She could’ve just left him there. Aye, she even could’ve smothered his head with a pillow for him to quiet. But she didn’t. He saw a jar filled with dried herbs on his desk and opened it. His nose wrinkled at the strong scent. Valerian.
Did Nellie leave this for me?
Perhaps she did care.
Adam put the jar back down on his desk. Where was she, anyway? He walked upstairs to her room, noticing her tidily made bed, and otherwise no sign that she’d ever inhabited these walls. He then stopped by the entrance hall and opened the latch on the door. MacKenzie stood on watch, as was his duty during the afternoons. “Did Lady Lyall go through this door?” Adam asked him.
MacKenzie shrugged. “Not on my shift,” he replied, squinting as he gazed across the moors.
“When was the last time you’ve seen her?”
“I didna know I was supposed to keep such an eye on her,” MacKenzie protested. “I dunno. This mornin’, perhaps, when she was goin’ to Lachina’s.”
Did she head back to Lachina’s house, then? Before heading over there himself, he stopped by the kitchens, Isla’s bedroom, and even the parapet, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
Standing on the parapet, he stared down at the murky ocean below, wondering with a sickening dread whether she’d thrown herself over the castle. She did seem in distress after she had kissed him…
Nay, he did not believe she would do such a thing. Perhaps she did find a way out when no one was looking. A quick check revealed that the postern door was still shut, the lock rusted over from years of disuse. Perhaps MacKenzie had left his post for a brief moment, and it was enough time for Nellie to slip by?
There was something in him that told him to think about it a bit more, that something wasn’t quite right. Aye, there was one more door that he didn’t check: the entrance to the courtyard.
Adam let out a breath of relief when he noticed the door was slightly ajar. Maybe she was still in the castle after all. Admittedly, he hadn’t visited this courtyard since he was a lad, finding not the heart to linger in the place that he knew his mother Isabel loved. It made him melancholic to think about it and he did not want to let his emotions take a strong hold of him. So, he kept the pain of her death locked away, as he did for many things in his life.
Aye, he knew that one day, it would all come apart, that everything he repressed would come back and bite him—hard. He felt like that day was coming close.
Adam looked around the courtyard, surprised. The garden looked as though it had been taken care of. It was still unwieldy in most places, but some of the vines and ferns looked as though they had recently been cut back and there were piles of foliage in various corners of the yard from the trimmed plants. He doubted anyone in his castle would put in the work out of their own free will.
However, would Nellie have done it? He did at times wonder what she did during the days when he was wrapped up in castle business. She must have been out here, working to exhaustion to take care of the place. Why?
The branches of the birch and fir trees were bowed low from the weight of the rain. The soil was turning into puddles and mud and the stone pathway was slick as he walked down it. His gaze took him farther down and stopped at Nellie’s crumpled form lying on her side, directly in front of the derelict stone building toward the end of the courtyard.
The sight was so alarming that at first, he did not quite believe what he was looking at. It was as though he had suddenly been transported into one of his terrible dreams where nothing quite made sense. However, this was real—very much so—and when his senses returned, he sprinted over her, almost sliding onto his hands and knees from the wet stones.
“Nellie!” He said her name although he knew immediately that she was somewhere far away.
Did she take a fall? Her head was bleeding in the exact spot that she injured before—it seemed so long ago, now, but not long enough that her old injury had a chance to heal. Her body was drenched, and her blood mixed with the rain as it trailed down her face and onto the stones.
By any means, she should be shivering, but her body was as still as the dead.
She looked worse than when she first came to Dunaid. God, is she even alive?
He checked the pulse on her neck. It was weak, but still there, thank God. He gathered her gently in his arms and hurried across the courtyard and through the door and into the castle.
MacKenzie was walking through the entrance hall when he stopped him. “MacKenzie, call Lachina over here at once. Take my horse.”
