Page 29 of Lost with a Scot
“Aye. She was all alone and had no way to care for herself. I thought perhaps we could let her stay here while she heals.”
“Aiden, she’s a woman, not a wild animal. She must have a family or people who need to find her.”
“If she does, I’ll reunite her with them the moment she has her memory again. But ’tis likely her family lives on the Continent far away from here.”
Joanna shot Brock a clearly concerned look. It didn’t escape Aiden’s notice that Brodie and Lydia had reacted similarly to his story. Why did they all think that he saw her as a wounded creature like one of his many animals? She was infinitely more than that. Aiden was all too aware that Anna was a woman. And more importantly, she washiswoman. But that was something he could not explain to anyone but Anna.
“Of course, she is welcome here for as long as she wishes to stay,” Brock said.
“Yes,” Joanna echoed, but clearly her English way of thinking was making it more difficult for her to understand that Aiden had taken responsibility for Anna. He would care for her until she no longer wished him to. It was a Scotsman’s way.
A moment later, the butler announced that a coach was coming up the drive.
Aiden grinned. “They’re here.”
* * *
Brock putan arm around Joanna’s shoulders as they followed behind Aiden at a short distance.
“Brock, I’m worried about him,” Joanna confessed. “I know he’s had his brief romances, but that is it—they always end because he seems forever trapped in his solitude and melancholy. But something tells me this girl might be different. I wish for Aiden to be happy, but what if he loses this one too?”
“I ken ye’re worried, Joanna, but maybe this will be good for him. Perhaps the lass is bonnie. It would do him good to practice courting, and mayhap he will leave his melancholy behind.”
The coach rolled to a stop, and a young boy leapt off the driver’s seat into Aiden’s arms. Aiden caught the boy and set him down. Then the lad sprinted up toward Brock and Joanna, who stood at the top of the steps to the castle’s entrance.
“Are ye the mighty laird of this castle?” the boy asked him with wide eyes.
“Aye, laddie. My name is Brock Kincade.”
“I’m Cameron MacLeod.” The boy held out a hand, and Brock shook it with a chuckle and glanced at Aiden. They’d tangled with plenty of MacLeods in the past, but unlike Brodie, Brock clearly thought taking in a MacLeod was amusing rather than a cause for grumbling.
“Welcome, Cameron. This is my wife, Joanna. The mistress of this castle.”
“Ye’re verra pretty,” Cameron said. Joanna blushed and laughed softly.
“Just what we need in this house, another charmer.”
The boy rushed back to the carriage to help the driver unload the trunks and travel cases. Brodie assisted Lydia out of the coach, and Aiden took his place at the open door after they moved out of the way.
A feminine hand extended from the coach door, and Aiden gently took it. The mysterious female Aiden had rescued from the sea emerged from the vehicle. As she stepped down to the ground and turned to look up at Aiden, Brock saw something that made his throat tighten. The woman looked at Aiden as though she were under an enchantment. And he looked at her with the same bespelled expression.
An old fear, one Brock had thought long buried, dug its icy claws into his chest.
Brock had been a young man, barely in his teens, when a Romani tribe had visited his home years ago. He had been welcoming to them during his father’s absence, and the matriarch of the band had warned him upon their parting that his deepest fear would come true. He would see his youngest brother lost, and it would start with a beautiful stranger from another land who would capture his brother’s heart.
Was this the woman whose mere presence heralded his brother’s doom?
“Brock, what’s the matter?” Joanna whispered. His wife leaned against his arm, her eyes wide with worry.
“Nothing—it’s nothing.”
Joanna turned her focus back to Aiden and the stranger. “She’s very beautiful. Look at the way she moves,” Joanna said. “They look like they like each other, don’t they? Maybe I was silly to worry about him. Perhaps he’s finally found the woman of his heart who will help him find happiness, the way you and Brodie found yours.”
Brock said nothing. That was the very thing he dreaded.
“You will try to save him, but will not succeed. It is the only way to set him free.”
He shook his head to rid himself of the memory of the old woman as she’d whispered her warning. Brock painted a smile upon his face and led his wife over to meet Aiden’s guest.
