Courage of a Highlander

by Katy Baker

  Kara opened and closed her mouth. Her confusion must have shown on her face because the young woman suddenly put down her sketch pad.

  “Sorry! I was doing it again, wasnae I? My Ma reckons my mouth is often one step ahead of my brain. Ye were having a bad dream but ye are awake now and safe. I’m Beth and I’m very pleased to meet ye, Kara Buchanan.” She stuck out her hand.

  Kara reached out and took Beth’s hand, who shook it vigorously.

  “There,” Beth said, smiling. “Now we’re friends. Would ye mind sitting back slightly so I can finish my sketch? I had the light falling across yer face just so.”

  Beth had the same dark hair as Aiden and pale skin with a scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. But it was the smile that gave it away.

  “You’re Aiden’s sister?”

  Beth nodded without looking up from her sketch. “Aye, for my sins. My Ma asked me to watch over ye whilst ye slept but my brother hasnae made it easy, coming here every half a bell and all but breaking the door down to see how ye are.”

  “Aiden’s been here?” Kara asked, pushing herself upright.

  “Aye. More times than is good for him. The last time I had to threaten him with a broom.”

  Kara smiled. Yes, she could well imagine the scene. In the little time she’d known him, she’d come to realize that Aiden Harris had a stubborn streak around a mile wide.

  Beth was watching her with a speculative look in her dark eyes. Kara cleared her throat. “So, you’re an artist?”

  Beth waved a hand. “Some might say that. Others would tell the truth.”

  “May I see?”

  Beth shifted uncomfortably. “It’s nay very good. I didnae have the right materials—”

  “Please?”

  Beth sighed then passed over the sketchpad. It wasn’t paper, Kara realized as she took it, but very thin parchment. A charcoal sketch of a sleeping Kara filled the page. It was so lifelike it looked like a black-and-white photograph.

  “Wow,” Kara breathed. “This is amazing!”

  Beth beamed. “Ye like it?”

  “Like it? It’s fabulous! You’re very talented, Beth.”

  Beth’s grin widened. “Would ye like to keep it?”

  Kara looked up and met Beth’s eyes, suddenly moved by this simple kindness. “I’d love to. Thanks.”

  “Ye are most welcome. Are ye feeling up to getting out of bed? Ye gave everyone a fright when ye keeled over like that but I reckon it was just exhaustion and the cold.”

  A memory of Kara’s dream rose up, sending a shiver of unease through her. With an effort, she shrugged it off. “I feel fine. How long was I asleep?”

  “All last night and this morning. It’s almost midday. If ye are up to it I’ll have a bath drawn for ye—I know it always makes me feel better.”

  Before Kara could reply she crossed to the door, stuck her head into the corridor, and shouted a few commands.

  “We’ll have to see about getting ye properly attired. Ye canna go around Dun Arnwick in those ‘pajamas’ ye arrived in, that’s for sure.”

  She opened the door of a big wardrobe that sat in the corner of the room and took out a few dresses. “Which would ye prefer? I reckon the purple. It will bring out the color of yer eyes.”

  The dresses were beautiful. Made from the best quality velvet, they were elegant, flowing things that looked like they had been made for a medieval princess, not a twenty-first century journalist.

  “I...um....I’m not sure they’re really me—”

  “Purple it is then,” Beth interrupted. She gave Kara a wicked smile. “Purple is my brother’s favorite color.”

  Kara flushed in embarrassment. To cover it, she threw back the covers and swung her feet out of bed. Only now did she notice that her sodden pajamas had been removed and she was dressed instead in a long linen nightdress. Her cheeks grew hot. Aiden had carried her to this room. Oh, God, he hadn’t undressed her as well, had he?

  As if sensing her thoughts, Beth said. “I undressed ye and lent ye one of my nightgowns. Yer own stuff is in the laundry.”

  Kara nodded, not sure whether to be relieved or embarrassed at having to be undressed by a stranger. “Um. Thanks. I think.”

  There was a knock on the door and a blonde-haired woman walked in followed by several servants carrying a bath tub and buckets of hot water.

