Beyond the Highland Myst

by Highlander 01-08

  "The next time you're foolish enough to say that after I touch you, I won't be responsible for my actions, lass."

  Adrienne closed her eyes. Hide it, hide it, don't let him see how he affects you. "There won't be a next time you touch me."

  "There will be a next time every day, Adrienne Douglas. You belong to me. And I can only be pushed so far. Adam can be sent away. Everyone can be sent away. Coffee can be sent away. I control everything you want. I can be very good to you if you're willing to try. The only thing I can't negotiate about is Adam. So be willing to try with me and all I ask is that you forgo Adam and never say his name to me. If you can grant me that wee boon, I will demand naught else but the price for your coffee each morn. And I promise you I won't make it too high."

  The kiss was too high. Too dangerous in itself. "By what right—"

  "By might. 'Tis simple enough."

  "Brute force—"

  "Don't bother trying to guilt me. Ask my mother. It doesn't work."

  Well, well. No chivalry here, she noted. But all in all, the deal he offered was more reasonable than the myriad alternatives. He could demand all his husbandly prerogatives rather than one small kiss each morning. She could live through it. "A kiss each morning? That's all you seek in return for my not mentioning Adam to you? And I get my coffee every day?"

  "Stay away from Adam. Don't let me find you near him. Don't say his name to me."

  "For a kiss each morn?" She had to tie this down to the letter of his law.

  "For a boon each morn."

  "That's not fair! Just what's a boon?"

  He laughed. "Who told you life was fair? Who misled you so sorely? And considering that we're wed and the alternative to my kind offer is sharing full conjugal privileges, what right have you to squabble over fair?"

  "Well, you could pin it down a little for my peace of mind! Otherwise I'll wake up dreading things unknown."

  His face darkened. "I seek to give her carnal pleasure and she'dreads things unknown.' " Bitterly he turned away.

  "I didn't mean it like that—" she started to say, hating the bitter lines set about his eyes. She had put them there. But for her own safety, she had to keep them there, so she broke off quickly.

  He didn't hear her anyway, so caught up was he in his dark brood as he stalked away.

  Much too late, as he faded out of sight around the corner, she recalled her coffee beans forlornly. They were tucked in that pouch he wore around his hips. And he'd relocked the buttery.

  * * * * *

  A shower. That was it. What Adrienne wouldn't give for thirty minutes of steam rolling in thick clouds, a rich lather of Aveda soap, shampoos and body oils and a fluffy white towel to dry off with.

  She paid careful attention to embellishing the finer nuances of her fantasy shower to keep her mind off Him while she located the gardens. She found them behind the castle; one had to cut through the kitchens to get there, or walk all the way around the castle—and all the way around was a long walk.

  "Well, poke in a little more than your wee nose, I'll say. I'd like to be seeing all of our new lady," a voice beckoned from within the kitchen.

  Adrienne stepped in curiously. The kitchen was unlike anything she'd imagined existed this far back in time. It was huge, well-designed, and spotless. The central focus of the room was a massive column fireplace that offered an opening on each side, quadrupling the cooking areas. A stone chimney climbed to a vent at the high ceiling. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the kitchen had been built as a freestanding addition to the castle proper, designed to be airy and well vented. Windows lined the two perimeter walls, counters of gleaming oak circled the entire area, and the floors were of palest gray quarry stone. No rotting foods here, no rodents or bugs, this kitchen vied with her own kitchen back home in the late twentieth century except it didn't have a dishwasher. Stairs descended to larders, pantries were cleverly nooked into alcoves, and beyond the open windows sprawled lush gardens. Upon the sills sat tiny jars of herbs and spices.

  "You find our kitchen passing fair?"

  Adrienne nodded, awestruck, and turned her attention to the smiling man. He was tall and tanned, with a lean body and forearms that were heavily corded with muscle either from wielding a sword or working with his hands. His dark hair and close-cropped beard were both streaked with silver, and when his clear gray eyes met hers, they sparkled with curiosity and welcome.

  "The Hawk designed it himself. From his travels. Said he'd seen wonders to make life far more pleasant, and used them all to better Dalkeith, I'll say."

