Page 5 of When a Highlander Vows (Enemies to Lovers #1)

5

L ucas turned away from Caitlin and looked toward the castle. It seemed like more than a day had passed since he’d last been home. So much had happened; so much had changed.

“I think ye will like it here,” he said awkwardly, remembering how gruffly he’d spoken to her when they’d first met, still trying to atone for that.

“I hope so,” she said, not sounding very convinced.

Looking into Seamus’ sister’s soft brown eyes glinting in the torchlight as he helped her down from her horse had been far too distracting. And being reminded of her shapely waist underneath his hands wasn’t helping. He had to focus.

He was exhausted and at the same time worried about that attack. While it was true that the Highlands were fraught with dangers lurking around nearly every corner, this attack seemed particularly planned. The two men seemed disinterested in robbing them, and they were skilled swordsmen, not mere cutpurses. The fact that they were both heavily cloaked and silent was also strange.

There were no particular enemies of Clan McDougall he could think of, and he would have to spend the next few days with Archie, making sure the surrounding areas of clan lands were kept safe. Like cockroaches, if there were two men awaiting him on a darkened road, then there would certainly be more hiding elsewhere, simply waiting for the right time to strike.

“Archie, we’ll need to—” he began, when a rush of servants came out of the door to the castle, and he could see his grandmother’s distinct gait hurrying after them.

“Lucas!” she called, and even though he was feeling rather irritated in that moment, he was always glad to have someone to come home to.

Someone who cared.

“Grandmaither,” he said when she reached up to embrace him.

“Ye’ve returned! I was gettin’ worried, Lad.” She patted his cheek, and he smiled down into her brown eyes.

“Just a little delay, but we’ve returned safe and sound.”

“What is this?” she frowned, wrinkles gathering at the corners of her mouth as she touched a dark spot on his shirt. “Blood? What in God’s name—?”

“Let us go inside, Nan. Our guest is here now.”

“Right, of course!” His grandmother quickly left his side when reminded of Caitlin’s arrival. “Me dear! Ye look positively exhausted. Come with me!”

Lucas watched as his grandmother took Caitlin’s arm and walked with her up to the castle while servants dealt with the horses and Caitlin’s bags.

Archie strode next to him, hands behind his back. “Could be a rival clan,” he said without preamble.

“Perhaps. But we havenae had much trouble since the death of me faither. Perhaps some enemy of me faither’s he neglected to tell me about. However, we will have to think about it. Go, see yer wife.” He looked behind him at the darkness of the fields outside the castle, wondering who on Earth would wish to kill him and in such a quiet, secretive way. “We will be safe enough here for the night.”

Inside, Archie left him, and Lucas nearly sighed with delight as a servant brought him a mug of wine, and he sat himself down in front of the roaring hearth in the main hall.

He ached as he kicked up his legs, and he touched his face, feeling the dried blood there. Staring into the flames, he took his first sip.

The vow has been fulfilled. I can finally rest easy for the first time since Seamus’ death.

And yet, something niggled at him. The vow might have been fulfilled, but the fulfilling of it had only just begun. With someone new in the castle, that meant that someone new had entered the sphere of his isolated world. It would change everything, he feared.

“Why are ye sittin’ on yer own, Lad, when ye should be dressin’ for dinner?”

“Dinner? Nan, I am certain Miss Caitlin is exhausted from the journey. It was…lengthy.” He did not need his grandmother worrying about cloaked fighters waiting for him in the dusk.

“She has already agreed. The poor young woman needs a proper introduction to our home. And a proper meal.” She sat across from him, laying her hands atop her voluminous woolen skirts. “She has just lost her brother, Lucas, and now she has to come and live with us, in a strange home with strange people and with that poor eyesight of hers. Come. Dinner will be served soon, so ye should go and wash the blood from yer face and put on new clothes. I’ve invited others to dine as well.”

“Ye’ve what?” he asked, sitting up from where he’d been slumped.

His grandmother beamed. “Just a couple of people. Daenae worry. Now,” she narrowed her gaze at him, “did ye notice how bonnie she is? Me goodness, I thought that faeries had brought her in. ‘Tis a shame about her eyesight.”

Lucas’ mood was now getting worse. He stood up, angry that his wine was empty.

“Of course I bloody noticed, Grandmaither. What of it? There are plenty of bonnie lasses about.” And he would have to find one soon if he was going to survive seeing Caitlin every day. He put the mug down, and she took his arm as if he wasn’t bristling and still covered in blood.

“Nae like this, Lucas.” She shook her head with a breathy chuckle, and Lucas groaned. “It will be nice to have such a bonnie young one around, will it nae?”

He knew what she was thinking. Well, it wasn’t bloody going to happen. He had a vow to fulfill. Two in fact. And none of them involved thinking about a bonnie lass.

“I’ll be down soon.” He let go of her arm and went upstairs to his chamber, eager to be out of her company before she kept talking on about him marrying Caitlin MacLennan.

Not in a thousand years.

