Tess and the Highlander (15 page)

“I know that. And they realize it now, too.
In addition, you are wearing a Macpherson tartan to boot. A bonny
sight to their tired eyes, I’m thinking.”

“Perhaps I should not…” Tess felt her cheeks
catch fire. She tried to pull away. “Maybe I…”

Instead of letting her go, Colin pushed her
gently toward the dais. Looking ahead, Tess realized that the laird
and lady and their two elder sons were all standing now and
waiting.

The Macpherson chieftain came around the
table to greet them. “Finally I have the honor of introducing our
own faerie to a grateful clan.”

Tess dropped a low curtsy before the laird.
“The honor is mine, m’lord.”

Alec Macpherson took her hand, and his blue
eyes were approving when he raised Tess up. He turned her to the
silent crowd gathered in the Great Hall.

“’Tis my honor…my privilege…to give you the
angel to whom we are all indebted for saving young Colin’s life.
With great pleasure, I introduce to you, my good clan folk, Theresa
Catherine Lindsay, the only daughter of my friend, the late Sir
Stephen Lindsay.”

As the laird paused, the room suddenly
erupted with cheers. Tess was embarrassed by all the credit she was
receiving with no cause. Before she could gather herself together,
though, the laird opened his arms and she moved unthinkingly into
his embrace. His powerful bear-like arms wrapped around her. In a
moment, he released her from the hug but still held her by the
shoulders.

“Your father would be very proud to see you
tonight, Tess.” He placed a kiss on her brow, and Tess fought the
emotions welling up inside of her. There was so much she needed to
know about her father, about what had happened to him, about the
secrets of Ravenie Castle. When the laird let go of her, she turned
and found herself enveloped in Lady Fiona’s arms.

“You look exceptionally beautiful. And you
act as nobly as a queen,” she whispered in Tess’s ear. “No more
fretting, child. You are ready for your lady mother…whenever ‘tis
you meet again.”

The recollection of their kiss wouldn’t leave Tess’s
mind. Hours later, she could still feel the tingling sensations on
her lips and the pounding of her heart. At the same time, she was
angry at herself for this weakness. Colin had told her in so many
words that kissing her had been a mistake, that it wouldn’t happen
again. So then why was it she couldn’t put it behind her?

Perhaps it would be better if she were to go, she
thought, trying to convince herself. Perhaps, with some distance
between them, they could both get on with what they had to do.

Tess tossed and turned in the deep feather bed for
what seemed like hours. No matter that she was tired, sleep seemed
destined to elude her. She finally gave up the struggle and sat up.
A full moon had spread its light across the chamber floor like a
carpet of blue silk.

Rising, she followed the lunar glow to the window
and sat on the window seat. The valley and the endless hills beyond
the panes of glass looked so strange and beautiful in the
moonlight. As she looked out at the scene, she touched her lips and
wondered where Colin was at this moment.

Forcing her thoughts away from him, Tess looked down
at the curtain wall that surrounded the castle, and she tried to
remember what it was like at Ravenie Castle. She had a vague
recollection of a wee lass spending many nights just like this, a
blanket around her to keep out the cold as she looked out at the
world from her own quiet perch. There were prayers then for battles
to be won and for warriors to come home through those hills to the
south. The child would even doze occasionally, waking up with a
start when her small chin would drop to her chest.

And then there was that night when violence had
battered at the walls of Ravenie Castle. That night of tragedy when
her life had changed forever. Tess’s past—all the lost memory of
her childhood—remained bound to that one night. All the secrets of
what took place there still remained trapped within the walls of
that castle. And there was mystery about it all that she sensed
others knew of but would not voice. She had felt it in Colin’s
hesitation. She had heard it in Lady Fiona’s tone tonight. She had
certainly sensed it in the Macpherson laird’s protective
embrace.

The tragedy of what occurred had forced her to
forget so much. But for Tess to remember again and move on with her
life, she knew she needed to go back. She had to go to the place
she’d once called home. She needed to see it through the eyes of
the person that she had now become. She had no choice but to go and
face the nightmare that has been haunting her.

