Excerpt From Chapter Three:
Mora…Neil’s thoughts flew back to her. The medical technicians wouldn’t allow him to ride in the back of the vehicle with her. Poor girl. Her pale face remained fixed in his mind, those frightened eyes and trembling hands clutching at him as the EMT’s lifted her onto the gurney. Then they’d carried her out of the house and whisked her away in the ambulance. If Mora thought she lived in 1602, what in the world would she think of her ride to the emergency room? Apart from her mental confusion, she must come from quite a provincial part of Scotland. Her naiveté struck him as much as her highland dress. Who in God’s name were her family, apart from poor Mrs. Dannon?
Why had she been raised so old-fashioned? Her speech and manners singled her out to be someone well-born and not from a backwoods family. Could she possibly have attended some archaic girl’s boarding school with strict rules, classical studies, and long-held medieval traditions? Did they even have schools like that in Scotland these days?
Neil had little time to conjecture. Lights flashing, the ambulance braked to a stop outside the hospital. He maneuvered his car into a spot at the back of the crowded parking lot.
He shot out of the car, slammed the door, and ran to the entrance. Two EMTs rolled Mora through the emergency room doors as he sprinted up only a few yards behind them. Those early morning runs had paid off.
Dashing inside the ER, he scanned the jumble of people hunched in chairs or milling about the waiting room. His gaze fastened on the young woman who stood out like a visitor from another world. Mora lay on the gurney, her vivid eyes staring up at him with pleading in their depths.
A powerful urge welled up inside him—an urge to protect her. He nearly staggered under the surge. Where had that flood of emotion come from? The deluge seemed to swirl him back to some distant place, but it was more instinct than something he could define. There was no rational explanation. He’d ponder this disturbing development later.
For now, he bent his will on helping Mora. He stepped toward her. “Hang in there. You’ll be all right.”
Clearly unconvinced, she reached out her hand. It trembled and she shook beneath the white blanket. “Have I tumbled into purgatory?”
He wondered if they both had, but summoned an encouraging smile. Giving her chilled fingers a squeeze, he said, “No. Don’t be afraid.”
Lips quivering, she nodded, rather like one being asked to trust in deliverance while being led to the gallows.
Her dazed state might buy him some time, assuming he kept his own wits about him. He sensed hysteria brewing just beneath the surface of her numb demeanor that might erupt at any moment. Not an eruption he cared for the entire Emergency Room to witness.
A thoughtful EMT tucked another blanket around Mora. “I’ll handle this,” Neil said to the waiting man. Striding to the admittance counter, he gripped the white Formica counter and spoke to the expressionless woman behind the desk. “Mora Campbell, my out-of-town guest.” Way out.~
“Ms. Trissel masterfully blended the past and the present in order to create a lovely romance that spans centuries.” ~Poinsettia, Long and Short Reviews
**Somewhere My Lass is available from The Wild Rose Press, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nookbook, and other online booksellers.
BLURB: Neil MacKenzie’s well-ordered life turns to chaos when Mora Campbell shows up claiming he’s her fiancé from 1602 Scotland. Her avowal that she was chased to the future by clan chieftain, Red MacDonald, is utter nonsense, and Neil must convince her that she is just addled from a blow to her head–or so he believes until the MacDonald himself shows up wanting blood.
Mora knows the Neil of the future is truly her beloved Niall who disappeared from the past. Although her kinsmen believe he’s dead, and she is now destined to marry Niall’s brother, she’s convinced that if she and Neil return to the past, all will be right. The only problem is how to get back to 1602 before it’s too late.
The balance of the present and future are in peril if she marries another, and the Neil of the present will cease to exist. An ancient relic and a few good friends in the future help pave the way back to the past, but will Mora and Neil be too late to save a love that began centuries before?~
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