Page 111 of Highlanders for the Holidays
Chapter 14
Roderick wasin command of the twenty men on the boat, but unlike the last time they sailed, he spoke little to them. He seemed weighed down by sadness—or perhaps it was guilt. He did not speak to Lily at all, except to ask if she needed anything, but his gaze was often on her.
Lily felt herself softening toward him by the hour. He was unfailingly considerate, even tucking wool blankets around her that had been treated with grease to shed the rain. Though he deserved to suffer for deceiving her, Roderick had saved her life and protected her from Harold and the other Douglas men.
When he sat down beside her after two days at sea, she was near to forgiving him. She would not, however, let herself forget that he had tried to control and use her—and he would do it again if she let him.
“This is Skye,” he said, nodding toward the island they were fast approaching.
The entire journey through the isles had been breathtaking, but this island, with its rocky shores, green hills dotted with sheep, and blue-gray mountains, was even more beautiful than the rest.
“There’s something I need to say to ye before we arrive,” he said.
Lily folded her arms and waited for his apology—not that it would make any difference.
“I’m so verra sorry about what happened to ye back in London.” His eyes looked haunted as he spoke. “I wish I could kill the man who stole your innocence.”
This was not what she had expected him to say.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned you in the same breath as that man.” She felt a bit guilty herself about throwing that in his face, as if what he had done to her was worse. Though Roderick had hurt her more deeply, that was only because she had allowed herself to trust him.
“I wish ye had told me about it earlier,” he said, staring at the sea. “I wouldn’t have pressed ye that night if I’d known.”
“You didn’t have to press me much,” she admitted, remembering how she had melted at his first touch. “I wanted to do it.”
She waited for the rest of his apology, but he seemed to have nothing else to say to her.
“Is that all you feel guilty for?” she finally asked him. “Not for deceiving me and trying to trap me here for the rest of my life?”
“I never meant to force ye to stay past the winter storms.” He shrugged. “I thought if ye were meant to be our seer, ye would come to see that yourself. If not, you’d go.”
“Don’t lie to me again,” she said between clenched teeth. “Your grandmother told you I was the next seer, and you believed her.”
“Truly, I could not be sure what my grandmother meant to tell me,” he said. “Once ye meet her, ye might understand.”
If he were not twice her size, she would throw him overboard. Instead, she turned away from him and fixed her gaze on the shoreline of the island.
They were both silent as the boat rounded a point and sailed into a large inlet bordered by green rolling hills on one side and rocky cliffs and mountains on the other. Her curiosity got the better of her when the men sailed the boat to the mountainous side and into a small, deserted bay next to a sheer rock cliff.
“Why are we stopping here?” she asked. “Is there something wrong with the boat?”
“My grandmother’s cottage is here,” Roderick said, pointing straight up.
Lily tilted her head back. Now she understood why Roderick and the Lord of the Isles were not concerned she would run away from the old woman’s cottage.
“There’s not even a village,” she said, looking at the empty beach.
“I fear it will be quite dull, especially for a London lass,” he said after he lifted her down from the boat. “But ’tis better than spending the winter in a cold dungeon.”
That did not sound encouraging. As escape appeared unlikely, she tried to adjust to the notion of being in this desolate place for the entire winter.
“I’ll be across the inlet at Dunscaith Castle,” he said, pointing to the impressive fortress on the opposite shore. “I’ll sail over every week or so to see how the two of ye fare.”
“You’re leaving me alone here?”
“I must return to my duties,” he said. “I’m captain of the guard at the castle.”
He led her to where rough-hewn steps had been cut into the side of the cliff.
