Page 27 of Her Highland Prophecy
He finished eating and carefully placed the remaining pieces of meat in his sporran for later. They smothered the fire and prepared to leave. He was much warmer now that he had his plaid back and grimaced at the sight of Diana in her thin dress. He handed her his coat again before they mounted Taranis.
She was an interesting woman. Sometimes it seemed like her knowledge was endless. She was obviously well educated, her manners polished, like she was one of the aristocracy. And yet, she seemed out of sorts at the idea of killing for food and she had no qualms in berating him when she thought he was out of order. Hearing her curse earlier had been a revelation.
She was an enigma that intrigued him, and he looked forward to getting to know her better. It was a shame that he would only have a few weeks to get to know her. If there was ever a woman that could imagine marrying, it was her.
Maybe I can convince her to stay?
It was certainly something that he would have to contemplate carefully.
10
Diana sat on a fallen log, pulling Gordain’s coat closer around her. She was half hidden in a small copse of trees a few miles away from Inverness. She wanted to go into the town, but they decided that it was best to wait until he returned with suitable clothing for her.
She looked down at the dark blue dress that she had been wearing since the day she arrived. It was covered in dirt stains from where she had fallen and there were small tears in different places where she had snagged the fabric on branches. The pretty dress that had once been her favorite now looked like it belonged on a beggar.
And yet she did not want to get rid of it. Along with the medallion and her mother’s necklace, it was one of the few links she had to her own time. Anything of value that she had found in her purse she had given to Gordain to sell to pay for her clothing and grant her enough funds to survive over the next few weeks without arousing suspicion.
She had toyed with the idea of also selling her mother’s necklace, but she couldn’t bear the thought of parting with it. It was precious to her. It was unthinkable to imagine returning to the future without it.
The sound of a horse’s hooves on the wet ground broke her out of her reverie and she looked to the entrance of her hiding place with some trepidation. She was relieved when she saw it was him and some of the tension she had been feeling eased at the sight of him.
“Are ye all right, Princess? Nay one bothered ye while I was gone?” he asked as soon as he was near enough. She smiled at the nickname.
“No, I didn’t see anyone at all.”
“That’s guid.”
He handed her a bundle he had been holding.
“Yer clothes,” he explained at her questioning look. “I’ll wait for ye beyond those trees. When ye’re ready, come find me and we’ll be on our way.”
He retreated just beyond the line of trees that obscured her from view, leaving her alone once more.
Getting dressed was an adventure. The clothing all looked familiar to her thanks to her visits to museums in her time, but she had never attempted to put anything like that on. It was a struggle and she was sorely tempted to call Gordain over to assist her but thought that it might be too much of a shock to his seventeenth-century sensibilities so she restrained herself. Barely.
At least she was much warmer now. The dress was more reminiscent of the Scottish than the English dresses of the time period and included a pair of thick woolen stockings and a shawl not unlike Gordain’s plaid.
Even so, it was embroidered along the bottom of the hem and on the sleeves and of obviously good quality. No one who saw her wearing it would doubt that she was a woman of good fortune. She combed her fingers through her hair, wishing she had been able to bathe before getting dressed, but abandoned it as a lost cause.
She bundled up everything she had been wearing and draped Gordain’s coat over her arm as she approached him. He turned around when he heard her footsteps and his eyes widened.
“Ye look bonnie, me Sassenach Princess,” he said and she blushed slightly under his earnest gaze.
She was not a stranger to male looks. In her time it was quite common to be at a party, drinking, smoking and flirting with a number of men at any given time. She had had compliments lavished upon her on many occasions. It was different with him. His simply worded, but sincere compliment, touched her more deeply than a hundred of the others put together.
“Thank you,” she said once she composed herself. “Are we going back to Inverness for supplies?”
He shook his head. “I have some here, but we shouldnae go so soon with ye in that dress. They will recognize it and ask too many questions. We’ll go to Beauly before turning north toward the Castle.”
“All right. I can’t wait until we reach the village. I’m looking forward to seeing everything the way it is now in comparison to the future. Did I tell you that we stopped in Beauly while we were on holiday? It was such a quaint little town!”
“Ye didnae tell me, but I am glad that ye are excited to see it,” he said with an indulgent smile.
“Do you know if the Lovat Castle is still standing? There was a bit of controversy on when exactly it was destroyed.”
“Aye, it stands. Though I think that much of the outer wall is gone now. We can go there if ye like. It is on our way.”
“Could we? That would be amazing!”
