Seumas: A Time Travel Romance (Dunskey Castle Book 2)

by Jane Stain

  Sasha met Seumas’s eyes, and they shared a smile in appreciation of how adorable the little girl was. Sasha lingered there in the smile as long as she could, admiring the set of Seumas’s light blue eyes, the chisel of his cheekbones, the lustrousness of his long red hair…

  Kelsey made her way back up to the front of their group and pointed out this sausage vendor and that cooper shop as she led them farther along the road through the castle town market. It made a circle around the castle, and they’d already gone halfway around, the town was so small.

  All in all, it was like a carnival at home, and Sasha loved it. Every now and then, she would see a table of wares that especially attracted her, and she would stop to handle and admire them. She stopped at a table full of small handmade wooden flutes, picked out one that looked like the recorder she used to play as a child, and put it to her lips.

  Without thinking, she ripped twice through “Jimmy Crack Corn and I Don’t Care” while bending forward and back and dancing around the way she used to when she was a kid. She smiled and hammed it up in front of a small crowd that had gathered, stomping their feet and clapping their hands along with the music she was playing.

  But then something small was behind her when she stepped backward. She lost her balance, teetered for a second, and then fell — smack in the middle of a huge mud puddle with a splash. Water soaked clear through her clothes all along her backside, and the chill autumn wind made her shiver.

  Little Deirdre was jumping up and down with her hands over her ears, crying, and then she ran over and grabbed Sasha’s arm and started pulling her, as if she could get her up on her feet again.

  “I’m sae sorry, Seumas! Sae sorry. Maw has clothes yer wife can wear till these get cleaned. Come ower tae oor house afore she catches her death o cauld. Och, I’m sae, sae sorry!”

  Trì (3)

  While he unfastened his brooch to loosen his arisade, Seumas gaped in dismay at the sight of Sasha soaked through in mud in this shivering wind. Moments earlier, she had been so lively and joyful. That had suited her much more. The sun would go down soon, and already it was cold. Still, he gave Eileen’s daughter a kind look. She hadn’t meant any harm, and she was just a bairn.

  “Thank ye, Deirdre, but I shall help Sasha up.”

  Still crying, the wee lassie dropped Sasha’s hand and backed up with a sniffle.

  The small crowd that had gathered to hear Sasha play the flute dispersed as quickly as it had formed, with nary a word in between. The vendors were starting to close their shops and stalls.

  Deirdre picked up the flute Sasha had been playing — which had flown out of her hand and landed on dry ground, but was no doubt now a used item — and gave it back to Raild, who smiled at her and then looked expectantly at Seumas.

  “Give me a moment, wull ye now?” he said to Raild while grabbing first Sasha’s hand and then her elbow and then her shoulder, getting her to her feet as quickly as possible while removing first her sopping wet cloak and then her strange muddy tunic so that he could wrap his arisade tightly over her wet shirt and hug her to himself to keep her as warm as could be in the whipping wind.

  Once this was done, he dug a copper out of his pouch and handed it to the craftsman in exchange for the flute, which he handed to Sasha.

  “Thank ye,” she said, her teeth all a chatter while she put it in a small leather bag she’d been carrying under her cloak. Something blue and shiny was in there, and he made a mental note to ask her what it was, later when they were warm.

  He felt a bit of guilt at the pleasure he took from the way her body felt against his while he clung to her tightly — but he only did so to keep her warm. Her friend Kelsey came over at first, visibly wanting to take over the keep-warm duty, but Tavish held her back.

  “She’s had a fall, Kelsey. Let Seumas hold her up.” He pulled her around to face him and gave her a tender look, caressing her face. “I fear ye are na strong enough tae dae sae.”

  Kelsey relented, and then something passed between the two women. Seumas couldn’t see Sasha’s face, but Kelsey blinked one eye at her with a smile that said they were having fun.

  Good. He was having fun, too.

  As the five of them hurried over to Eileen’s house — which thankfully wasn’t far, it was getting so cold — he wondered what his chances were with Sasha, even as he held her close, gazing at her fine featured face, her shining red hair, and her tall willowy figure that made muddy clothes and a man’s arisade look braw.