  The laird of the castle had been in the kitchens?

  "He cut the counters and built the cabinets himself. Likes to work with wood he does. Busies his hands he says. Though where he finds time is beyond me, I'll say." The man rolled his eyes and folded his hands behind his head, leaning his chair back into a puddle of sunshine that streamed in the window. "Name's Tavis, milady," he offered. "Pleased to be welcoming you."

  "I'm Mad Janet," she blurted in response to his kindness.

  "Don't know much about mad, but Lydia's taken a liking to you and that's one discriminating woman, I'll say."

  Adrienne took another step into the kitchen; her eyes swept the room admiring the simple genius with which it had been designed. Everything tidy and easily accessible.

  "Lydia is out back," Tavis encouraged. She's been expecting you for some time now, I'll say." He winked at her. "Don't let these Douglas overwhelm you, milady. Stubborn, opinionated people they are, but hearts of purest gold. You'll not find another like the Douglas in all of Scotia. Welcome, I'll say, and if you need anything, you've only to come find Tavis of the tannery." He flexed his strong hands. "I still make the softest hides this side of Uster. Perhaps on t'other side too." Pride gleamed in his smile as he shooed her toward the door.

  Adrienne stepped into the sunshine and breathed as deeply as she could. Honeysuckle, a beloved scent from her earliest youth. Buttercups sprawled in golden beauty beneath the windows to her right and left. Lavender on the air, rugosa roses, and another earthy rich scent she struggled to identify. She heard the tinkling of water spilling into a basin. A fountain? Following the sound, Adrienne traipsed the stone walkways through towering bushes of rhododendrons, lush anemones, bluebells, and scattered forget-me-nots.

  Stone paths shot off in several directions, but the tinkling sound of water drew Adrienne unerringly. The Lady Lydia sat upon the ledge of a stone fountain that rose in four tiers, high above her head. A full-size stone dolphin poised atop the fountain, caught in mid-leap, spouted water from its open snout.

  "Magnificent," Adrienne breathed, and Lydia turned to greet her with a welcoming smile.

  "My son is quite the inventor." Pride was evident in every gentle line of her face.

  "He did this too?" Adrienne grimaced.

  "Most of the unusual aspects of Dalkeith are of my son's making. When he traveled he sought the most advanced secrets of civilization to bring back to his people—"

  "When he traveled the world seeking beautiful bed-mates," Adrienne interrupted acerbically, recalling the words of the Comyn maids.

  Lydia cocked her head, an amused gleam in her eyes. "Is that what they say?"

  "Is that what he did?"

  "What say you ask him yourself? But think well on this, Adrienne. What would people who didn't know you well say of you?"

  "Point taken," Adrienne conceded, hoping Lydia never discovered her colorful past.

  "Mad Janet," Lydia observed softly. "You don't seem a bit mad to me. Why did the Comyn keep you locked in that tower?"

  Adrienne recited the words he'd pounded into her the day of her wedding. "I was too beautiful to risk his own men seeing. So he said." She added her own words without thinking, "Truth is, I've never felt that way."

  Lydia snorted. "Have you never seen a glass?"

  "Of course I have. But I still never felt that way."

  "Rather like the Hawk, I believe," Lydia remarked. "He told
me once that he knew he was good-looking only because of the way women fussed over him. That if women hadn't made such a hubbub, he would have just considered himself reasonably neat and clean—"

  "Reasonably neat and clean?" Adrienne said incredulously. "The man is flawless from head to toe! He makes David and the Greek gods and Pan seem all out of proportion. He is raw sex in a bottle, uncorked. And somebody should cork it! He's—accck! Bah!" Adrienne spluttered and stuttered as she belatedly realized her words. Lydia was laughing so hard, tears misted her eyes.

  When Lydia was able to draw a breath, she gave a pleased sigh. "Well, that's a relief. I wasn't sure you weren't immune. He thinks you are. Don't worry. 'Twill be our wee secret, dear Adrienne, and do come sit beside me so I can tell you how glad I am that you're here. I'm only sorry I wasn't here to give you a proper welcome when you arrived. From what I've heard, they all botched things quite terribly."