And she needed to do all of this before she saw her
mother again. Whatever was left of Ravenie, Tess knew that the
secret to her life lay buried there.

“
But you only arrived here
yesterday.”

Tess looked into the water running clear beneath the
arches of the stone bridge. The neat little village on the bank of
the Spey had been bustling with activity. Three healthy looking
little boys were wading at the edge of the cold water with fishing
lines in their hands.

“It cannot wait, Colin. I have already
spoken with your parents about it. ‘Tis all planned. It only makes
sense to go now—the day after tomorrow. If I don’t do it now, I
might not have a chance again for a long, long time.”

“But ‘tis at least six hours on horseback each way,”
he protested. Reaching the end of the bridge, they started up the
steep hill toward the castle. “Longer, even, if the rivers are
running high.”

“The ride presents no difficulty. ’Tis shorter than
the ride here.” Tess asserted. “Besides, your father said that many
times messengers went back and forth between the two castles in a
single day. The laird has even arranged for a group of Macpherson
warriors to escort me. I shall have no problem in making the
trip.”

She saw the disappointment in his face. She had not
asked him to go. After last night, she did not want to pressure him
into spending time with her—or feeling responsible for her. But now
she wondered if he was thinking she wanted to run away—to get away
from him.

“You are not truly upset that I wish to see
Ravenie again, are you?”

“’Tis a matter of timing, Tess.”

“Is it?”

“Aye. You only arrived and there is so much
here that I want to show you. I guess I was hoping we could get to
know each other without the pressures of necessities…and…”

She looped her arm through his. “I am only going for
one day, Colin. And you told me yourself that I need to make peace
with the past. In talking to your father and your mother, I learned
a great deal about my family. Things I never knew. Things such as
how much my own father loved me, and how his service to the king
kept him away so much. Lord Alec told me, too, of the arrangement
that led to my father’s marriage to my mother. He told me again how
unhappy they both were.”

He slowed his steps, and Tess’s voice wavered a
little as she continued. “I have heard a great deal, but now I need
to go and see it for myself. I must do this, Colin. Just as I need
to see my mother, I also need to go to Ravenie and reconcile those
memories of my father, of my childhood. I…I need to face the
nightmares, too. I have to remember what happened and try to
understand why it happened...try to make myself recognize who I
really am, and if there is anywhere that I truly belong.”

He stopped abruptly and turned to her. “You
belong to…”

The rest of the words did not come. Colin’s chin
dropped to his chest for an extended moment. Tess was overwhelmed
by the emotions that his action—that his unspoken words—brought
forth in her.

She was stunned momentarily to realize that
she
loved
him.

“You never again have to worry about where
you belong.” He finally looked up at her. His hand reached for
hers, and he entwined their fingers.

Tess nodded gratefully but the raw emotions
continued to play havoc inside of her. What had he been about to
say at first? That she belonged to him? Nay, she thought in
confusion. If he felt that way, he wouldn’t let her go so easily.
She gently removed her hand from his.

“I need to do this, Colin. I need to go back
and see what it was that I left behind. But I also need to know
that you understand.”

“I do, Tess. I do.”

Night still held both castle and river valley in the
folds of its dark cloak. With the exception of the kitchen workers
who’d roused themselves early to serve a morning meal to the
warriors leaving for Ravenie Castle, the rest of the household was
still sleep.

Seeing that she was not in the Great Hall, Colin
took a trencher of food with him and went out across the torch lit
courtyard to the stables. He could see the workers were saddling
horses and bringing them out to the pen.

The shadows of the yard were deep, but he spotted
her easily as she paced back and forth before the stable door,
wearing her leather cloak and looking like a night nymph waiting to
steal his heart.

Tess, however, was deep in thought and whirled in
surprise seeing him. “What are you doing here?”

