenge to see how swiftly he could do it.

In her experience, things like inside jokestook time, sometimes years to develop. It bespoke a comfortablefamiliarity she wouldn’t have thought could be cultivated soquickly.

What did it mean? Did it mean anything atall, other than demonstrate that they had spent too much timetogether?

“Are ye well, Sorcha?” Hugh askedcourteously as he waved the now-smiling women off, flashing hisslashing dimples.

“Yes, I’m … I’m just standing in silent aweof your amazing skills. Raving harridan to cookie-baking grandma inless than ten seconds. That has to be a new record.”

“It isnae as hard as ye might think,” Hughshrugged modestly. “Sincere apology, genuine compliments. It is askill cultivated and honed over the years to survive in the ficklecourts of Europe.”

“So you’re saying anyone could be ascharming as you with the right teacher?” she asked as he held outhis arm gallantly with a slight bow and a raised brow. Claire slidher hand into the crook of his arm with a smile. “Yeah, I didn’tthink so.”

Hugh laughed, a deep infectious rumble thatcouldn’t help but draw a like response, and Claire joined him,falling as yet another victim to his tireless charisma as theywalked up the busy street. “So you’re the tourist—the visitor fromout of town like those ladies back there—what do you want to dofirst? We can take a harbor tour or take a ride up to the top ofthe Space Needle.”

Hugh’s eyes followed her finger as shepointed to the tall building that he had recently described aslittle more than a disk on a tripod of legs.

With a shudder, Hugh declined, “To the top?Nae, I hae nae desire tae be so far off the ground.”

Claire grinned. “That takes away most of ouroptions but don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.”

Chapter 29

They walked several blocks more arm in armwhile Sorcha pointed this way and that, describing the city of herbirth. The climb was steep in places, and when Sorcha stopped herfast-paced walk to point out a colorfully textured wall, Hugh wasalmost out of breath. His breath caught for other reasons when sheexplained that all the different colored blobs were actuallychewing gum stuck to the wall, and Sorcha took transparent joy inhis revulsion at it after she explained to him what chewing gumactually was. Then they were off once more, heading uphill througha narrow alleyway, and Hugh thought if he were to be in thisharried time for long, he would do well to work on his “cardio,” asSorcha had encouraged him to do.

It was a hurried time, with hurriedpeople anxious to get where they needed to be in all haste. Thoughhe doubted that he would ever fully grasp the need for suchalacrity, Hugh couldn’t deny that he’d never been one to fallbehind, literally or figuratively. It would be yet another aspectof his new life to cultivate.

Bringing up the subject as they walked, Hughwas astounded to learn of the advancements in medicine that hadbeen made since his time. More incredible perhaps than anythingelse he had learned thus far was how far the practice had changedfrom the bloodletting and superstition of his time, to the organtransplants and mechanical replacements of hers. It was truly aremarkable world, with much to appreciate, and Hugh regretted inmany ways that he had not yet fully reconciled himself to thepermanence of his situation.

They soon reached an area bustling withpeople, their voices tumbling one over the other. A sign brightlylit against the gathering dusk labeled it as a public market, andanother just below further defined it as a farmer’s market.

As busy as it was, for the first instancesince coming to this time, Hugh experienced something familiar.Perhaps not exactly the same, but the stalls of vegetables, meats,seafood, and flowers echoed the market days in Cromarty, and for amoment, Hugh felt a wave of homesickness unlike any he had yetexperienced, made worse by the recently acknowledged certitude thathe would never see it again.

It was a staggering thought, that “never.”It was easier not to think on it, which was perhaps why he hadn’tbeen successful in reconciling himself to his fate. It was easierto look forward instead of looking back, but when the thought didtake hold, as it did then, it was sickening to his very gut. Itbrought to mind faces he would never see again. A family lost tohim by a scientific accident. How many people could fathom mourningthe loss of all their loved ones at once? How could he explain thesoul-crushing pain to anyone who still had even a single lovedone?

Sorcha paused at one stall, buying a fewapples, but for the most part was