Chapter 10
Upon his return to the castle, Cameron thanked Hugh for the brisk ride on the mare. “Indeed you have broken her in very well and I approve of her. I want this mare as one of my personal horses,” Cameron said loudly so that the stable boys and any others in earshot knew that they had simply been riding.
Cameron took the bundle of herbs to his chambers. He knew that these herbs were not simply for cooking but for medicinal purposes. He hung them up to dry from the rafter.
Then he set about taking care of his duties. There was a pile of letters on his desk from other Lairds and farm holders to be taken care of. He also needed to do his daily walk through of his armories, stables, food stores, and other castle necessities.
It wasn't until afternoon that he made his way to check on Maria, even though he had been thinking of her the entire day.
He knocked on the door, and he heard her soft voice from inside. He pulled the key out from the small leather pouch on his belt and unlocked the door.
“It is me, Cameron,” he said.
“Come in,” she said.
Cameron walked in to find her sitting by the window. Her hair was down and freshly brushed, and he had almost forgotten just how beautiful she was. But he could see that there was a sadness in her eyes, and that made his heart ache.
“You have eaten?” he asked.
“I have. Thank you for keeping me nourished and hydrated.”
“And yet, you do not look happy, Maria.”
“How can I be happy when I cannot return home. I just wish that someone else would try to open the door. Perhaps it is not me that needs to open it. I just want to go home. If you were taken from your home, you would want to return, would you not?”
“Yes, I would.”
Maria looked at Cameron, always overwhelmed by how tall and foreboding his large physique was. Not to mention his incredibly good looks. But it wasn't enough to calm her heart because she really did ache to return home.
“Come. Let us go down to the door and I will try to see if I am able to open it,” he said.
Maria was stunned. She hadn’t expected him to say such a thing, or to be so kind. She thought that she would have to do a lot of convincing to get some else to try the door or have to run away out of her room again.
“Really? You would do that?”
“I am offering, am I not? Now come before I change my mind,” he said walking out the door.
Maria scampered after him. He closed the door behind him and then led her down the corridor.
“I do not know if this will work. Hopefully it will and we can get you back home. But if it does not, I have seen a friend that is willing to come speak to you to see if we can figure this out. She has good knowledge of the castle and the strange happenings,” he said.
“Thank you, Cameron, I appreciate it,” she said.
He glanced at her for a moment, a small smile on his lips. “I do like the way my name sounds coming off your tongue, lass.”
.
Maria felt intense heat envelope her as she walked next to the strong man with the delicious body scent. Her heart beat faster and she found it difficult to remain calm near him. Now that it was possible she was about to go home, she felt a little bit of remorse that she wasn’t able to sample Cameron in another way. After all, how many chances would she get to be intimate with a man from the ancient past who looked the way he did and was a Scottish Lord of the land?
She had to shake these inappropriate images from her mind, though it was hard when he walked in front of her giving her a good view of his backside.
Finally they arrived in the chamber with the door. “That’s it. The small door. I guess I could try again,” Maria said. She tried to pull open the door, but once again it didn’t work. She tried again, nothing.
“Perhaps it is just stuck. Allow me,” Cameron said.
Cameron placed his large hands on the door latch. He yanked hard, as hard as he could. Maria watched as his biceps and forearms flexed. It was obvious that he was giving it all his strength, and he did have a lot of strength. Then he tried to push the door the other direction. He was very strong, and she knew that something else was holding the door if a man of his strength could not open it.
“I cannot believe this. It is as though there is some force holding the door closed altogether. The door is not to be opened by brute strength, but by some other manner. I apologize Maria. I will take you back to your room,” he said.
“Back to my room? So soon?” she said.
“What?” he asked.
“I’ve been like an animal in a cage in that room. It would be nice to walk around. I need the exercise.”
“Yes of course, I did not think of that, lass. I must apologize to you for keeping you there. It is for your own safety, though, I assure you. But let us take a walk around the castle grounds, we will go outside and get some fresh air and sunshine.”
“Thank you. I long to feel some of the sunshine on my face. To think in New York the tall buildings are always blocking out the sun and now there are all these fields where there so much sun and I’m still stuck inside,” she said.
“The buildings block the sun?” he asked.
“They are very tall buildings,” she said.
“How tall?” he asked.
“It is hard to explain, but much taller than the castle,” she said. “We call them skyscrapers because their height is thousands of feet in the air.”
Cameron looked at her and smiled. “You’re right, that is very tall. I cannot even imagine such a thing.”
Cameron was glad to have this time with her, and he wanted to see her in the sun as well. He could picture her in the blue and green colors of his clan, frolicking in the heather fields.
“This way,” he said. “We must get you changed.”
“Changed?” She looked up at him with those gorgeous eyes of hers and he smiled.
“I cannot have you wandering around the castle grounds in what you wear now. People are already suspicious of you. You need to look as if you are of this time as much as possible. Unless you want to get the looks and possibly killed?”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, you’re right. Alright, then I will change.”
