“Is this how it is with you and all the women at this damned castle?” Lily uttered under her breath.
Swinging his head about, Ewen stared fiercely, “What did you say?”
“Nothing. ”
Ewen began to descend the stairs, but Lily stopped again, demanding, “You said you ’d help me get home. I don’t understand why I ’m off to work now like it ’s no big deal. ” The laird turned slowly. “I’m doing everything in my power to precisely those ends, ” he told her in an even voice. “ So until which time we can divine this maze, I ask that you live as a member of this household. A tractable member, aye?”
“Tractable?” she sputtered. “How’s this for tractable? You find the maze and I ’ll get out of your hair. I don’t understand how you can’t find the thing. It was huge. ”
“If there were a labyrinth, root it out we would—”
“Are you saying there ’s no maze?”
“Och, lass” —the corner of his mouth twitched up, as if amused by her outburst “heed my words.”— His gaze softened. Taking a deep breath, Ewen continued gently, “I understand there ’s a maze. What I can ’t understand, and what no man can, is the fickle way of the universe. Be it stars, or magic, I ’ve no way to know. But I continue my search, lass. Meanwhile, I ’ve also scouts looking for the witch woman. If there’s anyone able, it is Gormshuil who’ll lead us to the portal that will find you home. ”
Ewen gave her an encouraging nod. “I gave you my word, and my word I keep.” Extending his arm toward the stairs, he added, “Now please come with me, Lil’ ”.
She paused a moment. She supposed she had no choice but to trust the man. “Okay,” she grumbled.
Lily ducked through the low doorway and momentarily forgot her indignation as she looked in amazement at the staircase below. It reminded her of something out of a horror movie. As they wound around and down the stairs, she had to steady herself with one hand along the gray walls, shivering at the clammy, damp stone underneath her fingertips. The passage was shrouded in darkness but for an eerie light that danced across the aged stone, emanating from the torch that Ewen had taken from one of the hallway sconces.
“This staircase is a part of the original castle keep, ” Ewen explained in an uncharacteristically reserved voice. Putting aside her anger, Lily had to admit she was thankful to have the laird by her side. This place gave her the creeps.
If only the sound of his voice didn ’t send such a shock of heat through her center.
“When it was first built, this was the maids ’ stair; they used it as a way to get from the kitchens to the main bedrooms. So they’d not have to traipse through the rest of the keep carrying tea or whatnot.
“There’s also a passage to a wee dock off of Loch Linnhe, but that was sealed off by my grandmother when my own father was but a lad. ”
They reached a small landing. “Most of it has been closed off, but for the library, and”—Ewen opened the door to a flood of sunlight “John’s rooms.”— Lily gasped at the stark contrast between the dark passageway and the lovely room in front of her. Unlike the original castle, this room had walls of a rich, coffee-brown wood. Above the wainscoting were small paintings, hung atop swaths of a sunny yellow fabric. The paintings were all small oils, detailing landscapes, horses, the sea, and similar idyllic subjects. Lily was transported. It was what she imagined ol d England to look like—small, upholstered couches, a gaming table, chessboard by the fireplace. The only thing missing, Lily mused, was a pianoforte.
Then the tranquility was shattered by an inhuman shriek. Lily turned in time to see the blur of a boy barreling his way into Ewen ’s legs. The laird bent down to grab him, but the child was too quick. He disappeared out of the room before she had a chance to register what was happening.
“Johhhhn! ” Ewen bellowed his name, stretching it out into two syllables.
The boy skulked back into the room with his head hung low. Despite the tousled black mop of hair and the streaks of dirt on his clothing, the child was clearly a handsome one. Lily bit her lip when she saw how much John was the image of his father. And a total hell-raiser at that, struggling through that difficult age when he was no longer a young child, yet not fully an adolescent either.
“Aye, sir?” John was clearly trying as hard as he could to sound innocent.
“You ’re filthy. ”
Seeing his chance, the boy spun to escape, mumbling, “Sorry, sir, I ’ll just go now and clean myself ”— “Och, I’ve not given you leave!” Ewen was barely masking his frustration.
“Aye, Da, may I leave?”
“No. You’ll meet your new governess.” Ewen gestured to Lily, and his son’s eyes lit up. Cocking an eyebrow, the child smiled a challenge to her, and suddenly his utter resemblance to Ewen annoyed her.
“Pleased, ma’am. ” John nodded his head, not once losing the raffish smile. Lily got a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. The kid looked like a starving man eyeing a plate of meat. She shuddered to think what indignities the former nannies had suffered at his hands.
Surely, she thought, controlling this handsome child couldn’t be as hard as managing a team of disgruntled Silicon Valley artists. Thinking the best approach would be to take the upper hand from the start, Lily proclaimed in the most commanding voice she could muster, “Your father is right. You are filthy. Please go wash up now. ”
She was quite pleased, congratulating herself that no boy would ever be a match for her twenty-first-century determination.
The boy, looking unimpressed, turned to his father and announced in an exaggeratedly thick brogue, “I didn’t ken her meaning, Da. ”
Apprehension gnawed at her, and Lily realized she would prefer disgruntled to unruly any day.
“Well …you’re going to have to try, aye? ” Ewen turned on his heel and walked briskly out of the room. “And, Lily’s right, go wash yourself. You look like the stable boy. ”