Page 33 of Highlander's Captive Bride
“Slàinte mhath, Daisy,” Bellamy said softly, his sparkling gray eyes fixed on hers as she clinked her beaker with his and echoed his words. But she broke her gaze quickly, making sure their fingers did not touch.
Daisy was able to relax somewhat while Bellamy unpacked the provisions for their picnic, each oilpaper-wrapped package drawing gasps of glee from Elodie. However, Daisy could not help noticing that it was a simple, plain fare. There were roasted chicken legs, slices of baked ham, boiled eggs, bread and cheese, oatcakes, and the like, as well as some biscuits and small sponge cakes.
She silently approved of the choices, concluding that someone, either Bellamy himself or perhaps Poppy, had made sure to include foods that Elodie would, hopefully, be able to eat without becoming sick.
As they ate and the afternoon wore on, the warmth of the sun, the food, and the wine helped to make Daisy feel more at ease. Despite her mixed feelings about Bellamy, she had to admit he was an entertaining host, amusing Elodie with funny stories about her ancestors and tales of Highland legends.
After a while, she forgot how she had come to be at Castle Murdoch and began laughing at his stories as well, even joining in and adding her own stories from her childhood at Castle McGunn, eager to hear Elodie’s laughter. And when Bellamy laughed, too, or complimented her on her storytelling, a secret part of her glowed with pleasure.
After two beakers full of wine, she leaned comfortably on a cushion on her elbow, holding his gaze and conversing with him without a second thought, her guard completely down. When Elodie began asking her questions about how she had become a healer, she answered them openly, not caring if Bellamy was listening attentively.
“Even when I was just a wee girl, I was always fascinated by how our healer at the castle made sick people well. I thought it was a kind of magic. I used to go out with her with me wee basket and collect weeds, pretending they were the same herbs she was gathering. Then, I would make ‘medicines’ for me dolls. Those poor dollies were always sick, the poor things!”
“And what did ye do, then?” Bellamy asked with interest. “Did ye have to study to learn more?”
“Aye, but I had a library full of me faither’s books to read, and I used to get him to buy me books on herbs and healing and such like. I’d study them for hours, making notes, even under the covers in bed when I was supposed to be sleeping. I got told off many a time for that,” Daisy said, laughing wistfully at the memory.
“That’s quite a strange pastime for a laird’s daughter,” he murmured, gazing at her curiously.
“Aye. Ye dinnae ken how many times I’ve heard that in me life. Being a girl and a laird’s daughter, well, hardly anybody approved of it, of course. But I kept on just the same. After a while, me family saw I was serious and began to encourage me.”
At that moment, they heard a little snuffling snore, and they both looked at Elodie. The child had dozed off, her little face tranquil. They looked at each other and smiled indulgently.
As they held each other’s gaze, Daisy saw something in his eyes that immediately set off the now-familiar fluttering in her chest. Suddenly, the tension that always seemed to arise whenever they were alone was almost palpable. His look seemed both speculative and heated at the same time, and it made a delicious shiver run down her spine.
“Shall we take a wee stroll by the loch’s edge?” Bellamy asked, his eyes still fixed on hers, a slight curve to his lips.
“That would be nice. I should like to see it properly,” Daisy found herself saying, wondering where the words had come from as she admired the way the sunlight lit up the threads of copper in his long, dark hair as a few stray locks fell across his forehead.
She had never noticed them before, and all of a sudden, her hands itched to untie the leather thong that held his hair atop his head and watch as the dark mass fell around his shoulders, then run her fingers through it.
Bellamy rose to his feet, blocking out the sun as he towered over her and offered her his hand. Without a second thought, now completely at ease in his company, she reached up and took it. As he enfolded her hand in his large, rough palm and gently pulled her up beside him, a tingling sensation shot up her arm, making her tremble with excitement.
He casually tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow, and where their bodies touched, it was as though a fire was burning her, even through their clothes, with the heat coming off him invading her entire body.
As they walked slowly side by side down to the water’s edge and stopped to gaze out over the sparkling loch, Daisy felt herself falling under a spell that she did not wish to escape from.
“What an amazing place to grow up,” she mused. “It’s so beautiful here.”
“Aye, it is. But I’ve always lived here, so I suppose ye could say I take all this for granted sometimes.”
“I think that’s the same for us all, is it nae? When ye’re a bairn, ye spend a lot of time outside playing and such like. But then, ye have to grow up, and other more important things start to occupy yer time. Before ye ken it, ye forget that freedom. ’Tis a shame, I often think.
“But being a healer, I’m lucky because I need me herbs and ingredients for the medicines I make, so I often go out at dawn with me basket to forage for them. That’s the best time o’ day, I find, when naebody’s about to bother ye.”
She turned and looked up at him. He was gazing down at her intently, smiling, with warmth in his eyes. Helplessly, her pulse beginning to race, she smiled back, fascinated by the way the sunlight cast golden sparkles into his deep gray orbs, and the way his long, dark lashes cast shadows on his cheeks when he lowered them.
His eyes are beautiful.
“Shall we walk along the shore a bit further?” he asked, and she nodded. “Ye didnae finish telling me how ye became such a famous healer,” he added as they began a slow stroll along the loch’s edge.
“Oh. Um, well, let me see. So, I studied me books and learned all I could. But, of course, what I needed was practice. So, as I told ye, I used to plague poor old Macie, our healer. As I grew older, I spent more and more time with her, helping her with patients, and getting her to teach me everything she could. She was a dear, old soul, and she never begrudged me a moment of her time. She was so patient,” she told him. “I miss her.”
“But why did ye nae stay at home and serve yer clan as castle healer?” he asked.
Daisy sighed. “Oh, that. Well, ’tis a long story.” She glanced behind them and saw that Elodie was still dozing. “I suppose I can tell ye, now that we’re alone.” She took a deep breath, her mind traveling back to that terrible time. “Ye see, a few years ago, the laird of a neighboring clan by the name of Keegan Farlane plotted to destroy our clan.
“The thing was, naebody had a clue what he was planning. He pretended to be our friend and ally, and me faither trusted him completely. But it turned out that behind everyone’s backs, he was staging attacks on our villages and those of an enemy clan, the O’Reids, that shared a border with us.
