The Highlander’s Gift: Book One: The Sutherland Legacy

by Eliza Knight

  Again, Niall glanced toward the stairs, thinking of his lovely wife and all the ways she’d attempted to care for him so far. “I dinna think ye have need to worry over it. Bella is…verra capable.”

  “I’m glad. Now go and sleep beside your wife. I’ll wake ye for next shift.”

  “Thank ye.”

  Niall climbed the stairs and snuck quietly into the room. He tossed off his plaid, leaving his shirt on as he always did, and then crawled into bed beside Bella. She murmured something in her sleep and rolled over, tucking herself around him as she did most nights.

  And he sighed, thinking there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

  Chapter 15

  My lady? May I enter?”

  Bella stirred at the sound of a maid knocking on the door. How long had she slept? It was clearly well into the morning judging by the way the sun burst in through the window. She bolted upright in bed, stared hard at her surroundings and not recognizing them at all. She called for the maid to enter.

  “Where am I?” Bella wiped the sleep from her eyes and watched the maid set out a bowl of porridge and a cup of milk on a table by the hearth.

  “Dupplin Castle, my lady.” The maid did a good job of keeping the confusion from her tone, but Bella could tell by the slight narrowing of her eyes that she thought Bella might be asking her a trick question. She was not much older than Bella, with dark hair tucked into a bun at the nape of her neck and a belly that looked to be round with child.

  “Ah, aye,” Bella said, waving her hand in the air as she climbed from bed and tugged on her robe. “I was so sleepy last night when we arrived, I seem to have forgotten. What is your name?”

  “I am Annie.” She wiped her hands on the front of her apron.

  “Thank ye for breakfast, Annie. Might ye know where my maid, Mary, is?”

  “Nay, my lady, but I can find out for ye.”

  “Please, if ye would.”

  Annie left the room. Famished, Bella approached the table. She sipped the milk and shuddered. Goat’s milk. Not her favorite. The porridge had been ladled thick with the goat’s milk, too. Well, perhaps she wasn’t that hungry after all.

  Besides, what she really wanted to do was explore her new home, meet all the servants, the clanswomen and find the perfect place to set up her targets.

  With that in mind, she hurried to dress and plait her hair. Mary had not arrived, and neither had Niall. She couldn’t wait all day, so off she went. The corridor was empty, but she could hear the sounds of a bustling castle below. She found the stairs easily enough, still rolling her eyes at not having woken at all when she was brought up to bed. Who’d carried her?

  In the great hall, she found several women at work. One was weaving rushes, another was sweeping the floors, shooing out about four large wolfhounds that didn’t seem at all inclined to listen. Yet another was wiping down the long trestle tables that sat in the center of the hall, parallel to each other.

  “Good morning,” Bella said cheerfully.

  The women stopped their work and glanced at her, perhaps in shock, she couldn’t tell. They were all around the same age—a little older than the maid who’d come to her room that morning. They wore white aprons over their arisaid dresses in the Oliphant colors, and each had their hair pulled back in the same tight bun as Annie.

  “I’m Lady Bella Suth—” She drew in a breath, correcting herself. “I am Sir Niall’s wife, daughter of the Earl of Sutherland.”

  The three women dropped into a curtsy. “My lady,” they murmured.

  “And ye are?” Bella prompted.

  They told her their names, and all three of them were called Sarah.

  “How fascinating,” Bella said. “Have any of ye seen my maid, Mary?”

  They glanced at each other uncomfortably and then shook their heads vehemently, suddenly very interested in their work once more. That did not bode well. Typically, when she’d seen that type of avoidance before, it was because whoever she was speaking with knew exactly what she’d asked and didn’t wish to relay the information. Where was Mary? It wasn’t like her to simply disappear.

  “What of my husband?”

  “Minding the wall, my lady.” The words from one of the Sarahs was clipped, and Bella could tell when someone wasn’t interested in speaking with her. Perhaps Niall knew where Mary had gone off to. She just had to find him.

