When a Laird Loves a Lady (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 1) (17 page)

Marion’s breath caught in her
chest. That was exactly what she feared, that she was the biggest sort of fool
to hope Iain could ever love her with the same depth he loved his first wife.
That was the real problem, she realized. She didn’t simply want his love as
she’d told Bridgette. She was greedy, and she’d waited all her life to be
loved. She wanted him to love her fiercely and completely and with an intensity
that rivaled, but was not the same as, what he had felt for Catriona. And then
she could love him the same way in return.

Marion stood at the opening of the cave, where
Bridgette had instructed her to stay. A raspy, crackly voice that sounded as if
it had been well used floated on the wind from within. She could hear that the seer
was speaking, but she could not determine what she was saying. As Marion
waited, she stared at the orange sun and watched it lower in the sky. Soon
they’d be returning to the MacLean hold in the dark, and it would be much too
late for someone to not have discovered they had left the castle.

“Bridgette,” she hissed into the
cave. “Bridgette, we must go!”

When Bridgette suddenly appeared
without a sound, Marion yelped. “You Scots must be taught at birth how to move
without making a sound,” she grumbled.

Bridgette laughed. “Nay. They wait
till we can walk,” she said with a wink. Then she looked up at the sky and frowned.
“I’d nae known I was in there so long.”

“Well, you were,” Marion said,
wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. “We need to depart. We’ll have to
run back to the castle to get there before it’s black as pitch. I just pray
that Iain doesn’t come for me before then. I don’t think trying to tempt a man
who is angry with me will be very effective,” she finished, thinking of
Bridgette’s earlier advice.

“Ye’re likely right,” Bridgette
said with a giggle. “Let’s away, then.”

Just as they started to leave, the
old seer called out from within the cave. “Wait! I’ve something to say to the
MacLeod’s wife.”

Marion glared at Bridgette. “You
told her my name was the MacLeod’s wife?”

Bridgette’s eyes were wide as she
shook her head. “Nay. I did nae tell her who ye were. Just that I had a friend
with me.”

The hairs on the back of Marion’s
neck prickled, and her skin tingled with fear as the seer emerged from the
cave. Weathered lines and crevices marked the woman’s face. Her hair was stark
white, her eyes bright blue. She had high, sharp cheekbones and thin, cracked
lips. She was very small and hunched, and appeared almost frail. The cape
draped over her shoulders didn’t look as if it would keep her warm, either, and
Marion was filled with the sudden desire to bring her back a warmer one.

The woman smiled, showing teeth
darkened with age. “Come closer, Sassenach.”

Marion exchanged a nervous look
with Bridgette. If her friend had not told the seer who Marion was, then the
only explanation for the woman knowing these things was that she truly
was
a seer. But that was impossible! Yet, if it wasn’t…

Marion found herself moving toward
the woman as she considered the possibilities of what she would want to ask if
the woman really could see her future. When she was standing directly in front
of the seer, she clutched Marion’s hand in her cold,
bony
one. And no wonder her hands were freezing!

As the seer’s fingers squeezed
Marion’s harder, she wanted to tug her hand away, but she forced herself to
stand still. The woman’s penetrating blue gaze held Marion’s.

“Ye’re nae sure ye believe in me,”
the seer stated as a fact.

Marion wet her lips. “It does not
seem possible that someone could tell the future.”

The woman tapped one of her long fingers
against the back of Marion’s hand. “Ask me what ye wish. I could sense that ye
did nae believe from inside my cave. Ye’ll see ye’re wrong.”

Marion’s mind raced with all she
would love to know, but what if the woman told her something she didn’t want to
hear? And how would Marion even know if it were going to truly happen or not?
Still, she blurted out the thing she wanted to know the most. “Will my husband
ever love me?”

Suddenly, the seer grasped Marion’s
fingers so tightly that it felt as if her bones were being crushed. Marion
gasped and tried to pull away, but the woman
jerked
her close with a surprising show of strength. Her blue eyes grew cloudy, and
she stared through Marion rather than at her. “Thrice he’ll stare how he feels
for ye in the face, and thrice he’ll deny it. But if the Fairy Flag flies
again, then the love that is now but a seed in his gut will have found a way to
his heart and will grow into a vine that stretches to the heavens. It will be a
new love. Nae the same as any that grew afore it, but strong, true, and a
blessing.”

