Page 25 of The Highlander's Auctioned Virgin
Elinor frowned.
Without waiting, he moved forward and knocked gently on the door.
“There is nay one inside,” she muttered quickly, before moving to the door and kicking it open.
“How did ye ken there was nay one in here?” Ciaran asked once they stepped inside.
The smell of dry timber greeted them, a welcome distraction from the smell of wet leaves and mud they had to trudge through for the past twenty minutes.
“How did ye ken there was a cabin here in the first place?” Elinor asked back.
“I saw it when the lightning– ”
“Dinnae take me for a fool, Ciaran. Ye didnae carry me all the way here just on a hunch that a cabin might be empty. How did ye ken there was a cabin here?”
Ciaran walked further inside and closed the door behind him, muffling the sound of the driving rain.
“I scouted the area when I first arrived. I kenned there was a cabin here, but I didnae ken if it was empty. All I kenned was that it looked safe enough to hide when necessary,” he admitted.
“Ye mean,ifnecessary?”
“In me experience, events that involve many lairds always turn into a disaster. It only takes one disgruntled laird who didnae get the woman to cause trouble.”
Elinor considered his words, but she was unable to suppress the shivers as the cold seeped into her bones.
The cabin was clean. The furniture seemed well-maintained, the floor was tidy, and the bed at the corner of the room was made and had what looked like a neatly folded white towel on it. A lit candle stood on a nearby side table, and Ciaran reached for it.
“It belonged to me former husband. The cabin.”
“I see.”
“I have never been in here before. Especially since he died.”
Ciaran moved around the room, using the candle to light up the other ones. Then, he proceeded to stoke a fire in the grate.
“So what? His ghost haunts the cabin and tidies up the floors and the bed?”
“That must be the caretaker’s doing. Simon,” Elinor explained. “He was Murdock’s servant and was always tasked with cleaning the cabin. Whenever Murdock came here and found even the tiniest speck of dust, he would ask the guards to flog him. A hundred lashes.”
Ciaran winced.
“I suppose even after his death, Simon got used to cleaning the cabin and making sure nothing was out of place.”
“And where is Simon now?” he asked, his eyes narrowed.
“He’s in the castle,” Elinor responded. “I gave him a room after Murdock died. I daenae want him living out here on his own.”
“Understandable,” Ciaran conceded as he cast his gaze around the room once more.
“What about ye, Laird MacTraigh?” Elinor asked, looking straight at him. “How do ye treat yer people?”
Ciaran looked down. “With the respect they deserve for trusting me to lead them.”
Elinor laughed. “Did ye rehearse that?”
“Ye cannae rehearse the truth.”
Elinor nodded, visibly impressed.
She hated to admit it, but the Hound didn’t seem like her worst choice at the moment.