  She was clearly a high-ranking member of Tavish’s MacGregor clan. She was confident, accustomed to the respect of all, and he detected her ability to command. Her clothing was fine, and her boots finer. She knew how to play at least one musical instrument. Her hands were smooth as silk, and her face smoother still. Her laugh came readily, without a care in the world. She hadn’t ever worked in the fields. No, her father was wealthy enough to keep her away from toil. And wealthy fathers wanted wealthy husbands for their daughters.

  And what did he have to offer her? He was the younger son of the laird’s widowed sister. His older brother Alfred was captain of the guard and had some status in the town, but Seumas was just a rank-and-file soldier. He didn’t even have rooms at the castle like his brother did, let alone a house, but slept in the barracks.

  Sure, he could go out in the land and build a house, but he had no men to take with him to defend it nor to work the land — and anyhow, he had already discerned that Sasha was too fine a lady to live out in the land.

  Would her clan take him in? Mayhap, if Tavish vouched for him. Howsoever, after months of almost constant companionship, he didn’t even know what position Tavish held in his clan. Oddly, Tavish never spoke of it, which was just one strange thing among many he had only lately noticed about the man he’d quite enjoyed being on guard duty with.

  And that reminded him.

  “Tavish?”

  “Aye?”

  “How did ye come intae the tunnel doon tae the stone docks with yer two clanswomen when ye were meant tae be searching for yer lost sporran?”

  He had the man. Now it would come down to ‘put up or what for.’

  The MacGregor — if that was indeed his clan — was as good a fighter as they came. Up to now, there had been no one Seumas would rather have guarding his back. Howsoever, it had lately come to Seumas’s attention that Tavish was always coming in and out of one particular tunnel down the dock way at the strangest times, and now twice in the past few days he’d come out with women he claimed were in his clan.

  It stank the way fish do.

  But the man just shrugged, not saying anything at all in his defense.

  If he hadn’t saved Seumas’s life and livelihood more than once, the two of them would be having words. As it was, Seumas’s trust in the man was wearing thin. His guard was starting to come up between them. The man had secrets, and because they involved Seumas’s home, they were his business. Later. For now, he would enjoy the company of the beautiful Sasha.

  Deirdre opened the door for them all and yelled into the house.

  “Maw! I knockit Seumas’s wife ower and she’s all coverit in mud and all wet and they’re all here right now and she needs some dry clothes and ye have tae help her!”

  Eileen came around the center fireplace, brushing flour off her hands onto her apron.

  He needed to stop this rumor before it spread.

  “Eileen, this is Sasha. She isna my wife, but rather another o Tavish’s clan come tae visit. Sasha, this is Eileen, one o our master weavers. Kelsey has apprenticed with her.”

  Eileen smiled in greeting at Kelsey and then spoke to Sasha while she chased her smaller three children off this side of the hearth, where they were having a grand game of storm the castle.

  “Oh, ye poor thing. Here, sit doon at the fire while I find ye some dry clothes.” She seated Sasha on the hearth, pulling a blanket off the chair and tucking it over Sasha’s legs before she hurried into the bedroom.

  Clucking ju
st like a doting grandma, Deirdre did her best to finish tucking Sasha in, then shooed her younger brothers and sister in a fair imitation of their mother.

  “Aodh! Niall! Sìle! Ye wee bairns canna be in the way, I tell ye. Sit and play ower there while ye let us grown ones have oor talk.”

  Sasha giggled at that — unlike Kelsey, who was too preoccupied with Tavish. Or perhaps she just didn’t like children much. Frowning at Kelsey in disapproval, Seumas sat down next to Sasha, taking both of her hands in his and chafing them, just to warm them, mind.

  But Kelsey walked over with Tavish close beside her and held out her hand to help Sasha up.

  “Sasha, come on, let’s go.”

  Tavish nodded.

  “Aye, ‘tis time we were on oor way.” Inexplicably, he wiped at a sore on his face and then looked at his finger to see if blood came off, which it didn’t, as the sore had scabbed recently. Nonetheless, he pointed the sore out to Sasha as if it had some deep meaning. “We hae tae speak to someone … at the castle, ye ken?”

  What in the world did they mean? Kelsey was intended to stay here with Eileen before Maw insisted she stay in the castle last night because of her fall into the sea, God bless her. Was Kelsey so attached to the castle that she wanted to hurry away from the home of the woman who had taken her in as apprentice so old as five and twenty?