MacKenzie eyed the girl warily, but did not seem alarmed. He could have been looking at the evening’s supper of chopped vegetable stew with how interested he had in the injured lass.
“Why? What’s wrong with the wench?” MacKenzie asked.
“If I hear you callin’ her that again, you will suffer an even worse fate than she has.”
The color drained from MacKenzie’s face. He gave his laird a quick nod and left.
Cursing his half-witted clansman, Adam brought Nellie to the closest available bed, which happened to be Isla’s. He kicked open the door. Isla and her maid jumped up in alarm and stood wide-eyed as he barraged through her room and set Nellie down onto the bed.
“What in heavens happened?” Isla asked, staring in horror at the unconscious woman.
“I know not,” Adam growled. “She was in the courtyard an’ may have slipped on wet stones. Hilda, make sure MacKenzie left for Lachina’s. I don’t trust that imbecile now.”
Just like MacKenzie, Isla’s face paled, and she slipped out of the room with her maid. Adam thought he heard her become sick in the hall, but he had more important things to think about than his cousin’s wife.
He grabbed the first thing he could find—one of Isla’s dresses neatly folded inside an opened ornate chest—and dipped it into the water basin to begin cleaning the blood that covered Nellie’s head and face.
“I’m sorry,” he said to her as he worked gently around the wound. He did not know why he was apologizing. Was this his fault? He did make her stay here. It was in his house that this happened to her, so didn’t that make him responsible in a way?
He dipped the dress back into the basin, feeling sick himself as her blood turned the water a crimson red. Aye, this was his fault. If he wasn’t so stubborn and hadn’t made her a ward, she would have left a long time ago and this would not have happened. He would never forgive himself if Nellie died.
“You fought through this once,” he whispered to her. “You can fight through this again.”
But unlike the previous time she hit her head, this injury didn’t look like she had hurt it from a fall. A few scratches and a small bruise formed beside her left eye. He rolled the sleeves up from her dress and discovered the scrapes and bruises that ran down her left arm, the opposite side of where her head was hit. Indeed, when he’d found her, she was lying on her left side.
Adam leaned his back against the wall, stunned. Her wound looked like the product of blunt force, not from a fall. Someone did this to her. Someone in his own castle did this to her. Who among his clansmen could be so cruel?
God, where was Lachina? Adam was about ready to sprint over to her house himself. Finally, she arrived at the door, out of breath, her hair wild like she’d been running. Elspeth trailed behind, just as bedraggled.
“Oh, heavens,” Lachina breathed, and immediately came over to Nellie. She knelt beside her and brushed the lass’s hair away from her face. “This does not look good.”
Those were not the words he wanted to hear from Lachina. A lump formed in Adam’s throat and he struggled to swallow it down. “It looks as though someone did this to her.”
“Aye, it does,” she said as she inspected the wound.
“Someone in my castle did this.”
“Are you for certain?”
“Unless there is some ghost wanderin’ these halls that I don’t know about, then aye, I am certain.” He closed his eyes and tried to quell the rage build
ing inside of him. He wanted to tear down this castle until he found out who was guilty. “Do you think she will be all right?”
“It’s difficult to tell,” Lachina replied. “But this looks really poorly, Adam.”
“What can we do, then?”
“We’ve done all that we’ve can. Let me bathe her an’ dress her into warm clothes. We can only wait an’ see if she wakes up.” She noticed his frown. “Pray, perhaps, if you feel the need to do somethin’, Adam.”
Adam hadn’t said a real prayer since he was a boy, when he prayed inside the church his grandfather built. He was there for his father’s funeral and the prayer was for his father to come back to life. Of course, his father never came back from the dead, but Adam had since decided that the entire act of praying was foolish and ceased shortly thereafter.
So, instead of kneeling before the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary to beg her to save Nellie, Adam called everyone in the castle to meet him in the great hall. Adam sat in his chair, the same chair his father and his father’s father sat in before him, as his servants cleared away the dining table. But he even made the servants and the cooks line up before him when they were finished, along with Alister, Isla, MacKenzie and…
“Where is Mary?”