Caitlin was waiting on the bed in her chamber. She’d spent the last few minutes wandering about, feeling her way through the space to familiarize herself with its contents. She didn’t want to start this new adventure stumbling about, and now that she knew where she was, and had done her best in washing up, she waited for someone the grandmother had said would come to collect her.

“We’ll set ye to a proper bath after dinner, Lass, but first we must fill ye with a proper meal. The McDougalls are an angry lot, but we are hospitable,” she’d told her.

The old woman had made Caitlin smile as she walked her upstairs to her chamber. It would be no trial to act as her companion. Her kind brown eyes and easy smile had made Caitlin feel comfortable immediately. And yet Caitlin found herself, despite all the luxury that surrounded her, aching for her home. It was the one place she knew better than anywhere else. It was the place where she’d grown comfortable and felt safe. After her eyesight had begun to fade, she’d taken pains to create a life that suited her. Now it was all gone, and Rachel and Mary with it. Even though she’d paid them, they’d been very kind to her. They’d been her friends. Not to mention the rest of her friends in the village.

However, those had begun to fall away, and perhaps at the castle, she wouldn’t hear people whispering under their breath about her lack of eyesight. The children would often laugh about her if she tripped or couldn’t find something, and over the years, it had grown tiresome.

“Are ye ready, dear?” The grandmother’s voice called from the other side.

“Aye, Mrs. McDougall!” Caitlin called, trying her best to walk to the door when it opened.

“Och, Lass, ye must call me Lottie.” She took Caitlin’s arm without Caitlin needing to ask for the help. As soon as they stepped out of her chamber and shut the door, Lottie began chatting quickly. “Downstairs, ye will meet Archie’s wife and child as well as the Castle healer, Paige. Me grandson ye already ken, of course.”

The old woman chuckled as if her words gave her some great entertainment. Caitlin didn’t say anything about that but allowed herself to be led. The castle was not what she’d expected at all.

It was large and stony and sometimes there was a slight chill in the air or a dampness, but when they got close to the main hall, she could feel the delicious heat coming from the room. Smells of cooked meat and hot bread filled the air, and her stomach growled. Despite the gray shadowy shape it had always appeared to her, the castle felt cozy and welcoming.

“Here we are, love,” Lottie said, and Caitlin could hear voices as they approached the center of the main hall.

She cleared her throat, trying to remember what to say to new people when Lottie spoke.

“Here we are. Everyone this is Miss Caitlin MacLennan, come to live with us as me companion.”

She pulled Caitlin closer to the table, so now she could see everyone’s faces a little more clearly. Lottie held out her hand to each person at the table, speaking cheerfully.

“Archie, you know, of course. This is his wife Sarah, and their son, Colin.” Caitlin smiled warmly at the young, dark-haired woman, and her dark-haired, very young son, only about four years old, who looked up at her with his mother’s eyes.

She nodded at them. “Lovely to meet ye.”

“And here is Paige McFarlane, the youngest healer ever to work on McDougall land and in the Castle.” Caitlin turned to face this young woman but was met with a cold, stiff smile.

Paige had reddish hair, full lips, and sharp, almond-shaped eyes that looked at her with suspicion. All the same, she gave Paige a smile and nod.

“Good to meet ye.”

“Sit, sit, and eat. All ye must be starved.” Lottie showed her to a seat next to the laird, and Lottie found her seat across from her.

On her right side sat Sarah, and she was relieved it was not the pinch-faced Paige who was still eyeing her from across the table as if worried Caitlin might do something strange. It was the same look many young women gave Caitlin at times, whenever she could see them up close, and she was never sure what it meant. But she was certain it was not a friendly look.

Food had already been served, and wine poured, so everyone began to eat, meat being passed from plate to plate, until Caitlin’s was full of steaming, hot food. She ate demurely, afraid that it would be unseemly to dive into her food as one truly starved. But she hadn’t eaten since that morning before the laird had arrived to turn her world on its head.

“Ye must be tired. It is a long journey from the village to here. I have done it a few times,” the woman called Sarah said.

Caitlin turned to be faced with a warm, kindly smile. “Och, aye, I am tired but very happy to be eatin’. Were ye visitin’ someone in the village?”

“I have an old relative there, aye, but sometimes, I go with Archie on a few of his errands for the Laird, and we pass through from time to time.”

“I am nae old enough to go yet, but I will soon,” Colin said from the other side of his mother.

Caitlin laughed, leaning her head to the side to see him. “I see. Well, that sounds like a wonderful adventure. I say, only the bravest can travel such a distance.”

She happened to glance at the laird who was eyeing her with a narrowed, suspicious look. Clearing her throat, she turned away, wondering if she’d said the wrong thing, but Sarah seemed pleased, and she ruffled Colin’s hair.

“Aye, and so one day when you are old enough and brave enough, ye too will dae the journey with yer faither.”

Colin grinned, and Sarah leaned down to whisper something to him. Caitlin cut into her meat and took a bite, listening to the others’ muffled conversation.

Suddenly, and sharply, Paige said, “And why have ye come to join us here, Miss MacLennan?”