Tess and the Highlander (22 page)

“What is it, Tess?” He touched her face, her arms.
“You’re shaking. What happened?”

She shook her head and a sob rose in her throat. “I
couldn’t find you,” she whispered. “I couldn’t find my way.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and walked her
toward the loch. “I thought I heard something…or someone...by the
horses. I went to look and then saw you run this way.” At the stony
edge of the loch, he knelt down and trailed his hand in the
water.

“You are burning.” He ran his wet hand over her
face. Tess welcomed the bracing feel of the water, but even more
so, she cherished his touch.

A crackling hiss drew their attention back toward
the cottage, and they stared uncomprehendingly for a long moment.
The cottage was on fire.

Colin drew his sword and pushed Tess behind him as a
handful of riders broke out of the woods near the cottage and raced
past the burning building. As they rode, some shot flaming arrows
through the window and into the doorway, while others dropped
bundles of sticks in front of the door. Soon, those too had been
torched, and the building became a blazing inferno.

Those in the camp were up and running after the
retreating riders, while others were rushing toward the cottage.
But before they could do anything, the roof of the cottage caved in
and moments later the walls began to collapse inward. Flames and
sparks of yellow and gold climbed high into the night sky.

The scene before her was unreal. Tess sat in a heap
on the stones at the side of the loch. How close she had come to
being caught inside of the burning building, perhaps even shot by a
burning arrow. She saw it in her mind…like a fireball, the arrow
hurtling toward her.

Tess looked around for Colin. Two Macpherson
warriors, standing with their weapons drawn, were standing near
her. But Colin was up by the burning cottage, shouting orders to
the Burnetts and the Macphersons. There seemed to be no sign of the
outlaws. They had disappeared into the night with the same speed
that they had materialized.

A few minutes later, Tess saw Colin coming across
the field to her, and she pushed herself to her feet. Instead of
saying anything, he simply pulled her tightly into his arms and
held her for the longest time.

“That was too close. Propriety be damned, I am not
letting you out of my sight until we arrive at Ninestane
Castle.”

“Who were they?”

“The Burnetts think they were just outlaws.” He
cupped her face and looked into her eyes. “But you saw what
happened. I think they were after
you
, Tess.”

She shivered uncontrollably.

“If you feel strong enough, I’d like to get moving
now. If these bastards are watching us, which I assume they are,
‘twill not take them long to realize you weren’t hurt or killed in
the attack. We won’t be caught in such an unprotected place
again.”

“I am fine.” She mustered all of her strength, and
took another look at the dying bonfire that was once a cottage. “I
have been given another chance. I don’t want to waste it.”

Tired and cold from the falling rain, the travelers
first saw the tower at twilight rising drearily above the brown
River Tweed. Ninestane Castle, situated on a muddy pile of rock at
a bend in the river, did not present a picture of hospitality in
the increasing gloom, and the impression only served to heighten
Tess’s anxiety.

They had ridden for so long and so hard that Tess
could not tell the difference between her legs and the saddle. She
was soaked to the skin from the days of steady rain. She was tired
and hungry. But as determined as she was to get this meeting behind
her, she reined in her horse on the last hill and looked at the
scenery before her. The countryside was soggy and the ground brown
and slick with mud. The tower, rising above the curtain wall, was
gray and forbidding.

Tess rubbed her hand across her stomach to ease the
tight knot that had gripped her insides for days.

“How are you bearing up?” Colin asked, bringing his
own horse to a stop beside her.

“I don’t know.” She couldn’t tear her gaze away from
the formidable structure. “I suppose I’m frightened.”

“She is your mother, Tess. How could she not love
you?”

She frowned, realizing there were no excitement left
in her. Only apprehension.

“No battle cry has been sounded, and yet you are
armed and ready,” he told her with a smile. He ran a finger gently
over her cheeks, brushing away the droplets of rain.

There were calls from the group that there were
riders from the castle approaching. Resigned to face what lay
ahead, Tess rode beside Colin and was soon greeted by a larger
group of Burnetts. These people were no more cordial than the ones
she had been riding beside for what felt like an eternity. With an
encouraging nod from Colin, she again pushed ahead.

