Page 8 of The Highlander’s Virgin Nun (Highlanders’ Feisty Brides #2)

CHAPTER EIGHT

T he pale blue skirts of her dress trailed a little on the stairs behind her as she descended for breakfast. She had noticed the evening before that Alexandra’s frocks were slightly too big and slightly too long for her, but the underskirt of the evening dress had lifted it. Her less formal daytime dress, however, had no lift and so dragged somewhat on the floor behind her. She tried to tuck it into the bodice as a temporary fix as she neared the doors of the Great Hall.

She heard quiet chatter inside and hoped she could eat alone. Having eaten little the night before due to nerves, and nothing at all the day before, she was ravenous now. But as soon as she entered, she spotted Caelan at the table, deep in conversation with Jayden, his man-at-arms.

She collected some bread, fruit, and meat from the top of the table and sat nearby, but not next to the two men. She had thought their conversation looked intense enough that they would not notice her, but they both quickly looked in her direction as she pulled out her chair to sit down.

“Mornin’, Rosaline,” Jayden spoke first.

He had a tight way of speaking. His words wasted no time getting from one to the other, and Rosaline had a feeling that he did not like her. Fair, she thought, for a man-at-arms. They had to be cautious on behalf of their Laird. But Rosaline had already done what he failed to do: save Caelan’s life.

“Mornin’,” Caelan greeted shortly after, hesitation in his tone and conflict in his eyes behind a facade of politeness.

“Good mornin’,” she replied cordially and then returned her gaze to her food, hoping the pair would move on. They did.

Rosaline ate slowly, not wanting to overwhelm her body. She savored the freshness she had not tasted in years, her food always coming from scraps that had sat out for too long. It had likely been months since she had tasted any meat, and so she cherished the energy it would give her.

As she ate, she overheard snippets of Caelan and Jayden’s conversation.

“Ye will have to take it soon, Caelan. It has to be done.”

“I will. Just arrange who I’m bringin’, and I will go.”

While her meal consumed most of her attention, she pieced together the information she overheard and realized that Caelan was due to take over control of a nearby village in the coming days. His Lairdship was a wonder to her, as few lairds survived by being nice to everyone. A certain authority was required to run a clan effectively.

She was not surprised by the news of the expansion, even if it might be by force—especially for a man who could fight as well as he did. He had to have learned it somewhere.

After eating, she gathered her courage and approached Caelan. While she would have liked to simply sit in her room all day and look out her window, finally enjoying the peace that was offered to her, she needed more information about what to expect from her stay here.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she began, as he and Jayden were still in deep discussions.

“Go ahead,” Jayden permitted with a weak attempt at a smile.

Caelan allowed his friend that slight slip.

“I see ye are busy,” Rosaline continued, addressing Caelan now, even if he would not speak to her. “But I was hopin’ for a moment with ye after ye finished breakfast. Just a word.”

Caelan looked surprised and unsure, and his lips pressed together into a thin line. After a short pause, and what she thought was a tilt of the head from Jayden, he inhaled before saying, “Uh—aye. I can spare a few moments.”

“Thank ye,” she replied.

“I will meet ye in the front courtyard.”

She nodded, satisfied with his agreement, and left. She headed straight for the courtyard and faced the entrance of the Great Hall, resolute to catch him upon arrival.

After about a five-minute wait, Caelan entered the courtyard. He looked ready to walk straight through, but when she caught his eye, he drew to a halt, remembering her request. He came towards her.

“Thank ye for yer time?—”

“I dinnae have long, so ye’ll have to be quick. What is it?”

His tone surprised her. He had not been so curt with her once, despite the tension and awkwardness that had characterized their entire relationship thus far.

“I-I just…” she stuttered, as his brusqueness had taken her off guard.

“I have a meeting to attend, Rosaline. Hurry.”

She bit her tongue. She could have been as sharp with him as he had been with her, but on second thought, she was glad to see this side of him. The polite, playful Caelan simply did not match up with the actions she had seen in the clearing. She had seen a man of violence, of temper, and of skill, cunning. She preferred to see people for who they truly were, rather than a more pleasant but inauthentic facade.

“I need to ken what is to happen with the weddin’. Is it imminent? Should I start the preparations? I may be fulfillin’ me side of a deal I have already benefited from, but I still need to be informed of how and when.”

She saw Caelan consider her words, at first a little surprised, but then nodding in understanding. His face and demeanor remained cold, but he did not dismiss her.

“That is fair,” he relented. “We are to be wed within seven days. I will have everythin’ arranged—ye only need to be there. If ye need anythin’ in the meantime, just ask one of the servants or me sister.”

Before she could ask anything further or even acknowledge his plan, he walked off.

He was a strange man, but she did not need anything more from him for the moment. As long as he left her alone most of the time and did not intend to harm her, she would ask for no more. Marriage was not something she had dreamed of. Peace was.

* * *

Rosaline sat at the writing desk in her room, trying to put pen to paper once more. Dear Conall , was all she had managed to write thus far.

It should have been a task she was familiar with by now, having written hundreds and hundreds of letters to her brother over the last few years. But having received no reply all that time, she could never begin one without thinking that maybe she had worded the last wrong.

She wanted to tell him about the change in her situation. He at least should know where she was—and marriage was important, after all. After years at the convent, and having been left there when she had only just grown out of childhood, she could remember all her family's important connections and rivalries. She hoped the Sinclairs would not cause her brother trouble, but Caelan seemed embroiled in a feud with many clans. She still had not told him her surname, and thus he would not have been able to tell her either.

Eventually, she forced herself to write without further deliberation. She wrote clearly and calmly, so as not to worry him, and hoped this letter would not go unanswered. She folded it and slipped it into an envelope she had found in the bottom desk drawer and wrote her brother’s name and address once again, as she had so many times at the convent.

She wrapped a cape that Alexandra had given her that afternoon around herself and headed down the stairs. She passed through the courtyard. The late evening light bathed some of the plants in new colors, making them glow differently than she had seen before. While she would have liked to stop and admire them, she moved on to the castle gates.

As she neared the gates, she pictured an outpost where runners were often stationed with horses, ready to deliver any letters that had to go to neighboring clans and beyond. The cool evening air, fresh and crisp on her skin, calmed her as she walked.

Halfway there, she was suddenly stopped and jerked backward, seized by the upper arm. The movement knocked the air out of her lungs, and her entire body tensed at the familiar feeling of being grabbed and pulled.

Dread of the pain that had ruled her life for all these years rose inside her.