“Ye’re what?”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, more slowly and clearly this time. “I shouldnae have said those things to wee Angus.”
It seemed like the apology was a genuine one, which made it all the more surprising to her. There was a raw sincerity in his eyes that Maura had caught a glimpse of the night before while tending to his wounds, and it was something that caught her off guard. It really did look as though he felt guilty for the things he had said.
“Thank ye, Lachlan.”
The corner of his mouth twitched as if to form a smile, and Maura saw his eyes crease a little in the corners. But then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the hint of a smile was gone. After all, the apology was not what had driven him here. It was not why he’d followed so intently.
“I heard ye fightin’ with yer maw. Could hear the yellin’ from outside. She said it was about Campbell.”
The way his lip curled into a sneer at saying Campbell’s name did not go unnoticed by Maura, nor did the sudden iciness of his tone. His hatred for the man was seeping out of every inch of him, but Maura still had no idea why. After all, he was refusing to admit he even knew the man.
“Aye,” she murmured, “it was.”
“S’that is why ye ran oot here? Campbell?”
Maura did not respond, but she didn’t have to. He could tell from her expression that he was right. “What did he do? Did he hurt ye? Did he lay a hand to ye?”
“What?” Maura was stunned by the accusation. “Why would ye even think such a thing?”
“Did he?”
“No! My God, do ye think every man is as much a brute as ye?!”
“No.”
“Ye hate him without even knowing him,” Maura accused him angrily. “Ye’ve been spoilin’ for a fight with him since ye saw him outside yesterday.”
“Ne’ermind then,” Lachlan said quietly, turning his head away to gaze out over the loch. Maura wanted to press him for more information. She wanted to know just why he loathed Malcolm so much, what the other man could possibly have done to deserve this ire, but something told her that she would not get any answers.
The two fell silent for a few minutes, and instead of talking, they simply basked in the warm sunshine together. Lachlan was the first to speak; curiosity got the better of him, and he could not help himself. “Then why are ye upset?”
A frown knitted Maura’s brows together into a line as she heard Lachlan’s words in her head again. To him, she was nothing more than a charitable cause to which he could spare some of his precious time. “It’s not how I would like to feel after hearing a proposal.”
“He proposed marriage?”
Maura’s frown deepened. She felt embarrassed to admit this girlish fantasy aloud, especially to a man like Lachlan, but she had always held an ideal for a proposal close to her heart. She’d always dreamed that a proposal would be sweet and loving—between two souls, not two estates.
“It made me feel…pathetic,” she said, mirroring Lachlan’s movements beside her and tearing out a blade of grass. “It made me feel as though I was worthless to him, nothin’ more than a woman who’d rely on him.”
Their financial struggles were no secret to Maura. She’d known about them her whole life and was well aware that more often than not, her mother depended upon the kindness of strangers to put food on the table. To have her marriage proposal seem like nothing more than another act of charity was humiliating to her.
“We need help from almost everyone we meet,” she whispered. “Even ye. I never wanted that from a husband. I never wanted to feel like I had to depend on him, but I guess I was just bein’ foolish.”
There was a long pause while Lachlan considered her logic before he spoke again. “Well, ye’re not dependin’ on me. Ye helped me by putting a roof over my head and filling me with ale and supper, and I repaid ye in kind with fixin’ the Inn up and tossin’ the Jakey out the door last night. Neither one of us is dependin’ on the other. Just offering what little help we can.”
Maura was surprised by his words. Again, she had a glimpse of the man she’d seen the night before when she’d cleaned the cuts on his face. She saw a glimmer of softness that was hidden far below the layers of pent-up anger and frustration. Shockingly, beneath all of that, there was a little bit of sound advice.
“Thank ye, Lachlan,” she said, managing a smile for him. “That means a lot t’me.”
“Good.” He chuckled, slapping his knee and rising to his feet. “Now, shall we head back? Yer mother’s probably goin’ spare at the thought of ye wandering these hills alone.”
The hand he held out for Maura to help her up engulfed hers completely, and when he pulled her to her feet, he managed it effortlessly as though she weighed nothing at all.
“Shall we, miss?” he asked, motioning back in the direction they’d just come from.
When they returned to the Inn, Edna was waiting for them outside. She was holding a rag between her hands, wringing it desperately as she worried for them, but at the sight of them walking down the track towards the Inn, relief spread across her face.
“Oh, thank the heavens.” It wasn’t uncommon for Maura to disappear from the Inn when she was in a bad mood, and she would always return home well before dark, but that could not stop Edna’s worrying.
Her relief quickly gave way to anger as her daughter returned, closely flanked by Lachlan. He walked a step or two behind her, looming over her like her own personal guard, ready to fight any man who dared get close. “Maura Kelly, ye’ll give yer mother a heart attack!”
She smacked her eldest daughter on the arm sharply, and Maura recoiled from the sting, rubbing the spot that she was sure would be bright red from her mother’s hand. Edna glared at her, before turning her gaze on Lachlan. “Where was she?”
“She had nae gone too far,” he said cryptically. “She wasn’t in any danger.”