  Adrienne found herself wanting to rush headlong into the closest thing to mothering arms she'd ever known. Her hardened heart slipped on treacherously thin ice—dare she? Dare she not?

  * * * * *

  Behind bushes of blood-red rhododendrons a shadow flinched. I hate her! Hate her! Esmerelda's hand trembled as she raised the tube, then steadied it sharply. She would dispatch the enemy, and end her torment. She puckered her lips around the mouth of the tube, keeping level the tiny instrument of death. She drew a deep breath and forced a sharp burst of air from tight lips. A tiny dart erupted from the end of the hollow chute, as small as the stinger of a bee. Esmerelda watched as the dart flew home to embed itself in the pale flesh of Adrienne's neck. She smiled with satisfaction as Adrienne slapped briefly at the wound, as if shooing away an irritating midge. Esmerelda squinted hard—she could see the glistening tail of the dart shine in Adrienne's neck as she spoke to Lydia. Done. The deed was done.

  * * * * *

  "Where is your husband, Lydia?" Adrienne slapped sharply at her neck. "Midges? Already?"

  "We have our share. 'Tis the reason for the nettings upon the beds during this season. A bit of mint seems to keep them away. I stuff some in my pockets and tuck a leaf or two in my bodice." She offered a few leaves of her own and Adrienne accepted them gratefully. "As to my husband…" Her eyes grew dreamy. "That impossible man left me over thirty years ago. He died right after Hawk was born."

  "How?" Adrienne wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. The sun was too hot suddenly.

  "'Twas in battle for the king, and in his dying he made a pledge, or so King James said, of fifteen years of his son's life in service to the Crown, in exchange for the king's protection of Dalkeith. In fact, Sidheach's service ended only recently."

  Adrienne wrinkled her brow in confusion. Lydia's bright flowers suddenly melted into a dizzying wash of color.

  Lydia explained patiently, "Dalkeith is a rich keep. There was no man to protect us when my husband died. I was left with a wee heir of two months. Whether my husband actually made the pledge or James just invented it, I'll never know. I doubt my Douglas would have pledged our son to King James in any manner, but one rarely wins an argument with a king. I wasn't ready to wed again, my grieving for my husband was deep. The king's men protected Dalkeith until I doffed my widow weeds. But James gave us his protection on the condition that the Hawk report to Edinburgh on his eighteenth birthday, for fifteen years of fealty. As he claimed my husband promised him."

  "You don't believe your husband pledged the Hawk?" Adrienne asked, her vision growing cloudy. She blinked hard a moment and her vision cleared.

  Lydia's lovely face grew pensive, and for a long moment it seemed she might not answer the question at all. Adrienne could see memories flitting across her brow, some good, some obviously painful. "My Douglas was the second offer of marriage I received, Adrienne."

  "And the first?" Adrienne asked, trailing her fingertips in the cool, sweet water of the fountain and then dabbing a few droplets at her temples.

  "King James."

  "Ah! A man scorned."

  "Decidedly scorned. And not a bit forgiving. King James had set his mind on me and was not to be dissuaded. It was in my sixteenth summer, and I was at court with your mother, Althea. We both received many offers of marriage that season, and James was one of my most ardent admirers. I didn't take him too seriously, he was, after all, the king. It was only later that I discovered just how serious he was. But it was too late. I had set my mind on the Douglas when I was but a wee lass. And the Douglas, well, let's just say it was short work persuading him." Her green eyes twinkled with fond remembrances.

  "So the king hates the Hawk because you turned down his offer of marriage? That seems incredibly childish."

  "He is. James was spoiled since the moment he was born. He was coddled and pampered and pandered to endlessly. By the time he was of age to marry, he had been doted on ceaselessly. He had never heard the word no in his entire life and had no intention of ever hearing it. He found it simply incomprehensible that a woman would choose to be a mere earl's wife when she could be queen of all Scotland."

  Adrienne thought briefly about the royals in her time. How very much one had sacrificed to be princess and one day queen. Lydia had made a wise choice when she'd married for love.