  Much to Kara’s astonishment, the woman gave her a curtsey.

  “I’m mighty pleased to meet ye, my lady,” the woman said. “I’m Annis, the housekeeper here at Dun Arnwick. Are ye feeling any better after yer sleep?”

  “I...um....I....” Kara stammered. My lady? Where the hell had they got that idea? “Please, just call me Kara. And yes, I feel much better, thanks.”

  Annis smiled. She instructed the servants to put the bath down in front of the fire and then empty the buckets into it. “If ye need anything, anything at all, just ring the bell and someone will come. I’ll leave ye in Beth’s capable hands.”

  “Um. Thanks.”

  Annis left, closing the door behind her. Beth rolled up her sleeves and then tipped a white powder into the bathwater. The smell of roses wafted through the room and the water frothed a little. Beth inspected it.

  “Nay as good as yer bubble bath, but it will have to do,” she announced.

  “You know about bubble bath?” Kara asked, surprised.

  Beth gave her a flat look. “Aye, of course,” she said, as if this should be obvious. “My ma is a time-traveler after all.” She said this with a certain amount of pride.

  “Time travel,” Kara breathed. “This time a week ago if you’d told me that I’d soon be sitting in a Scottish castle in the sixteenth century I would have thought you were crazy. But now look.” She gestured helplessly at the room. “Here I am.”

  Beth cocked her head and regarded Kara. “Ye say that as if ye didnae know about time-travel.”

  “I didn’t. This is all one big accident.”

  Beth watched her for a long moment, tapping her lips in thought. “My brother said Irene MacAskill was involved. Is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it was nay an accident. If ye are here it is because she wanted ye to be.”

  “Me? Why on Earth would she want me to come here?”

  Beth shrugged. “I havenae the faintest idea. Now, are ye gonna have this bath or not?”

  It soon became clear that Beth had no intention of leaving Kara alone to bathe. It seemed that it was perfectly normal in the sixteenth century to have someone present during such things. Beth laughed when Kara asked her to turn her back whilst she got undressed then hurried in and lay down until the soapy water covered her all the way to her chin but it was a good-natured laugh, and Kara found herself joining in.

  The water felt wonderful. The warmth soothed Kara’s aches and pains. Beth bade her sit forward whilst she scrubbed her back then washed her hair, tending to Kara as though she was a lady’s maid rather than the daughter of the laird.

  “I will have words with Irene MacAskill when I see her,” Beth griped. “Why did she choose my brother to go through the arch and not me? He’s always the one that gets to go off and have adventures! Nay content with riding by the king’s side, fighting battles and driving off invaders is he? Oh no, he has to go gallivanting through time as well. If I wasnae so pleased to see him home, I’d give him the rough side of my tongue!”

  “He’s been away a while then?” Kara asked. She realized suddenly that she knew very little about Aiden other than the scraps he’d told her.

  Beth puffed herself up with pride. “Aye. He’s captain of the king’s guard. King James himself decorated him for valor after he rode all night with an arrow in his belly to bring word of an invading army to the king’s ears. Didnae he tell ye any of this?”

  “No,” Kara replied. “He didn’t.”

  Beth waved a hand. “I’m nay surprised. He doesnae often talk about it. I suppose he’ll miss it when he becomes the laird.
It will nay doubt seem dull around here compared to that.”

  Kara nodded. She’d known Aiden was a warrior, the way he’d dealt with Devereux’s men had demonstrated that, and he’d told her he was a soldier, but she’d had no idea of any of the things Beth had told her. Aiden Harris was a closed book.

  And more and more, Kara found herself wanting to open it.

  After her bath, Beth helped Kara into the purple dress. It had so many buttons and hooks on the back that there was no way Kara would have been able to do it up herself. Dressing, she realized, must be something of a chore for women of this century.

  She sighed. This was going to take some getting used to.

  ***

  Aiden dunked his head into the water. It was icy cold, almost enough to make him gasp. He welcomed it. It helped to clear his thoughts a little. He held his head under for as long as he was able and then threw his head back, sending droplets scattering all over the floor of his room.

