Page 4 of Highlander's Secret Heiress
“Thank you, Mistress,” Alyth said gratefully. “The robbers took everything I had, even my clothes. I was going to stay with a friend when I was ambushed.”
“Aye,” Maisie said thoughtfully. “Gavin told me about that. Are ye all right, hen?” There was a worried frown on her face.
“I wasn’t hurt,” Alyth answered. “Just very, very frightened.”
“They didnae… touch ye at all?” Maisie raised her eyebrows in a question so that Alyth understood what she meant.
“I never gave them the chance,” she replied, then shuddered. “But I don’t want to talk about it any more.”
“That’s fine, hen.” Maisie smiled. “We need tae get your dirty clothes off an’ wash ye.”
“Do-do you think the Laird would give me a job here?” Alyth asked tentatively. “I have heard he is a very kind man. I will do anything, no matter how lowly. I can work hard, and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”
Maisie led her into a small room. It was dim, but cosy, and had a fire, two armchairs, and a bed that was big enough for two.
“This room belongs tae me an’ my husband,” Maisie told her. “I am the housekeeper an’ he is the Captain o’ the Guard—ye have met him already. We have worked here for a long time, an’ the young Laird likes my Gavin, so he will help ye as much as he can. We both will. I can see ye are a good lass, an’ ye deserve it.Ye likely willnae get a ladies’ maid’s position again, but we will find ye somethin’.”
“What if you can’t?” Alyth asked anxiously.
“Dinnae worry, hen,” Maisie replied. “I will see that ye are no’ thrown out in the cold. I have friends in the village, but I would rather see tae it that ye stay here because I think that is what ye want, is it no’?”
Alyth sighed and nodded. “I feel safer here,” she answered. “Thank you for your kindness, Mistress.”
Maisie patted her hand. “Kindness costs nothin’ hen,” she answered. “Now I am goin’ tae get some hot water. Wait there.”
Alyth sat down on one of the chairs and looked into the fire for a while. She felt both the warmth of the fire and Maisie’s affectionate treatment, and for the moment all was well.
To her astonishment, Maisie came back almost at once with hot water and a change of clothes for her. The plain dress was a little too short, but it was better than what she was wearing. She allowed Alyth to wash and change her clothes while she went on another errand.
As she entered the room again, she smiled at Alyth. “Good news,” she said happily. “Gavin spoke tae the Laird, an’ he says he will give ye a job as a maid. Ye can start tomorrow.”
As she was led up what seemed to be a thousand stairs, Alyth felt both excited and fearful in equal measure. She had had adventures before, but they had all been the mischievous kind, like climbing trees and making her maid search for her, thinking she was lost, but this one was positively dangerous.
Yet in a way, it felt good to be free of the social obligations that had kept the reckless part of her nature tied down for solong. Yes, there was fear, but there was also freedom. As well as that, there was the satisfaction of knowing that if she achieved nothing else, she would at least frustrate any heinous plans the Carricks had. She knew they would stop at nothing in their plans to dominate the other lands in the area.
Alyth’s chamber was up in the attic, and it was so small that there was barely enough room for a bed. The roof was slanted so that she could not stand up properly, but at that moment it seemed like a palace to her. The narrow bed was not very comfortable, but Alyth slept surprisingly well on her first night, probably because she was absolutely exhausted.
In the morning, she went downstairs to meet Maisie again, carefully looking around her for pieces of furniture and pictures to remember so that she could find her way back.
It occurred to her that now would be a good time to look around a little, and if Maisie queried her lateness she could claim that she had become lost in all the passages she had to navigate. However, she decided against the plan, reasoning that she would have plenty of time later while she was working. She had no wish to take unnecessary risks.
She made her way down to the lower levels and began to walk along the corridor that led to Maisie’s room, which was on the ground floor and abutted the kitchen. Her heart was beating fast as she tried to imagine what duties she would have to perform and whether she would even be capable of them. After all, she had never had to do any manual labour in her life, and she might become a laughingstock among the other servants.
What if I’m dismissed for being hopeless at my job?she thought desperately.What will I do then?
She began to imagine freezing nights spent in barns or derelict farm cottages and shivered, but then she thought of the alternative. Laird James Robertson was a tall man in his fifties with a shock of prematurely white hair, who was so thin that hisface resembled a skull. Alyth could not imagine a more repulsive figure, and knew that she would do almost anything to avoid marrying him. The thought of having to share a bed with him and engage in intercourse with him was absolutely abhorrent to her.
Maisie had given her a broom and instructed her to begin sweeping the corridors that led from the courtyard to the adjacent areas of the castle. When she heard her orders, Alyth was elated. This was a perfect excuse for her to begin to explore the castle, and have a perfectly good reason to do so.
Now, mixed with her apprehension, Alyth felt a dark glee; in a macabre way, this might actually be fun! Her hatred for the Carricks was so bitter that even the slightest injury she could commit against them would be a triumph.
She began to move quickly so that she would have the most time to explore; as far as she could see, there were literally miles of corridors, each with dozens of doors leading off them. Maisie had given her keys, but Alyth knew she would not have the time to explore every single one of them.
The chambers on the ground floor consisted of storerooms, parlours, and a few rooms that were used for administrative purposes, since they had desks and cupboards that she found were full of documents. These were the kind of rooms in which she was most interested.
Alyth wondered if she could find a way of taking some of them with her to read after her working day was finished, then she looked at them and saw that they were years old. This must be a repository for all the estates’ records. Yet perhaps these were the kind of documents she needed; knowing the Carricks’ history with their neighbours might reveal some valuable secrets. She had nothing in which to carry anything, so she decided to leave the door unlocked and come back the following day.
She looked around the room. The carpet was old and faded, as were the curtains, and the furniture had about an inch of dust on it. She got to work, clumsily finished the room hoping it would be passable if Maisie checked her work, and went onto the next.
