To Tempt a Rogue by Adrienne Basso

Author:Adrienne Basso [Basso, Adrienne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2014-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

It was the strangest week of Harriet’s life. She began each day caring for Kate, an odd reversal of roles for the mistress to care for the maid. It was necessary however, because even though she posed no great risk to anyone else’s health, the castle staff had no interest in being near the sick Sassenach woman.

Fortunately, Kate was rapidly improving. Each day she required less assistance and was eager for Harriet to leave so she could “rest.” Harriet soon realized this was merely an excuse to be alone when Mr. MacLeod arrived. He visited his patient daily, staying longer each time. She joked privately that Kate was improving through sheer force of will, just to become a testament to Mr. MacLeod’s skill as a healer.

Once Kate was comfortably settled for the day, Harriet was free to do as she pleased. Initially time hung heavy, for Harriet was not used to being idle. And while she greatly enjoyed reading, the meager selection of books in the dusty, grimy library were mainly historical tomes.

Deciding to treat this unexpected free time as a holiday, Harriet set about exploring the castle. Though she found it forbidding and mysterious, there was something mystical about the towering battlements and ancient keep that drew her to them.

She explored each afternoon on her own, amazed and fascinated by what she discovered. The drum towers on each corner around a high curtain wall held great appeal, so they were her first destination. Harriet assumed she would have to brave the elements and walk the narrow parapets to reach the top interior of each tower, but purely by accident she found a hidden passage and circular staircase leading to the inside of the first tower.

She climbed the little-used stairway carefully and stepped inside the round tower. It was like being transported back through time. There was a hard stone floor, whitewashed domed walls, and narrow slit windows without glass designed to allow a skilled archer to shoot through it and defend his position.

Set beneath one of these windows was an elegant carved trunk. Her hands itched to explore the contents, but it was locked and no key was in evidence. Hoping there would be time to return on another day, with a tool capable of forcing the lock, Harriet proceeded to the next tower.

Here she found remnants of a weaving room for the castle. Harriet closed her eyes and tried to imagine how the room had appeared several hundred years ago when it was bustling with activity and gossip as the women worked their skillful magic on the hand looms.

The third tower room was empty and the crumbling masonry in one part served as a grim reminder that the castle was very old and not in the best repair. Yet it was in the fourth and final tower where Harriet made her most amazing discovery.

Resting prominently in the center of the room were the effigies of a medieval knight and his lady. The edge of the tomb depicted in carved stone the main pursuits of a lord of his time—the hunt, the land, the battles.

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