Page 13 of The Last Debutante
Daria blinked. “Ah... English, please?”
One wildly thick, dark brow arched high above the other. “Good morning, then,” he said in heavily accented English. She slowly lowered the linen sheet she was holding and glanced at the cottage again, assessing how quickly she could run inside and bar the door. Where were Mamie and that enormous gun? Daria would very much like to see her with it at present. She thought of screaming, but then worried that Mamie might do something rash and put herself in harm’s way. So Daria stood rooted to the ground, the linen clutched tightly in her hand.
“Perhaps you might help me, aye? I’m in search of a man who’s gone missing nigh on two days.”
Daria’s heart suddenly leapt. What if this was the man who had shot the stranger inside? “I cannot help you,” she said quickly. “I am here alone with my grandmother.” She realized the moment she said it that it was not a wise thing to say. If he was a robber, she’d just opened up to him the possibility of robbing this cottage.
In fact, his gaze narrowed, as if he were assessing the feasibility of it. He shifted slightly in his saddle, the leather creaking and moaning under his weight, and glanced back at the cottage.
“We cannot help you.”
He took her in once more, from her braided hair to her soiled hem. “He’s a tall man, the one I want. Long in the hair,” he said, gesturing to his shoulder. “Broad in the chest. Eyes the color of acorns.”
“No.” Daria shook her head. “No one like that.” She could feel the beat of her heart ratcheting up, making her breathless. She was teetering between confessing he was inside and praying for mercy, and running for her life and praying for deliverance.
He studied her closely.
Daria’s heart was nearly pounding out of her chest. This bear of a man could crush her with one of his giant paws, if he were of a mind. “No one but us and the Brodie lads,” she blurted, summoning up the mysterious young men Mamie had referenced. “Threeof them.” She smiled. Nervously, uncertainly, but she smiled.
The man’s jaw clenched. He looked her up and down once more, muttering something in his language. “Aye, then.” He made a clicking sound, and the horse ambled on.
Paralyzed with fear, Daria stood watching until he’d turned down the path that led to the main road, not daring to run and give herself away until he was gone. Until she realized he would find her trunk on the road. Lord knew what he would believe then. She balled the linen into the basket, picked it up, and fled inside the cottage.
Mamie was there, waiting. She latched the door behind Daria and gave her a grim look as she wrapped her arms tightly around her. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, yes, I’m all right,” Daria said, in spite of her racing heart. “I’ve never seen a man as big as that. Who was he?”
“I don’t know,” Mamie said, and dropped her arms from around Daria. “Oh, my darling, that must have been such a fright! One must have a care in these Highlands. There are scofflaws and bandits roaming about.”
Daria’s panic ratcheted up even more.
“What did he want?”
“Him!”Daria cried, pointing to the hall. “He was looking forhim,Mamie. I told him that we’d seen no one but the Brodie lads.”
“Which way did he go?” she asked anxiously.
“Down the path to the main road,” Daria said, gesturing wildly. “Where, I might add, my trunk still sits. Ihopeit sits there. He will see it, and he will know it belongs to us. He will know something is not right, for who leaves a trunk on the road? And if there are Brodie lads, as you say, why have they not carried it up? What if he comes back, Mamie? What if he is the one who shot him? What if he comes back for him and shootsus?”
Before they could answer, they were both startled by a shout of the unintelligible language from the back room.
Mamie quickly dug the bandages out of the basket, pressed them into Daria’s hands, then hurried into the kitchen and picked up a bowl from the table. The bowl contained a dark liquid that smelled like burnt wood. “You’ll have to do it, Daria,” she said gravely.
“What? What am I to do?”
“Dress his wounds.”
Daria gasped. She shoved the bandages back at her grandmother. “Mamie,no! Icannot—”
“You can, and must! His bandages must be changed and I... I agree, I must seek help.”
“You agreenow? You agree to go for help and leave me to change his bandages while a man the size of a beast roams about outside? No, Mamie, I will not!”
But Mamie wasn’t listening. She had already removed her apron and was reaching for her cloak. “You have argued that I should go to the authorities, and now I am going to go. It is imperative! But we cannot in good conscience leave his wounds to fester—”
“Don’t leave me alone, Mamie. Please,” Daria pleaded.
It was too late. Mamie was already at the door. “You’ll do very well, my love. Spread the salve on his wounds and wrap clean bandages about them. Lock the door behind me, Daria, and open itonlyto me.”
