Excerpt: The Time Traveler’s Christmas by Amy Jarecki
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A man’s life can fall apart in an instant…
Tougher than oxhide, Lachlan Wallace can take about anything except a breakup call from his wife two minutes before competing in the Karate Championship of the World. Arriving home with a loss, he agrees to watch his uncle’s cat over the holidays. Or so he thinks—until he awakes on a fourteenth-century battlefield beside a woman fighting for her life.
Never underestimate a woman’s determination…
Taken from her at the age of two, Lady Christina de Moray hasn’t seen her son in thirteen years. While traveling with Robert the Bruce’s army to exchange an English prisoner for the lad, a battle erupts. Losing the fight, Christina is rescued by a mysterious warrior while the English escape with her son yet again.
And never bet against the potency of passion…
Left with no way back to the twenty-first century, Lachlan agrees to help Christina rescue the lad from his English captors. If the heir is not returned by Christmas next, the Bruce will make his decision whom to grant the de Moray lands, including Lady Christina’s hand. Once his duty is fulfilled, Lachlan hopes to discover a way home—as long as he keeps his mind on the goal and ignores his growing love for the spirited woman who gives him her trust—and her heart.
Excerpt
Christmas Gift Excerpt
…But Lachlan wasn’t about to give up. Not only his foot, he’d put his entire leg in his mouth, and he wouldn’t leave this night until she was good and sure he’d taken it out. “Go on, open it.”
Christina’s fingers trembled a bit as she pulled the leather thong. “Oh my.” She held the cross nearer and inclined it toward the candlelight. “’Tis exquisite. Where ever did ye find it?”
He took the chain and clasped it around her neck. “It seems your smithy is good for more than hammering iron and pulling teeth.”
“Malcolm made this himself?”
“Yep.” Lachlan admired how the amethyst sparkled against her alabaster skin. “Said he found the amethyst on the battlefield at Stirling Bridge.”
“Imagine that. He never told me he dabbled with jewelry.”
“Do you like it?”
“I absolutely adore it.” She grasped his hands between her palms. “Thank ye.”
He grinned, his gaze falling to her lips. A little pink tongue slipped out the corner of her mouth before she snatched her hands away. “Och, I’m glad ye stopped by this eve, else I would have had to wait until the morrow to give ye your gift. The tanner only finished it this day.”
“Excuse me?” Lachlan twisted his mouth. “It surprised you that I gave you a present, but you had something made for me?”
She held up a finger. “Something most practical for a champion.”
He looked around the chamber, seeing nothing but tapestries, lace and feminine things—no size sixteen boots, no horse saddles. The tanner? “What is it?”
“A moment.” She rose to her feet and headed for the garderobe.
Craning his neck, he tried to peer around her. “Should I come with you?”
“Nay.”
After a bit of rustling, Christina came out holding up a leather couton and grinning like she’d just earned her first karate belt.
“Wow.” Lachlan stood and crossed the floor.
“Ye said ye wanted leather armor and I asked the tanner to fashion a coat that couldna be run through.”
He ran his gaze down the fine tooling. “My God. This is a work of art.” The strips of leather had been stamped with a bold star pattern he’d seen on the de Moray crest over the hearth in the great hall. The stitching was so exact it could have been from a machine, though Lachlan had never seen seams so strong. He worked the thick, reinforced leather panels between his fingers. “It’s perfect.”
Christina beamed, her eyes sparkling. “Try it on.”
After unfastening the plaid at his shoulder, he slipped his arms through and she stepped in and fastened the buckles. “I still think mail would afford ye more protection, but this couton is the next best thing.” She placed her palm in the center of his chest. “And I had the tanner fashion it to protect your legs and…um.” Her gaze dipped with her blush.
Lachlan’s heart thrummed a rapid rhythm beneath her fingertips. “You are a wise woman. And I like the slits over my thighs. They’ll make it easier to walk.” He tilted up her chin with the crook of his finger. “How did the tanner manage to make it fit so perfectly?”
“I remembered your measurements from Roxburgh.”
“You remembered. My word, you are amazing.”
She giggled, but still shook her head. “Who would have kent? Give a man a coat of armor and he’ll think the world of ye.”
He brushed her hair away from her face. It hung down her back in thick waves, the curls around her cheeks making ringlets. “I want you,” he whispered.
About the Author
An Amazon bestselling author, Amy Jarecki adores Scotland. Though she now resides in southwest Utah, she received her MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Winning multiple writing awards, she is focused on the genre of Scottish historical romance. Amy loves to write steamy edge-of-your-seat action adventures with rugged men and fascinating women who weave their paths through the brutal eras of centuries past.
