Page 36 of A Scottish Lord for Christmas
“She’s had a wee bad dream. She wants to see her papa. Where is the master?” The old nurse glanced around and then frowned at the sight of the men grouped in the entryway, all dressed in their outer gear.
“Where’s Papa?” Blair sniffed and a fat tear rolled down the tip of her little nose.
“Papa is out hunting.” Rowena took Blair from the nurse and cradled her against her chest.
“Bad dreams…,” Blair whispered. “Have bad ones. Do you get them?” she asked with such a desperate yet sweet earnestness that it broke Rowena’s heart.
“I do sometimes. But they are only dreams. You will be safe now that you’re awake. But don’t be frightened. Aunt Kenna is here. She’ll sing you to sleep.”
The babe’s eyes widened. “You’re leaving, Mama?”
The hall grew deathly silent as the word Blair had uttered sank in.
Mama.
Rowena’s heart grew even more inside her chest, strengthened by that single word.I am her mother and I will bring her father home safe.With every servant watching her with sharp gazes, Rowena kissed Blair’s forehead. The soft scent of Blair’s skin made her want to stay there and cradle the child to her, but she had to leave. Quinn needed her.
“I must go for a short while, sweetheart. Someone must bring your papa home.” The words came out of her throat raw. She didn’t want to leave Blair behind, not after being called Mama, but she had to find Quinn.
“Take care of her, Kenna.” Rowena hugged Blair and handed her over; then she grabbed her coat from a footman and pulled it on.
Morris opened his mouth but she cut him off.
“You’ve no right to tell me I cannot go out and rescue the man I love. If you try, I’ll send you packing.” She shot him a steely gaze and the older butler nodded in grudging respect.
“Very well, my lady, but I will insist on going with you.”
The grooms had ponies ready and Rowena mounted hers quickly. The search party headed north to the low-lying hills, searching for any signs of Quinn as darkness consumed the light inch by inch. The ponies plunged through the heavy snow, trekking farther and farther north.
“We’re nearly to the mountains.” Morris approached her side, a red scarf covering his face and muffling his voice a little.
Rowena squinted at the thinning trees and the steep, rocky path half a mile ahead.
“We have to leave the horses and walk the rest of the way,” Morris added, and to Rowena’s surprise, he aided her in dismounting.
The clouds overhead began to unleash a wave of fresh snow and the search party had to fight and claw their way to the base of the hills. The wind was bitter and piercing, knifing through her gloves to slash at her hands and suck away any bit of heat her body still possessed.
Quinn, where are you?She squinted through the darkness and the heavy snow, but had to close her eyes. She stopped moving, her body shaking violently as the cold moved through her body. A woman’s face suddenly flashed in her mind. Eyes bright and her lips parted as she drew in a quick breath; then her face was gone, but a faint whisper barely audible above the winds teased Rowena’s ears.
“Follow me.”
Rowena jolted awake from the strange trance and glanced around. She could not see any of the others from the search party. She was alone. Oh God, she was going to freeze to death out here…
A veil of snow parted ahead and a feminine figure appeared. A woman in a cloak, with a solemn gaze. Staring in shock, Rowena couldn’t move or speak. There couldn’t be a woman out here in the snow; she was the only female who’d gone out with the search party.
“Rowena…”The woman’s voice drew her name out soft and sorrowful like a plaintive call of a nightingale.“Follow me.”
Rowena moved, step by painful step, toward the figure ahead. She wasn’t sure how long she trudged through the snow. Minutes, hours, it all blurred together.
“Wait…,” she croaked as the figure began to fade into the night.
“Help!” A throaty voice broke through the gloom as the snowfall lessened.
“Here!” Rowena cried as she spied a huddled mass twenty feet ahead at the base of a tree. When she reached the tree, she collapsed to her knees and came face-to-face with Douglas the gamekeeper. He had his arms wrapped around Quinn’s limp form.
“What happened?” Rowena asked as she started to lift Quinn by one arm but Douglas shouted.
“No! He’s got a dislocated shoulder. Lift him by the waist.” Douglas threw Quinn’s good arm over his shoulder and Rowena gripped her husband’s waist.