  And who would need to speak to Tavish? He was a guard, and he was currently in the company of himself, the brother of the captain of the guard, fool for a man. New love must have addlepated the two of them.

  Thankfully, Sasha had more sense than they.

  “I am na rushing off intae the cauld wind in these wet clothes, and I certainly am na rushing off withoot the clothes ye brought me in. ‘Twould be different had ye allowed me tae change, as ye did, Kelsey.” She and Kelsey stared at each other a moment, and Kelsey looked away first. Sasha grunted. “Ye two go on, if ye must go and speak to someone. I wull bide here till ye get back.”

  Seumas put his arm over Sasha’s shoulders and held his arisade tighter around her while also leaning her back toward the fire.

  “Aye.” He looked to Tavish. “Go on and dae yer errand. I can tell it’s weighing on ye, whatever secret it is. Yer clanswoman is under my protection while yer gone. Dinna fash.”

  Kelsey and Tavish whispered among themselves in strangely accented English, and he thought he caught something like ‘no time will pass’ before they reluctantly agreed to leave Sasha with him for the time it took to walk up into the castle and back. He had thought Tavish was a better friend, and hoped love had just addlepated him — even as all the man’s secrets started to weigh on Seumas.

  Tavish took Kelsey by the waist and escorted her to the door, turning over his shoulder to address Seumas.

  “Ye must look after her, ye ken?” He sighed and gave Seumas an especially appealing look with his eyes, then moved them quickly over to Sasha and back. “She does na ken she needs looking after.”

  “Aye,” Seumas told the man as adamantly as he could without showing the anger that had started to brew at Tavish’s lack of faith in him over so trivial an amount of time. What could happen anyhow, with Eileen and all the bairns watching the two of them?

  At the same time, Kelsey looked at Sasha once more.

  “Dinna go anywhere. To ye, we wull be right back.”

  What a confusing comment. Something was going on.

  But Sasha seemed to have as little patience for the two of them as he did. She made a shooing gesture with her hand.

  “Go on, already.”

  Deirdre made the same shooing gesture at Tavish and Kelsey.

  “We ken how tae dry off a wet lass. Dinna fash.”

  While Kelsey and Tavish shuffled uncertainly out the front door, Sasha laughed and grabbed ahold of Deirdre and hugged her, and then Aodh, Niall, and Sìle came running over for hugs too, which Sasha was giving generously when Eileen came back with an armful of clothing.

  Sasha saw the clothing and let go of the children, standing up and putting the wet muddy blanket on the hearth so that she could accept the clothing from Eileen.

  She held the clothes out away from her soaked body so that they wouldn’t get muddy and looked around helplessly for someplace to change.

  “Thank ye ever sae kindly.”

  Why didn’t she just go into the bedroom? Houses couldn’t be so different out in the MacGregor lands than they were here, could they?

  The children were starting to fuss, a different one pulling at Eileen’s skirts every time she turned around.

  “When dae we eat, Maw?”

  “I thought ye were making supper.”

  “Why dae we hae people over if they keep ye from cooking, Maw?”

  Visibly concerned about getting supper into them, Eileen went back around to the kitchen side of the hearth and came back with a big pot of clear broth so everyone could at least have a nice hot drink while waiting for her to cook. Squab broth, if his nose served him right. She had set it down on her large round supper table before Seumas could get there to help her. Already she was off walking around to the kitchen side of the fire again — presumably to get tankards — when she spoke.

  “’Tis nay trouble, Sasha. I am the one tae be sorry, sae overly sorry for Deirdre’s clumsiness. I’m guessing ’tis the first time ye hae been muddy since ye were a child. Go on and get yourself cleanit up and put the clean clothes on.”

  And then Sasha went over to the table and started to put her hands into the pot of broth as if to wash them. It was fresh off the fire, and she cried out in pain, lifting her hands out again quickly as soon as one of them touched the surface. He had seen burns before, on the field of battle. This one on her small finger wasn’t terribly bad, but probably still painful.

  Just in case the lass had gone mad, he went over and restrained her from putting her hand back in the broth again.

