Page 25 of Trapped with the Vicious Highlander
The footsteps grew louder and louder, each one making her heart thump harder.
The door opened, and Flora appeared, a dish in her hand.
Ava exhaled.
“I brought yer food. I couldnae trust the maids to deliver it right.”
Ava took the bowl and placed it straight on the bed. “Thank you, Flora. You’ve been incredibly kind.”
Flora looked past her and straight at the window sill. “I would steer clear of Brodrick’s men as much as possible if I were ye.”
“Really?”
“Aye. ‘Tis because there have been talks… ye ken?”
Ava frowned. “Talks?”
Flora nodded. “Look, I wouldnae want ye to worry. I wouldnae want ye to get hurt either. So, please steer clear of ‘em—that is all I’m goin’ to say.”
“Why?” Ava asked, her confusion growing by the second. “Are they mad because I’m English?”
It was not exactly lost on her, the disdain the people around here had for the English. She did not blame them, not for one bit. They were rightfully entitled to their anger.
“Well,” Flora said, her grip tightening on the doorknob, “Yer being English doesnae exactly help, ye ken?”
“So it’s not my being English? If it’s not that, then what is it?”
Flora cleared her throat. “Ye should eat. Ye’ve had quite a long day, and Brodrick would feed me to the horses if I dinnae get something in ye soon enough.”
Ava nodded.
Flora gave a slight bow and then stepped out, closing the door gently behind her.
Ava was left with Margaret once again, this time to ponder on what Flora had intended. Normally, she would chalk up Flora’s paranoia to the fact that she was a stranger and that the castle residents did not exactly take kindly to people like her.
But the quiver in Flora’s voice had convinced her there was more. It wasn’t just her being a stranger—or her being English. There was something else. Something they weren’t telling her.
So what in the name of God could it possibly be?
The question niggled at her as she moved towards her food and pulled back the dish cover.
If no one was going to tell her what it was, she would find out for herself.
A knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts.
“Is there anything else you need, Flora?” Ava called, her eyes fixed on the door.
“’Tis me.”
Ava swallowed.
Brodrick.
CHAPTER9
She pulled the door open,and Brodrick walked in. He studied her for the briefest of seconds before looking away.
His eyes darted to Margaret, who was finishing the last of her food. She looked up at Brodrick, and for a second, he wondered if she was going to have a negative reaction like before. Was she going to recoil to herself again or withdraw her hands from him?
