Highland Defiance - By Sky Purington Page 0,9
felt like it protected her from a sudden onslaught of emotions. It was hard to imagine that she’d feel so strongly now….when she’d arrived at least a half hour ago. Mildred gulped and scanned her surroundings.
For some strange reason she’d felt safer before she’d gone beneath that portcullis. Why? Probably because now it all was very, very real. Everything had life and scent and more sound. Dust kicked up from people walking. The scraping sound of metal on metal rang nearby. Pure and happy foreign reality thrived around her.
Mildred’s hands started to shake. The sensation traveled up her arms and down her body. Colors sharpened and her mouth dried. Everything started to swing back and forth as though not hooked to the ground. She tried to step but her knee buckled.
“I’ve got you,” Adlin whispered close to her ear. Or was it far away? She had the faint sensation that he was carrying her up and up and up.
The next thing she knew she was lying in a large stone room. A wall torch burned and crackled in the corner. A faint wind blew, only seen by the flap of a nearby rawhide. Warm and soft, a fur blanket covered her. Sweeping and intense, tapestries depicting the ocean hung around the room.
“How are you, lass?”
Startled, she sat up. Adlin sat in a darkened corner. Somehow he struck her casual and vibrant all at once. His blue and green tartan lay loosely over one broad shoulder, his leanly muscled arms rested on the chair arms. But his icy blue eyes were sharp and intense, watching her.
She tossed the blanket aside and swung her legs over the side of bed only to realize she was nude. “Oh no!” Quick like, she pulled the blanket around her. “Why am I naked?”
A corner of Adlin’s lips inched up. “You were sweating. I have little control over the servants when they’re set to make a guest comfortable. I suppose they decided that you didnae need clothing.”
Mildred groaned. “Where am I?”
“In my chamber.”
“In your chamber?”
“Aye.”
“Why?” She pulled the blanket tighter around her. “I mean when… and why.”
“Only a few hours ago. And you’re in my chamber because I requested it.”
Mildred didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Give me my clothes. I want to go home.”
Adlin didn’t move. In fact the only change in his expression consisted of one eyebrow inching up a fraction. “So you know nothing about where you are then? Or why you are where you are?”
Mildred dug her fingernails into the fabric. “Um, I’m in Scotland and in your chambers. Didn’t we already cover that?”
Ignoring her sharp remark he said, “Did it not strike you odd that I told you I was to take you to your betrothed upon your arrival?”
Her mouth fell open but she snapped it shut. He had said that, hadn’t he? “It seemed the least of my concerns at the time.” With a heavy swallow she asked, “What exactly did you mean by that?”
“I meant what I said.” Adlin shrugged. “Perhaps not in the way that you took it but in precisely the way I meant it.”
Mildred frowned. Adlin was clearly a man who danced around the subject. Two could play at that game. “And how precisely did you mean it seeing how I took it all wrong?”
A small grin erupted on his face. “Let’s just say that I’m pleased you’ve come here first and not there. I think it will make all the difference, lass.”
“Be direct then.” Mildred narrowed her eyes. “Tell me why you’re pleased I’m here and not wherever I might’ve been.”
The wind increased and the animal skins on the windows flapped violently. “Simple. I can forewarn you now.”
She ignored her sweaty palms and increased heartbeat and said calmly, “Be direct, Adlin. Forewarn me.”
“You weren’t supposed to travel to this particular time in Scotland. You weren’t supposed to meet me yet, Mildred.”
“Not sure I like the sound of that,” she replied.
“I know it sounds confusing but ‘tis not.” Adlin stood. “Look at it this way. We were given a chance to get to know one another before we ever really should have…at least in this reality.”
“This reality?”
“Here. Now,” he said with passion. “A blip in time.”
Mildred gritted her teeth. “You make less and less sense by the minute.”
“We were given an opportunity,” he provided but stopped when the door creaked open a fraction.
Iosbail stuck in her head. “She’s awake!”
Adlin’s expression clouded. “Aye.”
She burst into the room. “Good. About time ye introduce us.”
“Oh, stop talking in the