detested was the feeling of failure when he faced death.
Death was the thing Faolan worried about displeasing. With every fiber of his being, he’d fight against the specter of lifelessness. Anyone who condemned him for such actions wasn’t worth his attention.
Chapter Three
Her nose was cold.
Cora came awake slowly, her body resisting the rise to consciousness because the air was so bitter. Each breath drew it inside her chest, making her throat ache just a bit. She knew the bite of snow. It was early. Very early, and would likely not last. But for the moment, she knew before she opened her eyes that there would be no leaving the tower today.
But she needed to move. Her belly was so empty, she felt like it was stuck to her backbone. Truly, she’d never been so hungry.
The shirt had worked its way into a tangle around her body. It was barely covering the curve of her hip. But the bedding was pulled all the way up to her chin. Cora blinked and peeked over the edge of the covers.
The room was simple. Two chairs stood near a table. As she sat up, she noticed the traveling secretary’s desk sitting on the table. A modest one made of simple wood. There was a stool near the bed. Faolan’s boots and kilt were missing from it now.
She hadn’t imagined him. Cora didn’t waste time on such a foolish idea. His presence was already embedded in her memory, like a ghost she didn’t have any hope of banishing.
Only he was very much alive.
Her underskirt and stays were laid over the back of the chairs. Pain shot through her body as she moved her feet to the floor. Her struggle against the river had left its mark, but the discomfort did not dissuade her from getting up. Cora smiled, accepting the pain as the payment for taunting death.
Her smock was darkened from dirt. But the fabric felt clean enough, and it was dry. She pulled it over her head and reached for her underskirt. She let out a little sigh as she discovered her stockings and garters beneath it.
There was also a tingle of heat on her cheeks as she realized Faolan had seen to her more personal needs.
Perhaps there is a Head-of-House…
It was a logical idea, but if there were a female servant in the towers, Cora would have expected to see her last night.
Cora secured her stockings in place above her knees with the garters. Her boots were nowhere in sight. So she reached for her stays and began to thread the lace through the eyelets to close them. It seemed another little twist of fate, which had seen her wearing simple garments in spite of her position as the laird’s sister. Today she was grateful she could dress herself.
Well, ye’re no’ exactly dressed…
Cora dismissed her thoughts. She needed to be grateful for being alive, not quibbling over having only her underclothing.
Ye spent the night in bed with a man.
The heat teasing her cheeks became a full blush. But she felt something very unexpected as she admitted that she was, in fact, blushing.
She wasn’t ashamed.
Not a bit. If truth be told, she was excited by the memory.
The admission made her curious. But her belly rumbled long and loudly. So, she abandoned her thoughts in favor of finding something to eat. A comb was laid on the tabletop. She spent close to an hour picking the tangles from her hair before she could braid it, then made her way from the chamber.
The door opened to a small landing. Steps rose on one side and descended on the other. Someone had brought her boots up after they had finished drying, and she slipped them on.
Cora headed down the steps, her confidence in her choices strong.
Faolan McKay?
She knew of the McKay. They lived far north. The river had carried her toward the coast.
Cora searched her mind but couldn’t recall hearing of a Faolan McKay. No matter. The man was due her gratitude, and she wasn’t going to be so shallow as to consider his position in life as anything less than her savior. If he was the humblest of crofters, so be it. Fate had brought them together.
She made it to the bottom of the tower. Her overdress was missing. Faolan had mentioned a hearth. Opening the door, she blinked as the bright sunlight greeted her.
Oh yea, she was grateful.
Cora stepped out and lifted her face. Clucking touched her ears from several chickens, who were busy searching