The Time Traveler's Christmas - Amy Jarecki Page 0,18
her husband, she was pregnant. On that very day, Christina had also met Eva MacKay. She’d always remember how Lady Eva had placed her hands on Christina’s belly and told her the bairn would be a lad—the lass had the gift of a seer for certain.
Gathering her thoughts, she cleared her throat. There was no use thinking about the past and if there was anyone at Roxburgh Castle in whom she could confide, it was Sir Robert Dominus Boyd. “I think we are treating my new champion unjustly.”
He drank down a bit of cider. “How else should I treat such a man, especially when the king is sleeping within Roxburgh’s walls?”
“I think Sir Lachlan is the knight I need to help me save Andrew.”
“Aye?” Robbie shoveled a bite of oats in his mouth. “I dunna trust him.”
Christina picked up her spoon. Regardless of her trust, she needed to tread carefully when it came to Sir Boyd. He had great influence with the king as well as with the men. “I trust him. He saved me the horror of being violated and then shared my horse to Roxburgh, behaving the perfect gentleman throughout the journey.”
Sir Boyd wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “He could have used ye to ferret inside these walls.”
Christina’s ears grew hot. Goodness, this man could think of every angle to thwart her purpose. “I think not.”
“What if he’s a sorcerer?”
She slapped her hand on the table. “Then he is but an angel.”
“Blasphemy,” said the knight in an accusing tone.
Though she, indeed, must tread lightly where Sir Boyd was concerned, it didn’t mean she should play the meek widow and allow him to bamboozle her. “Nay—do not think angels only exist in the Bible, good sir. God has sent us angels throughout history.”
“Aye,” he agreed with sarcasm in his voice. “Like those who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Little did he know he’d opened a window for Christina to further her purpose. She snatched the opportunity. “Do not tell me ye believe Scotland is filled with unchaste subjects.”
He chuckled and reached for his tankard of cider. “Far less than England, at least.”
“Is it Sir Lachlan’s medallion that’s bothering ye?”
He took a drink. “Of sorts, and the way he seemed to materialize from nowhere.”
“Aye, well, I believe Eva MacKay—the last person with such a medallion—was an angel of sorts. What say ye? As I recall, ye spent far more time with her than I.”
“Jesu.” Sir Boyd ran a hand down his face and looked to the rafters. “Willy loved Lady Eva almost as much as he loved Scotland. But she disappeared for eight years—his darkest years.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll never forget the day she returned. If ye remember, she was taller than most men.”
“Indeed I do—she towered over me for certain.” Christina leaned forward, encouraging him to continue.
“Aye, well that day she came to us wearing a wee skirt—the length of a tunic. Her legs were bare, except covered by a sheer cloth that clung to her skin—made her flesh shimmer. She wore shoes with tall, pointed heels that looked practical for nothing. If I werena a God fearing man, I would have sworn she’d come from the future.” Facing her, he pointed his finger under Christina’s nose. “Never repeat such words.”
She clasped her hands over her thumping heart. Dear Lord, and he thought she was speaking blasphemy? Repeating such words could see her burned at the stake. “Ye ken I willna.”
His stern countenance softened a wee bit. “Then their love affair resumed as if they’d never been separated. There was no’ a thing she wouldna do for him. And she stayed beside him until the end.”
Christina sighed. “Aye, she did.”
“She healed him, too.”
Gulping, Christina lowered her gaze to her bowl of oats. A familiar and sickly lump swelled in her throat. “Unfortunately, she couldna heal my Andrew,” the words slipped from her lips with an icy overtone.
“What happened that day?” Robbie asked. “I’ve always wondered. It was the verra day Eva disappeared the first time.”
“I dunna ken.” Her eyes blurring with sudden tears, Christina blinked and swiped her hands across them. “I went to the chapel to pray and the next thing I kent, my husband had died and she was gone. William spent an entire sennight in solitude and I had no choice but to return home alone to birth my bairn at Ormond Castle.”
Sir Boyd scratched his head—reminding her of the old Robbie she knew. “Lady Eva was like a mother