The Highlander's Time

threw his head back and laughed. “Aye, you did.” An arrogant grin crossed his lips.
    “Do you think I'm always going to let you have the last word?”
    Iaen listened to the translation before he brought her lips to his. “Aye.” He finished the discussion with a toe-curling kiss.

    ***

    “What was that racket about and what took you so long?” Lila sniped the minute Jenny entered the room. “Don't people have any common courtesy anymore? I need my rest. I can't do that with people shouting down the rafters in this drafty hell hole.”
    “Lila, stop.” Jenny strode forward, ready to do bodily damage to the diva. Instead of trying to take on Lila all by herself, she'd brought reinforcements--Father Thomas, Elspeth and Meg. Even if they couldn't understand most of what Jenny was about to say to Lila, they could hogtie the bleach-out-of-the-bottle blonde while Jenny force fed her.
    “I decided to forgive you for your bitchy attitude, Jenny, but don't push your luck. Now, bring me my coffee.”
    Mopping her face with her hand, Jenny felt the urge to scream at her boss. “Lila, we're in the past. There isn't a coffee shop for me to go to.”
    “Well, then brew it for me. Better yet, get me a vodka on the rocks. I have the worst headache.”
    “Lila, you have to stop and listen to me. You aren't going to get your way here. These people are squeaking out a living as we speak. They don't have time to deal with you.”
    “What sort of a fucked up intervention is this?” She picked up the tin cup from the chest and flung it at nobody in particular. It flew against the far wall. None of the witnesses ducked, or paid attention to the cup clattering to the floor. “I told you what to do, now do it.”
    “I can't.” Jenny infused her tone with determination instead of resignation. “You can't have what you want or your way. That's not how it works here.”
    “Fine, prissy bitch, since you're so smart, you tell me how it works here?”
    “Iaen—Laird Kincaid—will find a duty for you. Eventually, you'll meet a man who will ask him for the privilege of wedding you.”
    Lila tilted her head so she was staring down her nose at Jenny. “What's your duty, Jenny? Are you the chief slut and cock sucker?”
    “Enough!” Infuriated, Jenny shooed everybody out of the room. She stood at the door, glaring at Lila. “When you're hungry, you'll come out. When you can't get your way by pouting, you'll come to your senses. When all your friends desert you because we aren't going to join you in your pity party, you'll realize how nasty a bitch you've become. Until then, have fun all by your lonesome because the rest of us are sick of you and your attitude.”
    “You can't leave me like this.”
    Jenny closed the door on Lila's shriek of dismay. The crash of something breaking boomed through the room. “When she falls asleep have everything she can hurt herself with removed from her room.” Highly doubting the diva would go to that extreme, it was a common sense decision. A bigger problem mocked Jenny. She hated herself for abandoning Lila. If only you'd met me half way or given me another choice . “Did Laird Iaen appoint a guard to her room?”
    “Aye, milady. I am to stand watch,” the young warrior who had met her in the hallway an hour ago announced.
    “Malcolm, right?” After he nodded, she went on. “Okay, this is what I need you to do. She'll sell her soul to the devil for a drink. Under no circumstances are you to give her one, even if she threatens to pitch herself over the balcony.” Thinking literally, Jenny pointed her finger at him. “That doesn't mean you should let her pitch herself over the balcony. I mean, that's crazy.” She started to shake. Lila was going through withdrawal and in a sick way so was she.
    The thought of leaving Lila to her own devices made her ill. She was the responsible administrative assistant, the one who stomped out the fires and handled Lila's busy schedule.
    “He understands your order, milady,” Father Thomas intervened. “Why don't you rest? You've had a busy day and it isn't even nuncheon.”
    “I think I will. Is there any word from the river?” Her already taut nerves had tightened further when she’d caught hold of some whispers this morning. With Father Thomas’s hesitant translations, she’d learned members of Clan Kincaid were in danger.
    “Laird Iaen left only moments ago, milady. We'll let you know as soon as word reaches the Keep,” Father