A Highlander of Her Own

by Melissa Mayhue

  Caden jerked his attention back to his friend. “What?”

  Steafan sighed before answering. “Yer mind went wandering, did it?”

  “My apologies, my friend.”

  In truth, Steafan Maxwell was more like a brother than a friend. He’d been apprenticed to Dun Ard when both of them were but boys. And being of an age, they’d bonded immediately. Caden was eternally thankful that not even the problems with Alycie, Steafan’s sister, had ruined their friendship, for he couldn’t imagine the future at Dun Ard without Steafan at his right hand.

  “I’m no surprised. No with all you’ve had to fash yerself over. I dinna want to add to yer problems, Cade, and I ken I’ve only just returned from Inverness, but I’ve a need to fetch my mother to Dun Ard. I dinna want to think of her waiting on the farm all alone for word of Dair and Colin.”

  Caden nodded. He should have considered that himself. “When do you plan to leave?”

  “I’ve sent word to my mother to be ready. I’d like to leave the end of the week.” Steafan’s eyes shifted away and then back. “If I have yer permission, that is.”

  Caden nodded,

  “Of course you have it.”

  No mother should wait alone for word of her son’s death.

  Shaking off her gloomy thoughts, Ellie realized she’d ridden the whole distance back to Dun Ard without speaking. Though Caden had been quiet for most of their earlier trip, she had felt somehow connected to him, as if he maintained the silence to give her time to sort through her situation.

  The ride back was different. Once Caden’s friend had joined them, the two of them had ignored her completely.

  But that was just fine, she reminded herself irritably. It didn’t matter at all that Caden would choose his friend’s company over hers. Besides, she’d needed the time to adjust before facing whatever was to come.

  As they approached the gate, Steafan kicked his mount, racing ahead, while Caden slowed his pace, allowing Ellie time to draw even with him.

  Glancing up at his face, she was surprised to find he appeared more tense and withdrawn than he had for the entire day they’d spent together.

  And considering their day, that was saying something.

  They rode through the long tunnel in the wall that Caden referred to as a gate, coming out into a flurry of activity in the courtyard. When they’d left here earlier, there had been only a few people around. Now there were horses and men everywhere.

  Caden drew his mount close to hers, guiding them toward the great stairs. She didn’t miss the fact that he maneuvered them so that he was a barrier between her and the bulk of the activity.

  The man waiting at the foot of the stairs for them had to be the brother Steafan had mentioned. He leaned against the great stone wall, one foot propped up on the stairs, looking far more relaxed than Caden had since she’d known him. Still, the resemblance between the two men was striking.

  Caden dismounted and reached his hand up to Ellie. She assumed he meant to help her down, but instead he swept her into his arms, carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all.

  He stopped briefly at the foot of the stairs, meeting the smiling gaze of his brother. “No word of Colin?”

  The smile disappeared as the other man shook his head. “But it’s no been so verra long, Caden. Dinna be thinking the worst yet. Give Blane time.”

  “I suppose yer right. Where’s Mother?”

  “Fussing after Sallie in her rooms, I’d guess.” The dazzling smile returned. “And this must be our guest? Can she no walk under her own power? Or have you another reason for carrying her about?”

  “She’s hurt,” Caden growled, pushing past his brother and marching up the stairs.

  “It’s not all that bad,” Ellie protested, though no one seemed the least bit interested in what she had to say.

  The great door opened just before they reached the landing and the man standing there scrambled out of their way as Caden barged through.

  “Lady Rosalyn!” he yelled, heading down the hall and starting up the next set of stairs.

  “No, seriously, I hardly feel it now.”

  “Yer cold, yer tired and yer hurt. It’d be no surprise that you’d lose feeling in the leg. We’ll have it taken care of in a moment. Quiet yerself now.” He reached the top of the stairs and strode down the long hallway. “Mother!” he roared, even louder than before.

  Rosalyn appeared in a doorway at the end of the hall. “What in the name of the Fates are you carrying on about?” Her eyes widened when she saw Ellie in his arms.

  “What’s happened?”

