Immortal Desires (Well of Souls) by Laura Eno

time he touched her that said she already knew him.
    "Who are you?" His question held a sense of wonder in the tone and Deanna sank into the depth of his eyes.
    He kissed her again and she felt his body shudder as he drew her close, his hands coming down to trail fingers through her hair. The sensations of his touch coursed through her veins; her clothes hung too heavily on her body and became cumbersome.
    "Stop. Please." What a crazy thing to say when all she wanted was for him to continue.
    "Why?" His lips nibbled down her neck, leaving feathery kisses along her throat. "Doesna this please you?"
    "Yes. No." Her voice faded into a moan. "You need to stop. I need to get back to my own time. Your mother says you keep the brooch locked up but I think holding it might send me back."
    He pulled back slowly and regarded her in silence, then spun on his heel and walked away. Deanna slid down the wall until she sat on the ground, trying to figure out what to do next. Flee back into the castle and hide in her room? Run after Ian and tell him she changed her mind? Click her heels together three times? She needed to get her hands on that brooch.
    Her eyes stung and she gave them an angry swipe. She must look absurd, sitting here on the ground. Deanna stood up and dusted off her dress, heading away from the direction that Ian took. He was the last person she needed to see right now. She couldn't think straight around him.
    As Deanna turned the corner more trouble stomped her way, sporting wild copper hair and a look of murder smoldering in baleful brown eyes.

Chapter Eighteen
     
    "Keep yer filthy hands to yerself and off my betrothed or I'll throw you in the midden, so I will." The girl stood several inches shorter than Deanna but looked capable of carrying out her threat. With her fists locked on her hips, the girl stared a challenge that looked serious.
    Deanna shook her head in bewilderment. She didn't have any experience with catfights. "Who are you talking about?"
    "Are ye daft? The Laird—or have ye been kissing so many ye canna keep them straight?"
    "Ian? Betrothed?" Deanna snapped her mouth shut, annoyed with her one-word sentences. She sounded like a parrot.
    Apparently deciding her warning had been sufficient, the girl flounced away with one last glare over her shoulder. Her hair flew in a wild tangle with the wind, reminding Deanna of a copper-haired Medusa.
    How could Ian kiss her like that if he was betrothed? The nerve of the man! She'd have a few things to say to him the next time they met—right after she forced him to give her the brooch.
    Deanna rounded the corner of the keep, still fuming at Ian's poor behavior, when a whiff of sewage brought her up short. This was the side the garderobes opened up to. It smelled worse than being inside one of them. She supposed it still beat having to empty out a chamberpot though, and hurried to retrace her steps.
    The other side held a small garden, redolent with the smells of herbs and Deanna took an appreciative breath. Roasting meat turned on a spit behind the garden, tended to by a waifish boy who gave her a broad smile as she passed by. Someone from the keep yelled at him and he spun back around to watch the meat. Deanna hurried her steps, sorry she'd distracted him.
    The graveyard sat back here and Deanna stepped into it, searching the ground where she'd found the brooch before. It wasn't there—not that she'd expected to find it again.
    The spot where the Bean Nighe had been was vacant now. Deanna wished she had taken the time to see whose grave she'd knelt in front of. In 2012, there had been a headstone there. Had it been Ian's?
    Thinking of him brought her anger rushing back. She liked him better as a ghost. At least then he wasn't practically married.
    Going back up the hill, the door she found at the rear of the keep led her into a small sitting room next to the dining area. Isobel happened to be there, going over lists at a desk.
    "Did you enjoy your walk around