“Forgive me, Laird, we tried tae be gentle,” began Euna, only to have Gabriel shake his head.
“It seems we’re both a wee bit worse for my shoulder and her poor feet, but the day is too fine tae stay indoors any longer. First I’ll take you upstairs, Maggie, so you can see the wondrous view God created.”
He carried her from the room, Gabriel holding her so tightly that Magdalene had no hope of struggling out of his embrace. His warm breath fanning her cheek, he uttered a word of thanks to the maidservant making the bed in what appeared a small, cramped room—and she realized that must have been where Gabriel had spent the night.
Just across the hall from her! No wonder he had heard Rhona cry out in terror and come to stand in the doorway so quickly.
Magdalene’s heart sank that mayhap he had seen and heard more than she had feared, but there was nothing to be done about it. Yet that might explain why he had treated her so differently today…as if he had glimpsed a side of her that had led him to believe she might possess more of her wits than he’d been told.
Och, now she’d done it! With more reason than ever to intensify her efforts, she began to wriggle in his arms but to no avail. He only held her that much more closely against him.
“There’s no use, Maggie, I’ll not let you go,” he murmured in that same soothing voice that didn’t lull her this time, but only infuriated her.
Flustered her, too, the heavily muscled strength of his arms making her feel that strange shivery sensation again in spite of her mutinous resolve. She was so overcome by the closeness of him, the heat of his body radiating through his clothing—through her clothing!—that she scarcely noticed he had ducked into a stairway until he began to lunge up the circular steps.
Was her weight like nothing to him? He moved with such strength and power that her face grew warm all over again, the two of them winding around and around until she felt dizzy and closed her eyes.
The stairway smelled dank and musty, which didn’t help matters, and now her stomach began to roil. Would they never reach where he was taking her? She had never liked heights, no, not since she had been a young girl and fallen from a tree she’d climbed, the wind knocked out of her and her ankle twisted—
“Open your eyes, Maggie.”
His low command coming at the same moment they stopped climbing, a heavy door creaking open, she did so, but not because he’d bade her.
Relief flooded her at the fresh air fanning her flushed face and filling her lungs. She looked around her, her eyes widening in amazement.
Never before had she beheld such a sight as the mountains soaring to the north, east, and west, their rugged peaks piercing the brilliant blue sky. And over there…how had she not noticed before when she’d first glimpsed the castle? A lough not too far in the distance, its surface sparkling in the sunlight—truly, one of her favorite sights. All silvery and gold and shimmering like diamonds—
“You see? I knew you’d like it,” Gabriel’s husky voice interrupted the delight she felt, making Magdalene realize with a start just where they were standing.
Atop one of the castle’s four square towers and surrounded by parapets where she could just imagine archers raining flame-tipped arrows down upon attacking enemies—Lord, help her, they were up so high.So high!
“Maggie?”
She’d gulped, feeling the blood drain from her face as Gabriel set her down to look closely at her.
“Och, wife, do you have a fear of heights?”
Wife. Just to hear him again call her by that unwanted title made her regain some of her equilibrium, though a glance over her shoulder at the bailey so far below made her knees suddenly feel weak. The next thing she knew, Magdalene was clutching wildly at his tunic, not having to feign lunacy at all in her desperation to be gone from their lofty overlook.
“No, no, no…please—oh!” Magdalene had no more glimpsed the raw concern in Gabriel’s dark eyes than he swept her once more off her feet and ducked with her back into the stairwell.
Her relief so intense that she could but cling to him, she held on tight as he wound down the steps, taking them two at a time. It seemed only a moment and they had reached the floor where they slept, but after ducking into the hallway, he moved toward the main steps and not toward the bedchamber.
“You need something tae drink…mayhap some food.”
She said nothing, feeling more like herself now that they had escaped the tower roof and that awful circular stairwell that reeked of mold and damp.
Realizing she still held onto his tunic, she immediately let go and heard him sigh, though she didn’t hazard a glance at his face. Instead, she closed her eyes tightly again and waited for when he would set her down—please, set her down.
She didn’t want to be so close to him.
She didn’t want to feel the stirring heat of his body through her gown or think of the alarm in his eyes when he’d realized she was near to collapsing from fear.
She didn’t want to think that mayhap he wasn’t so brutish after all, his solicitous treatment of her more the man he might be rather than the callous one she imagined—och, what was coming over her?
She had to do something—anythingto keep him convinced that she wasn’t sane at all, and so mercurial that he would never know what to expect from her. Drawing a deep breath, Magdalene threw her head back and began to howl like a feral dog at the moon, so throaty and loud that she heard shocked gasps all around them.
Only then did she open her eyes to see that Gabriel had carried her into the great hall, which was filled with people seated on benches at trestle tables and partaking of a midday meal.
