Page 49 of Trapped with the Vicious Highlander
As she closed the door behind her, she wondered if she was right about that.
CHAPTER15
A thick andrather awkward silence descended between Margaret and Brodrick, who was at a loss for words. He had thought he was prepared. He had thought he could take charge and talk to his daughter. But now that she sat before him, her legs crossed as she sank back into the grass, he realized he had nothing to say.
He shook his head in a bid to push away the nagging thought. He was going to at least try. And the first thing he had to do to make that happen was lowering himself to her eye level.
He crouched down and then sat in front of her, noticing the rather stiff, polite smile on her face.
“Ye ken… the birthmark,” he began, gesturing towards her arm. “It came from yer grandmaither. She believed it was a mark from an angel who had visited her in her sleep.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed. He could see the look of confusion on her face and it made him raise his eyebrows in amusement.
“Ye dinnae ken what an angel is, do ye?”
Margaret shook her head.
“’Tis a person. That person is made of pure light, and they have wings in their back, ye see?”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
“Aye,” Brodrick whispered, a surprising sense of pride welling up inside him.
Another moment of long silence passed between them. Brodrick racked his brain for something else he could tell her, but nothing came to mind. He couldn’t take his mind off the fact that right here, in this light, Margaret looked a lot like her mother.
She crossed her legs the other way around.
“I apologize. I dinnae ken any children’s games,” Brodrick whispered. “But what I can do is show ye around the castle. Would ye like that? If we’re lucky, we would even get to see the peacock.”
Margaret’s eyes widened again.
“Ye would like that?”
She nodded.
“Good,” Brodrick responded.
He rose from the ground and extended his hand towards her.
A flash of anticipation crossed his face, but then he quickly regretted offering her his hand. Perhaps he should have waited a little longer. He should have waited to see how she adjusted to his presence before initiating any form of physical contact with her.
He should have?—
The thought screeched to a halt as Margaret slipped her hand into his. Slowly, he pulled her to her feet, refusing to let the excitement bubbling in his chest become way too obvious.
“Are ye ready?” he asked.
Margaret nodded slowly, and they both made their way out of the courtyard and towards the front gate of Castle MacDunn.
“This is the courtyard,” he started, gesturing to the large stretch of green fields around them. “It’s where I train me men and where preparations are made for any kind of event. From tomorrow, the preparations for the cèilidh celebrating yer return shall start, ye see?” His voice was a tad high-pitched.
He didn’t know if Margaret understood him, but he enjoyed talking to her anyway. Part of him prayed she enjoyed listening to him as well.
They both walked across the courtyard, and just as they were about to enter the castle, another bird flew past them. Margaret pointed towards it as it landed on one of the poles in the fence. Brodrick eyed the bird and narrowed his eyes. He had read quite a lot about birds in the few days since he got back to the castle, after seeing just how interested Margaret was in them.
He studied the black bird and the way its feathers gently fluttered in the wind for the larger part of a minute.
“That,” he explained, “is a raven. We use it to send messages to people.”
