Page 23 of Highlander’s Bride

“So,” Raghnall said. “’Tis late. I dinna suppose ye have any supper left?”

“Aye,” said Teasag. “There’s still boiled mutton and yesterday’s bread. I’ll go and fetch it, Lord.”

“My thanks,” said Raghnall.

Bryanna stood up, rubbing her wrists, which were aching from the rough rope. She really did need to eat something, but she needed to check her sugar levels even more. And she had to find a quiet place where she’d be alone.

When Teasag disappeared through the dark doorway, Raghnall looked around. “’Tis the lord’s bedchamber, aye?”

“Aye.”

The room looked like it was well lived in. The bedding of the four-poster bed with a simple blue canopy and curtains gathered at the corners was crumpled, and the plain white sheets looked a little dirty at the foot. The pillows had dark-brown smudges, and Bryanna wondered when they’d last been washed. Some of the six chests that stood along the wall were open, and some clothes spilled from them. Another chest had grooming things—a mirror, which was essentially polished metal, a few combs that looked like they were made of ivory, and some sort of rough scissors.

“Well, there is another chamber,” said Raghnall. “My wife and I will sleep there tonight but expect that ye and yer…woman…would get this chamber freed for us on the morrow.”

Eanar crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “If ye’re the real lord here, aye. Ye may have this bedchamber on the morrow. I’ll send a lad to Eilean Donan with the first light to make inquiries.”

Raghnall nodded. “We’ll find our own way to the bedchamber. I trust ye will take care of my horse?”

Eanar’s jaw worked, but he nodded and left the room. Bryanna let out a long breath of relief. The confrontation with Eanar made her feel like she and Raghnall were a team, like she could trust him, even though they had quite a few unresolved questions between them. His dark eyes searched her. “Are ye all right, lass? They didna hurt ye while I was out?”

And even though he didn’t trust her and didn’t believe her about time travel, he still worried about her. Something in her chest melted. No matter what, circumstances made him the closest person she had in this strange, medieval world.

“Thanks…yes. I just need to use a toilet.”

He nodded to a small door. “There’s a privy there. I’ll wait.”

When she opened the door, there was a tiny room—a closet, more like—with a sitting platform and a big hole in the middle of it. A bunch of hay lay near it.

She did her business first, and wiping with hay was…interesting. She cleaned her hands with the antibacterial hand wipes she always had with her.

Then she quickly did her test. It showed 156 mg/dL. Her blood sugar had climbed, but she could still wait with her insulin. Normally, she’d have taken the shot if she was in the twenty-first century, but she needed to save her insulin here.

She put her things back into her purse and walked out of the latrine, feeling lighter and calmer, only to find Raghnall pacing the room. He looked her up and down. “Ye took yer time.”

And, again, from someone who showed care and compassion, he’d turned to a cold, temperamental jerk.

She gave him a hard glare and walked out of the room to the dark stairs. “Excuse me for taking my first time in private since this morning.”

Pale orange light flickered on the stairs, coming from behind her. Raghnall must have taken the candle that stank like old, putrid animal fat. “One flight down is our bedchamber,” he said behind her.

“Our bedchamber?” she asked, climbing down.

“Aye. Our. Ye’re my wife.”

His wife… Something hot and quick rushed through her. Husbands and wives shared a bed…

“So ye will sleep in my bed. Unless ye want to sleep in the cowshed,” he added.

Stepping onto the dark landing, she scoffed. “If anyone is going to sleep in the cowshed, it’ll be you, my friend.”

He walked around her with the candle in his hand and opened the single door on the floor. The candle illuminated a room the same size as the one upstairs with a double bed. It also had a four-poster canopy, but unlike the bed upstairs, this mattress was bare. It was actually several thin mattresses on top of one another, she saw. A large blanket was folded neatly and lay at the end of the bed. Several pillows without cases were at the head. There was also a gigantic barrel with stairs, which, Bryanna guessed, must serve as a bath.

There were no embroideries, no decorations, and just a single table with two chairs in the middle of the room.

“This will do,” Raghnall said, entering the room. He lit several more candles and it started to even look cozy. She looked around dubiously.

“No it won’t. I’m not going to sleep with a stranger.”