“That is no way to greet a man who plans to
accompany and protect you on a long journey.” He handed the
trencher of food to her, and she had no choice but to take it.

“But you are not coming. The laird said that he will
have someone—a company of your kin—to accompany me. But I never
thought he would ask you.”

“He didn’t.”

“Then why…?”

“I’m responsible for you. You saved my life. I owe
you.”

“Colin, I cannot allow any sense of debt you feel to
push you into coming with me,” she protested. “And in the matter of
who is in debt to whom, you are the one who saved my life by
bringing me—”

“Tess, please, let it go.” He cupped her chin and
looked closely into her beautiful dark eyes. “Let me put it this
way, I cannot let you leave Benmore without me. I want to come. I
have to come.”

They gazed into each other’s eyes for a long moment,
and then Tess simply nodded.

He was grateful that she didn’t press him further
about his motives for coming. How could he explain something that
he couldn’t understand himself? Colin walked to the stables to
check on the horses that were being readied. He’d had a lengthy
talk about Ravenie Castle and the Lindsays with his father last
night. He wanted to be ready for what they were going to
face—whatever it was. He wanted to be ready for the Lindsay clan’s
reaction to Tess’s appearance.

All Lord Alec had been able to tell Colin about
Ravenie itself was that the place had never been repaired after the
fire. Evelyn, claiming that there was no proof yet that Tess, the
only heir, was truly dead, had left a steward there to oversee the
holding and collect the rents in her daughter’s name. As far as
Colin’s father had known, there had been no fighting by the Lindsay
clan, no appeals to the king. From a distance it appeared that the
people’s heart had died with their chieftain.

“We shall
never
get there moving at the pace
you’re setting this morning.”

Colin turned to the shadow of his brother
approaching from the house. “What do you mean
we
?”

“I mean
we
as in I’m riding
along.” James stretched and gave a great yawn. “I’ve been down that
way a few times of late, and I know the lay of the land. Why,
there’s a fine tavern just south of there on the Inverness road
with the prettiest lasses this side of…”

“We’re going directly to Ravenie Castle and
back.”

“I know that, you fool.” James grinned and clapped
his brother on the shoulder. “Our parents decided last night that
it might be advantageous for Tess to make her first appearance
among her people with several of the Macpherson brothers standing
at her shoulder. They wanted Alexander to go, as well. But you know
how attached the old goat is to his sleep. I, for one, was not
about to have my throat cut by the beast for waking him up at this
hour.”

Colin certainly saw logic in his parent’s thinking.
No one knew what to expect when they arrived at Ravenie. And it
would certainly help to have the Lindsays see another Highland clan
as powerful as the Macphersons backing Tess.

“And don’t worry. You have no need to lecture or
threaten me about keeping my distance from Tess.” James led his own
horse from its stall.

“Is that so?”

The older brother smiled. “Actually, I’ve taken a
liking to having Tess around. I was telling Alexander last night
that, since her arrival, you’ve managed to somehow grow up. You are
not quite so annoying to have around.”

“You mean I haven’t bothered you two since coming
home about chasing every skirt from Elgin to Edinburgh.”

“Aye, and that’s a definite improvement.” James
pointed a finger at Colin’s chest. “Keep it up, lad, and we might
actually let you live.”

The sun was almost directly overhead. Riding
side by side at the head of the group of warriors, they crossed
over a green ridge and started down into the valley that Tess was
told marked the beginning of Lindsay lands. Her anxiousness sat
like a rock in the pit of her stomach. She glanced at Colin riding
comfortably beside her. He had such confidence. She turned in her
saddle and saw James riding and talking amiably to one of the older
Macpherson warriors, halfway down the line of men. Everyone seemed
so self-assured—everyone but her.

She turned to Colin. “Do you think the Lindsays
already know that I am alive?”

“The way I understand it, they never gave up
hope.”

The closer they came to Ravenie, the more
nervous she was becoming. “But do you think that they’ve heard that
I am in the Highlands?”