Ellie pitched her body back toward the doorway, hitting the landing with a hard thump as she watched the railing she’d had under her hands only seconds before smash to the ground far below. She rolled to her hands and knees, scooting toward the edge of the landing to peer over.
Stop! Too big! Danger!
A high-pitched reedy voice echoed through her mind, as insistent in its message as it had been the moment before the rail collapsed. She had known instantly it wasn’t the big deerhound. This voice was different, more commanding somehow. Besides, she could feel the big dog’s presence at the bottom of the staircase, his worry transmitted freely to her.
Too big! Danger!
A cracking sound froze her to the spot, but the frustrated grunt that followed had her on her feet and moving. Five stairs below her, Caden’s foot had gone through the rotted wood.
“Are you hurt? Didn’t I tell you to not to come any closer? Now look at you.”
Damn the man. He’d been coming up after her. She’d warned him, but of course he hadn’t listened. She should have known he wouldn’t. Just like every macho farmhand she’d ever known. Unless an order came from a man, it was ignored.
“I’m no hurt. My boot’s absorbed the scrape. But you stay put. Dinna you move even a hair. I’ll be right there to get you.” Caden jerked at his foot, attempting to pull it from the wood.
The stairs wouldn’t hold his weight. She knew from the feelings and pictures flowing through her mind. She couldn’t allow him to come up after her. It was bad enough his foot had gone through the stairs. If she hadn’t dashed way up here in the first place, none of this would have happened.
But she’d let her pride get the best of her. When she’d stuck her foot in her mouth and insulted his mama, right after he’d been so nice to her, well, the only thing she could think of was to put some distance between them.
So the next move was hers.
“I’m coming down.”
No, no! Too big. Don’t move!
The warning sounded too late as the board beneath Ellie’s foot splintered, pain searing up her calf as her left leg plunged through the rotted wood.
“Damnation, woman! Dinna I tell you stay as you were?” Caden bellowed, wrenching his own foot free.
Ellie didn’t think it would take much effort to pull out of the hole, but with even a tiny shift of her weight she could feel the board that held her giving way. She remained absolutely still, crouched on the step with one leg dangling through the hole as Caden slowly crawled up the stairs separating them.
Though he stopped two steps below her, their eyes were nearly level. She wondered at the determination she saw there, especially since all she felt at the moment was mind-numbing fear.
“Can you pull free?”
It might be unreasonable to think the sound of her own voice could shatter the wood and send her hurtling down, still, she only shook her head in response. The vision of that rail splintering as it crashed into the ground over a story below her was too fresh in her mind.
“Is yer limb wedged in tightly, then?” Caden reached out, his fingers grazing over and around her knee where it disappeared through the opening in the step. “It feels as though you’ve room,” he murmured.
“Not wedged.” She felt breathless and she could hear her own heart pounding. “But the wood seems to give way with every little movement.”
He nodded thoughtfully, capturing her gaze with his own. “Dinna you fear, lass, I’ll no allow you to fall. I swear it.”
His voice curled about her, comforting her and somehow bolstering her courage. When his fingers tightened in a reassuring squeeze around her knee before he drew his hand away, she had to fight the gasp that threatened to escape. Surely it was only her desperate fear of falling that caused her heartbeat to speed up.
“When I lift you,” he began.
“No! It won’t hold your weight, too.” What was he thinking? They’d both be lying down there with the smashed railing if he tried that.
A look of irritation swept across his handsome face as he leaned in closer.
“You’ll be listening to me now, Elliedenton, with none of yer blether. You’ll do as I say and I’ll have you safely out of there, you ken?”
Her eyes locked on his and she nodded, meekly enough, she hoped. There would be plenty of time later to discuss that attitude of his. Right now she’d simply trust that he could do what he said.
“Verra well. When I lift you”—he paused briefly, as if testing whether or not she might interrupt again—“you’ll push up with all yer strength. Ready?”
At her nod, he rose slowly to his feet. She ignored the cracking sounds around her, keeping her gaze focused on his face.
“That’s it, lass. Yer doing fine,” he murmured a second before he leaped past, grabbing her under her armpits and lifting up.
It felt almost like an amusement park ride as she flew up into his arms. He pushed off with his legs, sending them into the air as the wood that had been under her seconds before fractured and crashed to the ground below.
She hooked her arms around his neck as the force of his leap propelled them across the corner of the landing and through the old castle’s dark, gaping doorway. They hit the stone floor with a mighty thud, knocking Ellie’s breath from her lungs even though Caden had managed to cushion her fall, once again, with his own body.
A body she now lay gratefully huddled into, his powerful arms holding her tightly to him. A strong, solid, all-male body that made her feel small and feminine and fluttery and—
“By the Fates,” Caden groaned. “I dinna believe I’d care to go through that again anytime soon.”
His words drew her up short. What was wrong with her? She was having the most bizarre twenty-four hours of her life and yet she could lie here mooning over some guy just because he had a velvet voice and big biceps?
“Yeah. Exactly. Me either.”
But she didn’t lift her head from his shoulder and he made no move to dislodge her.
