Page 24 of A Bride for the Kilted Beast

After a few moments, she had gone, so Lillie set off again. This time, she reached the great hall without meeting anyone else. However, when she crept around the corner from the hallway into the hall, she spotted a group of men by the door, deep in conversation. Knowing any one of them could turn and see her at any moment, with her heart in her mouth, she crouched low and made for the stairs, running up them silently almost on all fours, right up to the third floor.

CHAPTER NINE

At the landing, Lillie looked about, but hallway was deserted. Standing straight again, she let out a breath she had been holding and crept to the healing room door. She put her ear to it. Silence. Once more holding her breath, her heart beating fast in her chest, she slowly turned the door handle as quietly as she could and opened the door a crack. She peered inside. To her relief, the room was empty.

But she knew Finian could be back at any moment. Gathering her courage, she went quickly into the room and headed straight for the shelf where she knew Finian had put the jar with the herbs in. Hurriedly, her ears straining for any sounds indicating that someone was approaching, she took off the lid of the jar and opened her pocket wide before pouring a good measure of the herbal mixture straight into it. Then, she replaced the lid and the jar and left the room at a run.

Back in the dining hall, she was the last to be found by Rufus, who discovered her at last hiding behind the door curtain. Lillie silently congratulated herself, for the guards had evidently not known she had been gone!

“Well, children, it certainly has been a lot of fun playing with ye. I’m proud tae be part of yer gang. Thank ye fer letting me join,” she told them, feeling elated by her success. “But I must go now, fer I have much tae dae I hope we can play again soon.”

The children were disappointed, but after Lillie promised to play with them again, they bid her a friendly goodbye. While they began a new game, she made to leave, having to wait for her escort to come and take her back to her chamber. She still felt strange coming and going from Diarmaid’s chambers.

Once safely back inside, she found a piece of cloth and emptied the herbs from her pocket onto it, tying it a neat bundle and putting it in her pocket with the herbs Finian had given her.

“That should be plenty tae dae the trick,” she murmured to herself, praying her plan would work. Her stomach knotted to think of what would happen if it did not.

Since she had nothing else to occupy her and had already convinced Penny she was unwell and needed rest, she kicked off her shoes and lay on the bed. Perhaps it was the strain she was under, but she soon dozed off, only to be awoken a while later by Penny.

“What time is it,” Lily asked as she stretched and sat up on the bed.

“’Tis about four, I think,” Penny told her. “I’m sorry tae wake ye again, my lady, but the Laird says ye’ve to move yer things over tae his chambers,” she continued, smiling at Lillie. Alarmed by the news, Lillie jumped of the bed.

“What? Why?”

“They are the laird’s orders, melady, but I would say those are tae be yer married quarters from now on. This is just a spare chamber fer guests and the like,” the maid explained. “The laird’s got a great big bed in his chambers, more than big enough fer two. Ye’ll be right comfy there.”

The knots in Lillie’s stomach squeezed painfully as the words sank in.

“Now, let’s see what ye need tae take with ye,” Penny said, looking around the room. “Ye have very little here. Shall we go and look at Miss Maddison’s things now, so ye can borrow some from her until ye can replace those clothes ye lost in the river?”

“Yes, let’s go and do that now,” Lillie replied after a moment, almost losing track of her lies.

“Good, then we can take them over tae the laird’s chambers, and ye can get yerself settled in, me lady.”

“Aye, that sounds… wonderful, Penny.” Feeling once more as if she was going to her doom, Lillie followed the maid out of the room. They were trailed all the way from there to Miss Maddison’s chambers on the second floor by the three guards.

Lillie and Penny spent a long time in Maddison’s room. It was a strange experience for Lillie, entering the chambers which so obviously belonged to a girl who had grown to womanhood within the walls. While Penny threw open the wardrobes, Lillie wandered around, looking at all the little keepsakes, childish mementoes, and more grownup paraphernalia of a young lady.

Maddison’s hairbrushes and combs lay unused on the large dressing table. Vials of perfume stood next to little jars of creams and other cosmetics, and a colorful collection of hair ribbons hung over the looking glass. But though the chambers were immaculately tidy and a faint, flowery, spicy perfume hung in the air, there was also the scent of disuse.

“How long is it since Miss Maddison has been gone?” Lillie asked Penny curiously, running her fingers along the pretty bed hangings.

“A twelvemonth, melady,” Penny told her as she sorted through the gowns hanging in the wardrobes and laid some of them out on the bed.

Although she had heard about the kidnapping the day of the auction, she knew very little indeed and decided to probe Penny a little more about what she knew.

“So, what happened exactly?” she asked, sitting down on the side of the bed.

“Naebody kens, melady. But the laird and Ciarán have been searching for her all this last year,” Penny told her, sounding fearful.

“But how can that have happened? She cannae have simply disappeared.”

“Dinnae ask me any more questions, I beg of ye, melady,” Penny said, distress plain in her eyes. “The laird will cut me tongue out if he catches me gossiping. ’Tis best of he tells ye about it himsel’. Now, what d’ye think of these dresses?”

“All right. I dinnae want ye tae get intae any trouble, Penny. I’m sorry fer askin’.” Lillie tried to put the matter aside, but it was difficult. She wondered when her husband would decide to tell her what had happened to his sister.

Whatever it was, there was no doubt in Lillie’s mind that something terrible had happened at Castle Kincaid a year ago, and it had resulted in the disappearance of Maddison. And she always thought, from what she had overheard at the auction, that there was some connection between Diarmaid outbidding Lennox to buy her at the auction and Maddison’s disappearance.