Staring dully at his legs as he disappeared into theeaves, Tess realized that she no longer feared him. The man didn’thave to come after her. He didn’t have to bring her back. But hehad. She managed to undo the laces of her dress in the front. Herfingers were clumsy and her skin actually hurt as she peeled awaythe soaked layers and crawled under the blanket. She felt theintense weariness again weighing her down. And it was so cold. Shejust wanted to go to sleep and forget about everything.
Pulling her knees tightly against her chest, sheclosed her eyes.
Thin shafts of light from a number of breaks in theroof cut through the dim haze. Crouching beside the opening he hadclimbed through, Colin glanced about with bewilderment at the largeopen space. Yesterday, he had thought it was just a room used forstorage when he’d peered in. Now it occurred to him that the loftwas a veritable treasure trove…if one considered junk to betreasure.
But it was also the most organized midden he’d everlaid eyes on.
Colin couldn’t stand up completely beneath the low,sloping roof, and as he moved carefully in the dim light, he duckedunder ropes that had been strung from one end wall to theother.
Hundreds of castoff items, if not more, werestacked on the floor in orderly rows. A cracked flute. A rustedhelmet of a design he’d never seen. A pilgrim’s bottle that lookedusable. A mortar without the pestle. Some kind of clan banner withall the colors bleached out. A rusted chain shirt. Most looked likethings that might have been washed ashore from sinking ships.
Colin suddenly remembered the shiveringyoung woman below and left his perusal of this room for anothertime.
Against one of the end walls, he spiedneatly folded piles of what looked to be ancient, wool blanketsbeside a worn sea chest. A couple of moth-eaten woolen cloaks saton the chest. Laying them aside, he pushed open the large chest andstared.
On top, an ornately wrought golden cross,encrusted with bright jewels, caught his attention. The piece wasmagnificent. He picked it up and looked at it. The cross hung froma short gold chain. The length of it was only suitable for a child.He remembered the pieces of mending he’d seen downstairs before.Carefully replacing the cross, he eyed a young girl’s dainty shoes.Next to them lay two small combs. There were other items in thechest, but his thoughts were once again drawn to the wet lass inthe room beneath him. He left everything as he’d found it andclosed the chest.
Looking around, he spotted two woman’s dresseshanging from a couple of pegs. Colin grabbed for one of them andstarted for the ladder before pausing. Going back, he took a few ofthe woolen blankets and one of the cloaks, too.
The fire had taken the worst of the chill off thechamber by the time he descended.
“I hope this will do. ’Twas no easy task finding itup there amid the…”
His words trailed off. Wet clothes had been cast offbeside the bed, and the young woman seemed to be sound asleep.Colin was well aware of what too many hours in the cold could do toa person. He stocked the hearth with more driftwood and moved againto her side. He touched her forehead. She was still very cold, andher breathing struck him as shallow and labored.
“You can put this other dress on yourself…when youare ready.” He spread the extra blankets on top of her and placedthe dry dress within her reach.
Colin pushed the wet strands of hair out of her faceand, for the first time, really looked at her. Dark long lashes laypeacefully against skin that had been gently kissed by the sun. Hestared at the perfect symmetry of eyes that he remembered were solarge and dark. She had a straight nose and full lips. With herthick, dark waves of hair flowing down over her shoulders, Colincould imagine she would look like a mermaid. She was young, butvery beautiful, and he couldn’t understand for the life of him whatshe was doing on this island.
Colin saw her shiver again. Gently, he touched thesmooth skin of her face to make certain she was warming up. Sherolled onto her side and clasped his hand between her own and laidher cheek on it. The simple gesture made him smile.
“I so wish I knew your name, lass.”
“So c-c-cold…” she whispered weakly in her sleep,trying to tug his warm hand beneath the blanket.
He disengaged his hand from the young woman andinstead tucked the covers more tightly around her.
“I am a man, my bonny islander, and there are limitsto a man’s restraint.”
Her shivering was getting worse instead ofbetter.
“’Twould be best for you to stop challenging all Isay.”
Shaking his head, he leaned over and pushed hercloser to the wall. Then, with a deep sigh of resignation, Colinlay down on top of the blankets and nestled against her.
“I do not know if you’ll get any heat from my bodythis way, but this is as much help as I’m willing to be.” Hecrossed his arms over his chest and stared at the blackened ceilingabove. “And not a word of this to the men who come back for me,understand? You’re not to say anything about me lying beside youwith you all…all naked beneath this blanket. And absolutelynothingabout what a bloody gentleman I’ve been!”
She tucked her cold nose into the crook of hisneck.
Colin rolled toward her and drew the bundled womantightly to him, enveloping her in his warmth. “I have a reputationto protect. So none of this gets out. Do you hear me, lass?”
She didn’t say anything in agreement, but she didn’tcontradict him, either.
A very good start, he thought.
CHAPTER 3
“He is alive. I know it,” Alexander Macpherson saidcurtly to the two sailors preparing to take the news of hisyoungest brother’s mishap overland to the family at Benmore Castle.“You tell them that.”
