She got her shoulder behind the chest and heaved it out of the way. The door burst open and Thomas and Clyde stumbled in, looking worried.
“Thank the lord!” Thomas said breathlessly. “When ye didnae answer we thought—” He cut off as his eyes settled on Abi’s t-shirt that reached halfway down her thighs, leaving her legs bare. He goggled and quickly averted his eyes.
Clyde also blushed to his hairline and looked away, suddenly finding the fireplace extremely interesting. “We, um...brought ye some breakfast.”
Abi pulled one of the blankets from the bed and wrapped it around herself. “Oh. Right. Thank you very much.”
The youths carried in two trays: one containing a large bowl of porridge and a pitcher of milk, the other a steaming bowl of water and a cloth for washing. They put them down on the window sill.
“Lord Reid wishes to know if ye need anything else, my lady?” Thomas said, staring at the floor.
Oh, does he?Abi thought.
“How about a pair of hair straighteners and some lipstick?” she said with a smile. She waved her hand as the two lads looked at her blankly. “Never mind. Thank you for bringing me breakfast.” She inhaled deeply. “And I must say, it smells delicious. Far better than the bread and water I’d expect a prisoner to be given.”
They exchanged a glance. “Prisoner? Ye aren’t a prisoner, my lady.”
“No? Then what do you call locking someone in their room?”
“That was for yer own protection as it was yer first night here and didnae know yer way around. Ye are free to go about the castle as ye choose.”
Abi blinked, surprised by this. If she was free to roam the castle, then she should be able to find a spot where she could get a phone signal and call the police! The thought improved her mood dramatically. She would soon be free of this madness!
“I am? Well, in that case, I’d better get ready, hadn’t I? I have a lot of exploring to do!”
She shooed the lads out of her room, closed the door behind them, and leaned on it. Her heart was thumping again, but not from dread this time—from anticipation.
She inspected the pile of clothes that had been left for her last night. In addition to the nightgown she’d examined before she went to bed, there were stockings, slippers, a linen shift and then a thick gown that came straight out of some medieval saga. Abi took one look at the clothes and dismissed them. No way was she going to wear any of that. Did Reid really think she would take any part in his games? No, she would wear her own clothes, thank you very much, and if Reid bloody Muir didn’t like it, then tough!
She pulled on her jeans, jacket and boots and then ran the bone comb she found on the mantelpiece through her hair and took a quick wash from the bowl the lads had brought. She left the porridge untouched.
When she was ready, she checked she had her phone in her inside pocket, crept to the door, and pulled the handle.
She half expected it to be locked, despite what Thomas and Clyde had said, so she was pleasantly surprised when it opened. She looked out. The passage was empty. She stepped carefully through the door, pulling it shut behind her. Checking left and right, she took out her cell phone and peered at the display. Still no signal.
She needed to get outside where the thick stone walls wouldn’t obstruct the signal.
Tucking the phone away, she hurried down the corridor, her boots echoing hollowly on the flagstones, and paused when she reached a rough set of steps angling down. From below, she could hear the sounds of voices and the tromp of feet. Abi hesitated. She did not want to run into any of this place’s inhabitants, but she had to get outside if she wanted to escape.
Steeling her courage, she flew down the steps, across a large vestibule area, and past an open door that led to a vast hall. Through the door she caught the sight of many men inside eating at long tables, but she dashed past before she could get a decent look and hopefully, before anyone saw her.
She hurried through a large door and stood blinking in the dawn light. She was in the courtyard. The sun had not yet risen high enough to peek over the walls, so parts of it were still wreathed in shadow. Good. That was exactly what she needed.
She darted down the steps and hurried along the wall of the main keep until it turned a corner. There, out of sight of both the doors and the men walking along the top of the curtain wall, she crouched and took out her phone again. Her hands trembled slightly as she examined the display. Her stomach clenched as the icon in the corner flashed to show there was still no signal.
I need to get higher.
Peering around the corner, she examined the courtyard. It was full of buildings built against the wall. She spotted an open-fronted workshop with the sound of hammering coming from inside, a long building from which a horse was being led, and a featureless building with no windows. None of them offered what she needed.
Then her eyes alighted on something in the very far end of the courtyard where the curtain wall turned a corner. A set of steps climbed the wall to the parapet. They were hidden in gloom by the wall’s shadow. If she could get to those steps unseen and climb to somewhere near the top, she would be hidden from view and hopefully high enough to get a signal. Perfect!
She glanced left and right, checking nobody was looking in her direction, and prepared to sprint across the courtyard. But just as she was about to do so, she spotted Clyde and Thomas exit the doors of the keep and come in her direction.
Damn! She flitted back into her hiding place then crabbed along the wall, keeping her back pressed against the hard stone. Like this, she made her way around the outside of the courtyard, and darted into cover behind some old barrels. Nearby, the door to the kitchen stood open and she would have to get past it if she was to reach the steps. She waited until the coast was clear then burst from her hiding place and sprinted for all she was worth.
Any second she expected to be spotted and for a shout of alarm to be raised. She didn’t for one minute believe Reid’s claim that she had free rein of the place, but she reached the steps on the far side of the courtyard without incident and crouched in the gloom at their base.
She took only a minute to let her heartbeat settle before scurrying up the steps with her phone clutched in one hand. The steps were worn from the passage of many feet and there was no railing to stop her tumbling over the edge to the hard courtyard below, so Abi kept close to the wall.
