Page 11 of Claimed by the Clan Chief

After depositing the tray and the wicker basket in the kitchen, Isla set about helping Una clean the guest chambers. Una soon gave Isla the task of McTavish’s room as there was a tin bath that needed emptying and Una hated that job.

But Isla was glad of it. She needed something of McTavish’s to use in her spell. Quickly she made the bed, smoothing out the covers and straightening the curtains on the four-poster. She emptied the bath and wiped it dry, then damp-dusted the mantel. It was then she found it. A clean white handkerchief, neatly folded, and with the letters TT embroidered in blue.

It was exactly what she needed. Something personal, an item that travelled with him yet wouldn’t be missed, at least not for one night.

Quickly, she slipped it into her pocket along with the other things she’d collected from the garden and the kitchen.

“Isla, you finished in there yet?” Una stuck her head into the chamber.

Heart thumping, Isla spun to her.

Had she been spotted pocketing the handkerchief?

“Stop dawdling, lass, we need to collect flowers for the bride’s bouquet, and Mrs. Humphrey is yelling for help in the kitchen. Apparently Diane has gone wandering.”

“Wandering?”

“Aye, with the new Lady.”

“Really.”

“It’s nay of your concern.”

“Okay, but I’ve finished now anyhow.” Isla rushed to the door, pausing at a wash table on the way. A bar of soap sat in a small dish along with a washcloth and towel. The patterned china bowl contained cold used water, so she picked it up and left the room.

The rest of the day went by in a whirlwind. It seemed neither Una nor Mrs Humphrey understood there was just one of her. She had so many instructions barked at her, her head spun and she barely knew what task to complete first.

She didn’t see McTavish again and barely even had time to think of him and the momentous deed she had to perform under the full moon.

Though as the evening air cooled around her and candles were lit within the castle, she kept touching the handkerchief in her pocket. Soon it would be time. Soon she would make him hers… forever.

* * *

It was past midnight before Isla could safely slip from her room and into the kitchen garden. The cats coiled around her ankles as she sneaked silently, in the shadows of the high stonewall, toward the gate.

She wore a cloak over her white nightgown, and carried a small basket containing candles, the handkerchief, and everything else she needed for her love spell.

For a moment she paused, using her sixth sense to feel any eyes upon her. Frowning, she hesitated. It did feel a little like she was being watched, but not a full-on sensation—tingling in her neck, buzzing in her ears—just a tiny sense of it.

“You’re being foolish.” She shook her head and looked at the high side of the castle, which had but one tiny window at the very top. “No one is here, only you.”

She slipped from the garden and into the meadow. It sloped down to a small stream, then rose again to dense forest. She hoped the stream would be easy to pass and the stepping stones above water.

Lifting her skirts and leaving the cats behind, she broke into a run. The moonlight showed her the way, and as she left Fifths Castle behind, her excitement grew.

The stream was easy to cross, and Isla skipped over the stones. Once on the other side of the bank, she paused and freed her hair from its plait. Ruffling her hands through her long dark locks, she looked up at the moon and allowed it to bathe her face in its ethereal power. Soon she would have everything she’d ever dreamed of.

A sudden peal of laughter caught in her throat and she let it out. Her earlier exhaustion had disappeared like a puddle on a hot summer’s day. In its place was anticipation… and love.

“I’m a woman in love,” she called to the moon. “With the greatest Scotsman in the land.” Another bubble of laughter caught her, then she again gathered her skirts and ran.

Within minutes she was under the cover of the forest, but she didn’t slow. There was a clearing that would allow the moon’s light through, about five minutes to the east.

Just before she reached it, she paused, leaning against a trunk to catch her breath.

There was a movement to her right. Quickly she turned, peering into the darkness. But she could see nothing. She breathed deep, sifting through the scents of the forest. It was all familiar—moss, leaves, damp earth, Mother Nature’s animals.

“Sorry to disturb ye,” she said to the darkness. Her rushing through the trees had likely put paid to the rest of a deer or other small animal. “I’ll be on my way.”

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