  Caden followed his mother down the hall to Ellie’s room, gently depositing his charge in the middle of her bed while his mother hurried off to collect her healing basket.

  Rosalyn had been quite clear as to what was expected of him today. Take the girl down to the village. Let her see it to help her accept where she was. But had he been content to do that simple task as it was given him? Oh no. Not him.

  He didn’t trust the lass. Didn’t want to be embarrassed by her or have to explain who she was if they came upon someone. So what had he done? He’d taken her to the decrepit remains of his childhood home and exposed her to serious injury.

  Now look at the poor wee thing, sitting in the bed, hurt, waiting bravely for her wound to be tended.

  His plan when he’d entered her room had been to make a quick escape, but she’d grasped his hand as he put her down and hadn’t let go.

  With her other hand she still held tightly to the filthy bundle of dog she’d carried all the way from Sithean Fardach.

  He’d never seen a woman so concerned with the welfare of all the creatures she touched. Someone with that kind of compassion couldn’t possibly be a threat to his family.

  And yet…she was a woman, and he’d learned all too well not to assume he knew what was going on in a female’s mind based upon her behavior.

  Besides, she’d been sent there by the Fae, who always had their own reasons for what they did. He wouldn’t forget that, wouldn’t be caught unawares this time.

  A high-pitched screech from the doorway jerked him from his thoughts.

  Anabella MacPherson, the mother of his sister’s husband, stood dramatically poised to enter the room, one hand over her heart, the other pointing at their wounded guest.

  “What is that?” Anabella advanced on the bed, her eyes narrowing as she neared. “A nasty wee beastie? What are you thinking to bring that vile creature in here?”

  “I…I rescued her.” Ellie’s grasp on his hand tightened as she looked up at him, confusion bright in her eyes.

  From the dog’s whimper, Caden assumed her hold on it had tightened as well.

  “Leave her alone, Anabella.” His sister entered the room, her swollen stomach and rolling walk reminding him of one of the ducks that waddled around their pond in the spring.

  “But look there, Sallie. She’s a dirty creature in her lap. I’ll be having no filthy animals in the keep where my own grandchild will at any moment be making his appearance in the world.” The woman nodded her head vigorously.

  “Her appearance,” Sallie corrected, herding the woman from the room. “And I’ll be sure yer given plenty of notice as to when she will be putting in an appearance, but it’s no going to be in the next few minutes. Now come along.” She rolled her eyes as she disappeared through the doorway.

  “My sister. The great round one, that is,” he explained for Ellie’s benefit since she still watched him. “No the old one. That’s her husband Ranald’s mother.” He wrinkled his nose in distaste, feeling a need to put Ellie at ease.

  How Sallie had put up with Anabella all these years was beyond him. They argued constantly, yet seemed the best of friends. It baffled him.

  Ellie’s nervous stare turned to a grin, but that was wiped away at the sound of a scream, followed by Anabella’s voice shrilling down the hallway.

  “We’re surrounded by filthy beasts!”

  Ellie tilted her h
ead to the side as if listening before turning an apologetic smile his way. “It’s Baby. He’s looking for me because he’s worried.”

  “Mother says this great beast is hunting for you.” Andrew entered the room, Baby at his heels.

  “Where is Lady Rosalyn?” This was taking forever. Who knew what kind of pain the lass endured while people paraded in and out.

  “Here I am.” Rosalyn hurried into the room, her healing basket on her arm. “Move,” she ordered the huge dog, giving him a shove as she moved toward her patient.

  He ambled around to the opposite side of the bed, laying his head on the mattress, staring at Ellie, a forlorn expression on his huge face.

  “Now,” Rosalyn began, sitting down beside Ellie, “let’s see what kind of damage we have.”

  “I don’t think it’s all that bad. And Caden bandaged it really well before we left the old castle.” Ellie let go of his hand and the dog in her lap to grasp her skirts and lift them up to midthigh, unself-consciously baring the injured calf.

  And a bit more.

