Page 46 of Taken By the Savage Highlander

Margo wondered if Cameron would take to a game like this so easily. Gavin was his man-at-arms and they were close; yet she couldn’t help but think they’d be complete opposites in this regard.

“We will see about that,” Eleanor responded, practically bouncing in her seat.

The room carefully rearranged itself, and each team carefully scrawled out objects and books onto slips of paper. Mrs. Campbell produced a hat and passed it around to collect the subjects. Then, she stepped away, her hand mixing the contents. She looked at Eleanor and said, “Since ye are so confident in yerself, ye should go first.”

Eleanor grinned, rising from her seat and stepping forward. When Mrs. Campbell drew her slip, she showed it to the girl. After Eleanor nodded, the older woman stepped away, setting that bit of parchment aside.

After a beat of deliberation, Eleanor held up two fingers, grinning when Margo and Charlotte correctly guessed that there were two words. Then, she held both her hands out in front of her, pantomiming reading. She flipped an invisible page, then looked at her teammates.”

“Reading,” Charlotte called out.

“No, no, it’s two words,” Margo murmured. Then, brightly, she said, “It’s the title of a book!”

Eleanor nodded enthusiastically. She then jumped up, standing tall and putting a hand over her eyes as if to shade them from the sun. She looked around the room pretending to search for something.

“Oh, it’s about an adventurer,” Charlotte said, laughing when Eleanor jumped again.

Then, the girl looked right at Margo and batted at the air in the same way Miss Crusoe did. Almost immediately, Margo understood. With a triumphant giggle, she said, “Robinson Crusoe!”

“That’s it,” Mrs. Campbell confirmed.

“Ye were cheatin’!” Gavin said. “How was yer last clue useful to anyone but Margo?”

“You know the names of the kittens, too,” Margo pointed out, making all of the women laugh.

The sound felt like confirmation that she’d been accepted into the fold. And then, as if to further prove the point, the sun slanted in through the windows, giving the Solar an almost dreamlike ambiance. She wondered if she were sleeping, if she would wake up from this moment and realize that it was just her subconscious longing for a place where she belonged.

“Why daenae ye take yer turn next, Gavin?” Mrs. Campbell asked, an amused smirk settling over her features. “Since ye seem to believe ye understand the game better than the rest of us.”

“That’s nae what I said,” Gavin muttered as he approached the woman.

She pulled out another slip of parchment and held it out toward him. A cocky grin settled on his face before he turned to his team. Then, with a move Margo was sure looked much smoother in his mind, he began flapping his arms.

“Ye dinnae even tell us how many words,” Annelise groaned.

Gavin huffed, stopping his frantic movements and holding up two fingers. Then, he went back to what he was doing. Cecelia squinted as if she were trying to see something that wasn’t there.

“I’m nae sure what ye’re tryin’ to show us,” she said with a laugh, covering her mouth as she guffawed at the exaggerated motions.

“Blue bird,” Annelise called out. When he shook his head, she said, “Flying away!”

He threw his hands in the air, making the entire room laugh at his antics. Even Mrs. Campbell, who was watching the clock, chuckled. The laughing only seemed to break Gavin’s focus further, and he wasted several of his precious seconds with his hands on his hips.

Then, he seemed to have an epiphany, and begun casting a fishing rod. Immediately, Cecelia guessed, “Fishing rod.”

He pointed at her, holding up one finger. Then, he began flapping his arms again. It was ridiculous, and Margo couldn’t think of a single thing he could be trying to portray.

I wonder if Cameron would know what he’s acting out.

Before anyone was able to get any other guesses in, Mrs. Campbell said, “That’s the end of yer minute, Gavin.”

“What could the phrase have possibly been?” Annelise asked, wiping tears away from the corner of her eye.

“Fishin’ boat,” Gavin said, sounding as though he couldn’t believe the room had been so dense. “I was rowin’!”

“No, it looked like you were trying to fly away,” Margo said, earning herself a withering look from him.

After a while, he began laughing with the rest of them, and Margo couldn’t help but feel like she was truly happy here.