  Grabbing a cloth, he dried his face then pushed the washbowl aside and leaned with both hands on the window sill, looking out. He could see his reflection in the bubbled glass and beyond this, the sweeping vista of the Isle of Skye. The weather had broken and spears of sunlight stabbed down through the rapidly thinning clouds. Birds darted through the sky, calling out to each other.

  Aiden drew in a deep breath. Home. He was home, after all these years. The bailey outside was a hubbub of activity. Guardsmen chatting by the gate, leaning on their halberds as they shared a crust of bread. Serving girls laughing as they hauled water from the well. A gaggle of children arguing over the rules to some game.

  For a moment, his heart swelled. Aye, he’d missed this place, far more than he’d thought he would. But then he remembered the scroll sitting in a drawer in his room and his contentment evaporated. This couldn’t be. He wasn’t meant for this place, this life. It felt as constricting now as it ever had, no matter how much he’d missed it.

  He turned to take in his chambers. They’d been his since he was a boy. When he was younger they’d seemed enormous, big enough to get lost in, but now they seemed smaller, like they weren’t large enough to contain his restless energy.

  He settled onto the floor cross-legged and rested his sword, which he’d acquired from the armory, across his knees. Grabbing a rag, he methodically began polishing it. The familiar, rhythmic work soothed him. How many times had he done this whilst on campaign for the king? More times than he could remember.

  As he worked, he found his thoughts turning towards Kara Buchanan. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, he found her face filling his mind. Those large, dark eyes, so full of intelligence. That mouth, that formed dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. That skin that felt so soft and warm when he touched her...

  He shook his head, cursing himself inwardly. Remember yer duty, he told himself. Kara is under yer protection. Ye mustnae think of her this way.

  But Lord! It was hard. She was willful and strong-headed, stubborn and reckless but she stirred something in him Aiden had never experienced. Just the thought of her sent heat rushing straight to his groin. He longed to see her and had tried at least a dozen times last night but each time his sister had chased him off.

  He jumped when his chamber door suddenly burst open. In an instant he was on his feet, sword in hand. Even here, in the heart of his clan, his warrior’s instincts wouldn’t let him relax.

  Jamie grinned at him from the doorway. “Ye can put yer letter-opener away, lad,” he said, amusement in his voice. “Unless ye are planning on sticking me with it?”

  “My...my apologies,” Aiden muttered. He sheathed the sword. “But ye startled me. Hasnae anyone ever told ye to knock?” He grumbled at his uncle but the words were tinged with affection. Jamie had never shown much in the way of manners.

  “Where would be the fun in that?” Jamie replied. “If ye have finished polishing yer letter-opener, Annis has sent word that Lady Kara is up and about. Yer father has summoned ye both to give yer report. He suggested ye might—”

  Aiden didn’t hear the rest of his uncle’s words. He bolted through the door in the direction of Kara’s chamber.

  ***

  It was amazing, Kara reflected as she stared at the undulating landscape beyond the window, how something as simple as a bath could make you feel better.

  The scritch-scratch of charcoal filled the room. Beth was seated cross-legged on the floor whilst she sketched Kara who was sitting by the window. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, the tip of her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.

  There was a knock on the door and Kara all but jumped out of her seat.

  “I’ll answer it!”

  She hurried over to the stout wooden door and pulled it open. Aiden stood on the other side, one hand resting on the doorframe above his head. He’d washed and changed and now his slightly damp hair rested lightly on his shoulders, the odd curl clinging to the skin of his neck. His eyes widened slightly as they settled on her and he shifted his feet awkwardly.

  “Kara,” he said. “I trust ye are settling in well? My sister tells me yer collapse was naught but exhaustion. Is this true?”

  “Of course it’s true!” Beth called from inside the room. “Didnae I say as much?” Beth appeared at Kara’s side and fixed her brother with a stern look. “But she still needs rest.”

  A ghost of a smile flickered over Aiden’s face and he held out his hands in a placating gesture. “Aye, and I’ll make sure she isnae overtaxed. I’ve come to escort ye to my father’s study. He wants to talk to the pair of us. I imagine he has a hundred questions. Are ye ready?”