  “Eileen, the lass has burned her hand. Hae ye any butter?”

  Eileen came tearing around the hearth with a very concerned look on her face and the butter dish in her hands.

  “Deirdre? Did ye touch the soup pot, lass?”

  The wee lass came running up to the table from her position among the younger children, where she had been shepherding them.

  “’Tis na me, Maw. Sasha put her hand in the broth.” She turned to the bonnie mad lass. “Why did ye dae it? Dae ye eat broth with yer hands where ye come from?”

  Sasha pulled her hand away from the butter that Eileen was trying to rub on her burn. Aye, she had verily gone mad.

  “Nay, butter and other oils will only make a burn keep burning, deeper doon into the flesh. Please, just give me some cauld water tae plunge it in, and can ye hurry? Sorry tae hae ruined yer soup.” She looked down at Deirdre. “I didna ken it was soup. I had thought it was hot water for washing. Where dae ye wash up?”

  Deirdre pulled the wash rag out of the pile of clothing Eileen had given Sasha.

  “Maw meant for ye tae rub the mud off o yerself with this. Washing is some aught we dae tae the clothing and the dishes. Ourselves we just clean, with rags like this one. Dae ye wash yer hands where ye live?”

  Eileen brought in two tankards of water from her cistern and plunked them down on the table along with a bunch of empty ones, which she began to fill with broth using a ladle.

  Sure enough, Sasha plunged her hand into one of the tankards of cold water. Only this time, she sighed in relief.

  “Thank ye. This is taking the burn away. Ah. It feels better already. Aye, cauld water is the best thing for burns, even better with some ice in it, but I understand ‘tis not likely ye hae ice.” She laughed a little, but unlike her marvelous unchained liveliness out in the market with the flute, this was an uncomfortable laugh, born of nervousness and embarrassment. It didn’t suit her at all.

  But at least she wasn’t mad. Just verra limited in her knowledge of the world away from home. Just as Tavish had said. It was becoming clear why the man had been so reluctant to leave her
here. She really was in need of looking after. A job he had volunteered for and would gladly fulfill.

  “Hold on. I shall go and get ye some ice.”

  The look of surprise on her face as he left was priceless.

  On his way back from the icehouse, he fell in beside his brother Alfred, who was also walking toward Eileen’s and gave him a face of pleasant surprise.

  “I didna expect tae see ye at dinner this evening. What’s the ice for?”

  “I didna expect tae be there. The ice is for a burn tae the hand of Sasha, another of Tavish’s clanswomen, just arrived today. ’Tis her first time away from the MacGregor lands, and she tried tae wash her hands in the bairns’s before-dinner broth.”

  Alfred puzzled over this the three dozen steps back to Eileen’s, making sideways glances at Seumas — clearly in order to discern whether he was pulling his leg or not.

  “Yer eyes seem awfully bright for a routine look intae the icehouse. She must be at least as special as Kelsey.”

  Seumas gave his older brother a half serious stern look, holding it extra long for emphasis.

  “Ye just save all yer attention for Eileen, and we wull continue tae get along fine.”

  At first his blond brother’s face was amused, but then it turned concerned, and he stopped in the darkening street a moment, turning to him to make sure his next comment was heeded.

  “Watch yer heart, Seumas. But a few days ago, ye were trying tae give it tae Kelsey.”

  Seumas threw his hand out toward the side as if throwing the thought away.

  “Och, I am easily ower that now, believe me.”

  Alfred chuckled a bit.

  “Even sae? How can Tavish’s clan hae more than one sae lovely lass? And is this one also old enough to be wise and yet sae untouched by the ravages of time? And yet she has done something sae delightfully silly and childlike as tae wash in the broth?”

  As he opened the door, Seumas nodded inside toward the table with an amused ‘See what I mean?’ look.

  Ceithir (4)

  The cold water felt heavenly on Sasha’s hand while she watched in fascination as the gorgeous blonde Eileen dipped tankards of broth, cooled them a bit with cool water, and handed them to her blond children. Even the youngest child, the little girl toddler Sìle, held her uncovered tankard and sipped from it without spilling a drop, making it look easy. Sìle was dressed just like her mother in miniature, rather than in toddler clothes. This made the sight of her daintily sipping from a tankard all the cuter.