Page 33 of Desiring the Highland Laird
“Aren’t you cold?” she asked from her perched position in the bed.
He cut her a glance, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Are ye worried about me?”
Evie noticed there were several layers of blankets on the bed. Certainly, she didn’t need all of them. Did she? She scooted backoff the bed and pulled one of the blankets off with her. Then she walked back to him, holding it out to him.
“I am,” she said. “My mother used to say I’d catch my death if I went outside in the cold without a coat. I imagine the same to be true in the cold room without proper covering.”
His face softened. He looked completely taken aback by her gesture as he took the blanket from her and spread it across his lap.
“Yer mother said that?”
“She did. She had a lot of things she liked to say to me and my sisters.”
“Sisters? So, ye have more than one?”
“I have two sisters. Chloe and Brianna.”
His jaw clenched and his brows rose, surprise flickering through his blue depths as if learning she had two sisters was of some significance. “Aye?”
She nodded. “Good night, Callum.”
“Good night, lassie.”
Evie climbed back into the bed and pulled the blankets to her chin. It wasn’t long before she went back to sleep as hope curled in her breast. Hope that she was going home in the morning as he promised.
Chapter Twelve
The following morning,Evie awoke to find she was alone in the chamber. The fire had gone out, leaving the hearth cold and dark. She sat up in the bed, looking at the empty chair, wondering where Callum was and when he had left the room.
Try as she might, she couldn’t forget the way he had looked in the firelight. The way his strong jaw had clenched when she told him she had two sisters. She felt that was significant to him, but she didn’t understand why.
Before long, Roslyn arrived to help her dress for the day. She brought her newly hemmed gown with her. Evie was aware of the worried expression on her face and the way her lips were pressed together as though there was something bothering the woman. She did her best to pretend everything was fine with her forced sunny disposition.
That concerned Evie. She tried to push that thought away, though, because today was about hope. Today, Callum had promised to return her to her sister. In her mind, that meant she was going to get the mysterious stone and use it to go back to her own time.
Finally, she could stand the woman’s silence no longer. “Is everything all right, Roslyn?”
“Och, fine, lassie. Dinnae fash over me sour disposition this morn. I dinnae sleep well, that’s all.”
She nodded though Evie didn’t believe her.
“Come, now, and break yer fast. Callum says he wants to ride out as soon as possible.”
“Ride out?” Her brows drew together.
“Aye. To find yer kin.”
“I see.”
Though she didn’t see. Perhaps his idea was to return her to the place they found her in the hopes the stone would work there.
She followed her out of the bedchamber and to the great hall. There was no one about. “Where is Callum?”
“Readying the horses,” Roslyn said. “Ye must eat something.”
She motioned to the table where a bowl of thick oatmeal sat steaming in front of one of the chairs. Roslyn disappeared out of the great hall, making an excuse that she had things of her own to tend. Evie sat and picked up her spoon, digging in to find it was instead some type of porridge. Next to it, an oat cake which she devoured in a matter of seconds.
When she was finished, she rose from the table, wondering what to do with her dishes when Callum entered.
