hurt to walk?” she asked anxiously.
He shook his head and sat up. “What are you doing here, Mairi? Your father will skin you alive if he finds you outside the gates.”
“I was worried about you,” she replied.
“You needn’t be.” He tested his cheek and the skin around his eye gingerly. “I can take care of myself.”
“I can see that,” Mairi retorted. “Where would you be if I hadn’t come?”
“I didn’t ask you to follow me,” he lashed out.
Tears sprang to her eyes.
Remorse flooded through him. “Don’t cry,” he said hoarsely. “I am not myself today.” He stood and held out his hand. “Come. I’ll take you back to Shiels.”
She took his hand. They walked in silence through the powdery grayness. “Are you dreadfully sad?” she asked at last.
David shook his head. “I hardly knew him.”
Mairi frowned. “Then why did you run away?”
He sighed. His nose throbbed, and he felt as if he’d aged a lifetime in the last day and in doing so left her far behind. “I didn’t run away.”
“What is the matter, David?”
Mairi knew nothing of subterfuge. She always came directly to the point and expected others to do the same. She would know if he lied.
Haltingly, he spoke. “Now that my father is dead, I am heir to Bothwell.”
She did not understand. “That is good. As the earl, you can do as you please.”
Gently, he tried to explain. “My mother will send for me, Mairi. I must leave Shiels at her command.”
Mairi’s face paled. Her fingers tightened over his palm. Words were beyond her. Only death would be worse than losing David.
One look at the despair in Mairi’s eyes chastened him. He uttered a curse he’d overheard from the groom. Whatever turn his future took, he had no right to wound Mairi. Clumsily, he attempted to reverse his mistake. “Pay me no mind, lass. I know nothing of what my mother intends. Worrying will do only harm.”
Her smile was a wonderful thing to behold. David, on the verge of burgeoning manhood, caught his breath. Mairi was still a child, but someday soon she would be beautiful. The promise was already there in the thin bones of her face, in the elegant sweep of her brows, in the perfectly formed lips and wide, clear eyes. He swallowed and looked away. There, on the ash-covered pony path leading to the castle, with the odor of smoke and death filling his nostrils, David Murray made a promise to himself. He vowed to return to Shiels when Mairi was a woman.
TRAQUAIR HOUSE
1993
For the first time since I was a little girl, I longed for the comfort of my parents’ king-sized bed. Snuggled between their bodies, wrapped in the warmth of unconditional love and a down-filled comforter, I knew that nothing would harm me. Now I had no such assurances. Mairi would find me no matter where I was. Her life would unravel before me in living color like a videotape whether I liked it or not. And with every heightened, larger-than-life experience, my time dwindled. What if I failed?
Cold sweat gathered in the hollow between my breasts. My heart pounded. I was afraid with a gut-wrenching, despairing kind of paranoia I’d never experienced before. I was afraid to sleep, afraid to confide in anyone, afraid to be alone. Good Lord! What was happening to me?
I looked at the clock. It was after eleven, and I couldn’t sleep. Hot tea and the warmth of the kitchen hearth appealed to me. The hall was dark as I closed the bedroom door and felt my way along the wall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. The glow of the banked fire cheered me. I filled the teakettle with water, turned on the burner, and pulled the rocker close to the hearth. It was easy to think here in the cozy darkness with the fire throwing an arc of light across the ceiling, leaving me and the rest of the room in shadow. Tomorrow Ian and I would begin our search. I shivered in anticipation. Somewhere inside these walls lay the secrets of my ancestors. With luck and perseverance, those secrets would be revealed for the first time in seven hundred years.
I lifted the kettle off the burner just before it whistled. Shaking out the loose tea, I spilled some on the counter, swept it into my hand, and dumped it into the teapot. The tea had steeped and I had poured the first hot, sustaining cup when I heard them.
Voices raised in argument,