  Right when she was about to open the door, Niall burst through it, his cheeks red from the cold. She was fairly certain that no matter how much time passed, she would continue to be taken aback by how handsome he was. His light hair was wild from the wind and his bronzed skin was flushed and had a shadow of a beard on his cheeks. Cheekbones and jawline looked to be carved from granite, and his green eyes made her want to melt into them. Bella craned her neck as she looked up at him, resisting the urge to wrap her arms around him and pull his body flush to hers, just so she could feel the contrast in his hard muscles to her softer body.

  “Ah, ye’re awake. Good. I want ye to meet my parents.”

  Her heart did a flip then. Meeting his parents was necessary, but she was not entirely prepared. She had to make a good impression, and she wasn’t wearing her finest dress. Her hair was simply styled, and…and… None of that mattered, because he looked excited for her to meet them, and he didn’t seem to think she needed to change. “Oh, aye, I would love to. Are ye certain I should not…” She glanced down at her gown. “Put something better on?”

  “Nay, of course not. Ye look beautiful.”

  Bella nodded and took his offered arm as he led her down a long corridor toward the left tower. Before they climbed any stairs, he knocked on a door, and they heard the faint sound of a woman beckoning from within.

  “My da’s chamber is here,” Niall whispered. “Sometimes he feels strong enough to go outside, but not enough to make use of so many stairs.”

  The room was dark, the shutters drawn, and a fire was built up in the hearth. The scent of the room was strong with herbs and tinctures, but they didn’t quite mask the odor of illness.

  “Da, Mama, I wish for ye to meet my wife, Bella, daughter of the Earl of Sutherland.”

  A lady sat in a chair beside the bed, frail with age. Her dark hair shot mostly with gray was worn in a tight bun, the same as the female servants of the castle. The man who lay upon the bed was also frail and propped up on many pillows. His skin was nearly as pale as the linens, and his eyes were droopy with sickness.

  Lady Oliphant did not stand and waited for Bella to approach her, which she did with grace.

  “My lady, it is a pleasure to join your family.”

  His mother did not respond, and instead turned her gaze to Niall. “What happened to the princess?”

  Bella felt the slight like a slap, but she kept her emotions hidden, and instead waited to be acknowledged. Not once did she think this would be how she’d be greeted, but she supposed it was a shock to his parents to find him no longer betrothed to the king’s daughter, and instead to a much lesser bride of value.

  “The princess preferred Walter, and I agreed, preferring Lady Bella for myself.”

  “That,” his father started and then fell into a fit of coughing that sent his wife for a cup of tisane by the bedside table. “That was not your choice to make.”

  “The king agreed, and seeing as how I aim to please my king, I did as I was bid.”

  “I am still chief of this clan.” The older man’s bellow was followed by yet another fit of coughing, which earned them both a glower from the lady of the castle.

  Leaning over her husband and holding a cup to his trembling lips, she seethed. “Get out. Both of ye. And in case ye’re looking for the dull-witted lass ye brought with ye, I had her sent to the kitchens to peel turnips.”

  Mary.

  “Thank ye, my lady,” Bella managed, relieved that Mary had not gone too far. “Please let me know what I can do to help ye.”

  “I dinna need your help,” she spat. “All I need is for ye to
get out.”

  Bella felt the tug of Niall’s grasp on her arm, and she allowed him to pull her from the room, even as the breath was leaving her body.

  Never before had she been treated as though she were nothing more than rubbish.

  “I am an earl’s daughter,” she said when he’d closed the door. “Why is she treating me as though I were…” She tried to think of the worst thing he could marry. “A leper?”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. They are in shock and aggrieved by my father’s illness. While that is no excuse, I beg ye to forgive them for their unkindness. They will come around. I promise.” But Niall himself didn’t even look convinced.

  Bella’s feet felt heavy, and she leaned up against the wall, fearing maybe this had been a rash mistake. That choosing to marry each other so quickly hadn’t allowed time enough for them to discover what the repercussions of such a decision would be.

  “Bella…” Niall stroked her cheek. “Please, dinna fash. Ye’re my wife and nothing can change that.”

  “I know.” Still, she couldn’t make herself meet his gaze. She’d not been so humiliated in quite a while.

