Page 19 of Awakened By Time
He wasn’t sure what to think of all this. He’d seen Laird Munro with his own eyes. He knew Brenna didn’t wish to wed Munro and he knew that since he’d arrived, everyone was trying to push Brenna on him. He felt badly for her, but as he’d told her, he was here to find his sister, not to find a wife. He hoped that things worked out for her and that she wasn’t forced into this marriage, but in this time women were treated like property. It was the reason he wanted to get his sister back to San Francisco.
He closed the door to the room and looked around. A large bed draped with curtains stood on the far wall. The windows were shuttered and there was a fireplace, but no fire. The room was sparsely furnished - only the bed, a chest at its foot and a small table and chair set near the hearth. Bare bones as it was, he couldn’t wait to lie down on an actual bed. He didn’t have high hopes for it being comfortable, but after sleeping on the ground since he’d arrived in this time, he’d enjoy this bed tonight. Someone had brought his saddle bags up to the room and he rummaged through them to find his flint so he could get a fire started.
He was pleased with how expertly he managed to start the blaze now burning brightly in the hearth. Squatting on his haunches, he stared into the flames hoping Edna might speak with him.
“Edna?” He wasn’t surprised that she didn’t answer him. Maybe she only spoke through his fireplace back home. The thought of being stuck here in this time and never finding Sara was not something he wanted running around in his brain, but so far he found himself at a completely different castle, his sister and Logan didn’t appear to be anywhere nearby and he was now the focus of an entire family of people who were determined to convince him to marry Brenna MacRae.
Standing, he shook his head in disbelief. The sooner he got away from Castle Treun, the better.
* * *
“Brenna, come sit here next to our guest.” Paddraig called his daughter over to sit closer to him than she had since Greer’s arrival. She knew what he was up to and she also knew he’d be angry when he found out that even if he could get this man to agree to marry her, she was not willing to do so. She searched the room for Laird Munro and he was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Laird Munro?” she asked as she took her seat. Zeke was kind enough to stand and hold her chair out for her.
“He’s gone home, me dear.” Paddraig was behaving much as he had when he loved her.
“Is he coming back?” she asked, suspicion in her eyes.
“We’ll see. Much depends on ye.” Her father winked at her and chuckled.
Brenna turned to Zeke and spoke softly, for his ears only. “Me father has not allowed me to sit at the center of the table since he married. He is up to something and I believe I know what it is.”
“So do I,” Zeke said.
“I’ll nae marry ye,” Brenna said.
“I haven’t asked you to marry me and I don’t intend to,” Zeke replied.
Her back stiffened at this. His words, while not unlike her own, hurt her for some reason she could not understand. Brenna had little knowledge of the minds of men other than her father and her brothers. She’d never been in love. She had no idea what it felt like to be in love. She’d never even been kissed either. The closest she’d come had been with her brother’s friend, Logan, but handsome as he was, she always looked on him as another brother who teased and tormented her while she was growing up. She’d seen others at the castle, servants and warriors alike who’d fallen in love and married. Her brother Fingall seemed to be in love with that awful Gillian. And Dougall had defied their father and married Helene. Of course, he was a man and though he’d angered Paddraig, he could not be bullied or badgered into marrying someone he didn’t love. She wasn’t that fortunate. She’d marry whoever her father chose for her. It was for the good of the clan and the sooner she accepted it the better. Besides, even if she ran away again, they’d find her and bring her back, just as they had this time. She wondered what it would be like to have a choice. Zeke certainly did and he made it clear he would only marry for love. It must be nice to be a man and be able to make your own choices and decisions. Any hope she’d had of that happening had faded away once her father married Greer, or maybe she’d been blind to her plight from the very beginning.
* * *
Brenna had gonesilent and Zeke was afraid he’d done it again. He’d said the wrong thing. This woman was harder to figure out than any he’d ever known. Changing the subject might be the best course of action. “Brenna, what’s your day like here at the castle?” He should probably be doing a little research, as long as he was here, it might be useful for his students.
“Why do ye wish to know?” she asked, suspicion tinging her voice.
“I’m just curious. I wonder if it’s different than at my castle.” Why not? They all thought him to be the Laird of San Francisco. He’d continue to take advantage of that for as long as he could. It had been serving him well so far.
“I’m nae sure me day would be of any interest to ye or anyone else. I’m nae longer needed around here.” She looked down at her food, which she hadn’t touched.
“Alright then, what would you do if you could do anything at all?” he asked.
“What do ye mean?” She gazed up at him and he found himself drawn into her lovely hazel eyes, which took on a golden hue in the candlelight. Her skin looked so soft he wanted to reach out his hand and stroke her cheek, but he didn’t.
“You know. What do you dream of? What makes you happy when you think about it?” He was determined to find out what made Brenna MacRae tick. She was a puzzle and he found himself wanting to know more.
“Hmmm…” She tipped her head and gazed up towards the ceiling in a most adorable way. “I guess I’d like to travel far away from here. I’d like to go somewhere other than Castle Treun for once in me life. Mayhap a big city like Edinburgh.”
“You’ve never been away from Castle Treun? Really?” He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in one place forever. To never experience all of the wonders of the world. It suddenly occurred to him that she was a prisoner here at Castle Treun. She wasn’t behind bars or in the dungeon, but she’d never been able to leave. He suddenly had the urge to show her all the things she’d been missing.
“Aye. Me Da has never allowed me to go beyond MacRae lands. I almost made it once, when Da sent me with me younger brothers to find Dougall. He was returning home at me father’s request and it was taking a bit too long for Da’s liking. I begged him to let me go and he finally relented. I thought surely I’d at least make it on to MacKenzie lands. Unfortunately, we didnae make it verra far before we ran into Dougall and so we turned around and came right back to Castle Treun.”
“That must have been very disappointing for you,” Zeke said.
“What of ye? Ye’ve surely travelled. Yer here from San Francisco. I wish I could see it,” she said.
“It’s the most beautiful place. You’d love it,” he said. What was he doing? He didn’t want to give her anymore reasons to hate her life here. Telling her about San Francisco was probably not the best idea. He could see her imagining it in her mind’s eye and he felt bad for planting that seed. “Tell me more about your life here. How many brothers do you have?” He watched as Brenna shook herself from her daydream, a look of longing in her eyes.