"Where's an open window?" Damnation, he remembered he'd ordered them all shut and locked.
Before he reached the stair, his body transformed. He roared as pain latched onto every muscle and joint.
"M'laird!" Ewan shouted, chasing after him.
The pain ebbing away, Gavin turned his head to find Ewan had thrown open a door.
"This way!" Inside the room, Ewan opened a window. Gavin followed and hopped onto the sill. Needing freedom and flight in the worst way possible, he launched himself into the air and sailed out over the bailey.
Disappointment engulfed him. He had married the lass and consummated their union. Why had the curse not ended?
Chapter 14
Hearing male shouts and running footsteps, Dani awoke in Gavin's room. She recalled she had a new husband. "Gavin? What's going on?"
Darkness enveloped the room. She slid her hand across the mattress, searching for him, but encountered only the warm sheets.
"Gavin?" she raised her voice.
"This way!" Ewan yelled in the corridor.
"What the heck?" Dani jumped out of bed and hurried toward the door, the cold air chilling her naked skin. "Crap. Where are my clothes?" Unable to find them in the darkness, she grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped herself in it. Scratchy wool, but she didn't care. She darted to the door and opened it.
"Gavin?" Her voice echoed down the corridor. Ewan stepped from a room, farther along, and closed the door. "Where did Gavin go?"
Ewan shrugged, averting his gaze. "'Haps… um…to the garderobe and then downstairs to break his fast."
"Seriously? Why didn't he wait for me?"
"His lairdship wished you to sleep."
Annoyance ground through her. Some honeymoon. She sighed. "Don't tell me he's going to patrol the estate again today."
"I can nay rightly say, m'lady. The chief is his own boss."
He hadn't even said good-morning, good-bye, or anything. She would not be treated like a dog or a sheep.
"I'm going with him!" She strode back into the chamber and slammed the door. Unable to see in the near darkness, she shoved open the draperies. A bit of dawn light strained through the clouds, enough for her to find some clothes. Hell, she wished she had some jeans or leggings. These multi-piece gowns annoyed her to no end.
She dressed as best she could without help, leaving off part of the bothersome clothes. So long as the clothes covered most of her exposed skin, what did she care for propriety? Shivering in the cool morning air, she draped the old black cloak around her shoulders.
After pulling on her boots, she left the room and used the garderobe, then rushed down the corridor, not seeing Ewan now.
Wait a minute. The annoying little man had been closing the door to this room. Was Gavin inside? She opened the door and stuck her head in. After a brief search, she found the room empty and the window closed.
She had to hurry if she planned on catching Gavin before he escaped for the day.
As she jogged down the spiral steps, her foot tangled in the skirt, and she almost fell. "Dammit!" She caught against the wall just in time. She reduced the speed of her descent, then emerged into the deserted great hall.
"He must be eating in the kitchen." Holding the skirt tails above her ankles, she scurried down the steps and found Crocker alone in the kitchen, singing one of his bawdy songs and washing his hands in a basin of water.
Annoyance ground through her. "Where is he?" The words exploded from her mouth.
The cook spun to face her, water dripping from his hands. "Who?"
"Gavin… his blasted lairdship."
Eyes wide, Crocker fumbled and grabbed the towel. "I have nay seen him this morn, lass… er, I mean m'lady."