“Old lady,” Bridgette hissed, “why
must ye always speak in riddles that dunnae make sense? Will the man love her
or nae? Will Lachlan love me or nae?”

The seer cackled. “Maybe, maybe
nae. I ken the possibilities from what I read of yer actions up to the moment I
hold yer hand. But after ye part with me, if ye change the course I saw, I
kinnae say for certain that yer future will remain the same.”

Bridgette growled in response,
grabbed Marion’s elbow, and pulled her away from the seer. “Waste of time
coming here,” Bridgette snapped. “We must go.”

The seer reached out lightning-quick
and clasped Bridgette by the hand. “The Sassenach will save yer life. For it,
she’ll demand a favor, and ye must give it to her or ye’ll nae get the man ye
desire.”

Marion was in a daze as she turned
to follow Bridgette, but the seer grabbed her arm once more, stopping her
departure. Marion looked over her shoulder to find the woman very close and
staring up at her. “Find a warm cloak and bring it to
me
tomorrow.”

Marion sucked in a sharp, stunned
breath but nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Nay. Ye must. It will bring about
the first denial of his feelings for ye. There must be three denials afore he
will accept how he feels.”

Bridgette tugged Marion away before
she could reply. Once they were a few steps from the cave, Bridgette paused.
“I’m sorry I brought ye there. The woman has gone mad, I think. As if ye’d ever
save my life! I’m much stronger than ye.”

Marion ignored Bridgette’s
accidental affront. “She knew my thoughts,” Marion replied, her voice wobbly.

“What?” Bridgette gasped.

Marion could hardly see Bridgette’s
face it had gotten so dark, but she could see the whites of Bridgette’s eyes,
and she knew by how big they were that the woman was stunned by her words.

“The seer knew my thoughts,” Marion
said again. “I thought about how thin her cloak looked and how I wished I could
bring her another, and then she told me to bring her a warmer cloak tomorrow.”

“I dunnae ken,” Bridgette said.
“Perchance she saw pity in your eyes when ye looked at her, or yer gaze
lingered on the garment and she seized the opportunity to get a warmer one.”

“Yes, perchance,” Marion replied,
not really believing that was what had happened. She wasn’t sure she believed
what the seer had said, either, but she wasn’t sure she didn’t. But she knew
without a doubt that she’d find a way to bring the woman a cloak tomorrow.

“We need to run,” Bridgette said,
interrupting Marion’s thoughts. “We’re starting back much later than I
intended. Do ye think ye can match pace with me?”

“Of course I can,” Marion boasted.
“If I knew the way back, you’d be the one having to try to stay with me, and I
daresay you’d fail.”

“Oh, a challenge!” Bridgette said
with a laugh, and then, without warning, she turned sharply and took off down
the hill. Marion burst into action after her.

It didn’t take long to realize what
a hazard the dark was. Marion nearly lost her footing several times when she
tripped on rocks and fallen branches, and more than once,
a
tree limb scraped
her cheek when she failed to see it in
her path and bat it away. After a few minutes of racing across the craggy
terrain, her breaths were coming in gasps and there was a sharp stabbing pain
in her right side. But she refused to slow down and let Bridgette pull too far
ahead.

Marion could tell her new friend
was still close because she could hear the pounding of her shoes against the
ground, though she could not see her. Darkness had so swallowed the light of
day that she would not have been able to see in front of her face at all if not
for the bright moon. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been running, but sweat
was dampening her brow and the back of her neck, rivulets running down her
back. She knew the temperature was dropping from the cool wind against her
face, though she was not cold. Around her, the night came alive with sounds of
animals venturing out. Deep-throated croaking and shrill shrieking filled the
air. Something buzzed very near her ear, and she swatted at it as she ran.

