Ellie surfaced, sputtering, to find Bridey on her feet, unfolding a large sheet of cloth.
“Here you go. We’ll dry you off and get you back into the keep. Where are yer things?”
“Things?” Ellie stood, quickly wrapping the drying sheet around her. The cloth was much larger than a bath towel, but thinner.
“Yer shift and yer overdress, lass. Where are they?”
“In my room?” At the old woman’s raised eyebrows, Ellie hurried to continue. “I was in my nightgown when I came out here.”
The eyebrows climbed higher.
“I could put my nightgown back on, I guess,” she finished lamely. That nasty, flea-infested blanket of a nightgown. The very idea made her shudder.
“You’ll do nothing of the sort. Wait here. I’ll go fetch something for you and send one of the lassies down with it.” The old woman started out, stopping to pick up the nightgown. She held it away from her body, by the tips of her thumb and first finger. “And this will go directly into the washing kettle.” Shaking her head, Bridey hurried out the door, leaving Ellie to wait.
“How long can she possibly freakin’ take?”
Ellie shivered as she peered around the corner of the bathhouse door one more time. It had to have been at least twenty minutes since Bridey left to get her clothes.
The slatted floor that allowed the easy dumping of bathwater also allowed for easy gusts of wind and the thin drying cloth was little to no protection against that.
She tiptoed back to the fireplace, turning to warm her backside for a moment before returning to the door.
Another glance outside. Nobody in sight.
“Well, this is just stupid.”
She’d go get her own clothes.
“The wind has a warmth to it.” Caden lifted his nose, scenting the air. Old Kenneth had taught him this skill of determining the weather. Or given him the gift of the knowing. Caden wasn’t sure which. “The snows are over. We’d best begin moving the sheep from winter pastures.”
“Verra well,” Steafan answered. “I’ll put together a party to ride out at first light.”
“It’s done, then,” Andrew agreed. “If only all our challenges were so easily met.”
Caden nodded his approval, halting as something brushed past his leg.
Ellie’s rat dog.
The creature pranced—there was no other way to describe it—across the yard. The little dog sat down next to the larger beast Ellie had rescued and stared back at him, her ears perked straight up on her head. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she’d been trying to get his notice.
Ridiculous.
And yet the uncomfortable feeling lingered as his attention fixed on the animals. In unison their heads turned away from him toward the back of the keep. After a moment, again at the same time, their gaze returned to him.
He couldn’t remember having seen the like of it.
After the second repeat of their unusual action, he glanced in the direction their attention was drawn, immediately spotting what they saw.
Ellie. Clad only in a drying cloth.
“By all the Fae of the Glen,” Caden growled. It hadn’t been more than two hours since he’d warned her about covering her body properly.
“You’ll need to put a stop to that behavior,” Steafan cautioned. “Even if she is a guest of Lady Rosalyn’s.”
As if he needed his friend to tell him that. “The woman’s determined to drive me mad.”
“At this rate, she may drive us all mad,” Drew chuckled. “Ah, but, Cade, what a way to go, eh? She’s a rare treat for the eyes.”
“Damn yer eyes,” Caden ground out, already stalking across the distance that separated him from Ellie, Drew’s laughter ringing in his ears.
She’d seen him. Frozen in her tracks as he neared, her eyes open wide like a doe caught in the sites of his bow. Her head bobbed back and forth as she looked from the bathhouse to the keep, like she thought to escape him.
When he reached her, she held up one hand as if to stop him, the other clasping the top of the drying cloth, keeping it from slipping any lower than it already had.
“I can explain.” Her words tumbled out breathlessly.
“Truly? The bathhouse disna appear to be on fire, and I canna think of any other acceptable reason for you to be parading about, yer body exposed as it is.” He kept his voice quiet, controlling his urge to yell. The last thing he wanted was to draw a crowd of men to this spot. Having Steafan and Drew gawk at her was bad enough. “Did I no give you very specific orders, this very morning, to keep yerself properly covered? I canna imagine what explanation you might have.”
“Orders?” Her hand dropped to join the other, clutching the drying cloth at her breasts. “You know what? I don’t have to explain anything to you.” She twirled, giving him her backside as she started toward the keep.
And a very nice backside it was, clearly outlined with only the thin drying cloth as covering. As Drew had said, she was quite a treat to watch.
He started to turn away, to allow her to make her own way back to her room wearing nothing more than that wisp of cloth, in spite of her having ignored all he’d told her. But then she stepped on something.
“Dammit!” Ellie halted, balancing on one foot.
The cloth she still held with one hand parted as she lifted her other foot to examine her sole, slowly revealing more and more smooth white skin. Her calf, her knee, her thigh…
Steafan’s strangled cough from somewhere behind him snapped him out of what felt like a trance.
“Enough!” he roared, only vaguely recognizing the unusually possessive nature of his anger.
Not unusual, he quickly rationalized. After all, while she was at Dun Ard, she was his responsibility. One of his people. He expected his people to do as he told them, especially when it was for their own good, and she was no exception. He would not have his orders ignored.