“She left this morn,” MacKenzie told him. “Durin’ my watch. I opened the door for her. She said her mother is ill an’ she needed to go care for her.”
“Is that right, Isla?” Adam asked.
Isla looked down at her hands, which where demurely interlaced in front of her abdomen. Her face still looked pale under the dim light of the hall. “I haven’t seen her since this morn,” she corroborated, her eyes downcast.
Adam didn’t like what he saw. Nobody was looking at him in the eye, and to him, everyone appeared guilty. He cleared his throat. “For those who are unaware, Lady Lyall was injured this afternoon, and it does not seem to be an accident.” He noticed a few surprised faces, although he did not know if their reactions were genuine. “Whoever did this is standing here in front of me, your laird, and under the judging eyes of God. I demand that you let yourself be known.”
Isla fell to her knees and began to weep. No, it canna be. Alister knelt down by his wife and coaxed her to stand.
“I’m sorry, my laird,” he told her. “We’ve just discovered that she is with child, an’ she has been sensitive to just about everythin’ of late.”
A mixture of relief and happiness washed over Adam for a brief moment. He didn’t know how he would react if Isla or Alister admitted to doing such a horrendous act. He nodded to them and could not hide a smile.
“Congratulations to you both. I wish you a healthy bairn.” But this meeting was not about his cousin or his wife, and Adam quickly sobered. “Take her to her room if needed.”
When they left the hall, he continued: “That does not solve the crime that happened within my walls this afternoon. If whoever did this does not stand up and tell me, I will find who you are, I promise you that. By keeping silent, you will suffer a worse fate than revealin’ yourself now.”
Not a single word was uttered.
Adam sighed. “Get out of my hall, all of you,” he said sharply.
Lachina was watching over the lass when he returned. “Did you find out anything?” she asked him as he took a seat next to Nellie’s bed.
Adam shook his head. “The poor lass. Nobody has been kind to her since she arrived, not even me. Perhaps it was my fault for turnin’ a blind eye an’ not knowin’ what goes on in my own castle.”
“There’s no need to be so down,” Lachina said kindly. “Just like Nellie, your life has changed so quickly in such a short amount of time.”
Adam did not want to linger on his past any longer and quickly changed the subject. “Did you know that Isla is with child? They were sure untimely in their announcement.”
There was a twinkle in Lachina’s eye despite how weary she looked. “Aye, I had a wee bit of a part to play with that, with the help of some of my herbs. Did Nellie ever give you the tea?”
Nellie. He rather liked the sobriquet.
“Do you mean the valerian root in that jar? It’s very pungent.”
“Aye, she came over today to ask if there was something to get you through the night. Take the tea before bed and it should help you sleep easily.”
Is that why she went to Lachina’s earlier in the day? Why do it in secrecy, then? Ach, perhaps she knew I would be too proud to let her go over there for my sake. A smile tugged at his mouth.
“She is a sweet lass, Adam,” Lachina remarked.
Adam shook his head, trying to find words. “If she recovers... Nay, when she recovers, she needs to get away from Dunaid Castle. Until I find out who did this, she is not safe here, and I cannot watch over everyone all the time. Have you room in your house that she can stay until she can find something more suitable?”
Lachina nodded. “Aye, Elspeth and I can make room.”
“Miss Lachina?” Hilda stood outside the door. “Lady Maxwell is feelin’ a bit ill. Miss Elspeth is already with her an’ she would like to see you if you aren’t too busy with Lady Lyall. She says she’d understand if you are.”
“I am fine with her,” Adam reassured Lachina. “Go see Isla.”
With her gone, Adam stared silently at the unconscious woman. Had it just been earlier in the afternoon that her cheeks had been flushed from her walk, that he had held her warm body and shared a kiss? There was a moment in his day when that was all he was worrying about. How did things change so quickly?
