The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,14
heavy clouds, hanging close. It was about to rain.
Where was I?
The boat was wooden, simple, empty. I sat up and looked out, searching for a horizon, land, a landmark of some kind, but there was nothing to see but gray.
I was moving, the current pushing me along, but then, as if another boat had gone by undetected, there was a wake. It hit my boat from the side, gently at first, rocking it back and forth, then more and more violently. The current conveyed me forward, the wake rocked me dangerously, and then there was a backsplash, churning the water around me, rocking and rolling, a storm surge.
I grasped the oars and began to row.
Eight - Kaitlyn
Day Three
The next morning we were all gathered around the breakfast table. It was a raucous moment: Magnus was spooning eggs on to his plate, Zach was carrying in a plate of bacon, Fraoch was singing, Archie was standing in his chair dancing, Isla was giggling while I was standing over her trying to wipe yogurt from her hair, Hayley was leaning across the table to wrestle the whipped cream from Ben, Quentin was filling his mug from the carafe, while Beaty was feeding Mookie from the table—
There was a noise from the other end of the house.
A half second while we counted heads, yep, all of us were here.
Chairs slid from the table, people stood up, my heart raced. Someone was inside the house.
Then Lady Mairead walked in. She was wearing a silk bathrobe sashed around her waist, and slippers on her feet. Her hair mussed. She looked like she had just woken up.
We glanced at each other and then at her.
Magnus demanded, “Lady Mairead, what is the meaning of this?”
“What do ye mean? Chef Zach, I will be needing a coffee first thing, I hae a headache from the party last—” She shook her head. Then she looked confused and looked around at all of us.
“Where are...?”
Magnus said, “How are ye here? We dinna ken ye were here.”
I glanced over at the monitor, where the symbol for Lady Mairead’s vessel now glowed. Quentin said, “I’m going to go check in with security, we have too many men out there for this to happen.” He pushed his way through the backdoors to the deck.
Magnus said, “Explain yourself, Lady Mairead, or—”
She put on her haughty expression. “There is nae need tae explain myself. I am in need of a cup of coffee for my head.”
“Ye were nae here in the night. I was on watch and I dinna see ye arrive. Ye arna supposed tae be here. Hae ye looped upon yourself?”
“Ye just daena remember. I was at a party and I—”
She looked confused again.
Another sound from the end of the hall and two people emerged from the back rooms. Dark and mysterious looking, the young woman was wearing a long black evening gown with expensive jewelry, the man was wearing what amounted to a tuxedo, but they were both very rumpled as if they had just woken up after sleeping in my guest room.
“Oh,” said Lady Mairead in what must have been the understatement of the year, perhaps the century.
Magnus’s eyes were wide. “Who is this?” He looked a combination of amused and furious.
“This is Flora. Be polite, Magnus, she is a Whitney, and her fiancé, Cully. Miss Whitney, Mr George Macculloch Miller III, may I present tae ye, King Magnus.”
There happened then a very awkward handshaking, and a weird bow from Flora, as she asked, “Where are we, Mairead? Last I remember we were at Tiny’s...” Her eyes swept the room, the floor strewn with board books and toys. She wore a distasteful well-practiced sneer on her lips.
Zach placed a cup of coffee in Lady Mairead’s hand. “Does everyone want a cup of coffee?”
Lady Mairead said, “Aye, and some breakfast, also one of the aspirins ye hae Chef Zach, my head has a terrible ache.”
Flora turned her head slightly, to speak as if we wouldn’t hear her, though we were all staring right at them with our jaws open, shocked by their arrival, “Is Magnus an exiled king?”
I tossed the gross washcloth on the table and with a glance at Magnus that this was okay, cleared a place for them to sit down.
Lady Mairead watched me clear the places, but she was shaking her head, not in disagreement, but in confusion. She placed her cup of coffee down on the table. “Magnus, ye hae nae seen me in many days?”