Ramsay’s deep rumbling one-word warning nearly rattled the copper pots and long-handled ladles hanging from the rack overhead. His tone also reminded Katie of a little boy informing his mother not to hug him in front of the other kids. Katie could tell by the way the muscles in Ramsay’s cheek twitched that he had his jaw clenched and was about to grind his molars into dust.
Katie caught the inside corner of her lip between her teeth to keep from grinning.Poor Ramsay. He rescued me. Time for me to rescue him.
“I’m Katie Jenson.” She stretched out her hand. “Your son was good enough to free me from my car after I decided to launch it into a dried-up creek bed turned ditch. I really owe him.”
Ramsay’s mother set the platter on the table and turned back to her. She took Katie’s hand, then quickly scooped her other hand up as well and held them both tightly between hers, squeezing Katie’s hands and slowly rubbing her thumbs across Katie’s knuckles.
“Are ye hurt then, lass?” She gave Katie a rapid up-and-down look, turning her first one way and then the other, steering Katie’s body with her captured hands as though they were a rudder. “I see a few scratches—nothin’ deep, mind ye. Bruises can take as long as a day or so t’make themselves known. D’ye feel pain anywhere?”
“No…ma’am.” Katie tried to extricate her hands without seeming rude but Sarinda just clutched them tighter. “I’m fine. Not hurt a bit.”Holy crap, this woman’s got the hold of a python.
Sarinda dipped her chin in a slow satisfied nod. “Good, then. And I’m Sarinda MacDara, by the way.” Still holding Katie’s hands tightly, she turned and nodded to the older woman still standing beside the flour-covered worktable. “And that there’s Lydia, and it’s our pleasure to meet ye.” She eased a step closer, squeezed Katie’s hands again and gave her another up-and-down look that made her want to squirm. “Yer certain yer no’ hurt? Ye dinna hafta be brave with us now, ye ken? I promise ye, we’ll take good care of ye.”
“I’m fine.” Katie gently but firmly wiggled her hands free of Sarinda and eased a step back. Ramsay’s mother might be on the tiny side, but the woman had turned intense and appeared to rule the roost. Katie clasped her hands behind her back, just to be on the safe side. “I feel much better now that all my blood’s rushed back down where it belongs.”
“Beg pardon?” Sarinda’s brow furrowed and she leaned a bit closer. She gently but firmly took hold of Katie’s chin and angled her face downward so she could peer deep into Katie’s eyes. “Did ye hit yer head, child? Are ye feelin’ dizzy at all?”
Katie eased a step backward out of Sarinda’s reach. “No—I was stuck upside down in my moonroof.” Now that she’d said it out loud, it did sound sort of stupid even to her. Time to explain. “I forgot my bag when I climbed out the first time, so I decided to try and hang down through the moonroof and fish it out with a stick instead of climbing back into the car.”
“And ye became wedged? A thin young thing like yerself?” Sarinda took a step back, loosely folded her arms across her middle, and gave Katie another piercing once-over that ended in a look that said she didn’t believe her.
“Why didn’t you drop through feetfirst, girl?” Lydia chimed in. “Then you wouldn’t have gotten stuck upside down.” Lydia had doubt written all over her flour-smudged face too. Neither of these women believed her.
“I’m telling the truth…and about the ‘feetfirst’ thing.” She forced a grin at Lydia. “Good idea. But airbag dust is nasty.”Damn. They’re worse than Nanny Fay used to be when she didn’t think I was telling the truth.
Thankfully, Ramsay appeared at Katie’s side, gently took her by the arm, and turned her toward the kitchen table. He shot a look back at both women, his expression saying a lot more than his words. “I’m sure she had good reason for the way she did it, aye? Let the lass be. Her night’s been bad enough without the two of ye pickin’ her t’pieces.”
Ever my knight.Katie gave Ramsay a grateful smile as she turned back to the older women. “Thanks, but I kind of need to explain,” she said with a pat to his arm.I can’t have them thinking I’m nuts,she silently added.