  Kara nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Aidan gave her a reassuring smile. “Dinna worry, lass. My family are used to dealing with time travelers, remember? I’ll be at yer side the whole time.”

  Aidan held out his arm and she took it. Together they made their way through the castle. Aidan didn’t speak and Kara was happy to keep silent, nerves flittering in her belly at the prospect of this meeting. The outcome of it could very well decide her fate. If she was very lucky, they would find a way to send her home.

  And if you’re not lucky? Kara asked herself. What then? What if you’re stuck here? Involuntarily she glanced at Aidan, and her heart skipped a little. Would that be so bad? A traitorous little voice whispered inside her head.

  She pushed the voice aside. She would not go down that road.

  Instead, she focused on where she was walking. The corridors and rooms they passed were not what she’d expected from a medieval Highland castle. No drafty, dank, places here, oh no. There were brazier’s set at regular intervals and their bright coals chased away the worst of the chill. Herbs burned within them, filling the air with a delicious scent that reminded Kara of summer evenings. Thick rugs patterned in the colors of the Harris plaid covered the tile floors and tapestries and beautiful paintings adorned the walls.

  No, nothing about her experience so far had been as Kara expected.

  They reached a closed door and Aiden pushed it open without knocking. Kara followed him into a circular room done out as a study. A round table dominated the center, strewn with bits of parchment, tools and ink pots. Above the fireplace hung a large map of the Highlands and Kara found herself staring at it. The Isle of Skye was marked on the map to the far west and for the first time Kara was able to see a representation of the world she’d been thrown into. She didn’t recognize many of the place names. Only a few stood out: Aberdeen in the north, Edinburgh to the east, the rest she’d never heard of.

  Oh my God, she thought suddenly. I’m really here. I’m in 16th century Scotland.

  She took a deep, shaky breath to calm her suddenly thumping heart. She forced her fractured thoughts together and focused on the people seated around the table.

  Lucy gave her an encouraging smile and Andrew nodded a greeting. To Andrew’s left sat Bhradain and Jamie. Bhradain was busy writing in a book, the scratch of the pe
n sounding loud in the still room but Jamie was lounging in his chair, grinning at them. Two seats had been left for her and Aidan.

  “Be seated, both of you,” Andrew said. “Would you like refreshment? I can have some wine brought if ye would like.”

  Kara folded onto the chair and shook her head. “No, I’m fine, thanks.” The last thing she needed was a muddled head during this meeting.

  Andrew nodded and leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table in front of him. He fixed Kara with a gaze that was every bit as powerful as Aidan’s. She saw strength in that gaze, and fairness, but also a ruthlessness. It was the gaze of a man born to leadership, a man who knew how to take tough decisions. It was the gaze of a man who would do whatever he must to protect his family, his clan.

  Kara understood where Aidan got it from.

  Andrew cleared his throat. “I’ve asked for us to meet in this room so that we have some privacy. The truth of my wife’s origins are known to only the closest kin and it must be kept that way. Gossip travels like wildfire in Dun Arnwick and I’d wager there are already a hundred stories in circulation of Lady Kara and where she might have come from.” He smiled wryly. “Although I doubt any of them would have guessed the truth.” He glanced from Aidan to Kara and back again. “It seems ye have had quite the adventure, son. Why dinna ye start from the beginning?”

  Now that she saw them together, Kara was struck by how much Aiden resembled his father. They both had the same stern look, the same piercing gaze, the same tall, muscular shape. But there was something of Lucy in Aiden as well. His features weren’t as sharp as Andrew’s, his mouth softer, more used to smiling.

  “An adventure?” he said. “I’m nay sure I’d call it that. More like a misadventure. As these things normally do in our family, it started with Irene MacAskill.”

  Aidan proceeded to tell his story, from his ride home with his men, meeting Irene on the beach and her cryptic message, to him stepping through the archway and into Kara’s time. It was the first time Kara had heard his story in such detail and she found herself leaning forward to listen, spellbound by his words.