Page 19 of Highland Spirit

“Now?” asked Caleb, pulling his cloak tighter around him to ward off the chill. “But we havena found the doll yet.”

“I no longer care,” grumbled Ethan, walking faster toward the gate.

“The clan isna goin’ to be happy to have to listen to Sophie’s cryin’ because we didna find her doll,” protested Caleb, hurrying after Ethan.

“Mathair,” said Isobel, tugging on Alana’s cloak. When Alana looked down at her daughter, Isobel was holding up her doll. “This is my friend, Sophie’s doll.”

“It is?” Alana knew now where the doll had come from, and she wasn’t happy about it. “Isobel, did ye sneak out of the castle to play with Osla’s daughter, Sophie, after ye were told no’ to?”

“I’m sorry,” said Isobel, looking down and cradling the doll. “Finn used to take me there. He said it was all right.”

“Well, Finn is goin’ to have to answer for this later.”

“Alana, ye canna mean to really let him leave,” whispered Kirstine, hurrying to Alana’s side.

“Well, it’s no’ like I can ask him to stay,” Alana whispered back.

“Why no’?” asked Isobel, looking up at Alana with innocent eyes. “Ethan is nice. I like him.”

Alana exchanged glances once more with Kirstine and let out a deep sigh. Her head hurt like the devil and she was so cold now that her teeth were chattering. But her heart longed for Ethan and she couldn’t just let him walk out of her life now. Not before she could apologize for walking out of his life five years ago.

“Ethan,” she called out, leaving the others, picking up her skirts and running after her ex-lover. “Ethan, I’ve changed my mind. I want ye to stay.”

He stopped in his tracks so abruptly that she crashed into the back of him. When she stepped away, he turned to face her. Caleb stood next to him, watching them intently.

“What did ye say?” asked Ethan.

“I said . . . I want ye to stay.” Her heart drummed relentlessly in her chest. Once again, her eyes interlocked with his. His big, round brown eyes reminded her so much of Isobel’s eyes that it made her want to cry.

“Ye want me to stay?”

Alana nodded slowly. “For now. Until the storm lets up and ye are able to sail back to the mainland.”

“Aye, I’d like to stay and get warm by the fire,” said Caleb, reaching out to pet the nose of his pine marten that was sticking its head out of his bag. “Slink would appreciate it, too.”

“I dinna ken,” Ethan answered in a low voice. “I dinna like to be around people who dinna want me and who’ve betrayed me.”

Alana knew exactly what he was talking about, but she couldn’t address the issue. Not now with so many people watching and listening. It would have to wait.

“Please, Ethan,” she said in a half-whisper, her fingers going to the wound on her head. She felt extremely lightheaded and it was getting hard to think. “I – I need to . . .” She stopped speaking as blackness covered her eyes and her knees buckled beneath her. The last thing she remembered was Ethan reaching out to catch her before she hit the ground.

Chapter 5

“Quickly, we need to get her inside and out of the storm,” commanded Ethan, gathering up Alana just before she crumpled to the ground.

“This way,” said Kirstine, waving her arm, leading them into the keep.

“I dinna like this. Ye shoudna be here,” growled the guard that Alana had called Graeme.

“Believe me, I dinna intend to stay,” Ethan answered, following the small procession inside the keep and out of the storm. “As soon as I ken that Alana is all right and the storm lets up, I’m leavin’.”

“Put her in her solar,” said Kirstine. “It’s this way.”

Ethan followed the pregnant woman into a solar and gently laid Alana atop the bed. Her face was pale and the gash on her head looked deep. Trapper laid his chin on the bed and whined sadly.

“She’s goin’ to need stitches,” said Ethan, tearing off the bottom of his leine and wrapping it around Alana’s head. “Call for the healer.”

“We dinna have a healer.” Kirstine grabbed a bag and rushed back to the bed. “I will do it.”