Swooping in, he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, one arm behind her knees and his other hand firmly on the backside he’d just been admiring.
Before she had presented ever so much more for him, and everyone else who happened by, to admire.
He would not have her exposing herself to the drooling gaze of every man at Dun Ard lest he be forced to fight them all to save her honor, such as it was.
“Put me down,” she demanded, her voice coming from somewhere in the region of his left shoulder blade. “Right this minute.”
“I dinna think so.” He stalked across the open area and into the gardens, headed to the nearest door of the keep.
“Now!” she yelled, pounding her fist on his back as she tried to kick free, like a spoiled bairn in full tantrum.
Apparently he’d been too subtle in his dealings with their stubborn guest.
One sharp smack to the lovely backside under his hand and she instantly stilled, a surprised gasp her initial response.
“You have absolutely no right to do that,” she hissed. “When you put me down, I’m going to…”
“Yer going to get properly dressed when I put you down,” he interrupted, feeling much more in control now. “And I’ll no see you about Dun Ard half naked again, else I’ll turn you over my knee and have at yer lovely arse with another whack. Do you ken my meaning?” If treating her like a willful child was what it took to get her attention, so be it.
They were inside the keep now, heading up the stairs.
He was keenly aware that he still held his hand firmly against the arse he’d just threatened. And he had no intention of moving it. Perhaps she’d take it for a lesson as to what happened to women who flaunted their bodies in public.
“Where I come from…” she started, but he cut her off again.
“But yer no there, are you now?”
When her body stiffened, he knew he’d hit his mark.
“So you’ll do well to behave according to where you are. It’s no safe in this time to be caught out as you were today. Many’s the man who�
�d take nasty advantage of the situation.”
He kicked open her door and strode into the room. Dumping her unceremoniously into the center of her bed, he turned and headed back out, but not before both lovely thighs came into view as she scrambled to hold the drying cloth closed.
For just an instant he sorely regretted her success, but he forced himself to walk away.
He paused at the door, speaking without turning to look at her.
“Dinna forget what I’ve told you. I’ll no look kindly on yer disobeying me again.” He closed the door behind him as he left but waited outside, listening to her tirade through the door.
“Disobey? You…you fourteenth-century chauvinist! Like you think I have any intention of doing what you tell me?” she yelled after him. “No man tells me what to do! Besides, there’s nothing wrong with the human body. It’s a beautiful thing. You’re just…just…medieval!”
Mede-what?
He shook his head and smiled to himself. She might be angry, but she would think twice before she behaved in such a manner again. There were too many men about at Dun Ard these days he didn’t know well. Too many troubles in the land to take unnecessary chances.
Something heavy smashed against the door as he walked away.
With the lass having a temper like that, one of his brothers would have his work cut out for him.
The feel of Ellie’s firm round bottom floated through his mind and he clenched his fingers into a fist.
At this moment, though, he couldn’t for the life of him feel anything even approaching pity for that brother.
Ten
Ellie stood next to her bed, looking for something else to throw. Granted, the overbearing sheepherder would be too far away to hear it, but hurling that metal basin across the room had felt wonderful. She’d had nothing but frustration lately and felt herself long overdue for a good venting.
Whether he truly deserved it or not, Caden MacAlister had been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
That man’s attitude was just absolutely…Ellie started her pacing again, searching for the appropriate adjective to fit the object of her ire.
“Male!” she fumed, halting in the middle of the room.
And like all the other men she’d dealt with in her life, this one irritated the living daylights out of her.
“Him with his big ol’ shoulders and his silky voice, rolling those r’s every time he talks. Doesn’t give him the right to…”
Her words trailed off as a shiver ran down her spine at the memory of his hand possessively clamped on her rear end as he’d carried her to her room. His touch made her feel…
“Pissed!” she yelled at the closed door, stamping her foot for good measure.
Pissed. Angry. Not all hot and bothered, not needy and certainly not like she wanted those massive arms around her again. Not at all like she wanted to be flattened up against that wall of muscled chest with his breath feathering over her face.
Ellie shook her head to clear those pictures.
“Oh, this is so not good.”
What she needed was to get her act together and find her way home. She needed out of here and away from that infuriating man. Besides, if she didn’t get back soon, Ray would have settled himself in to the ranch and there’d be no getting rid of him. Ever.
Her stomach lurched at the thought of Ray living in her home. He’d be scarring up her mama’s furniture with his dirty old boots, dropping his cigarette ashes all over the rugs, trashing the home she loved. The very idea had her anger flaring anew.
A quiet knock interrupted her mental rant. She stormed across the room and jerked open the heavy door, more than ready to give Caden a piece of her mind.
“S-sorry, milady.” The young girl at the doorway hastily stepped back.
She should have known. Caden would never have rapped on the door so timidly.
“What?”
The sharp word had barely left Ellie’s mouth before guilt washed over her. This poor child cringing away from her hadn’t done anything to warrant such treatment. Ellie huffed out her breath, letting go of her hold on the anger.
