Tess and the Highlander (13 page)

Tess couldn’t stop the blush from spreading
on her face. “I am afraid I have nothing else. A woman doesn’t need
a very large wardrobe when she lives alone on an island.”

Her hostess didn’t seem bothered by this at
all. “I understand completely, my dear. And I think I can be of
some assistance to you with that.”

Fiona Macpherson took the hand of the young
woman and started up the stairway leading to the Great Hall.

Colin was beside her in a moment. “Would it
be all right if I were to accompany you two?”

“Nay. You cannot.” Lady Fiona said
emphatically, waving him off and winking at Tess.

When Tess looked back, Colin was standing on
the top step, looking amused. Behind him, though, the two older
brothers were approaching. The laird appeared perfectly happy just
looking on. As the two women entered the building, Tess heard a
shout and then a cheer went up in the courtyard.

“Is Colin in trouble?”

“Always. I believe his brothers plan to use
him as a battering ram.”

“They won’t hurt him?” Tess asked,
concerned.

Lady Fiona gently patted Tess’s hand and
smiled. “Don’t worry about him, my dear. He might be the youngest,
but he has never had a problem holding his own. And whatever
trouble Alexander and James cause him, ‘tis only a fraction of what
Colin usually serves them.”

“But he’s been away…at the university. What kind of
trouble could he have caused from there?”

Lady Fiona lowered her voice to a confidential tone.
“I have learned to not ask. Since these boys have become men, they
fight about horses, tides, religion, politics, and harvests. And I
am very sorry to say that every other argument seems to be about
some young woman. I imagine, though, Alexander and James see your
visit as a great opportunity to even the score with Colin for years
of torment he’s inflicted on them.”

Tess didn’t totally understand the meaning of what
her hostess was implying. But she had a strong feeling that she
might not want to know.

As the two women made their way through the
throng of people inside the wide open doors of the Great Hall, Lady
Fiona introduced Tess to an aging steward named Robert. The man’s
thin face creased in a smile as soon as he realized that there were
no bags or trunks waiting to be moved upstairs.

“So much like you, m’lady.”

“So much, indeed.” Fiona Macpherson nodded
good-naturedly, remembering her own arrival at the castle. “And
forget about the arrangements we made before, Robert, I’d like Tess
to stay in the Roundtower Room.”

After the steward had hurried off away, Lady Fiona
whispered confidentially in Tess’s ear. “That is my favorite room.
‘Tis the same one I stayed in the first time I set foot in Benmore
Castle. I know you’ll like it.”

The rush of emotions came quick. Tess somehow
managed to murmur her thanks. But no words were enough to describe
how welcome Lady Macpherson had already made her feel.

“Never mind the builders milling about.” The older
woman waved to some men that were on their way out of the Hall,
obviously finished for the day. “I believe ‘tis Benmore Castle’s
destiny to be always undergoing of some kind of construction. My
mother-in-law was determined to change and improve the place. And
now, with our sons grown and starting their own lives, I am finding
myself doing the same thing with my time.”

“The Great Hall is truly magnificent.” Tess let her
eyes travel the length of the large chamber. Each of the plastered
walls was covered with colorful tapestries and hangings of
embroidered felt, velvet, silk, and damask. The floors were
covered, as well, with ornate rugs, which shocked her. She’d never
seen rugs on the floor before. These were fine enough for hanging.
From behind them, the chatter of castle workers and warriors
starting to file into the hall filled the air with laughter and
good cheer.

Instead of going directly upstairs, Lady Fiona led
Tess to the left, toward an arch, and into the quiet of a long
corridor.

As the two made their way along, Tess asked
her hostess about the history of the castle and the obvious
improvements that had been made.

Fiona Macpherson was genuinely delighted at
the interest and made a point of taking her through every room they
passed. Tess was shown the latest improvements and those that had
been gradually implemented throughout the castle over the past
thirty years.