The path they were on narrowed and
began to curve sharply. They must have been going along the mountain ledge
they’d traversed on the way here. She’d not been afraid when she’d followed
Bridgette around the ledge previously, not even when she’d looked down and
realized how high up they were, but now, in the dark, unable to see where to
place her feet, her heart raced and her body tensed. She held her left hand out
as she ran, taking comfort from the
branches
against
her skin and the fact that she had something to grab onto if she should take a
wrong step.

“Be careful,” Bridgette called back
to Marion. “There’s a log blocking the path, and—”

Bridgette’s high-pitched scream
resounded in the night, and Marion halted, her heart slamming painfully against
her ribs. “Bridgette?!”

When no answer came, awful dread
filled Marion and made her shake. “Bridgette!” she yelled, a terrible feeling
that Bridgette had fallen over the edge
filling
her. She stumbled forward in the dark, clinging now to the branches on her left
as she called for Bridgette. She paused every second to stop and listen and
peer
into the blackness
below.

“Bridgette!” she cried out again,
kneeling on shaking legs. She dug her fingers into the dirt as if it could save
her were she to lean too far over. “Bridgette!”

“Aye?”

The
weak
voice came from below, and Marion’s chest squeezed with relief as she tried to
locate her friend. The moon shifted just enough that its light shone down to
reveal Bridgette.

“Oh my God!” Marion gasped, as she
stared in astonishment at Bridgette, who had one leg flung over a tree branch
that was sticking out of the side of the cliff and was clinging to it. “Don’t
move, Bridgette!”

“I did nae intend to,” Bridgette
said, her words fearful, yet slightly amused.

“I’ll run back to the castle and
fetch help.” She could see the castle ahead. It wasn’t far now.

“Nay!” Bridgette screeched. “Dunnae
leave me! I fear this branch will nae hold me much longer. If ye can get on yer
belly and stretch out yer arm”—Bridgette looked up at Marion—“maybe I can grasp
yer hand and ye can pull me up?”

Marion’s gut clenched. The idea of
Bridgette dangling in midair and Marion being the one with the woman’s life in
her hands terrified Marion, but what choice was there?

“Don’t worry!” Marion dropped to
her belly and slid as far as she could toward Bridgette, careful to keep most
of her weight on solid ground. She stretched her hands as far as she could. “Can
you reach me?”

Bridgette raised her head and one
hand, but Marion could see that it was not going to be possible. Bridgette
could not let go of the branch without falling, and the only way she would be
able to grasp Marion’s hands was if she sat up. Dread curled in Marion’s belly,
but when Bridgette started to softly cry, the dread turned to determination.

“Collect yourself, Bridgette!”
Marion commanded, her tone stern. “I’ll get you off that branch!”

“How?” Bridgette wailed. “I kinnae
reach ye, and we’ve nothing else for me to grab.”

Marion bit down on her lip, hard.
If only they had rope, or cloth, or— She fisted the material of her skirts in
her hands and stilled, her heart tripling its beat. “Bridgette! I’ve got it!”
she shouted as she began to tug off her gown. “I’ll hang my gown down to you,
and when ye see it, grab it!”

“Ye’re removing yer gown?! I dunnae
think Iain will like that!”

Distraught laughter bubbled up from
Marion. “I think he’ll understand in such circumstances.” Though she doubted he’d
be too understanding about the fact that she’d disobeyed his order to stay in
her chamber. She shook her head and kept her attention on her task. The rest
was not important now.

Once her gown was off and she stood
in her chemise, she sat on her bottom at the edge of the cliff, her legs bent
to her chest and her heels digging into the dirt. This position would allow her
to use the strength from her legs and back combined. The cold, wet grass made
her shiver as she slid across it, or maybe it was her nerves. Whichever it was,
she had to take a few deep breaths to still her shaking hands.

She carefully wrapped the material
of the skirt around her hand, and then she clasped her hands together and
called down. “Here it comes. Be ready.”

“I’m ready. I dunnae enjoy hanging
on this branch.”

“Do you see it?” Marion asked.

“Aye,” Bridgette called, and Marion
felt a sudden pull on the gown.