As they passed through a small village huddled
against the curtain wall of the castle, Tess couldn’t help but
notice the ramshackle condition of the houses. The threadbare group
of villagers they passed stood in the rain and gawked at Tess and
Colin and the Macphersons, surrounded by the Burnetts as if they
were a captured enemy. Tess looked into the thin, haggard faces,
and she knew that she wasn’t going to like this David Burnett.

So much of what she saw here reminded Tess of what
she’d seen in the faces of Lindsays. There was no doubt in her mind
that this same man must have been responsible for employing Flannan
to manage Ravenie Castle and its holdings.

Urging her mount up the slippery mud path to the
castle, Tess’s distress continued to grow. Lady Evelyn had always
complained of her husband and her life in the Highlands, and yet
this seemed infinitely worse.

There was so much of her mother that she needed to
understand.

“Please stay close to me until we at least see Lady
Evelyn.”

Colin obviously shared her concern. Tess nodded to
him and continued up the short hill to the drawbridge spanning the
pit that surrounded the castle wall.

Inside the walls of the old fortress, she peered
about nervously at what looked to be dozens of armed Burnetts
standing guard. Despite the rain, torches had been lit and the
smoky fires filled the confines of the small courtyard. Tess
suddenly felt smothered.

A set of wooden steps led from the muddy courtyard
to the main entrance of the keep, and she and Colin brought their
horses to a halt near it.

“I believe we have arrived.” Colin said brightly,
obviously trying to ease the tension. Tess didn’t miss the way his
sword sat loosely on his back, though, or the way the daggers at
his belt and in his boot were close at hand. She knew, however,
that there was not much the handful of them could do against this
army of men. She placed her hands on his shoulders as he helped her
down from the horse. Her feet sank up to her ankles in the mud.

Colin must have seen her first, and Tess followed
the direction of his gaze. The willowy woman stood just under the
overhang of the main entrance, her hands folded tightly at her
waist.

A feeling of joy rushed through Tess. Eleven years
of separation meant nothing, and she was once again a young child
hungry for her mother’s affection…and for her approval. Tess forced
herself to be dignified, though, and she started toward the
steps.

Despite the mantle of fur around her shoulders, Lady
Evelyn was still as thin as Tess remembered her. She couldn’t see
her mother’s eyes or the expression on her face. She had to hold a
hand above her face to block the rain to continue looking up at her
mother.

“Welcome, Theresa Catherine. So you have
finally
come.” Something in the woman’s tone made Tess pause
before taking the first step. It lacked any hint of joy, and there
was a waver in it that made Tess think that perhaps she was afraid.
But afraid of what? Of Colin? Of Tess herself?

She stood for a moment and stared up at the
woman and then glanced at Colin, who was still waiting to be
recognized.

“What are you waiting for? You will come
into the Hall.” Without waiting for them, Evelyn turned and
disappeared through the door.

Disappointment slapped Tess across the face.
The happiness of a moment ago soured in her throat.

“Let’s go inside.” Colin murmured in her
ear. Taking her by the arm, he encouraged her up the steps.

A spiral stairwell inside took them up to
the Great Hall of Ninestane Castle. It was a high, wood-paneled
chamber with a great fire burning in a fireplace at one end of the
room. Servants moved about the smoky hall, and a half dozen armed
Burnett warriors glared at the Highlander. A few feet from their
mistress, a number of ladies-in-waiting watched attentively.
Evelyn, however, was standing alone by the dais when Colin and Tess
crossed the room.

“Jenny will take you to your bedchamber,
Theresa. You can clean and change for dinner.” Dismissing her with
a wave of her hand, Evelyn indicated that Tess was to follow a
servant who stepped forward. She turned to Colin next. “You will
take your men around to the west wing to the kitchen. You all will
be fed, and then you will start back to the Highlands…tonight.”