Lady Fiona’s pride in the place she called
home had no bounds. Tess saw the leaded glass windows, the new
fireplaces in living quarters. She was led through the new kitchens
and the brew house, and then up a level into some smaller
guestrooms directly above. By the time they had worked their way
around to the other end of the castle, she was amazed at the effort
and obvious expense that had gone into the castle’s renovation.

Casting a quick glance at the red-haired women,
though, Tess couldn’t help but speculate if her own mother was
anything like Lady Fiona. She wondered, too, if the same kind of
happiness would have filled Ravenie Castle if her father were still
alive and Tess had never been taken away.

She had no answers.

Moments later, her hostess led Tess up a
winding stairwell. The young woman held her breath as she entered
the Roundtower Room that she was to inhabit during her stay at
Benmore Castle.

“’Tis absolutely exquisite.”

“I remember thinking the same thing,” Fiona
whispered, standing beside Tess in the doorway.

The room was large and airy, with leaded
glass windows that kept out the cold, but still provided a sweeping
view of the hills outside. The base of each window was corbelled
with a bow-shaped oak sill wide enough to sit on. A fireplace had
been prepared for an evening fire, and a large canopy bed with
richly embroidered curtains sat against an inner wall. The floors
were made of oak as well, and an ornate handmade rug covered only
part of the burnished wood.

“I have kept everything the same.” Fiona
took hold of Tess’s hand and drew her to the middle of the room.
“’Tis delightful how much you and I have in common.”

“Do we?” she replied, surprised.

Lady Fiona nodded, helping Tess out of the
cloak and drawing her down beside her onto the bench near a small
table.

“When I was a child, I was torn from my family, as
well. Drummond Castle, where my mother and I lived, came under the
attack the same night I was to meet my father for the first time. I
left there, that night, knowing that I might never see…my parents
again.” Her voice wavered slightly, but Fiona’s fingers was warm
and steady as she held Tess’s cold hand. “And like you I was raised
simply, without the comforts and finery that life in a good family
offers.”

“But you were a king’s daughter. I…”

“To those wonderful nuns who raised me, I was a
castoff, no different than you were to the couple who raised you.”
She patted Tess’s hand affectionately. “But I don’t want to talk
about myself right now. The only reason I brought up my own youth
was for you to know that I understand what you are going through
right now. I was the same way. And trust me when I tell you that it
will pass.”

Tess stared at their joined hands. “I…I
am
so
nervous. There is so much that I don’t remember or know. So much
that I am lacking in my education, and manners, and in whatever
‘tis that makes a young woman behave properly. I was delighted to
hear that my mother is alive. But now I am terrified to think I
should be a disappointment to her.” Tess knew she was babbling, but
she couldn’t stop herself. “And we sent a message to her as soon as
we came ashore. For all I know, she could arrive here any day, and
I just know she will see right through me.”

“Believe me when I say that I understand your
concerns about seeing Lady Evelyn. But you should know right now
that she will not be displeased with you as much as she is with
us.” Fiona touched Tess gently on the knee before she could voice
an objection. “One thing no one has told you yet is that your
mother has a deeply held prejudice against the people of the
Highlands.”

“But she married my father,” Tess blurted out.

“Aye, an arranged marriage. But before that she was
Evelyn Fleming, and she was brought up amongst her kin in the
Borders area to the south of the Lowlands, almost to England,
itself. They say her heart never left there. Many believe, for all
the years that she lived at Ravenie Castle, she never really
accepted her life with your father. To her, all Highlanders were
barbarians, and she hated her time there.”

Feelings of disappointment cut deep into Tess at
this news. From Colin’s chivalrous manners on Isle of May to the
warm reception she had received from the rest of the Macphersons,
these were warm and compassionate people. But even as these
thoughts formed in her mind, another disturbing notion struck her.
She was a Lindsay and a Highlander, too. Did that mean that Lady
Evelyn hated her, too?

“I’ve never met your mother, but your father was a
good friend to my husband. The few times that I had the pleasure of
meeting with Sir Stephen, I was quite taken with his pride in you.”
Lady Fiona squeezed Tess’s hand gently. “And this is what you
should remember, Tess. You look like him. You have his spirit. You
should be proud of the strong person you are and your ability to
survive as you have. ‘Endure with strength’ is your family motto,
and you have lived up to those words. ‘Tis quite obvious to me—if
only from my three sons’ response to you—that you are a pearl of
great worth, Tess. Don’t allow anyone to tell you otherwise.”