“Let’s try that again.” She smiled down at the girl. “You haven’t done anything wrong so you don’t need to apologize. That was totally rude of me to snap at you like that and I am sorry.”
The girl’s face paled and she shook her head, her blue eyes so large they seemed to take up her whole little face.
“No, milady, I do deserve yer wrath. Cook sent me to get yer dress and to bring it to you at the bathhouse.” Her chin started to quiver and she blinked rapidly but continued on, her words gathering momentum, rushing out one after the other. “But Angus—my brother, that is—he found a bird’s egg and I wanted to help him hunt for the nest where it belonged and then I forgot all about the dress until I heard the fuss in the garden and saw himself carting you up here and now I dinna ken what I can do to make it up to you and cook is going to be so verra angry with me.”
As if the torrent of words had taken everything the child had to give, she hung her head, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor.
The big tears rolling down the girl’s cheeks only made Ellie feel worse. Now what was she supposed to do?
What you do to make pup cry?
Missy padded through the doorway, slowing to rub against the girl’s leg before crossing the room to lie down in front of the fireplace. Once there, she fixed Ellie with an accusatory stare.
Just what Ellie needed. Guilt from a dog.
A dirty, flea-ridden dog at that.
Ellie felt a smile growing as another thought struck her. Perhaps she could solve two problems at the same time.
“What’s your name?” she asked, reaching out to tuck one of the child’s wild red curls back under the scarf from which it had escaped.
“Anna,” the girl sniffled without looking up, her hands worrying about each other.
“Well, Anna, cheer up. I think I know something you can do to help me that will more than make up for what you didn’t do. And don’t you worry. Cook will never even have to know about the whole dress thing. It’ll be our little secret. How does that sound?”
Anna’s head snapped up. “Truly? I’ll do anything you like, milady. Just tell me what you want of me.”
“First we’ll need to drag one of those big wooden tubs out into the garden.” Ellie glanced across the room to where Missy lay. “You ever give a dog a bath before?”
Missy stopped in midscratch, her ears perking up. Bath? Don’t need bath.
“That’s what you think,” Ellie muttered.
“Not a bad day’s work if I do say so myself.” Ellie grasped the wet hem of her skirt and wrung the water from it as she surveyed the muddy mess around her.
With Anna’s help she had changed all her bedding and then set about the day-long task of rounding up a large wooden tub and two suddenly elusive dogs for bathing. The crowd of giggling children they had drawn quickly made it apparent to her that dog bathing was a previously unknown form of entertainment in this time.
With the help of Anna’s friends they had at last managed to wrestle first Missy and then Baby into the large tub to wash them down with the same soap Ellie had used to rid her own body of the fleas this morning.
Was that only this morning?
Ellie stretched her aching back and wiped a hand across her face, feeling the mud encrusted there. The whole dog-washing operation had worn her out, but it had been well worth it.
“Looks like yer the one who needs a dousing now.” Anna’s eyes sparkled with merriment.
“Looks like,” Ellie agreed as she unrolled her sleeves. It had done no good to put them up. They were soaked. Just like the rest of her. Wet and muddy.
“You’ve likely missed the evening meal, mi…” The girl stopped and ducked her head shyly. “Ellie. Would you like me to bring something up to yer room for you to eat?”
Ellie smiled down at her little helper. It had taken the better part of the day to
get the ten-year-old to use her name.
“That would be great, Anna, thank you. It’s just as well I missed eating with everyone. I don’t think I have the energy left to carry on a decent conversation. Oh!” She paused and wrinkled her nose as the memory of an earlier meal struck her. “None of that wine stuff.”
Anna laughed and shook her head. “You got some from the barrel gone bad, eh? No worry. I’ll make sure you get a better serving tonight.” With that, Anna turned and raced off toward the kitchens.
Ellie followed more slowly, opting to take a side entrance from the gardens that led into the hallway rather than going through the bustle of the kitchen.
When she reached her room, she found Missy and Baby waiting patiently in the hallway. Ellie could almost swear they were smiling at her.
“I see you’re none the worse for your afternoon.” She reached down and scooped Missy up in her arms before opening the door.
Don’t need carried.
Though the protest rolled through her mind, Ellie noticed the little dog made no effort to get away as she scratched behind Missy’s ears. She plopped the animal on her bed and grinned when Baby hopped up next to the little dog, the two of them almost completely filling the bed.
“And where do you think I’m sleeping tonight?”
Missy looked innocently toward the fireplace and back again.
“Don’t even think it.”
You dirty.
Ellie looked down at her soggy dress. The dog had a point. As tempting as it was to simply peel out of her dress and fall into bed, she’d worked too hard at cleaning everything just to dirty it all up so quickly.
With a deep sigh of resignation, she gathered a clean shift and overdress and headed back to the bathhouse in time to see the sun setting behind the horizon.
Once there, she chose the tub behind the rock wall farthest from the door and filled it as Caden had showed her earlier. When the tub was ready, she undressed and tossed everything into a pile on the floor next to the bench where she’d laid out her drying cloth and change of clothing.
A Highlander of Her Own Page 8