Page 11 of Taken By the Highland Villain

Everythin’ seems so neglected, I’m nae sure I can manage to mend all of it in seven days. Still, I will do as much as I can. It is the least I can do to thank him for letting me stay here.

CHAPTER 6

“Good mornin’,My Laird.” The cheerful voice at his right almost made Jude choke on his morning tea.

He looked up, startled by the unexpected greeting, to find Valerie Blackwood at his elbow, smiling brightly at him as she settled into a seat and helped herself to the porridge, bread, cheese, and honey that Moira had served moments ago.

“How do ye fare today?”

Jude blinked, struggling to summon any sort of response. It had been seasons since anyone had spoken to him over the morning meal, save when Craig used the time to report plans for the day or any necessary tasks that needed to be done. And even then, his man-at-arms usually waited until after they’d both broken their fast.

After a moment, he gave up, answering with a noncommittal shrug and burying his nose in his mug to avoid the necessity of words.

They ate in silence for a few moments before she spoke again. “It is very dark in this hall. Do ye nae have any torches?”

“Dinnae need them.”

In the weeks following that fateful day,Jude hadn’t wanted the light of torches. Since then, he’d grown used to the dark, close feeling of the hall. It matched his mood most mornings, and he saw no reason to waste time, effort, or torches when he preferred the current gloom.

“Perhaps ye dinnae need them, My Laird, but I’ll need more light to do my work.” Valerie gave him a bright smile, full of enthusiasm he could not even imagine feeling himself. “It will have to be either more torches or open windows, if ye wish for me to do my best.”

Jude scowled. Yet another person trying to pry open the drapes that surrounded his life and kept him shut away from the world… and from the strain and pain of interacting with it.

Valerie couldn’t know how every day the sun rose seemed like a mockery to him—a reminder of days that had been full of sunshine, laughter, and the presence of family.

She couldn’t understand why blue skies and blooming flowers made his stomach ache as if he’d been stabbed, or why looking upon the wide expanse of moorland reminded him of things he’d never have again and all that had changed a year ago.

Jude had no wish to explain the matter either. He settled for a wordless growl into his mug and made an effort to focus on his meal.

It was a futile effort.

Moments later, Valerie addressed him again. “Speakin’ of doin’ my work, My Laird. I’ve been consultin’ with Moira. She says there arenae many supplies in the castle for some of the finer work, so I’ll need to visit a seamstress or a cloth merchant. Mayhap both. Is there one in the village?”

“Aye. She doesnae come here.”

The seamstress, Hannah, had been a close friend of Kendra’s. After his sister was taken, she’d had little interest in visiting the castle, and Jude had felt no desire to be reminded of his loss by the sight of her.

“Then I’ll need to go to her, if ye dinnae mind, to purchase the threads and other things I need.”

“Well enough.”

At least if Valerie were in the village, speaking to Hannah, she wouldn’t be in the castle, talking his ear off and disturbing his solitude or his work.

“What is well enough?” Craig joined them and settled into the chair at Jude’s other side, a friendly smile on his face as he leaned around Jude’s shoulder to address the seamstress. “Fair morn to ye, Miss Blackwood.”

“Fair morn to ye, Master Craig.”

Valerie’s answering smile, directed at his second-in-command, made something hot and brittle spark inside Jude—an emotion that filled him with irritation, even though he could name neither the feeling nor the reason it should afflict him at the sight of a mere smile.

“Call me Craig, Miss Blackwood. Ye’ll be doin’ so much for me and the Laird; it is only fair.”

Craig leaned forward to take some bread, and Jude felt the sudden urge to tug the basket away for no particular reason. He squashed the impulse, even as he wondered at its origin.

“Then I wouldnae mind if ye call me Valerie. In fact, I prefer it. It is how my family calls me.” Her smile held a warmth and brightness that hadn’t been seen in the Great Hall of MacFinn Castle for seasons.

Jude was torn between wanting to stalk away and leave her cheerful countenance behind, and wanting to stay close and bask in the way it seemed to drive some of the cold stiffness from his heart.

“As ye will.” Craig nodded. “It sounded as though ye and the Laird were discussing something when I arrived.”