Isabella Travels 500 Back Years Ch. 01

"You're supposed to be in bed Braewyn." Malcolm says lightly after closing the door behind him.

"What is the date?" I ask him hesitantly. He gazes down at me thoughtfully for several seconds before finally answering.

"It is the first of September." He answers as he turns away after removing his linen shirt. He sits down on a wingback chair by the fireplace to remove his knee length leather boots.

"What is the year?" I whisper. His head whips up and he pins me with a strange look.

"Surely your father told you all of that after your fall." Malcolm says as he studies my expression curiously.

"He doesn't know that I don't remember anything." I confess as I lower my gaze to the floor.

"Why wouldn't you tell your father that your memory was gone?" He asks me incredulously.

"Because your wife has her memory; it just isn't Braewyn's." A strangely accented male voice says. I raise my head and see a very tall slender man with strawberry blonde hair standing across the room.

"What are you doing here Finn?" Malcolm bites out angrily. "You are interrupting my wedding night."

"I know I am and I am truly sorry Malcolm, but this is important." Finn explains.

"You know what happened to me don't you?" I ask excitedly as I rise from my chair. Malcolm looks between me and Finn in rising confusion.

"Yes Isabella, I do." Finn states with a warm smile. "Malcolm, may I introduce you to your wife Isabella de la Vergne de Moravia. I brought her here from the future because she needs your protection and since you have done so well protecting our four talismans you are the only one I can trust with her."

"Why has she been passing herself off as Braewyn Sinclair?" Malcolm asks tightly.

"Isabella is descended from the Sinclair clan and is the spitting image of Braewyn. Isabella is being targeted by Bres and I barely saved her life by sending her here into Braewyn's place. I am also doing this to protect your future Malcolm. Because of who your father truly was Isabella is the only one who can carry your children." Finn explains. "Isabella comes from five hundred years in the future. She doesn't understand how she came to wake up in the year 1510 and why everyone is calling her Braewyn Sinclair. I would imagine her greatest fear in revealing herself is that she would be burnt as a witch."

"So she is your gift to me?" Malcolm asks sarcastically.

"Of course." Finn laughs loudly. "I will leave you to your consummation." Finn promptly disappears into thin air causing me to gasp in stunned surprise.

"Where did he go and how did he just disappear like that?" I ask.

"Finn is not human; he is one of the Fey. He is a part of the Tuatha de Dannan." Malcolm explains.

"Oh." I exclaim. "They were said to be a magical race of beings that settled in Ireland. They were worshipped as gods and there were some that thought they were a race of fairy beings."

Malcolm approaches me slowly and I can hear my heart race with fear as well as anticipation. He stops in front of me and uses his thumb to raise my gaze to his.

"No more secrets between us Wife." He murmurs. "Now that you know I will not harm you."

"No more secrets." I whisper in agreement.

He lowers his head and gently brushes his lips across mine. It is as if he has lit a spark inside me so intense is my reaction to his touch. I have been kissed before but I was always turned off by their attentions, not so this time. A yearning is burning inside me and I can feel parts of me wake up that have been dormant forever. He groans at my response and instantly deepens the kiss, plundering my moist recesses with his tongue. I open to his invasion ecstatically and moan in response as I try to copy his movements with those of my own.

Before I realize what is happening Malcolm has me undressed and lying on the bed under him. His heated kisses travel over every inch of my aching body as my breathing escalates to panting with need. I scream at the earth shattering explosion when his mouth closes over that sensitive bud at the juncture of my thighs. He rises above me and parts my legs and nudges himself where his lips just were. He kisses me almost violently as he begins to push his large length inside of me slowly. My need is as great as his and I try to pull him closer to me but he does not speed up his invasion and instead pauses at my barrier of innocence.

"Please." I gasp, needing him to finish what he has started. He plunders my mouth roughly at the same time that he slams forward, breaking through my virginity with sudden excruciating pain. In shock I try to push him away to end the agony ripping through me but he pins my wrists above my head firmly.

"Easy Lass." He murmurs against my temple. "No more pain. Lie still for me."

Tears are trickling down into my hair as I lie beneath him and try not to squirm at the uncomfortable fullness inside me. After several moments he begins to move inside me once again and the need suddenly flares to life again. Instead of trying to push him away I am moaning and writhing beneath him trying to make him move harder and faster. He feeds the flames of my need and soon I am spiraling over the peak and screaming his name as I soar into dark fulfillment.

When I open my eyes he is gazing down at me with a satisfied grin. He kisses my nose affectionately and strokes my cheek gently.

"Are you alright?" He asks with genuine concern. I nod and blush a bright pink at my uncontrollable reaction to him. "I think Finn knew what he was doing when he gave you to me."

"I think I have to agree with you Husband." I whisper and smile up at him happily. "Sutherland." I state as I suddenly remember something.

"Yes." He says as he gazes down at me curiously.

"What was your sister's name and how long ago did she die?" I ask as I remember something about the Sutherland clan that struck me as odd when I was doing my genealogical research.

"Her name was Elizabeth and she was killed a month ago." Malcolm answers. "Why?"

"Finn told you that my mother is from the Sinclair clan." I explain to him. "I have a great interest in the family history and I have done extensive research into the Sinclair clan. I have also started to research the neighboring clans that were close to them in the highlands. I was just starting to do research on the Sutherland clan. Before I explain what I found I need you to tell me everything you know about your sister's death and what her connection is to the Earl of Huntley's youngest son."

"Elizabeth is my younger sister and since our father is dead it is my responsibility to find her an appropriate match for a husband." Malcolm tells me. "She had fancied herself in love with the Earl of Huntley's youngest son; a man with no future of a title, lands or fortune. I of course rejected her appeal to marry this man. It was not much time later that her lady's maid came to me and told me what had happened with your father. Elizabeth liked to go to the cliffs along the coast to watch the sea crash along the rocks. Your father stumbled upon her there and the maid watched him rape my sister and then throw her down into the sea."

