My Seductive Highlander by Maeve Greyson Page B

the volunteer repeated, frowning down at the crossword puzzle, her arthritic fingers slowly tapping against the paper.
    Oh. My. God. Are you kidding me?
Lilia bit her tongue to keep from raising her voice. She had to mind her manners. Granny would somehow know it if she didn’t. The answer easily came to mind, thank heavens—maybe if she helped the old woman finish that damn puzzle it would speed things along. “It’s ‘love.’ ”
    “Eh?” The old woman peered up into her face, her thin silvery brows drawn together in a confused scowl.
    Lilia pointed down at the puzzle. “Four-letter word. Strongest power in the world. Ends with an ‘e.’ It’s ‘love.’ L-O-V-E.”
    “Well, look at that. So it is.” The little old lady blocked the word into the squares with a happy chortle. As soon as she’d written the last letter, she laid her pen atop the paper and patted it with a contented swat. Sliding off her stool, she toddled over to the cluttered wall behind the counter and snatched down several pale blue packets. She deposited them into a tiny paper bag and handed it over to Lilia.
    Lilia smiled at the kindly volunteer and took the bag. “How much?”
    “Oh, not a thing, dearie.” The little old woman struggled to resume her perch on the wobbly stool and took up her pen.
    Frowning down at the bag, Lilia opened it and looked for some sort of price on the packets of pills but there weren’t any numbers to be found. She leaned over the counter, lowering her voice as she looked around. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. I know these can’t be free.”
    The old woman looked up from her paper and winked. “Trust in the power of love, dearie. ’Tis the greatest power of all.” Then she bent back to her puzzle, softly humming under her breath as she slowly filled in the rest of the squares.
    What a weird old lady.
“Well…okay then…thank you for your help.” Lilia tucked the bag into the crook of her arm and backed out the door.
    “Think nothin’ of it, dearie.” The old woman glanced up from her paper and smiled.
    Lilia stopped by the alcove filled with vending machines, popped in the required change, and pushed the button for ginger ale. Perfect. Ginger ale and antinausea pills. Pair those with the peppermint oil and Graham should soon feel a lot better than he did right now. She snatched up the bottle from the machine and hurried back to the car.
    Graham was still leaning back against the side of the car, bent over with both hands propped on top of his knees. He didn’t appear to be retching anymore but he remained extremely pale. In fact, against the backdrop of his inky black shirt, he looked ghostly white.
    “Here.” Lilia twisted the cap off the bottle of ginger ale and fished one of the pill packets out of the brown paper sack. “This will make you feel better. Swallow these pills then sip at the ginger ale.”
    “Ginger. Ale?” Graham scowled at the bottle as though it held poison.
    Lilia ripped open one of the packets with her teeth and shook two pills out into her palm. “Here. Put these in your mouth then wash them down with this.”
    Graham frowned down at the pills, then lifted a leery gaze to her.
    “Just do it.” Lilia shoved the pills into his mouth and handed him the opened bottle.
    Graham obediently took a swig and swallowed. He held the bottle up, glaring at it with a narrow-eyed expression as he smacked his lips. “Tha’s no’ ale.”
    “
Ginger
ale,” Lilia stressed, doing her best to keep from laughing. The poor guy had probably never come across such a sweetly fizzy beverage before. “Sip it. It’ll help settle your stomach.”
    Instead, Graham took a long draw off the bottle then thumped his chest and belched.
    Lilia couldn’t help but giggle at the surprised look on his face. “It’s the carbonation. Sip it slower.”
    Graham stood straighter, settling his stance as he squared his shoulders and took another deep draw from the ginger ale. “So, this