At least, not until he roared, “Rat!” and rolled her protectively under his body, curling around her, encasing her in his embrace.
With Caden’s warm breath feathering over the top of her head, Ellie was almost tempted to change all her prior negative opinions about rats. How could anything be all bad if its mere presence resulted in this? Though with her nose jammed into the wall of muscle that passed for Caden’s chest, she was finding that breathing had become a challenge.
She managed to shift her head just enough to find a spot where she could get some air, but the tiny opening she’d located was quickly filled with a small, furry head. A light, warm breath feathered over her face. Followed by a small, warm tongue.
“No rat. Big One stupid.”
The deliverer of all the earlier warnings had arrived.
“It’s not a rat.” Ellie’s muffled voice reached Caden’s ears as her hands slid up his chest.
“Looked like a rat to me,” he muttered, scanning the area around them in the musty gloom, hunting for any sign of the creature that had darted past his face as he tried to ignore the feeling of her hands moving over his body.
“Well, it’s not, trust me.”
The sigh that followed her words was deep, the heat of her breath penetrating his shirt, seeming to crawl inside his chest, sparking awareness of her throughout his body. The cushion of her hip fit perfectly under the leg he’d thrown over her, the soft, silky texture of her hair rubbed against his chin, and her small, delicate hands burned into his chest as she pushed harder….
“Maybe you could get off me now? I’m suffocating here.”
Sensibility returned in a rush and Caden jerked away from her. “My apologies. I d-dinna mean to…” He stuttered to a stop. “I was only thinking to protect you from the rat.” He stood, straightening his plaid to busy his hands. What the devil was wrong with him?
“I already told you it’s not a rat. And she doesn’t appreciate your calling her that one little bit.”
>
He looked down to find Ellie sitting up, cuddling some small, mangy, furry thing.
“She doesn’t appreciate…What in the name of the Fae is that thing?”
“It’s a dog, of course.” Ellie shook her head. “Poor little thing is half starved, abandoned out here.”
“Well, put the wee beastie down and come along.” He walked to the door and gazed out over the landing and the fractured staircase beyond. There would be no going back that way.
“No can do, big fella. This little lady saved my neck out there. I’m bringing her with us.”
“What nonsense is this?” The woman collected pathetic creatures like most women collected jewels.
Her only response was a groan that had him at her side in an instant. He very nearly groaned himself as she pulled her skirt above her knees, baring two very shapely legs.
“Now what are you…” he bit back any further comment when he saw the streak of deep red trailing down the back of one of those lovely appendages. “Yer bleeding.”
“Yep. It’s not bad, really. But I bet I’ll have one beauty of a bruise there tomorrow.”
She looked around as if hunting for something before using the tail of her dress to wipe along the cut. The long jagged tear oozed red once again, forming little drip lines.
A stomach-wrenching blow of guilt rolled through him. His fault.
Her beautiful skin was torn and bleeding and it was all his fault. He and Andrew had been to Sithean Fardach just last summer. He had seen the damage to the stairway then. Drew had even warned him there could be a danger. He should have done something then. He could have sent someone over from Dun Ard to replace the rotted timbers. He should have stopped her from running up the stairs.
Too late now.
He hadn’t listened to his brother last summer just like he hadn’t listened to him nine years ago about Alycie. He’d never learn. And now another woman had paid the price of his refusal to hear a warning.
“Let’s get you back to Dun Ard. My mother will have salves to help with yer healing.” He leaned over and swept her up into his arms. Carrying her seemed the least he could do.
She threw one arm around his neck, but held on to the ragged bundle in her lap with the other.
“Yer no going to leave the little vermin behind, are you?”
She shook her head, a smile lighting her eyes as she tightened her hold on the creature. “Nope. And she’s not too fond of your calling her names, either.”
Caden stepped over a pile of rubble as he made his way down the hallway toward the kitchen. “And I suppose you ken that because the hairy rat there told you, did she?”
“Exactly right,” she responded, and then laughed.
The sound echoed off the high stone walls like music played by a traveling minstrel, stopping Caden in his tracks. It was the first time he’d heard her laugh, the first time he’d seen the beauty of happiness reflected in her face.
Laughter was the music of life to Caden. There had been a time when he sought its melody in everything he did. But that had all changed nine years ago.
Now he stood in the crumbling shell of his childhood home holding a woman in his arms whose laughter soothed that part of his soul he’d feared lost.
If his mother was correct and this woman was here to be wife to one of his brothers, all he could think was that one of them had damn well better lay claim to her quickly.
Seven
“You’re afraid of rats!”
The idea hit Ellie like an epiphany as she rode by Caden’s side back to Dun Ard. She blurted it out without thinking.
“I am no afraid of anything so small as that,” he bristled.
She chuckled and instantly regretted doing so as he visibly stiffened.
“I wasn’t trying to insult you. It’s just that your being frightened by a rat is so out of character with that first impression I had of you. Honestly, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was just surprised that you’re not what I thought you were.”
