Page 50 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
“I told ye the dresses were a gift, ye dinnae need to?—”
“For being honest with me,” she said, cutting him off. “That is the first time ye have told me truthfully what ails ye and that ye dinnae like talkin’ about it. I can see why, with yer position, ye might wish to conceal somethin’ like this, but ye dinnae need to lie to me. I am here to help ye, remember? Or what use am I?”
His eyes met hers and there was something unreadable in his expression as they lingered on her face for a short while until he nodded, looking thoughtful.
When they returned to the castle, Noah’s man-at-arms appeared with important business to impart, and the laird gave her a shallow bow before leaving her without a word.
She watched him go, feeling as though some barrier between them had finally begun to crumble away.
She looked down at the garments they had purchased and made her way through the winding corridors of the castle up to her rooms.
As she opened the door to her bed chamber, about to set the clothes down on the bed and rest, she still felt agitated from the encounter with the villagers and changed her mind, walking down the corridor to Daisy’s room.
Her sister’s bonnie face opened the door and grinned at her. She had been plaiting her hair very inexpertly, and it was sticking up at strange angles all over her head.
“What have ye been doin’ with this, flower?” Keira asked, chuckling.
“I was tryin’ to make it look like yers, but it willnae grow.”
Keira stroked her cheek as she came in and placed the dresses over a chair. “Ye are a foolish thing; yer hair is perfect the way it is. I would love to have curls like this.” She said truthfully. Daisy’s hair had a natural bounce to it that Keira’s had never possessed, and the color was a warm copper that reminded her of a sunrise.
“Do ye wish to see what I have bought for meself?” she asked gleefully. “Well, what Laird MacAllen has bought for me?”
Daisy’s eyes lit up when she saw the dresses. “Keira, these are so beautiful!” she squeaked. “Let me see, let me see!”
Keira chuckled, stripping out of the uncomfortable dress she had worn to the market and getting down to her undergarments.
She had chosen a dark grey dress as well as the black one that MacAllen had admired. There had been beautiful golds and yellows, too, but often, as a healer, when people were very sick, she wanted to look as somber as possible. There was a green at the bottom of the pile, however, as she could not resist adding a little color to her new finery.
She had decided the black was her favorite; trying to convince herself that it was not because MacAllen had looked at her like he might devour her when she wore it.
She tried on the grey, and Daisy clapped her hands in delight as she spun for her.
“Och, ye look like a princess!” she said excitedly, making Keira smile. Daisy rose and came to touch the embroidery against the sleeves.
“I dinnae like him,” Daisy said tentatively. “I thought he was grumpy and unkind, but he has helped us a lot.”
Keira nodded. “Aye. He has.”
And he has made me feel things that nae other man has ever made me feel in me life.
“He has paid for all of this for ye? How will we ever pay him back?”
Keira watched her sister’s worried expression crinkle her young face. She knew it was only what she herself had taught her.
Keira never wanted to be in anyone’s debt and she had instilled that belief in her siblings from a young age. Until recent weeks she had paid her own way and always ensured she never owed anyone even a penny. She had no idea how much these dresses had cost, but she knew it was foolish to believe she could ever repay him with money.
“We are repayin’ him, Daisy, just as I taught ye,” she stated, trying to convince herself as much as her sister, “I am helpin’ him with his wound and givin’ him advice every day. Sometimes a debt may be repaid with unequal means. I cannae afford this fabric, nay, but I can help him heal.”
She had a strange thought that she might be healing herself as well. Her time in the castle had been happy, it had helped her to feel whole somehow, in a way she could not quite explain.
Nothin’ good will come of such thoughts, she admonished herself.Moving forward is the only course.
“I like the green the best.” Daisy said, “ye look like a fairy in it.”
Keira chuckled, keeping the grey dress on as she folded the others. She would have to be foraging about the castle that afternoon, and she didn’t wish to spoil them all at once.
“I must go and collect some herbs that I’m running low on. Will ye be alright here? Where is yer braither?”