  “They will grow to accept ye. I promise. What can I do to make ye feel better?”

  Bella perked up at that. Aye, she could wallow for the rest of the day, or she could move forward and hope that his parents did accept her as he said they would. Besides, Niall had enough to worry over. She didn’t need him worrying over her hurt feelings. Her ego would heal. “Well, there is one thing I was hoping to do today?”

  He wiggled his brows and gave her a wicked grin. “Oh, is there?”

  She playfully nudged him in the ribs. “Not that, ye rogue, well, perhaps that, but I meant something else.”

  Niall chuckled and tickled her ribs. “Well, what is it? ’Haps I can help.”

  “I believe ye can. At home, I used to practice every day, and I was hoping to find a place where I could set up my targets out of the way. I wouldna leave them up, but ’twould be a place I know I can go when the mood strikes.”

  “Practice?” Niall cocked his head in question.

  “Aye, archery.”

  “Och, right.” Niall pursed his lips. “I think I’ve a good place, safe, and no one will bother ye. But before we gather your things, I’ll take ye there to see what ye think.”

  “Thank ye, Niall.” She laid her forehead against his chest, the steady beat of his heart calming her.

  “Ye need not thank me, Bella. I’d do anything to make ye happy. Ye’ve had nothing but torment since becoming my wife, and I plan to make it up to ye.”

  Bella smiled up at him, her hands on his shoulders, and leaned up to kiss him. But before her lips touched his, the door handle to his father’s chamber rattled.

  She leapt away and hurried down the hall like a child about to be caught stealing sweets.

  Behind her, she could hear the low timber of Niall’s voice as he spoke to his mother, but she didn’t wait around to hear what the women’s reply might be to whatever it was he said. There was only so much humiliation a woman could take.

  Instead, she hurried through the castle, trying to place the kitchens, ducking in and out of various rooms and using her nose as a guide. She was getting closer, judging by the scents of roasting meat and baking bread. The bustle of work grew louder, until she was finally stepping down into the heated kitchens of the castle. The elevated temperature of the room was the first thing she noticed, and then the scents and sounds. Dozens of people were at work. Lads turned spits of meat, women chopped, and scullions churned. The smells were heavenly. The ceiling was lined with drying herbs. The whitewashed walls were blackened near the fires, and the floor was swept clean. Cook shooed three cats from the kitchen and out a window, where they screeched as a hound leapt up to chase them.

  Bella searched out the chaos for Mary. Kitchens weren’t foreign to her. Her mother loved to cook, and her father even joined her sometimes. As such, all five of the Sutherland children had spent time in the kitchen helping their mother make her famous mushroom tarts and apple pastries.

  “What are ye doing in here?” Cook shouted, brown eyes glowering in her direction.

  It took Bella a moment to realize the cook was speaking to her. Shaking off her startle, Bella smiled, hoping to disarm the woman from her temper.

  “I’m Lady Bella,” she said. “Sir Niall’s wife.”

  “Ohhh…” Cook breathed out, wringing her hands, and likely afraid she was about to be berated for having shouted at a lady. “I do apologize, my lady, I didna know. I should have by the looks of ye, but I was… Never mind, please accept my humblest apologies. I assure ye if I had realized, I’d not have spoken to ye in such a way.”

  Bella waved away the woman’s worry, needing more people of the clan on her side than against her given the reception she’d had from Lady Oliphant. “’Twas an honest mistake. Perhaps ye can help me. I’m looking for my maid, Mary.”

  “We’ve no Marys here that would be your maid.” Cook glanced around as if half expecting to see someone new in their midst.

  “Her ladyship said she sent her here to peel turnips.”

  Cook frowned, wringing her hands in front of her. “Ye wouldna be speaking of the dull-witted lass, would ye?”

  Bella felt her anger rise. Mary might be mute, but she was the furthest thing from dull-witted. “I assure ye, she’s just as clever as anyone else, she simply canna speak. Where is she?”

  “Och, my lady, I sent her on her way. I thought she was a beggar.”

