Page 36 of Seduced By the Reckless Highlanders
“Come, let me help you,” she said fondly. “You will have to accustom yourself to all this because you will not have any servants as a member of the working class!”
Adaira laughed. “No more ceilidhs at the castle, then? No more fine wine and whiskey?”
“Is that bird no’ ready yet?” Dougie’s voice was teasing as he came up behind Adaira and looked over her shoulder. “I heard what ye said, Addie. The laird is dead, an’ he doesnae spread his evil in the castle anymore, so it can be used for more useful things than havin’ parties an’ keepin’ him in fine style. Nay guards will be needed. I will become a crofter and a fisherman.”
He smiled at the two women, but his gaze lingered longer on Adaira, and Keira smiled as she thought of them together.
“When I was leader of the rebels, they stood over my shoulders and forced me to do this!” she laughed. “I cannot tell you how many times I nearly chopped my fingers off slicing turnips! But you must learn to cook. It is a most useful skill, and not just for women.”
Adaira looked up at Dougie as if for his approval, and he nodded. Then he turned and walked away, but Keira did not miss the way Adaira’s eyes followed the tall, broad figure. Then she turned back to Keira, looked at the pigeon, covered her mouth, and ran away to the edge of the forest, where she was violently sick. When she had wiped her mouth, she walked back to Keira’s side, but the sight and smell of the bird made her retch again.
“Are you quite well, Addie?” Keira asked worriedly. “You look very pale. Are you sickening for something?”
“No.” Adaira shook her head firmly. “I am just not used to the sight of raw meat, but I must become used to it if I wish to live amongst ordinary folk, and I really want to do that, Keira. I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to be with honest, hardworking people who do not care if you always look impeccable, who tell you the truth and accept you for what you are.
“You know what things are like in our world. People say one thing to your face and another behind your back. You never know where you stand. But these folk accept me for what I am and help me to fit into a society which I am still finding a little strange. No one has judged me at all, even though I am a member of a set of people who mostly look down on them, as I am sorry to say that I used to.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I am so happy to be here among ordinary, common people, where I know I belong. I will have to work hard, and perhaps I will not always enjoy it, but I will be better for it.”
“I am so glad!” Keira smiled at her. “I feel that way too.” She looked down at her hands ruefully. “I would hug you, Addie, but my hands are covered in blood.”
“Then I will hug you.”
Adaira threw her arms around her friend, but in doing so, she smelled the pigeon blood again. It was time for another trip to the woods!
19
The ruins of the small castle had one small section that was kept private for Keira, and she treasured it. Sometimes, when the wind was blowing its hardest, driving stinging raindrops before it, she would come to the top of the highest turret, look out over the sea, and dream. She rarely visited the tower on a calm day or a sunny one because she preferred to see the sea in its wildest, angriest moods.
Today it was a stern blue-grey, the crests of its restless waves whipped into what looked like the manes of white horses by the scouring wind. The sky was a mass of lowering, bruise-colored clouds that heralded the approach of a violent storm, but Keira loved the storms. She felt wild and free, as if she could do anything. On days like this she almost felt able to fly like the gulls and terns that were sweeping the sky as she watched. Sometimes she envied them, as she did now. They could look down on the troubles of ordinary human beings like herself and laugh at them. What did they care if those two-legged earthbound creatures fought and killed each other? They had no such worries.
Keira sighed. She felt overwhelmed with happiness now that her father was out of her life forever, but she felt a little calmertoday, content instead of euphoric. She did not have to look far to see the source of all her happiness, for he was standing not thirty feet below her, up to his knees in seawater.
Murdoch Holmes.
“Why are you mine?” she said aloud. “I do not deserve you. You will never know how much I love you, Murdoch Holmes. Men are so blind!” Then she laughed as she watched him slipping on the wet stones and landing on his backside, cursing.
Keira was so immersed in admiring Murdoch that she did not notice that the rain had started until it began to run down her cheeks. She hastily dashed it away and watched, fascinated, as Murdoch bent down and hauled a net full of shellfish out of the waves.
One of the little girls in the settlement, who looked about twelve years old, brought him a cup of ale.
“Thank you, Ailie!’ he said gratefully, smiling at him. “How did you know I was dying of thirst?”
“Ma said ye would be,” Ailie answered shyly.
“You are a good girl,” Murdoch said, and he thanked her with a kiss on her cheek.
Even from the considerable distance between them, Keira could see that she was blushing as she turned and ran back to the main building. Now there would be a story to tell her friends tonight!
Keira chuckled softly at the sweet interaction between the big man and the little girl. As the rain began to fall more heavily, Keira sighed and went downstairs. She wanted to sit down with a cup of warm milk and do nothing for a while. She wanted to chase every thought out of her head, sleep, and dream happy dreams.
Accordingly, she filled a pot with milk from the pitcher and set it over the fire to warm up while she lay on a soft cushion andwatched it as her mind emptied and her body relaxed. Her eyes drifted closed.
She was abruptly startled out of her slumber when a heavy hand landed on her shoulder and she heard a familiar voice saying urgently, “Your milk is boiling over!”
Murdoch wrapped a cloth around his hand and snatched the pot from the fire as the milk poured over the sides, hissing and spitting, then he put the vessel on the floor. He stood up and frowned at her, intending to reprimand her, but as he looked at her face and her eyes twinkled as she gazed at him, he chuckled. How could he ever be angry with her?
“Thank you, Murdoch,” Keira said tiredly. “You know how clumsy I am. That was very stupid of me.”
Murdoch poured the milk into a cup and offered it to Keira, feeling how cold her fingers were as their hands touched. He squatted down beside her and put his arms around her, hearing her sigh with contentment.