“Wasn’t in any danger…” Edna echoed, shaking her head in disbelief. “She’ll be in a mighty load of danger if she ever dares do that again, believe me.”
“Sorry, Maw,” Maura mumbled, still rubbing her arm. “I won’t run off like that again.”
“I’ll make sure ye won’t.” Edna looked between them before throwing her hands up in exasperation. “What’ll I do with the pair of ye, hm? Maura, ye’d best get to preparing the kitchen before we get people through the door, and if I hear a peep out of ye, there’ll be hell to pay.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Maura nodded, bowing her head before dashing off into the Inn. As she went inside, she could hear Lachlan and her mother talking in hushed tones—most likely about her—but she could not hear the exact words.
To avoid drawing any more of her mother’s blinding rage, Maura got to work in the kitchen. There was much that needed to be done before they started to see their first patrons of the night, so she was not short of things to do to keep herself occupied. Despite that, she could not help but let her mind wander while she was alone in the kitchen.
Lachlan, it seemed, had been careful not to tell Edna exactly where he’d found Maura. He could quite easily have told her mother that Maura had been found on the hillside that overlooked the loch, and in doing so would have revealed the place she’d taken up as her own private haven from the rest of the world. However, he had not done so. Had he done that to protect her? To allow her to keep her privacy?
Whatever Lachlan’s reason had been to keep her secret, Maura decided she was grateful to him.
In the days following Maura’s runaway act, life at the Inn seemed peaceful enough. Lachlan seemed to have managed to insert himself into the routine of the family with no hesitation, and it seemed no stranger to find him eating breakfast than to see Angus or Isobel. While Edna had not quite managed to forgive Maura for the argument nor her disappearing act, she did not seem as though she was in a great rush to bring the argument back up, so their lives carried on.
Isobel and Angus were both glad for the extra person seated around
the table with them. Both seemed to adore Lachlan, and would quite often follow him around as he tried to work. Edna put him to work repairing damages to furniture, or fixing up various parts of the Inn, so he was often found outside hammering away at something or other. Usually, Angus and Isobel would not be far away and would be watching him intently, their eyes wide with wonder.
They were also particularly fond of Gairdh, and if they weren’t shadowing Lachlan, they were most likely in the stable, petting the beast and cooing at him. Besides the occasional traveler who rode a horse, they had never had much exposure to one before, so this was a unique experience. Gairdh, for the most part, seemed happy enough with the attention he was getting.
However, life at the Inn was not paradise. Although the worst of the storm seemed to have passed, there was still a lingering tension between Maura and Edna, and it was obvious to anyone who dared look closely enough at the two. As they ate around the same table, Edna would sneak glances at her eldest child, as if trying to figure out what she was thinking. Every silence that fell between them was strained and heavy, and it often fell to Lachlan to fill in the gaps in the conversation.
Neither woman had changed their position. Edna still wished for Maura to accept the proposal made by Malcolm Campbell, and banish all of their financial worries into the past. Maura was still resistant to the idea of marrying Malcolm—a man she did not know, let alone love. However, those notions of love were not something she would ever dare bring up to her mother. She knew that if she told her mother she wanted to marry for love she’d only earn herself a beating, so she stayed quiet.
The lingering tension that hung overhead was taking its toll on Edna. She had always been an early riser, and more often than not she was the first out of bed and the last to fall asleep. However, in the days since the argument, she had begun spending more time in bed. It was becoming harder to wake her in the mornings, and she was passing the responsibility of closing the Inn to Maura and Lachlan more often.
Maura knew something was wrong with her mother, but at first, she assumed it was nothing to worry about. Perhaps her mother was simply more tired than normal and needed the extra time to rest. However, she soon realized that the problem with Edna was far more serious than that.
6
It had been a week since the argument. With tensions between Maura and her mother near unbearable enough in the aftermath, she was glad to have the responsibility of looking after the Inn to keep her occupied. That meant there was always something to be done, which stopped her from worrying too much.
It was the afternoon, shortly before they were due to start seeing their first regular patrons through the door. Maura had already prepared the evening meal for the family while her mother rested upstairs, just as she always did. Every night, the family would eat their meal together, and then they would begin serving their guests while the children went to bed. With her mother so sick and upset, Maura had made sure to stick to that same routine.
“Angus, go wake Maw,” Maura called, wiping her hands clean on her skirt. “It’s almost time for us to start our food.”
The little boy raced up the stairs at the back of the kitchen, his footsteps thundering on the rickety floorboards as he ran. Maura could not help but wince at the sound of him rushing around and prayed that he did not hurt himself.
After a few minutes had passed with no sign of the boy reappearing, Maura went in search of him. She called out his name, heading towards the room where she had left her mother sleeping, only to find him in the upstairs hallway, looking upset.
“What’s happened, Angus?”
“Maw won’t wake. She won’t get up!” he whimpered, his lower lip wobbling as tears threatened to spill from his big blue eyes. Fear gripped Maura at the thought that her mother might be seriously ill, and she rushed inside the room.
Sure enough, her mother was exactly where Maura had left her—lying in bed, with the covers drawn to her chin. Her chest still rose and fell with every breath she took, but besides that, there was no sign of life.