Tess shook off her shock at the abrupt
treatment and spoke up as brightly as she could. “Mother, ‘tis
wonderful to see you after so many years.” She took Colin’s arm and
presented him. “Please allow me to present Colin Macpherson, the
youngest son of Lord Alec Macpherson and Lady Fiona Drummond
Stewart. He is the brave nobleman who found me on the Isle of
May.”

Lady Evelyn looked coolly from one to the
other for a long moment.

“If you think there is a reward to be
collected, Highlander,” Evelyn said shortly, “you are mistaken. Sir
David sent enough men to escort my daughter back. ’Twas at your own
choice to travel so far—”

“M’lady, he is
not
here to collect any reward,” Tess shot back. Her greatest fears had
materialized. “’Twas because of this man and his family’s
compassion and generosity that I stand before you now. I owe him my
life.” She sensed Colin was about to make an objection, so she
looped her hand through his arm and held it tightly. “He is not
here to be paid for anything he has done. He is here because he
cared enough to come and make certain I am safely settled. He is my
friend, and it gave me great pleasure to know that you would have
an opportunity to meet him, too.”

There was an instant of silence as all color
drained from her mother’s face.

“You are speaking nonsense, Theresa
Catherine. Befriending a Highlander!” She looked with disdain at
Tess’s wet and muddy attire. “Up to your room this instant. I want
you out of those filthy clothes. Already you are a disappointment.
I can see I shall have a lifetime of instructing ahead of me to
correct all that you are lacking.”

Tess stared with disbelief at the thin and
rigid figure by the dais.

Colin spoke his first words since arriving in the
hall. “If you will give us a moment, m’lady, perhaps we can start
over. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how accomplished your
daughter is…in spite of…nay, because of her time on the
island.”

“Accomplished in what way? In shearing
sheep, mending a fishing net, being a simpleton? I read the letter
you people sent me. She is obviously incapable even of exercising
good judgment.”

“And how capable
you
are of good
judgment!” Colin fired back. “To make such a detailed assessment of
your daughter with just a moment’s look and a few exchanged words.”
He shook his head. “If your idea of accomplishment consists of
insensitivity and arrogance, how fortunate Tess is that fate
plucked her from your bosom at such a tender age. Aye, she was
indeed blessed.”

“Who are you to speak to me!” Evelyn
whispered furiously.

Tears then splashed onto the woman’s eyes,
but she did not wipe them away. She turned from Colin and fixed her
gaze on the floor at her daughter’s feet. Once again attuned to her
mother’s ways, Tess watched Evelyn’s temper turn to sorrow.

“I cannot believe I am to be treated so
heartlessly. A grieving mother. My life shattered by the belief
that her only child was lost…forever. The endless nights of prayer
and anguish. The days of lonely reflection. The loss of hope. The
despair that I should be the only one left.” She turned tearful,
accusing eyes on Tess. “And then the news that you were alive. And
what do you do? Instead of coming directly to your own kin…to your
mother…you decide to go and hold court with strangers in the
Highlands. You chose them over me. And then…then you expect me,
your mother, at my age and in my condition to come and pay homage
to you.”

“M’lady, ’twas not like that!” Tess blurted out.
“’Twas not out of disrespect that you were invited there.”

“If you hear me for a moment,” Colin added calmly,
“you will understand that I recommended that Tess come to Benmore
Castle first, in part because we did not know where you were
residing at present. As your daughter says, there was no disrespect
intended.”

“Say what you will, I have been deeply wounded.”

Tess opened her mouth to say more, but
Evelyn raised a hand for silence and turned sharply to Colin.

“Sir, you have done your duty and delivered my
daughter safely to me. Now, you will take your leave immediately. I
have no wish to be disturbed any longer by the presence of filthy
Highlanders in Ninestane Castle.”

Having dismissed him, she turned back to her
daughter.

“And you, Theresa Catherine, are now under my
protection. You will do as I see fit. And just so that you
understand the magnitude of my disappointment, my plan has been to
present you at Court and negotiate a suitable marriage on your
behalf. But that can only happen after you have been properly
instructed in the ways of the gentility. And ‘tis abundantly clear
to me that Sir David and I have a great deal of work ahead of
us.”