  Caden’s breath caught, as it had at Sithean Fardach when she’d done the same to allow him to bind her wound. The smooth expanse of soft white skin mesmerized him, called to him so that he had to grip the post on the bed to keep himself from reaching out to stroke it.

  “Aye. Quite a thorough bandaging, I’d say.” Drew’s eyes sparkled with mischief before they returned to Ellie’s uncovered legs.

  “Andrew. Out!” Caden had no intention of allowing his brother to stand about ogling the woman. It might well be that she was Andrew’s intended but she could just as easily be here for Colin. No, it was best to keep his brother in his proper place for now.

  “I’ve no a need for either of you. Both of you, out.” Rosalyn dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

  “You’ll be fine now,” Caden assured Ellie as he hesitated at her bedside, oddly reluctant to leave her.

  “I know. I am fine.” She nodded and smiled at him as she reached over to scratch Baby’s head. “Really. You don’t need to worry about me.”

  Worry? He wasn’t worried about her. It was simply his responsibility to see to it that she was tended. After all, it was his fault she was injured in the first place.

  “Go,” his mother ordered, leaving him no alternative.

  He and Drew eyed one another in the hallway before his brother grinned and threw an arm around his shoulder.

  “Come on. What say we go down to Cousin Blane’s solar and inspect the laird’s ale in his absence?”

  “No, Drew,” Caden countered. “It’s been a torturous day. I say we inspect his whisky instead.”

  He could use a good stiff draught.

  “It’s no so bad.” Rosalyn looked up from examining the wound on Ellie’s leg. “Though I’d expect it to be tender for the next few days.”

  Ellie nodded her agreement. “That’s what I thought. Mostly just scraped it up when I went through the stairs.”

  “Was it worth it? Are you convinced of where you are?”

  Ellie studied the top of Rosalyn’s head bent over her work as she decided how to answer. These appeared to be good people, giving her no reason to doubt them.

  “I guess so. I believe I’m where you say I am. But for the life of me, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to accept how it happened or the who-did-it part.”

  Rosalyn’s fingers stilled in their work and she glanced up thoughtfully. “It’s more than likely that you are the one who did it. You’ve the power of the Fae in that mark on yer breast, lass.”

  That damn red mark again, creating havoc in her life since the morning she’d first found it.

  She’d awoken drenched in perspiration after a fitful sleep, as she had for the whole week since Nora’s accident. Only on this particular morning, her breast, right over her heart, felt so odd—warm and tingly, like tiny feathers dusted across it without cease.

  Pressing against the spot with her hand had no effect as she stumbled to the bathroom and tugged her T-shirt off over her head to stare in the mirror at the most frightening thing she’d ever seen.

  The beginnings of the mark were already there and continuing to pop out on her skin as if some invisible hand drew it as she watched. There was no pain, more like feeling tiny butterfly wings brushing over her skin. The tingle traveled up to her head, to the very roots of her hair and out to the tips of her fingers, growing, pulsing, heating her skin. The sensations overwhelmed her, continuing to build and swirl around and through her.

  She had grabbed on to the edge of the sink to steady herself and she felt the sensations center in her chest, where the mark continued to grow, burning and expanding until, with one final burst of power, there was nothing.

  When it finished, a deep red imprint stained her breast, looking so much like a rose she’d stood breathless, exhilarated, weak, wondering for a moment if in her grief she’d lost her mind.

  I grant you all you ask. And more.

  The words, musical and masculine, had echoed through her mind, reinforcing her fear.

  “Would you tell me about the mark. Please?”

  Rosalyn stopped her ministrations and, shifting her position on the bed, tilted her head. “You’ve honestly no idea what it is, do you?”

  Ellie shook her head and shrugged. “I woke up a month ago and there it was. At first I thought I was crazy. Then I thought it was some horrible disease that was going to be the death of me.”

  The older woman smiled and patted Ellie’s thigh reassuringly. “It’s more likely to be the life of you.”

  “How could I have done this? I mean, I know you say I have power in this mark, but how?”

  Rosalyn went back to work on Ellie’s leg, smoothing a salve over the wound. “Tell me the last thing you remember before you found yerself here. What you were doing, anything you might have said.”