“I was no afraid,” he muttered through gritted teeth, looking off to the distance, scanning the rough terrain ahead of them. “But they’re dirty buggers at best and I dinna fancy the idea of one crawling upon you.”
Ellie ducked her head, working hard to hold back a smile. Of course he wouldn’t admit to being afraid of anything. And yet it was so endearing somehow. This huge, muscled man, who had risked his life to rescue her on the stairs, bothered by a little animal. It showed a soft side. A side she should have recognized from the way he carried her through the castle in spite of her protests. Or from the way he tore off a piece of his shirt to dab at the long scrape she’d received from her encounter with the rotted stair before gently wrapping the cloth around her leg from knee to ankle.
“What did you say?” she asked as he continued to mutter under his breath.
“Only that trying to keep you from dirty creatures is a wasted effort as long as you continue to collect them.” He pointed to the small dog in her lap.
Obviously his feelings were still hurt by her accusation, so she only shrugged. No point being drawn into an argument over something she felt needed no apology. The warning she’d received from the bedraggled bundle of terrier in her lap had saved her from going over the side of the landing with that rail. She’d even told him as much. And though she was sure he didn’t believe her, just admitting it out loud had made her feel wonderfully happy, like a confirmation to the world she wasn’t going insane.
“Next thing, you’ll be naming the beasts,” he continued, as if warming to the subject.
“I already have.”
He pulled his horse to a stop, turning to stare at her, his disbelief evident.
“The big boy here is Baby, because he truly is a pitiful baby who’s been badly treated. And this”—she stroked her hand down the matted fur of the little dog in her lap—“this is Missy, because she believes herself to be a fiery, dominant mistress of dogs. What do you think?” She intentionally flashed him her best smile.
“Baby and…I dinna even ken where to start with what I think. I’ve no ever met a woman with such a wild imagination as to—”
“Caden! Caden!”
Whatever else he might have said was lost as his attention was drawn to the rider who quickly closed the distance between them, yelling his name.
“Steafan! What are you doing out here?”
“Yer lady mother sent me to find you. Yer brother has returned home.”
“Colin’s home?” Caden straightened in his saddle.
“No, more’s the pity, and still no word. It’s Andrew who’s come home. And he’s brought yer sister and the whole of the MacPhersons with him, it seems.”
“I see. We’ve been invaded, then.”
“Invaded?” Ellie repeated, pulling her horse up even with Caden’s. If this was indeed the fourteenth century as it certainly seemed to be, invasion was a horrible reality, with people you might have considered family taking over your home and lands.
No sooner had the thought entered her mind than it lodged in the back of her throat, thick and heavy, bringing with it the vision of Ray standing on her front porch, gloating.
The little dog in her lap growled and she cuddled the animal to her absently, lost for the moment in her memories. If her recent experience was any indicator, the threat of someone taking one’s home and lands hadn’t ended with the fourteenth century.
“Dinna fash yerself so, lass. It’s no a need for concern. Only the MacPhersons come to call.”
Ellie nodded, still unable to speak past the lump that formed at the memory of her troubles. Allowing her horse to drop back behind those of the men, she ignored their quiet conversation to pursue her own thoughts.
She no longer doubted that she wasn’t in the twenty-first century any longer. That was pretty clear. There was nothing—nothing!—even remotely indicative of her century. No air traffic overhead, no wires or plumbing or pipes. Not a stray piece of plastic or a single aluminum can on the ground.
Not so much as a cigarette butt. On her ranch back home, even acres from where anyone ever traveled except her, bits and pieces of modern man’s debris would show up, blown there by the wind.
But not here.
And there was certainly no question about this not being Texas.
How something so absolutely impossible had come about was beyond her ability to imagine. Her only hope was to accept it. Trying to understand it would drive her crazy, so she wasn’t going to go there. Just accept.
Until she could find her way home.
Caden rode next to Steafan, unable to concentrate on his friend’s chatter, his attention drawn instead to the woman accompanying them. A glance back assured him she followed still, though she appeared immersed in her own thoughts, her expression troubled and far away.
With a shake of his head, he resisted the inclination to turn his mount and pull back to ride next to her.
This unusual need he felt to hover over her, to see what she would do, what she would say next, surprised him. It was so unlike him to have more than the most fleeting interest in any woman.
He’d learned his lesson with Alycie. Women were not to be trusted. After her betrayal, he’d decided then and there to pattern his life after his cousin Blane’s. He would never marry. He had no need for a woman to be happy. He had Dun Ard and her people. That would be enough for him. He would choose one of his brothers’ sons to be his heir, just as Blane had chosen him.
No, women were trouble best left to someone else.
So why did this particular woman weigh so heavily in his mind?
He turned his head to check on her once more.
Guilt, in all likelihood, drove his interest. He had failed in his responsibility to protect her today. He’d been lax in not recognizing a potential danger, and that sloppiness on his part had brought her injury. His choices had resulted in near tragedy for someone he was supposed to be protecting. He’d failed her. As he had failed others who’d depended on him in the past.
All the more reason he’d never marry.
“Are you no listening, Cade? I need yer answer.”
A Highlander of Her Own Page 5
