Highland Velvet Read online

Mary and Bronwyn sat on the crest of the hill at a place where Bronwyn could see across the countryside. It had taken all of Mary’s strength to follow.

  “What was that?” Bronwyn asked suddenly.

  Mary listened for a moment, but all she heard was the soft sigh of the wind and the guards’ voices.

  “There it is again!” Bronwyn looked over her shoulder, and Rab came to nudge her. “Yes, boy,” she whispered. She stood quickly. “Someone’s hurt,” she said to Mary as she began to run to the top of the hill, Rab beside her.

  The guards looked up, but they gave the women privacy, thinking a call of nature took them over the crest of the hill.

  Mary strained her eyes but saw nothing. Below them lay a pond, the edges half frozen, great thin sheets of ice floating in the water.

  Bronwyn strained her eyes until suddenly Rab gave a sharp bark. “There!” Bronwyn yelled as she began to run.

  Mary didn’t see a thing but lifted her heavy skirts and followed. It was only when she was halfway to the pond that she saw the child’s head and shoulders. The child was trapped in the icy water.

  Mary felt a shiver run along her spine, and she began to run faster and faster. She didn’t notice when she passed Bronwyn. She ran straight into the water and grabbed the child.

  The little boy looked up at her with great, blank eyes. Only minutes were left if they were to keep the child from freezing.

  “He’s stuck!” Mary called to Bronwyn. “His foot seems to be caught on something. Can you throw me your knife?”

  Bronwyn’s mind worked quickly. She knew the child could stand little more of the icy water so time was of the essence. If she tossed Mary the knife and Mary didn’t catch it, they’d probably lose the child. There was only one way to make sure Mary got the knife.

  “Rab!” Bronwyn said, and the dog recognized the sound of urgency in her voice. “Go to the men and get help. Bring someone here. We need help, Rab.”

  The dog shot away like an arrow from a bow. But he did not head toward the guards who waited just over the hill.

  “Damn!” Bronwyn cursed, but it was already too late to call the dog back to her.

  She took her knife from her side and plunged into the cold water. She moved as quickly as she could, hindered by the growth under the water. Mary was blue with cold, but she held on to the boy, whose face was turning gray.

  Bronwyn knelt, the water smacking against her chest like a brick wall. She felt for the child’s legs, felt the undergrowth that held him. Her teeth were beginning to chatter as she sawed away at the tough growth.

  “He’s free!” she whispered after a moment. She saw that Mary’s face was beginning to lose its blueness, turning to the more dangerous gray. Bronwyn knelt and lifted the child. “Can you follow?” she called over her shoulder to Mary.

  Mary didn’t have the excess strength to reply. She concentrated all her energies on moving her legs and following Bronwyn’s quickly moving form.

  Bronwyn barely reached the edge of the pond before the child was taken from her arms. She looked into Raine’s serious face.

  “How…?” Bronwyn began.

  “Miles and I were riding to meet you when your dog came to us. Rab was bounding like a demon.” As Raine spoke he was constantly moving. He put the child into one of his men’s arms, then wrapped his cloak around Bronwyn’s cold, wet shoulders.

  “Mary?” Bronwyn asked as she began to shiver.

  “Miles has her,” Raine said as he tossed his sister-in-law into his saddle and mounted behind her.

  They went quickly back to the Montgomery castle. Raine held his horse under control with one hand while his other hand rubbed Bronwyn’s shoulders and arms. She realized she was freezing, and she tried to make herself into a ball and snuggle against Raine’s solid warmth.

  Once inside the gates Raine carried Bronwyn upstairs to her bedchamber. He stood her in the middle of the floor while he opened a chest and pulled a heavy robe of golden wool from it. “Here, put this on,” he commanded as he turned his back on her and began to stoke the fire.

  Bronwyn’s fingers trembled as she tried to unfasten her shirt. The wet, clammy fabric clung to her. She peeled it away from her skin, then took the robe Raine had tossed on the bed beside her. The wool was heavy and thick, but she couldn’t yet feel any of its warmth.

  Raine turned back to her, took one look at her colorless face, and swept her into his arms. He sat down in a large chair before the fireplace with her in his lap. He tucked the big robe, one of Stephen’s, around her, held her closely as she drew her legs in to her chest and tucked her head into Raine’s broad chest.

  It took several minutes before she was able to stop shivering. “Mary?” she whispered after a moment.

  “Miles is taking care of her, and by now Judith has her in a hot tub of water.”

  “And the child?”

  Raine looked down at her, his eyes turning dark blue. “Did you know it was only a serf’s child?” he asked quietly.

  She pulled away from him. “What does it matter? The child needed help.”

  Raine smiled at her and pulled her back to his chest. “I didn’t think it would matter to you. I know it wouldn’t to Mary. You’ll have trouble with Gavin, though. He wouldn’t risk a hair on one of his family’s heads for all the serfs in the world.”

  “I’ve dealt with Stephen for months, so I guess I can deal with Gavin.” She gave a great sigh of resignation.

  Raine gave a laugh that started in his flat belly. She felt it before she heard it. “Well said! I see you understand my elder brothers.”

  She smiled against his chest. “Raine, why haven’t you ever married?”

  “The universal question from women,” he chuckled. “Did you consider that no one would have me?”

  The question was so absurd she didn’t even reply.

  “Actually I’ve turned down six women in eight months.”

  “Why?” she asked. “Were they too ugly, too thin, too fat? Or didn’t you meet them?”

  “I met them,” he said quietly. “I’m not like my brothers, who are willing to meet their brides on their wedding days. The fathers made the offers, and I spent three days with each woman.”

  “Yet you turned them all down.”

  “Aye, that I did.”

  She sighed. “What do you expect of a woman? Surely one of them must have been pretty enough.”

  “Pretty!” Raine snorted. “Three of them were beautiful! But I want more than a pretty woman. I want a woman who has a thought in her head besides the latest embroidery pattern.” His eyes twinkled merrily. “I want a woman who’ll walk into an icy pond and risk her life to save a serf child.”

  “But surely, had any woman seen the child—”

  Raine looked away from her to the fire. “You and Mary are special, as is Judith. Did you know Judith once led Gavin’s men when Gavin was held captive by some madman? She risked her own life to save his.” He smiled down at her. “I’m waiting until I get someone like you or Judith.”

  Bronwyn considered this for a moment. “No, I can’t see that we’re what you want. Gavin is attached to the land, and so is Judith. They fit together. And Scotland is for me. Stephen is free to live there with me. But you…I feel you never stay in one place too long. You need someone as free as you are, someone who isn’t tied to a piece of stone and earth somewhere.”

  Raine looked at her with his mouth agape, then closed it and smiled. “I won’t ask how you know all that. I’m sure the answer would be that you’re a witch. Now, since you seem to know so much about me, I’d like to ask you some personal questions.”

  He paused and looked into her eyes. “What is wrong between you and Stephen?” he asked quietly. “Why are you angry at him all the time?”

  Bronwyn was slow to speak. She knew of the closeness between the brothers, and she wasn’t sure how Raine would take to any criticism of his elder brother. But how could she lie?

  She took a deep breath and spoke the truth. �€