  “Well, I was sitting under a tree, down by the river that runs through our back pasture. I was…” Ellie hesitated, not wanting to spread out all her problems for this woman. “I was thinking about some things I needed to deal with, watching a storm on the horizon. Then lightning hit me. That’s pretty much all there was.”

  “Was it now? There would have been words you spoke, I’m thinking. I’ll need to hear them to help you find yer way home again.”

  “Words?” Ellie felt a flush heat her face as she remembered what she’d said aloud just before the lightning hit her. “I was…this is going to sound so stupid. I was just sort of wishing to find a man.” How humiliating.

  “Any man or one in particular? The exact words will make a difference in what we need to do.”

  Ellie took a deep breath and blew it out. What the heck? As embarrassing as it felt, Rosalyn didn’t seem to be making any judgments, just seeking facts.

  “I wished to find the one man who’s meant for me, wherever he is.” She knew she mumbled the words, but sharing something so private made her feel like she was a small child caught with her hand in her grandmama’s bear-shaped cookie jar.

  “Ah-ha!” Rosalyn looked up, a twinkle in her eye. “Now we have something to work with, lass. There you are, all tidied up.” She patted Ellie’s knee and stood, gathering all her bandages and pots, putting them back in the large basket sitting beside the bed. “You’ve had quite the day. I’d think it best for you to rest now. I’ll send one of the lasses up with some nice herb tea and a bite for you and yer beasties to eat. Would you like that?”

  “But what does it all mean? What do I have to do to get home?” She’d humiliated herself by giving the woman the exact words. The words that made her sound like some pathetic, love-starved teenager. The least she deserved was some answers.

  Rosalyn paused, her hand on the door. “It’s verra simple, lass. You’ve come to find yer true love. Once you do, you’ll be able to go home.” She smiled and walked out the door.

  “Wait!”

  The older woman poked her head back in the door. “Aye?”

  “That’s it? I
just find this true love and then that’s it, I go home? I don’t actually get to keep him? I mean, if it’s my true love or whatever, shouldn’t I be spending the rest of my life with him?” How wrong would that be? Not that she really, actually wanted a man of her own.

  “Did you ask to spend the rest of yer life with him? Or just to find him? Power lies in the words. What words you speak determines the outcome.”

  “Okay, then, when I find him, I’ll just ask to keep him.” She grinned at her hostess. How hard could this Faerie stuff be?

  “I’m sorry, lass. The power disna work that way. You set the terms when you invoked the magic.” Rosalyn shut the door behind her.

  It wasn’t bad enough she’d apparently wished herself into some other time to find the one man meant for her. Oh no. In true Ellie Denton style, she’d set it up so she’d just get to meet the man. Just see what she’d be missing out on her whole life. And then poof, gone.

  Ellie turned on her side and cuddled the warm little dog in her arms, ignoring the tears rolling down her cheeks.

  Classic. Just get to see your heart’s desire. Just get to touch it and then it’s gone. Well, if that wasn’t just the story of her whole life.

  Crap.

  “Mother?”

  Rosalyn halted her steps toward the back of the keep, turning at the sound of her oldest son’s voice.

  “Aye?”

  “Ellie, is she…” Caden stopped and rubbed a hand over his face. “Will the wound leave a scar?”

  “No. You should have listened to the lass. It’s no a bad injury at all.”

  Caden sighed and straightened his shoulders, looking as if a great weight had been removed from them. “Good. That’s good.”

  Rosalyn patted her son’s arm and turned to go, stopping as another thought occurred to her.

  “I was right, by the way. About why she’s here.”

  “Yer sure, then? She’s to wed Colin or Andrew? Can you say which?”

  “Och, Caden.” Rosalyn clicked her tongue and smiled as she closed the distance between them, tugging at her tall son’s shoulder to place a kiss on his cheek. “You of all people should ken the ways of the magic better than that. No even a full-blood Fae would be able to answer that question. I can only say she’s been sent to find her true love, and my heart tells me that man is a MacAlister.”