“Mrs.Robeson will be up soon with a fine breakfast.I assumed ye would wish to eat in the privacy of my solar until we found ye some proper clothing, and ye felt a wee bit more settled.”
“I am not hungry,” came her muffled reply from under the blankets.
“If there is one thing ye should know about Mrs.Robeson, it’s that she ensures everyone is fed, whether or not they wish to be.She’ll not tolerate ye starving yerself to death to escape yer sentence of becoming my wife.”His heart bolted to his innards and stirred them into a churning mass even though he’d just said it in jest.He rolled his shoulders and shook away the unnerving feeling.Nay, he did not want a wife—not even one as bonnie as the woman in his bed.“She’ll probably bring along either Molly or Hester to tend to ye and yer needs.”
“The only thing I need is to go home,” she said while still under the covers, then mumbled something else he couldn’t make out.
“What say ye, lass?Lore a’mighty, uncover yer head.It’s not as though I dinna ken where ye are.”
She flopped back the covers and glared at him.“I said I want to go home, want my coffee, and I really need to use the toilet.But I don’t suppose you understand any of that, either.”
He narrowed his eyes at her.“This is yer home now.I can have Mrs.Robeson send Sawny to the storage house for some of the coffee beans scheduled to shift to Edinburgh next week, and either Molly or Hester can help ye with yer toilette once they find ye some clothes.”
She bared her clenched teeth at him.“Nottoilette,as in washing and dressing me.Toiletas in I need to pee.”
“Ah.”He rose from the chair and pointed at the cabinet on the other side of the bed.“Ye’ll find the chamberpot just in there.”
She stared at him in disbelief.“Chamberpot?”
“Aye.”He’d instinctively known she’d hate that, even though he had no idea what she was accustomed to in her time.“I’ll step into the hallway to grant ye some privacy.”
She dropped her head into her hands.“Lovely.Just freaking lovely.”
He took that as her agreement to what he’d suggested, stepped out into the hall, and leaned back against the closed door.Bowing his head, he silently vowed to unleash the priest on the old witch at his earliest opportunity.Although, to be honest, it wouldn’t be a fair battle.The priest would never stand a chance against Mairwen.
“Oh no, m’lord,” Hester said as she and Molly rounded the corner.“Be yer lady unwell?”Both maids carried armloads of clothing and linens, and baskets of soaps and oils swung from the crooks of their elbows.Behind them followed Sawny, struggling to carry the large copper tub by himself.
“Ye’re nay supposed to call himlord,” Sawny said in an overly loud whisper.“He hates that.”
“It’slaird,” Molly hurried to tell Hester, the newest maid to join MacAlester Keep.
Grant ignored the schooling of the new maid.She’d learn their ways soon enough, or she’d be sent back to whence she came.“Sawny—set the tub down, hie to the shipment headed for Edinburgh, and fetch back a bag of the coffee beans.Give them to Mrs.Robeson and ask her to prepare some coffee for Miss Jessa.”
“Miss Jessa,” Sawny repeated with a smile.“What a fine name for the laird’s wife.”
“She is not my wife.On wi’ ye now and if ye dawdle, I’ll have yer hide, ye ken?”
“Aye, m’laird.”The lad turned and ran, then paused at the corner of the hallway and said, “I’ll have the kitchen lads bring up the water for the lady’s bath soon as it boils.Griselda’s done ordered the fires stoked good and hot.”
“Tell them to be quick about it,” Molly said before Grant could respond.“The mistress needs a nice, long soak.Mrs.Robeson said so.”
“And that’s another thing,” Grant said as he turned back to the maids.“The lady has been through a fearsome ordeal.She might speak of strange things or ask questions that dinna make sense to either of ye.Answer her truthfully and to the best of yer abilities, then keep her confidence and protect her, or I’ll banish ye from this keep so fast yer head will spin off yer necks.Is that understood?”He would not have Jessa an object of ridicule.There would be enough gossip as it was, but there was no need for it to be made any worse.
Both young women gave him hurried nods and whispered, “Aye, m’laird.”
Satisfied that he had instilled a healthy sense of fearful respect into the two of them, he gently rapped on the door, then barely cracked it open.“May I come in, lass?Have ye…have ye done what ye needed to do?”
“I’m done.”
The hopeless dejection in her voice weighed heavily on his heart.With any luck, the bath might help her feel at least a little better.Women seemed to enjoy that sort of thing a great deal more than men.He ushered the maids inside, then hoisted the tub onto his shoulder, carried it in, and placed it in front of the hearth.
Jessa was back in the bed, sitting against the headboard, hugging her knees with her shift tucked around her feet.Her tumble of curls created a fiery curtain she occasionally peeped through.Saints help him and make him strong, but she entranced him—dangerously so.This woman was the Goddess Bride incarnate.
“She is so lovely,” Hester whispered entirely too loudly, but Grant couldn’t argue.Jessa Tamson was the bonniest lass his weary old soul had ever seen.
He shook himself free of her spell and pointed out the maids.“This here is Molly, and this is Hester.Mrs.Robeson sent them to help ye bathe and dress as soon as the water’s brought up.I sent Sawny for the coffee beans.Soon ye’ll have a fine cup of that vile stuff to enjoy with yer breakfast.”
Her eyes shimmered with emotions, but at least the sheen of tears was gone.Smudges of weariness beneath them somehow made her even more winsome.
