Page 3 of Claimed
Broderick snorted. “Looks like someone’scooshave gotten free again.”
Drew’s mouth twisted, and she hiked up her skirts, peering down at her leather boots that were now covered in dung. “These were new,” she muttered.
“A bit of soap and water will see them right again, milady,” he replied.
Drew glanced up sharply, her gaze meeting his. Was she imagining it, or was that amusement she saw there? His mouth was turning up at the corners.
“Laugh and I shall slap ye,” she warned, her gaze narrowing. His mouth quirked into a rare smile at her threat, incensing her. “I’m warning ye, Broderick.”
At that moment, thunder clapped directly overhead, so loudly that Drew cringed against Broderick’s broad chest.
They both waited, breaths indrawn, and then cold rain started to patter down.
Boom.Thunder crashed again, and a sheet of lightning illuminated the western sky.
And then, as if God had just upturned a bucket of icy water, rain poured down from the heavens, drenching them both.
There hadn’t even been time for Drew to pull up her hood. Not that it mattered—for the rain was so heavy it would have soaked the fur in instants.
Water ran down Drew’s face, blinding her. Wiping it out of her eyes, she pulled back from Broderick and met his gaze once more. “Don’t say a word,” she growled.
Back in her bed-chamber, Drew removed her sodden cloak and hung it up next to the hearth. Cadha had relit the fire while her mistress had been out, and now a large lump of peat burned.
She’d done her best to clean her boots downstairs, but had eventually left them for the servants to deal with.
Drew stretched her chilled fingers out before the fire, sighing as the heat soaked through her flesh. As much as she hated to admit it, Broderick had been right. She should have taken notice of those dark clouds before going out for a walk. However, she’d never confess such to him. The rain now lashed against the closed shutters of the bed-chamber’s single small window, thunder booming so loudly that the broch’s stone walls shook from the force of the storm.
Listening to it, Drew’s eyes flickered closed. Today was a sign. Finally, after months of wavering, she had to take action. Dunan didn’t feel like her home any longer—it hadn’t in a while. She felt utterly superfluous here.
Alone in her chamber, she made the decision she’d put off for too long.
With another sigh, Drew opened her eyes and moved away from the hearth, before taking a seat at the nearby desk. A single stubby candle flickered there, casting a soft light across a neatly stacked pile of parchment, the wax tablets she used for sealing letters, and her inkpot and quill.
Lighting another candle, Drew helped herself to a leaf of parchment. However, before she reached for her quill, she hesitated. She’d delayed this moment deliberately. To write this letter felt sofinal. Once she sent it off, her days at Dunan would be numbered, for she doubted the request she was about to make would be refused.
That’s the point, isn’t it?
Jaw firming in resolution, she dipped the quill into the inkwell and began to write.
2
Welcome News
“LADY DREW … A message has arrived for ye.”
Drew glanced up from her bowl of porridge to see that Carr Broderick had joined them in the solar. Cheeks ruddy with cold, his grey-blue eyes serious with purpose, he held out a roll of parchment.
Taking the scroll with a nod, Drew’s pulse quickened. She received few missives these days—and as nearly three weeks had passed since she’d sent her letter away, she knew that this was the reply she’d been awaiting.
Broderick cast her a questioning look, before he stepped back, to take up his position near the door. She saw from his expression that he’d sensed her nervousness, and the realization made her tense.
I’ve been spending too much time in his company, she thought, breaking the wax seal on the scroll.The man reads me too well these days.
She and Broderick had lived under the same roof for many years, but before Duncan’s downfall they’d had little contact. The warrior—who’d come to foster at Dunan as a lad and then remained to serve her brother—was still largely an enigma to Drew. She wondered how he felt about his demotion from Captain to lowly guard. Surely it must gall him to spend his days at her beck and call?
It was a considerable drop in rank, yet if Broderick minded, he never let it show.
Glancing away from her guard, Drew unfurled the parchment and scanned the missive within. It was brief, just a few lines, but as she read them, Drew’s breathing slowed.