  "What truly undid him was that he was foolish enough to announce to his court that I was going to be his queen, even after I'd declined his marriage proposals on several occasions. I wed my Douglas the day following his 'proclamation,' although we didn't know the king had actually gone so far as to announce his intentions publicly until weeks later, when the news finally reached Dalkeith. My husband said we'd made a powerful enemy that day. But I think neither of us knew how truly vengeful he could be. I suspect there are many things about his service to James that Hawk will never speak of. 'Tis rumored James held threats of destroying Dalkeith over his head unless Hawk obeyed his every whim." Her voice slipped a confidential notch. "Hawk doesn't know it, but I sought audience with James, myself, shortly after I began to hear tales of his servitude. I begged him to relinquish his claim on my son." Lydia's eyes clouded. "He laughed and told me that if I had wed wisely the Hawk would have been the king's son instead of the king's servant."

  Adrienne rubbed her neck and blinked hard. Her vision was blurring alarmingly and her head was pounding. "Public humiliation," she said thickly. "Never met the man who took it well."

  "I believe'tis also why King James ordered the Hawk to wed on his command," Lydia continued softly. "Just another subtle way of prolonging his revenge. I think he felt almost cheated by my husband's death, and I've often wondered what he might have done to us had my husband lived longer. What a bitter man he's become." Lydia shook her head. "I'm glad it was you, Adrienne. The king would hate it if he knew how lovely and how very not-mad you really are. You are exactly what the Hawk needs. No timid lass, or simpering addlepate, but a woman with true mettle and depth."

  Adrienne flushed with pleasure. The added heat did alarming things to her head. "You said you wed again. Do you have other children?" she asked, trying desperately to hold on to the gist of the conversation.

  The smile returned to Lydia's face. "Oh, aye. Adrian and Ilysse. They're in France with my sister, Elizabeth. In her last letter she warned me that Adrian is becoming an incorrigible rogue and she's just about given up on civilizing Ilysse." Lydia laughed. "Ilysse can be a bit high-spirited and unmanageable at times. You would like her."

  Adrienne wasn't certain how to take that, so she didn't comment. Besides, she wasn't feeling at all well. Her vision was now double, her stomach a roiling agony, and her mouth felt dry as cotton swabs. She struggled to swallow. "Wallah hubbah hah?" she croaked.

  "Adrienne?" Lydia gazed at her with concern. "Adrienne!"

  She placed a hand against the younger woman's forehead. "You're burning up!"

  Adrienne groaned as she pitched forward and collapsed on the cobbled walkway.

  "Hawk!" Lydia screamed.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 9<
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  "poison." hawk's face was grim and dark. he carefully studied the tiny dart the aged healer had laid upon the cloth.

  "Callabron." The healer combed his fingers through his long white beard and lowered himself into a chair by Adrienne's side.

  Hawk groaned. Callabron was not a gentle poison. A vicious and slow toxin, it would cause lingering pain for days before it ended in death by suffocation as the toxin slowly paralyzed the body from the outside in.

  The Hawk knew there was no cure. He'd heard of the toxin during his service to King James. It was rumored to have claimed the lives of many royal siblings. When one sought to remove a future king, one took no chances with a poison that might fail. Hawk dropped his head in his hands and rubbed his sore and bleary eyes furiously. The intensity of the heat from the high flames wasn't helping. But the heat would help her, the healer had said. It might break the fever. Still… she would die.

  Take me, just leave her unharmed! Hawk wished with all of his heart.

  "We can ease her pain. There are things I can give her…" the healer said softly.

  "Who?" the Hawk raged, ignoring the old man. "Who would wish to do this? Why kill her? What has she done?"

  The healer flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.

  In the doorway, Lydia drew a labored breath. " 'Tis Callabron, then?"

  "Aye. The skin has blackened around the opening, and those pale green lines streak out from it. 'Tis the deadly bite of Callabron."

  "I won't lose her, Hawk," Lydia demanded.

  Hawk raised his head slowly from his hands. "Mother." The word was a plea, hopelessness in and of itself. Mother make it better. But he knew she couldn't.

  "Some say'tis more humane to end the suffering in the early stages," the healer offered very softly, not meeting the Hawk's gaze.

  "Enough!" the Hawk silenced him with a shout. "If all you can bring is gloom and doom, then get thee gone!"