“Have I ever asked you two for anything before?”

Alexander and James glanced at each other first
before turning suspicious faces toward their youngest brother. The
crowd of men around them laughed.

“Aye, you have,” the eldest answered. He was sitting
on Colin’s legs. “You’re forever asking.”

“Every time you start losing, you beg like a bloody
friar,” James added. He was keeping Colin’s arms and hands pinned
to the dirt floor of the stable with great difficulty.

The two had carried him off to the stables as soon
as their mother and their guest had disappeared into the Great
Hall. A homecoming tradition since the boys’ childhood, their
wrestling matches had always been cheered on by the castle’s
inhabitants. They’d been the source of more than a few wagers over
the years, as well.

With the older brothers firmly in control, the men
started dispersing.

“Have I ever asked you two for a favor before?”
Colin repeated.

The two Highlanders again glanced at each other
before nodding in unison.

“’Twill not work, fox.” James shook his head at the
youngest brother. “After all the trouble you caused me when the
Macgregor lassie was here at Michaelmas.”

“And remember the story you told that bonny French
creature I had my eye on at Falkland Palace last summer?” Alexander
growled. “Something about my wife and two sickly bairns being due
to arrive at the castle at any moment, if I recall.”

“If you think we will show you any mercy…”

“…You can just put it out of your mind,” the older
brother finished. “You’ve been able to escape unscathed before. But
‘tis time that you reap what you’ve sown, now that this Tess has
caught your eye.”

Alexander didn’t even see the kick coming until he
found himself hurtling toward the stable wall. The other brother,
being bigger, put up a tougher fight, but Colin managed to slip his
grasp and press James’s face into the dirt as Alexander fought to
regain the breath knocked out of him.

“Now listen to me, you buggering peacocks,” Colin
warned, knowing his advantage was momentary at best. “’Tis true
I’ve taken a few opportunities to torment you two in the past, but
if you search inside your thick skulls, you might remember that you
were never serious about any of those lassies. At best, you were
thinking of a night or two of…well, whatever you were thinking
of.”

“Ha! Looking out for us, were you?” James laughed
mockingly. “Our guardian angel speaks! Let me up, Lucifer.”

Alexander lowered his voice. “Are you telling us
that there is a reason why we shouldn’t ruin your chances with this
Lindsay lass while she is here?”

“Aye!” Colin spat out passionately. “If all I wanted
was a roll in the hay, I would have wooed her on the island and let
it end there. I’m thinking…well, she trusts me, and I can’t let
some senseless teasing by you two make her doubt her judgment.”

“The devil, you say,” James challenged, looking at
him incredulously. “If you think you can win us over with such
drivel—”

“Aye, if she trusts you, the lassie’s judgment is a
wee b—”

“I mean it.” Colin pushed himself impatiently to his
feet. “You didn’t see her on that island. I did. I saw her
frustration and confusion over who she was and what her future
might be. I’m telling you it took great courage…and trust…for her
to leave the May and come back here with us. Tess cannot afford to
be doubting herself now. She is too vulnerable, as ’tis. Until
she’s at peace with her past, I feel…well, responsible for her. And
that means with everyone out there, including you two flap-jawed,
boneheaded apes.”

“I think the lass must have fed you some kind of
potion when you were on the May,” Alexander said
half-seriously.

“It may just be a fever,” James suggested. “But you
didn’t, by any chance, inhale any odd-smelling smoke out
there?”

“She didn’t bewitch me, damn it!” Colin growled at
the two amused men.

“So you say, brother,” Alexander commented. “But
from the moment we fetched you two from the island, you’ve had
stars in your eyes.”

“Bloody hell!” Colin barked. “Well, of course
I’m…well, she’s a bonny lass! But that’s not…Och, by the devil,
this is all confusing as hell!”