“Anyone here?” he called up the set ofancient stairs that lay beyond the door.
The lack of an answer didn’t deter him. Thewind was howling behind him. The steps had been recently swept. Alarge pile of gnarled driftwood was stacked neatly at the foot ofthe stairs. Colin drew in a deep breath and started up the stairs.Reaching the upper floor, he saw the glowing embers in the hearthat the end of the room.
Someonehadto be around, but thefact that they weren’t showing themselves didn’t make him feelparticularly comfortable.
“I intend no harm,” he said loudly, eyeing the slabsof smoked fish and long, looping strands of shells hanging from thelow rafters. His gaze swept every dark corner and crevice. The dimlight coming in through the narrow slits in the walls added to thefaint light from the hearth, but did little to help brighten theroom. “I was swept off my ship in the storm.”
He stepped cautiously into the room. A torn net—halfmended—lay by a small, carefully stacked pile of bleached whalebones. Something crunched beneath his boots. He looked down. Allaround the room, seashells of every size and description could beseen, and a small hill of them sat on a sheepskin in the corner,beside a small loom.
The fire crackled and sparked in the hearth,drawing his attention again. He noticed the cauldron hanging overthe fire. Someone’s dinner. “I think someone…perhaps ‘twasyou…pulled me out.”
One thing that he remembered hearing aboutthe old couple that lived on the island was that they’d never beenparticularly hospitable. But they’d also not been afraid of thefishermen or sailors who ended up on their shores.
“My people will be back for me soon.” He spokelouder this time, eyeing the ladder resting against a wall. Nearit, a line of dark boards across the beams created a loft areaabove. “I need to borrow a blanket…maybe some food…and I’ll repayyou for it.”
He climbed the ladder and peered into thedarkness of the large open space above. The room appeared to beused for storage.
“Hullo.” There was no one up here.
Colin climbed back down theladder and looked out the narrow slit of a window at the sea. Thestorm was still blowing hard, and he could barely see past theshoreline. He could only imagine how upset Alexander would be rightnow. But there was no coming after him this night or in thisweather.
Resigned to spend the night outside, Colinreached for a thick woolen blanket that sat on a shelf beside thehearth. As he picked it up, something that had been folded withinthe blanket fell onto the floor. He crouched and stared at a smallbundle of mending at his feet. The intricate lace edging on achild’s white cap caught his attention first. He touched the softwool cloth of a dress. Perplexed, he frowned at a child’s linenapron and again at the cap he’d seen first. He picked up the itemsone by one and looked at them intently, wondering why two oldpeople would keep such things.
He looked about the room again. There wasone wooden bowl near the hearth—one spoon. On the floor in onecorner, there was a small bed of straw and blankets suitable forone person. He touched the dress again. The dark eyes of a womanlooking down at him flashed through his mind again. Colin carefullywrapped the bundle of child’s clothing in the blanket and put itback where he’d found it.
Pushing himself to his feet, he picked up amore worn woolen blanket that he saw folded by the bed and drapedit over his shoulders. With one more glance around, he descendedthe stairs and pushed out into the storm.
Added to the shivering that had takencontrol of Tess’s limbs, her teeth were now chattering and shecould not stop it. Her clothes were soaked through from her effortsto get the man out of the tidal pool. Her skin was clammy, and shewas feeling chilled to the bone. The leather cloak offered someprotection against the bitter wind-driven rain, but her body seemedunable to produce any warmth as she lay flat on her stomach on therocks to the west of the priory.
Tess’s eyes narrowed as the Highlanderfinally came out of her house.
She had hoped to go inside and get a blanketor two and some food before fleeing to the caves on the westernside of the island. In fact, it was much more than a hope, shecorrected. Shehadto get some supplies before retreatingthere. Who knew how long the storm surges would require her to stayhidden or how many days it would be before the Highlander’s peoplewould return?
Night was quickly dropping its dark cloakover the island. The storm, though, seemed to have shaken off itsleash. It was now hammering the island with ten times the fury ithad before. A freezing rain had been falling in fits and spurts. Itwas not a night to be out.
He was making a fire. She saw him walk backtoward her house a couple of times. Each time he came back carryingarmfuls of dry seaweed and driftwood she had diligently gathered,she felt herself growing angrier. And if this wasn’t enough, he wasbuilding his fire within the area protected by the priorywalls.
A standing stone wall served as a windbreak.The location kept away the rain. There he was, safe and warm. Butthere was also no chance of any passing ship seeing his fire.
And what was worse, he was building it whereshe could not possibly get inside her house without being seen byhim.
She should have left him to swallow moreseawater.
The sparking flames, hissing and crackling,climbed high into the night. Colin’s clothes were practically drynow. His plaid, with the added layer from the blanket he’d borrowedfrom the house, was keeping the worst of the rain off him.
He was surprised to find that he was evengrowing hungry. He considered for a moment the food he’d seen inthe priory building. Making one last trip, he entered andapproached the hearth, picking up the wooden spoon beside thestill-simmering cauldron. One mouthful of the thick, bitter-tastingbrew, though, and his stomach wrenched. Colin ran outside, gulpingdown draughts of fresh salt air to keep his guts from spillingout.
His appetite was now gone, most likely forgood, and he returned to the fire. Even as he walked, he could feelthe eyes of someone watching him from the darkness. He settled bythe wall for the night and thought about the old stories of sealswho became women.
Tess started abruptly. She didn’t know how long shehad been lying on the cold rocks. It was still night, and the stormwas continuing unabated. Her limbs were stiff and numb. Thechattering of her teeth was like thunder rolling painfully throughher head. At some point, she thought, she must have fallen sleep.But she wasn’t sure.
Lifting her head off the rock required an effortthat surprised her. She pushed the hood of the leather cloak backso she could see. The sleety rain continued to pelt her, but theHighlander’s fire was still burning below. In the circle of lightaround it, she could see his sleeping form tucked snuggly againstthe wall. He must be quite comfortable withherblanketwrapped about him, she seethed.
She glanced at the door of her house and back againat the Highlander. The light from the fire didn’t quite reach theentrance of the building. He seemed to have gone to sleep with hisback to it, anyway.
Her first attempt at pushing herself to her feet wasrejected by her stiff, half-frozen muscles, but her second effortwas more successful. Carefully picking her way through theboulders, she descended, praying that her chattering teeth wouldn’talert him.
There were other things that she had to be concernedwith besides the storm. Tess recalled Auld Charlotte’s warningsabout sailors and fishermen…about all men. With the exception ofGarth, there was not a single male in existence that Tess couldtrust. The old woman had been blunt about it. And she’d continuedto preach the lesson even on her deathbed.
