“And you’re the laird, right?”
He blew out a huffing sigh.“Aye.”
“You see where I’m going here?”
“I see I shall be speaking with Mrs.Robeson about Sawny ever sleeping in the hallway again.”
“Not only is it creepy, it’s not fair to Sawny.”Jessa took a deeper sip, then set the glass aside.“Was there not any drinking water left in the pitcher?”
“Water is water, lass.It all comes from the wellhouse.”
“Right.”She hugged her knees tighter and rested her head on her arms.
A moment later, he nudged her.“Yer water, m’lady.Shall I tell Sawny to fetch ye some coffee?”
“Is he still out there?”
“Aye, the lad knows better than to cross Mrs.Robeson.”
Jessa rolled her eyes and made a mental note to have a word with the well-meaning housekeeper.She accepted the glass of water.“Thank you.And no, don’t bother anyone about coffee.I’m sure they need their rest after the attack.”
“No one was injured.Henry confirmed it.The only damage was minor between the west watchtower and the skirting wall.The MacAlester ancestors built this keep to last.”He dragged a chair over and poured his nakedness into it with the self-assuredness of an elite cover model who commanded nothing less than seven figures per photo shoot.
“Were you naked when you walked out of here?”She had to ask, since he seemed so comfortable in his bare state.
He snorted.“I covered m’self, wife.I am not a beast.”Then he suggestively waggled a brow.“Unless ye wish me to be?”
She couldn’t believe she was saying this, but she made aTsign with her hands.“Time out for a little while.My mind goes into overdrive late at night, and I have to sort through things, or I have nightmares—no matter how wonderfully exhausted you make me.”
“Overdrive?”he repeated carefully.
“I have a whole bunch of thoughts and worries all at once, and they tangle up in knots until I work them out and shut them away in their neat little boxes.”
“I see.”
He didn’t, but she didn’t expect him to, not when she didn’t fully understand it about herself.Emily’s psychiatrist mother had told her it was from childhood trauma.Spending her first eight years of life in a household where her drug-addict mother ran through men like water ran through a sieve had scarred her.Her nightly thought sorting was a coping mechanism she had never quite learned how to let go of, even after years of free therapy from Emily’s mom.
“What’s happening in Scotland in 1785?Current events?”she asked to change the subject.
“Happening?”
She nodded.“I don’t remember my history classes as well as I should, considering how much that degree cost me in student loans.”Now, there was a silver lining to time travel.She was now debt free.“I remember a war where England did unspeakable things to Scotland.”
Grant’s expression hardened.“The last Jacobite uprising in ’45.Bonnie Prince Charlie failed.”
“So that was forty years ago.”She rubbed her forehead, wishing that would help her remember.“The Clearances.I remember a little bit about the Clearances because I had to do a paper on how so many lost their land.That’s when hordes of Scots emigrated to the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to survive.That happens soon.Entire clans were forcibly removed from the Highlands and the surrounding islands so greedy landlords could make more money off sheep and whatever other commerce.”A shudder of dread rippled across her.Holy crap—what if Clan MacAlester lost its land?“That’s not going to happen to us, is it?”
“I am the Earl of Suddie.The landlord of these lands.”His voice had become a low, rumbling growl, and his hands tightened into fists.“As long as I pay our taxes, we are safe.What else do ye know of what is coming?”
“About Scotland’s history?Nothing, I’m afraid.I only remembered the part about the Clearances because if I didn’t do well on that paper, I would’ve failed the class.”She hated that she knew nothing more.History no longer seemed a bunch of dry, meaningless names and dates that needed to be memorized to pass a course.It was people.People who loved, laughed, and died.People who suffered and fought to survive.“I’m sorry.”She felt as if she had failed him.
He pushed up from the chair and held out his hand.“Do not apologize, my love.Together, we will conquer whatever is ahead.I swear it.Now, come to bed.I need to hold ye.”
She slid her hand into his, very much needing that too.Once safely nestled in the crook of his arm, her head pillowed in the dip of his shoulder, a calmness filled her, a sense that somehow, everything would be all right.What a strange sensation, but she gladly accepted it and held on tight.She would worry about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.Not a usual course of action for her, but during this great upheaval in her life, maybe it was time to make some changes for the better.
Chapter 14
“So, you’re positive this is what you want to do?You are sure?”