She followed Cameron upstairs until they got to her door. He walked into her room with her. She looked at him and crossed her arms.
“What is that look, lass?”
“I’m not going to change in front of you. Some privacy please,” she said.
“Right, lass. Apologies.” Cameron walked out and closed the door with a smile on his face. He leaned against the wall and waited. Knowing that she was taking off her clothes on the other side of the door had him feeling heated. It had been a long time since a woman made him stir in such a way. He had his past of lovers, but he had not found the woman for him. When he was a teenager he fell in love, but the girl got very sick with the plague and passed. He had never felt like he truly loved a woman since then. With being in line to become Laird, he spent all of his time learning how to rule the lands and understanding the tenants and clan rivalries. But now, this woman intrigued him like no other. And she was naked just beyond the door. His manhood stirred for her.
“Cameron…” her soft voice called to him.
He opened the door. She had her back to him, and her back was exposed. He could see her soft pale skin, because the dress laced up the back.
“I don't know how to do this. I’m sorry that I need your help,” she said.
“Yes, of course.” He took steps to her and then gently touched the bottom laces. The top of his hand grazed against her skin and he heard a soft gasp come from her.
“I'm sorry. My hands are cold,” Cameron said.
He laced up the dress, doing it slowly even though he could do it fast. He wanted to savor this moment and it was hard for him to restrain himself. He wanted to push his hands into the dress and touch her soft skin. He wanted to kiss her neck, and trail kisses down her back. But he
held himself off from doing so.
“There, you are all done.”
Maria turned to face him.
Cameron gave her an inquisitive look. “Are you all right? Your face has turned pink.”
“Has it? I was just struggling with putting on the dress is all.”
Maria quickly moved away from him walking toward the door. She felt embarrassed. She was red in the face from having him lace up her dress. It had seriously turned her on. She was thinking very bad thoughts in those moments, and it must have made her become very flushed.
“I'm ready to go outside. I’m excited to see your home,” she said, walking ahead of him down the corridor.
“I'm excited to show you, but that is the wrong way,” he said.
Maria stopped walking and felt very embarrassed, this didn't help after she already felt embarrassed for being turned on by him. She turned to face him. He had a dashing grin on his face. His full lips were slightly pink and in contrast against his white teeth. He held his arm out gesturing toward the other way.
“Thank you,” she said.
Together they walked down the hallway and then down another staircase that led to a door on the side. He unbolted it and they walked out into the warm summer day.
She inhaled a strong breath of salty ocean air, letting the coolness of it fill her body. It smelled heavenly. A mixture of a smells from the oceans, the stables, the kitchens, and the fields were all mixed together into one breeze. It was very pure to her.
“This is lovely,” she said.
Maria looked at him and noticed him watching her with a grin. She felt freer than she had in quite some time and was happy to be out of the little room, finally. She blushed as he threaded her arm through his and pat her hand.
“Come this way,” he said. “There is a fine walking trail that goes around the island. We can walk that trail for exercise and then we can follow it down to the beach where the waves hit the rocks,” he said.
“I would like that very much.”
They walked arm-in-arm and Maria noticed that everyone they passed looked at her. She must look very odd and out of place. She tried to lower her voice so that no one could hear her American accent. She knew that her dark hair wasn’t uncommon, but her hair wasn’t in the same style as most of the women she’d noticed around here.
Cameron had been right to make her put on the dress. She was glad that it was summer and a fairly warm day because she didn’t have anything on underneath except her bra and panties. He hadn’t provided her with the typical long underskirts and pantaloons that she assumed women would wear. She wasn’t looking forward to wearing a corset at all either. Do they even wear corsets in this time period? she wondered.
She could hear people whispering, ”Who is that woman with the Laird?”
Maria just kept her eyes focused ahead of her. She didn’t make eye contact with anyone, but she kept a careful eye upon her surroundings. She wanted to be aware of the environment in case of an emergency. She had seen where everything was located from her room window, but that was only the courtyard area. Now she was outside the castle walls, and there was so much to take in. She could see the very small village ahead, it was mostly just a few huts, and she wondered if those were for people who worked in the castle such as a blacksmith and the maids.
“This trail here leads down to the ocean,” he said.
They followed the trail down to the rocky edge of the island.
“It is low tide. We can walk onto the sand. When it is high tide, the water covers the sand and we do not have a beach at all. This is where the fishermen set out to catch food from the ocean for our tables. See those boats there,” he said pointing to small wooden boats bobbing up and down on the water.
“Yes. I see them. That is very nice. I have enjoyed the fresh sea stew from your maid. It is very delicious,” she said. “It’s awesome that you get to eat fresh seafood without it being polluted with toxins. Where I’m from the rivers and oceans are becoming so polluted that some seafood has become toxic to us.”
“What? Is that true?” he asked looking at her with concern.
“Yes, unfortunately.” Maria nodded.
“Why would anyone ever want to live in such a place. This, what nature provides, is everything to us. It is against the gods to not protect it and honor it.”