Motioning with her hands and working her elbows back and forth against her sides to help demonstrate her explanation, Katie continued. “I didn’t want to climb back down into the airbag dust, so I thought I’d just hang down through there and fish my bag out with a stick I’d found on the embankment. I was hanging there when Ramsay called out to see if I was okay and I tried to squirm around and make him hear me when I accidently bumped the button and closed the panel on myself. Then my car battery died, and it wouldn’t reopen.” She motioned toward Ramsay, noticing for the first time that he no longer had his spear nor her bag with him. “Hmm…I guess he left it downstairs with my bag. Anyway, Ramsay shattered the glass with his spear and pulled me out. Your son is my hero.”
“Uh-oh,” Lydia murmured in a low ominous tone that perfectly suited her wide-eyedoh shitexpression. She clamped her lips shut in a tight thin line while her bespectacled gaze darted back and forth between Ramsay and Sarinda. With a judicious arching of her sparse gray brows and a slow shake of her head, she turned back to her bread dough pans and started scooping them up, balancing them down the length of one fleshy arm.
“His spear?” Sarinda repeated slowly in a deadlymama’s about to kick her son’s asstone that Katie didn’t understand.
“Uh…yes, ma’am.” Suddenly, Katie felt like she was back in mean old Professor McCreedy’s science class trying to explain why she was toasting her sandwich over the Bunsen burner. “But the spear worked great. It shattered the glass panel without a lot of force. I didn’t even get a scratch.” She toyed with the idea of baring her belly to offer proof then decided against it. Sarinda MacDara was obviously pissed about something and anything Katie said or did at this point might make the situation worse.
Sarinda shifted to an angry battle stance of fisted hands on narrow hips and glared at her son. “Yer spear, Ramsay? Really? How many times—”
“Hush’t,Máthair.Ye ken as well as I that now is no’ the time.” Ramsay steered Katie to the long kitchen table and pulled out one of the chairs. “If ye’ll have a seat, Mistress Katie, I’ll be happy to share my supper with ye. I beg ye forgive our manners. Surely, a bite to eat and a bit of drink will make this evenin’ easier t’bear for the lot of us.” He gave his mother a narrow-eyed glare and defiantly squared his shoulders.
“Aye, lass. Forgive me.” Sarinda sprang into motion as though someone had fired a starting pistol. “Sit ye down and I’ll bring ye bread to enjoy with yer meal. Lydia kept a fine basket of bannocks steamin’ hot on the back of the stove and there’s plenty of the roasted potatoes and carrots to go along with the meat.”
Thank you, Katie silently mouthed to Ramsay as she took her seat.
The corners of his mouth twitched with the beginnings of a grin.
Katie rolled her eyes and made a face to nudge his smile the rest of the way out.
Ramsay relented with an amused look, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes and failed to chase the dark shadows away.
Damn. Sad puppy eyes. He’s so…unhappy. Wish I could help him.It was the least she could do especially after all he’d done for her.
Sarinda plopped a bowl-like plate down in front of Katie, filled it to the rim with chunks of falling apart meat and steaming hot carrots and potatoes. Before Katie could utter a “thank you,” Sarinda spooned a rich, dark brown gravy over the pile of food then passed the platter over to Ramsay. Without missing a beat, she hurried back to the stove and retrieved a basket filled with toasty buttered chunks of crusty bread and provided Katie with a small plate for her rolls.
Setting a stemless wineglass in front of Katie’s place setting with a hard thunk, she gave her son a stern look. “Ye wish t’tend to yer lady? Fetch the wine and serve her then, aye?”
Ramsay didn’t speak to his mother but fired back with a pissed-off look of his own before he rose, disappeared into an adjoining room, then returned with an uncorked bottle of red wine. He filled Katie’s glass without a word then returned to his seat. The warm, welcoming ambiance of the kitchen had frosted over into an icy war zone.