"Did you ever find your sister's body?" I ask him softly. "Was there any way that the maid could prove what she saw or was it only her word?"

"We never found Elizabeth's body." Malcolm confesses. "I had no choice but to take the word of her maid. Keeva grew up here with our clan. Her family has served ours for generations. I had no reason to doubt her story."

"Elizabeth is not dead." I tell Malcolm carefully. "What was her reaction to you when you told her that she couldn't marry the Gordon boy?"

"I have never seen her so angry." Malcolm tells me. "I feared she would never speak to me again. Why are you asking me all of these things? What did you discover in my family history?"

"It would be a waste for Finn to bring me here to bear you children with what is to come to pass." I explain. "Your Earldom will pass out of the Sutherland family and pass on to the Gordon's. In just a few short years your sister gives the title to the man you told her she couldn't marry, which means you will be dead."

Malcolm's face pales at my declaration as he realizes the truth of my words.

"Elizabeth is with Adam Gordon." He murmurs.

"To be certain all you have to do is trick Keeva into confessing to you her part in the lie." I tell him. "If Keeva believes that her life will be in danger for her part in conspiring to kill you then you will have the proof you need."

"What made you remember such a small detail?" Malcolm asks me curiously.

"I have a great interest in history and I thought it was very strange that after an Earl dies his sister, a woman with a younger brother, was allowed to give her families title to an unrelated man." I explain. "Elizabeth becomes the 10th countess of Sutherland after your death. History shows almost exclusively that the title always goes to the next male kin in line, not a female relative and for her to manage to give away your family Earldom to someone was just unfathomable to me."

"What happened to Alexander then?" Malcolm asks.

"He fought her some years later to claim the title for himself but he ends up killed." I confess sadly. I watch as Malcolm's face darkens with rage at this information. He rises from the bed and after washing quickly he gets dressed.

"I will have Sorcha bring up a bath for you so that you can soak away the soreness that I caused." Malcolm leans over me and kisses me tenderly. "Custom dictates that the sheets be displayed as proof of your innocence so she will also change the bedding. After your bath you need to sleep. I am going to speak to Keeva and start preparations in bringing Elizabeth home."

"Malcolm, if Elizabeth knows you are coming or recognizes the person you send she will go into deeper hiding." I warn him with a yawn. "She cannot get wind that you know. Keeva will get word to her if you aren't careful."

"I know." He chuckles. "I already have a plan in mind and the perfect person to send for my deceitful sister. I went to Eton with an English Earl that my sister has never met, but he is quite familiar with her."

He hurries from the room and before I can fall into a satisfied slumber Sorcha arrives with several boys to fill the tub. While I am soaking, she changes the sheets on the bed and helps me into a clean nightgown before discreetly disappearing.

So exhausted from the last couple days' events I sleep for thirty-six hours and when I finally wake I see both Malcolm and Finn pacing the bedchamber.

"Did I miss something important?" I ask anxiously.

"You were right." Malcolm says after kissing my forehead affectionately. "Keeva confessed everything that she knew. Elizabeth planned her death so that she could run away with Adam Gordon. Keeva is being held in a tower chamber and only I have access to her. I sent a messenger to my friend the Earl of Morton and Finn thinks that Elizabeth should be back home in a fortnight."

"Finn, you mentioned that because of Malcolm's father I was the only one who could give him children." I state curiously. "Why?"

"Malcolm is half fey." Finn states. "His father is one of the original members of the Tuatha de Dannan. The women of the Sinclair clan have also given birth to half fey children, thus making certain Sinclair women fertile with the fey."

"But, how do you know that I am one of those fertile ones?" I ask curiously.

"We of the fey can sense when humans are compatible with us for mating." Finn explains. "Malcolm can only produce children with someone whose genes have been altered by our DNA."

"Who is Bres and why does he want to kill me?" I persist as I slip my robe on and curl up in a wingback chair.

"Bres is half Fomorian." Finn explains. "Fomorians are fey as well but they are evil opposites of the Tuatha de Dannan. He was once king of the Tuatha de Dannan and wants the power of our magic talismans back as his own. He needs to destroy the family line that protects those talismans for us. By killing you Malcolm has no way of continuing on the family line."

"Surely Bres is aware of my location." I state the obvious.

"Dunrobin Castle has wards in place that Bres and his followers cannot breach." Malcolm tells me.

"So, I am basically safe as long as I don't leave the castle?" I ask incredulously.

"Aye Lass." Malcolm says as he watches my expression carefully. "Am I going to have difficulties enforcing this?"

"No." I answer somewhat petulantly. He laughs loudly at my sassy attitude.

"I will just have to keep a close eye on my willful wife then." Malcolm murmurs.

"What a caveman!" I exclaim in frustration. "Do you know that I was living on my own before I was zapped back here to the 16th century? I was my own boss! Went where I wanted, when I wanted with whom I wanted!"

"Surely you jest." Malcolm scoffs disbelievingly. "Why would your male relatives allow a female relative to be unprotected?"

"Times change, husband." I scoff back sarcastically. "Women live alone, work outside the home, are educated, and make their own choices."

Malcolm looks at Finn for support but Finn nods his head and smiles.

"She is right Malcolm." Finn agrees with me. "The 21st century is much different."

"Well, she lives in the 16th century and here women obey or are summarily punished." Malcolm replies firmly.

"Yes M'lord." I stand and curtsy to him meekly.

"Marriage to you will not be dull, will it Isabella de la Vergne de Moravia?" He drawls with a dark smile.

"Never." I smile impishly.