While she and Emily hadn’t yet ventured any farther north than Seven Cairns, Jessa couldn’t remember anyone mentioning MacAlester Keep.“How far is Seven Cairns from here?”
“Is that where ye’re from?Ye dinna sound Highland born.”
“I’m an American from New Jersey.How far are we from Seven Cairns?I have to get back there.My friend will be worried about me.”Jessa scrubbed her fist against her breastbone, willing her heart to stop trying to hammer its way out of her chest.“How did I get here?”She wasn’t about to share what she’d just been through.He’d think her crazy for sure.
With a heavy sigh, MacAlester lowered himself to sit on the foot of the bed.He rubbed his face with both hands, wincing when he hit the wound on his right cheek.“I dinna ken how ye got here, lass.I heard screams coming from my room, and when I got here, there ye were in my bed.”
“You’ve made it bleed.”She nodded at his cheek while gingerly scooting farther away from him.A calmer glance around revealed there was only one door in the room.Apparently, there was no en-suite bathroom connected to it.“You might want to go to the bathroom and see to it.”She hugged her knees to her chest.“I’ll wait here till you get back,” she lied.
“Bathroom?”His perpetual scowl turned befuddled.“There is no one room in this keep for bathing.The tub is brought in here and placed in front of the hearth when I feel like washing in something other than the basin.”
A knot of rising panic lodged in her throat, making it difficult to swallow.Why did he act like he had never heard of a bathroom?“You never said how far we were from Seven Cairns.I really need to get back there.”
“A few hours, depending on the horse and the weather.”
Depending on the horse and the weather?Was the keep in such a remote area that it couldn’t be reached by car?And she still didn’t know how she’d gotten here.“You swear you didn’t see anyone bring me in here?”
He shook his head, his scowl turning fiercer and his dark brows knotting over his angry eyes.“No one enters my keep without my knowing it—except for that feckin’ witch.This is Mairwen’s doing.She had to have spirited ye here.”
“That’s impossible.”Jessa swallowed hard, fighting the urge to throw up all the shortbread and coffee she’d enjoyed before her massage.She ran to the window, shoved the sash up higher, and sucked in great gulps of air.Oblivious to the increasingly hard rain, she hung farther out and stared.It was so very dark.As far as she could see, there were no lights anywhere.Of course, it was late, and this was the Scottish Highlands, remote and unpopulated.But wouldn’t a building this size have some sort of security lights or something around it?
“Come back inside, lass.Ye’re getting fair soaked and will catch yer death.”He gently but firmly took her by the shoulders and led her over to the fireplace.“Stay here by the fire.I’ll fetch ye a linen to dry yerself and a plaid to wrap in and stay warm.”
“Why don’t you call it blankets and towels?”she mumbled, numbed by the insanity of it all and struggling not to melt into a hysterical heap.
He fixed her with a stern look, but compassion flickered in the stormy gray depths of his eyes.“What does it matter what I call the things as long as ye’re dry and warm?”
“I have to get back to Seven Cairns,” she whispered, then dropped to the floor and stared into the hearth’s dancing flames.Something deep inside told her she was much farther away from where she belonged than a few hours’ ride by horse.
Chapter 5
Grant watched her curl into herself as she crouched in front of the fire like a homeless waif.Damn ye, Mairwen.What the devil had the old witch done to the lass?She’d not told her anything of her plans, of that, he was certain.But Miss Jessa Tamson had recognized him.How was that so?Had she dreamt of him as he had dreamt of her?
“Here, lass.”He held out one of the linens from the stand beside the pitcher and washbasin.“To dry with.”
She stared at it for a long moment, as if unsure whether or not to take it from him, then turned back to the fire as if he wasn’t even there.
He shook out the folded cloth and carefully squeezed the water from her hair as he’d seen women do.She smelled of roses and a fair amount of fear.“I willna hurt ye, lass.I swear it.”
“That’s good to know, since Mairwen dumped me into your bed at midnight.”She shied away from his help and ran her fingers through her hair, shaking and fluffing her luscious mane.“That’s fine, thank you.I just need to—” She cut herself off and clenched her teeth, making her lovely jaw flex with the hardness of her fears.
“Ye just need to return to yer folk at Seven Cairns?”
She barely shook her head.“No.I need to get back to New Jersey and forget all about Scotland.”
He had heard of a New Jersey over in the colonies, but couldn’t recall meeting anyone from there.With the beginning of the Highland clearances, the families forced from their lands and sent across the seas never returned to share what had awaited them.He draped a plaid around her shoulders and grew even more concerned when she didn’t move to hold it in place or cuddle deeper into its warmth.She had to be chilled after hanging out the window in the dead of the rainy night.
“How did ye come to be in Scotland?”He didn’t add that she didn’t seem to like it there.Or perhaps she had liked the place until old Mairwen had uprooted her and dropped her into his bed.
“An app,” she said, keeping her gaze locked on the flames.She resettled herself on the floor, pulled the plaid around her, and rested her chin on her knees.
“What did ye say brought ye to Scotland?”Had she meant that an apple brought her here?Was Mairwen taken to poisoning apples now?
“A tarot card dating app on my phone.”
Lore a’mighty, she might as well be speaking a different language.Frustration building, he resettled his stance, then backed up a step when he realized his towering over her might frighten her even more.Why the devil would Mairwen match him with a woman he couldn’t understand?
“I dinna ken of what ye speak.I have heard tell of the tarot, but the rest—” He shook his head.