“Maw!” Maura rushed to her mother’s bedside and shook her shoulders. “Maw, get up!”
But as hard as she tried to rouse her mother, she would not wake, at least not properly. Her eyes flickered a little as she recognized the sound of her daughter’s voice, and she let out a low groan, but other than that, there was nothing.
Maura had seen her mother like this only once before. It had happened in the days after her husband’s passing when she’d found herself unable to get up or feed herself. For those few days, Maura had stepped in to take care of her infant siblings until she managed to get word to a nearby healer who came to help. To this day, she was still uncertain about what he had given her, but when he left, Edna seemed to have returned to her normal self again.
Perhaps she is having an episode of the same affliction, Maura wondered. It was possible that her mother had come down with the same illness as before, and if that was the case, then she would simply need to find a healer to help her.
Maura rushed to gather her cloak and a small basket of food for herself. She knew of a healer almost a day’s walk from the Inn. He was a well-practiced and highly regarded gentleman, who often found himself called upon when families were unable to otherwise find cures. It would be a difficult journey to make alone, but she had no other choice.
She left her brother and sister with simple instructions as she fastened her cloak around her shoulders. The idea of leaving them alone in the Inn made her stomach turn, but she had no other choice.
“Ye’re leaving us here?” Angus whispered, his voice wavering with emotion. “Alone?”
Maura paused, her hand resting on the basket of food. She did not want to walk out and leave the two to fend for themselves for the evening, but if she did not, then she risked letting her mother get sicker. And then what would become of them?
She dropped into a crouch in front of them, taking Angus’s right hand and Isobel’s left. She gave them a squeeze before pressing them together tightly, so they were clasped together. “Isobel, ye listen to me now. Ye hold yer brother’s hand tightly while ah’m gone. And ye don’t let go of it until I get back, ye hear?”
Isobel nodded slowly, her eyes wide. Maura could recognize that childlike fear of responsibility. It was the same look that had been on her face all those years ago when she had first had to take care of the two of them alone.
“Good girl,” she whispered, stroking Isobel’s hair back from her face with a gentle hand. “Lachlan should be back soon so ye won’t be all alone. But I want ye to stay here, ye understand? Go upstairs and stay with Maw, and don’t let anyone but Lachlan in until I get back.”
“Yes ma’am,” Isobel whispered. Tears were welling in her eyes, but she blinked them away fiercely, setting a look of determination on her face as she looked at her older sister. She knew this was a responsibility, that Angus would be looking to her, and she wanted to make Maura proud. So despite the obvious fears of being left alone that were etched into her young face, she steeled herself, took her brother’s hand, and led him upstairs to their mother’s room.
Maura watched them go before taking the basket and heading out into the afternoon. She knew she would not be able to make it to the healer before nightfall, but she had hopes that she would be able to find shelter as it got dark and then continue on towards the healer at first light.
As she ran out of the Inn, she felt the first splash of a raindrop against her skin. The day had been beautiful and sunny, but at some point over the past few hours, heavy rain clouds had rolled in from the sea. That small raindrop was only the first of many, and the faster Maura ran, the heavier the rain seemed to become.
The easiest route to Dunoon was to follow the road that would eventually lead her there. It was not the quickest way, though. The fastest route was to clamber up the great hills and cross through the forest before reaching the town boundary. It was a more direct route, but it was by no means an easier one.
; Maura’s legs burned from the strain of climbing the hillside in the rain, which was only made more difficult as the ground turned to slippery mud beneath her feet. Her lungs were screaming for oxygen, and the early evening air around her was so cold that her throat felt raw with every inhale.
Maura paused at the crest of one of the many hills she had scrambled up, leaning against a nearby stone for support as she caught her breath. She could not be certain how long she had run to reach this point, but it was certainly long enough for the sun to dip low on the horizon. The light was fading quickly now, and Maura knew that meant she would need to find a place to rest for the night before setting out again at first light.
Just as she was about to set off, she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Are ye out of yer God-forsaken mind?!”
7
Maura turned quickly at the sound of the voice and lost her footing a little in the mud. She struggled to keep her balance and grabbed hold of the rock again for support.
Below her, only a few feet down the hill, was a furious and soaked Lachlan. He was scowling up at her in the dim light, his mouth set into a thin line. Maura had no idea how he had managed to catch up to her so quickly, but she could not bring herself to care. How he had found her was not important. What mattered more was that he did not try to stop her.
“Ye head back to the Inn, Lachlan!” she called, trying to keep her voice from wavering. She had never given a man an order like that before in her life, and the tone did not suit her.
It was clear the instruction did not sit any better with Lachlan, who strode up the hill easily, as though he already knew it by heart. He joined her at the crest of the hill, glowering down at her like she was nothing more than a troublesome brat who had stepped out of line.
“Ye’re givin’ me orders now?”
Maura’s instinct was to bow her head and apologize. She was by no means a woman who sought confrontation, especially not with men like Lachlan—men who were so powerful that they could quite easily throw her over their shoulder and carry her off if they so pleased.
Highlander's Tempting Stranger: A Steamy Scottish Medieval Historical Romance Page 5