“Yes, I think so too,” she said.
Maria looked at him, admiring him. In her time he would probably be considered an environmentalist, but in this time he was just considered someone with common sense. He wanted clean food to eat, as every human should. She had no idea when things had changed, but in her time, people were just waking up to what a mess had been made of the oceans, rivers and lakes.
“Here.” Cameron picked up a spiral shell and gave it to her. “A gift.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
For a moment, they stared into each other’s eyes and the world seemed to fall away. He had his back to the ocean, and she looked at how well his eyes matched the background of the water. It made his eyes seem bluer than before.
His long, blond locks flowed in the ocean breeze around his face and she longed to push her fingers through it. Finally, it was too much and she pulled her gaze from his.
Maria found that she was getting heated every time she had a moment like that with him.
“Could I pick up some of these smaller rocks to put in the room? I think these are pretty,” she said picking up a rock, but not wanting to be rude or inappropriate about any cultural things that she was not aware of. They could be sacred rocks for all she knew.
“Yes, of course you may, lass. As many as you desire,” he said.
She smiled at him knowing that a man in her time period had never spoken to her like that before. Maybe this time period wasn’t so bad after all.
Then she turned and looked up at the castle. She gasped. “The castle is so big and beautiful. I never imagined it was this big when I saw it before,” she said. She remembered the ruins of the castle and now it looked nothing like it. This was her first time seeing it at a distance, and the entire castle. It took her breath away, but also made her feel sad. Because she had seen that the ruins had been burned, she knew that at some point, the castle was going to fall into ruin. This home that this gorgeous man found sacred would not always be as majestic as it was now.
“Yes, it is beautiful. My home. I would die for it. I am loyal to it,” Cameron said.
Maria looked at him as though she had never seen him until that moment. She liked what she saw.
Chapter 11
Maria Saunders was starting to feel like she was getting her bearings in this new time. She was still half considering that she could wake up from this dream at any moment, but with every passing hour it was starting to become more pleasant than she could have imagined. That was partly due to the Laird of Dunscaith, Cameron MacLeod.
She was surprised at how quickly her attraction for him had grown. It wasn't just because he was the most attractive man she had ever seen, and made her body feel things she hadn’t felt in a long time, but also because there was a kindness to him that she was not expecting. He was a Scottish Laird and she expected him to be a hard man. She thought he would be the pillaging and take what he wanted, type of man. But he was quite the opposite and she found that intriguing.
They spent the entire afternoon walking around the edges of the island, away from prying eyes. Maria was surprised at how much it felt like she was on a date back in her own time. He would probably laugh to know that such a thing existed. This Scottish time was probably more about betrothals and arranged marriages. She wondered why Cameron didn’t seem to have a wife. Or perhaps he did, and he had simply not mentioned it to her? That would be a very player thing to do.
After they returned from the walk, she felt at ease. She laid down on the bed for a while, feeling better after being able to be outside in the ocean air and allow the sun to kiss her skin. Then she took out the shell that he had given to her. I
t was a beautiful shell with an iridescent sheen to it. She thought of it as quite a romantic gift and set it down on the table beside the bed.
Sometime, while thinking about Cameron, and the ordeal she found herself in, Maria drifted off to sleep. It wasn't until there was a loud knock on the door did she wake up.
It was dark in the room, and for a moment she thought she was back in her apartment in New York City. Then the salty ocean air blew in through the window, and she remembered where she was. She stood up and walked to the door.
“Yes? Who is it?”
“It is Heigl, lass. May I enter?”
“Oh yes, please come in.”
She heard the key rattling in the lock. Then the door opened and light from the corridor torches filtered in.
“Oh lass, why are you in the dark? Do you not have flint to light these candles?” Heigl said coming into the room in such a flurry. She carried some items with her, but Maria couldn’t make out what they were in the dark.
“I do Heigl, but I was asleep when you're knocked on the door. I hadn’t had a chance to light them because it was still daylight when I fell asleep. I must have been very tired.”
“Oh, I understand, lass. You have been through a lot,” Heigl said as she moved about the room lighting all the candles creating lots of light. Then she lit the logs in the fireplace, poking the logs that were in it to get them to catch flame. The room felt warm and cozy within minutes.
“What is all this?” Maria said looking at the bundle that Heigl had set on the table. It was a large piece of cloth wrapped around something, tied with a rope.
“You have been requested to dine with the Laird tonight, and that is going to make you presentable,” Heigl said. Heigl had a knowing look on her face with a mischievous smile, as though she knew something that Maria didn’t.
“Dine with the Laird? Do you mean go downstairs in front of everyone? I don’t think I can do that, Heigl,” she said. Maria was growing very nervous. It was one thing to spend time with Cameron, but a complete other to be in front of all of those who had suspicions of her. Heigl had been very kind to her and Maria was grateful for it. She felt less alone with having this portly kind woman be kind to her.
Love A Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (A Highlander Across Time Book 1) Page 7