  Bella felt as though she’d been slapped. Mary was one of her dearest friends. She’d been injured in the woods and now treated so horribly at their new home that she’d been sent away? The idea was unfathomable.

  Trying not to show her panic, or react in anger, Bella calmly asked, “Where exactly is away?”

  “I had one of the lads take her outside the gate.” Cook was sweating and redder now more than from the heat of the kitchen, clearly understanding she’d made a grave error.

  Now Bella could not help herself from exploding. Out the gate indeed. Into the cold to die. “How dare ye,” Bella seethed. “Even if she was a lonely beggar, rather than helping her, ye’d toss her out? Is that how ye treat the less fortunate at Dupplin? Because where I’m from, we help those in need.”

  “Aye, my lady, I’m so sorry, my lady. If I’d known—”

  “There seems to be a lot ye dinna know.” Bella couldn’t wait around to argue more. She needed to find Mary before something worse happened to her. “Which lad saw her out?”

  “That one.” Cook pointed to a lad by the door hauling in a sack of wheat.

  “Take me to her,” Bella demanded.

  The lad looked to cook who nodded. “The beggar lass?”

  “She’s not a beggar.” Bella was aware of her voice rising in pitch and the flinch from several servants, and she regretted shrieking this last bit. “Please, she is my maid, and I need to find her before someone else mistakes her for a vagrant and causes her harm.”

  “Aye, my lady. Follow me.” The lad led her out the kitchen door, through the gardens, pigpens and chicken coups toward the wall and a door there.

  “Out here.”

  “Ye just tossed her out the side gate?”

  “Aye, my lady. I’m so sorry.”

  Bella pressed her lips together, refusing to yell at the lad for doing what he was told. She surged forward, opened the door and stepped out onto the snowy grass. Footsteps imprinted in the snow led to the left, and she followed them around the front of the castle where she found Mary cowering by the lowered portcullis, the guards at the top of the wall shouting insults at her.

  “Shame on all of ye!” Bella bellowed, pointing at them and wishing she had her bow and arrow. “Shame!” Tears stung her eyes.

  The men were at once silent. “My lady!”

  “Open the gates. Now.”

  “Aye, my lady.”

  Bella knelt beside where Mary crouched shivering i
n the snow, tears staining her face.

  “I’m so sorry, Mary. I didna know what had happened to ye. I promise, nothing like this will ever happen to ye again, my darling. Come inside. I will see that ye’re warmed and fed.”

  Mary nodded, her teeth chattering. The skin on her cheeks and hands had turned blue, and tears froze on her eyelashes. Just how long had she been outside? At least she had her cloak, but there was still no excuse for how she’d been treated. Bella’s chest burned with anger.

  As they ducked under the gate, Philip rushed from the outside of the barracks toward them.

  “What’s happened?” he asked, alarm written over his features.

  Mary squeezed Bella’s arm and shook her head, perhaps embarrassed at what had occurred.

  “She got lost,” Bella said, unable to implicate the cook without implicating Lady Oliphant.

  “Allow me, my lady. I will see her warmed up and fed.” His arms were outstretched, and the look on his face said if Bella denied him, he might just wrestle her for control.

  Mary nodded emphatically, signing to Bella and then grabbing hold of the warrior’s arm and allowing him to lead her into the castle. He’d wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder and murmured close to her ear.

  “What’s this?” Niall found her staring after them in the center of the bailey.

  She had no problem telling Niall what happened. “Mary was tossed out by the cook after your mother had her sent to the kitchen. They didna know who she was and so sent her away.”

  “This is an outrage. I will have them all flogged.” He started to march away, but Bella stilled him with her hand.

  “Nay, I think she’d rather everyone forgot about it.” She nodded her chin toward the couple who were disappearing behind the castle’s main door. “I think she might…have an admirer.”

  “Philip?” Niall looked shocked, then understanding dawned in his eyes. “Aye, I think he is sweet on her.”

  “Is he…safe for her?” Bella found herself leaning closer to Niall, wanting to feel his warmth. She had not gone back to her room for a cloak, not having the time to do so.