He took Nellie’s hand and kissed the back of it gently. “I’m sorry, Nellie,” he whispered. “I’m sorry that you do not feel protected in my own home.”
And for the first time in fifteen years, he prayed. To whom, he knew not, but he prayed to whoever had the care to listen that she would wake up and that he would be able to see those ocean-blue eyes again. Hell, she could hate him for the rest of her life if it meant she continued to have a life to live.
Later that night, Lachina and Elspeth were escorted home, promising to return on the morrow. With Hilda’s help, he set up a makeshift bed on the ground beside Nellie’s bed, not trusting anyone else to look after her.
Isla moved to Nellie’s old room so she could have her own place to rest. The baby Isla carried was giving her a tremendous sickness, as Lachina assured him was normal in the early months of pregnancy.
A pitcher of hot water was given to him by one of his servants and he made himself the valerian tea. Indeed, it was pungent and powerful, and not exactly palatable, but he downed the entire mug in mostly one sip before settling in for the night.
He checked on Nellie one more time, yet not a thing had changed since he’d found her in the courtyard. She slept as though in complete peace. He hoped that if she was dreaming, she was not in any sort of distress.
Before lying down in his bed, he gently touched her hand and drew a quick intake of breath when he thought he felt slight movement. As he held his breath and waited for another show of consciousness, there was naught.
Settling in under his blankets, he made sure his sword was resting nearby on the left side of his body, within easy grabbing distance from his dominant hand. He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but perhaps the valerian was stronger than he believed, for his eyelids soon became heavy and his thoughts drifted off to oblivion.
It was the first time in what seemed to be forever that he finally did not dream of ghosts.
Chapter 12
For the second time in her life, Nellie woke up in a strange room with her head pounding as though someone was hitting it with a giant mallet. She blinked up at the ceiling and futilely attempted to remember why she was in this bed and not her own in Burrach Castle.
Her memories came up with nothing.
She turned her head slightly to the right. She lay in a meticulously clean room with a bright, airy window that was now opened a crack to let the fresh morning breeze in.
This isn’t
Burrach.
Ah, yes. Memories flood her consciousness. Dunaid Castle. Yes, I’m still here. Isn’t this Isla’s room? How on earth?
On the ground lay crumpled blankets, like someone had been sleeping beside her, although she was the only soul in the room.
She gingerly lifted her hand to touch her head and gasped at the pain. Indeed, she had a bandage around her head. The sore spot was in the exact same place that she’d injured before, when she fell from Lily. No wonder it hurt so much.
What was the last thing she remembered? Aye, she had been in the courtyard… for what reason? A kiss… Her face warmed at the thought. Aye, I kissed Adam and decided to leave Dunaid. My dagger was in the courtyard, but so was…
She never did find out who was in the courtyard with her.
“Nellie?”
She looked up at the sound of her name. Adam. He hesitated by the doorway before stepping in. I had planned to never see him again, Nellie thought. And here I am with my heart feeling glad to see his face once again. How fickle am I!
The apparent relief in his eyes concerned Nellie. How damaging was her injury?
“Do you know what happened to me?” she asked him.
“You were hit in the head.”
She was in the courtyard, but she was not the only one… She closed her eyes, trying to remember who she saw, if indeed she saw anyone.
“Do… do you know who did this?”
“If only I knew. Nellie, I’m so sorry.”
He used her informal name. Whether he even noticed, she could not tell, but she rather enjoyed the way it sounded with his voice. Her head still felt fuzzy and her laugh sounded strange in her ears.
“Why are you sorry?” she asked.
“Please do not think I wanted this to happen to you.”
“I never imagined you did.”
She noticed his shoulders visibly relax. He took another step into the room. “How can I make it up to you?” he asked.
Nellie shook her head and groaned. Just that small movement was painful. “You don’t need to do anything.”
Lady Nellie Page 8
