Page 54 of Laird Of Her Heart

“I want to stay here. With him. Forever.”

A pity she didn’t know if Dominic wanted the same.

Hopefully, if her plan worked, if she could get home and being back the medicine he needed, she could save him. And she would have a chance to ask him.

And if he said no…well, she’d deal with that when the time came.

* * *

She and Declan left as soon as they could, leaving Ewan with Dominic and making him promise he would not let the doctor into Dominic’s rooms. The ride back to the hunting camp took much less time than it had in the cart. Within two hours, at a fast pace, they’d traversed the valley. Though they’d been riding hard, there had been time to talk, and she and Declan had come to some semblance of peace.

She even told him of her home on the hill, her cousin, Jenny, her grandmother and the horrific dog that had started all this. She complained again about having lost her locket that day, when he hefted her over his shoulder.

That he laughed did not help her outrage.

They found the ciorcal cloiche with no problem whatsoever. But as she stepped between the stones, Maggie didn’t feel it, the sizzle she’d felt before.

She whirled around, arms out, willing the magic to happen.

But it did not.

There was nothing.

Not so much as a whiff of it.

“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,” she said.

Declan stood just outside the circle so as not to interfere with her magic—such as it was. “Try recreating your movements.”

Maggie closed her eyes and tried to remember. Chasing the dog. Trying to catch him and then…

A chuckle filled the clearing. She stood and glared at Declan. He crossed his arms and tipped his head to the side. “Were you doing some kind of dance?”

“No. I was trying to catch the dog. And then my locket fell off and I bent to grab it—“

“This locket?” he asked, stepping forward and picking up the gold chain. The heart caught the light and flashed.

“Oh yes. That’s it—”

But she was speaking to no one.

For just then, Declan disappeared, and the locket with him.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Maggie stared in horror at the spot Declan had been.

With him, her only chance of saving Dominic had vanished as well.

Oh, why hadn’t she taken the time to look for the locket first? She should have known it was some kind of key.

Who knew where Declan had gone. What if this portal worked willy nilly, spitting out travelers hither and yon with no rhyme or reason? Jenny had mentioned something about unstable wormholes but for the life of her she couldn’t remember what it was.

She dropped down on to a mossy hillock and wiped the tears from her eyes.

She’d really screwed things up.

First of all, she’d changed history and Liam had been killed.