To Win a Highlander's Heart by Gerri Russell

Author:Gerri Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781957748412
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2022-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The late-morning sun washed the front courtyard in hues of gold and grey. Isolde watched as the men departed. The thunder of hoofbeats echoed in the emptiness of her heart as the castle’s men hurried to engage the enemy. Alastair had taken a hundred and sixty warriors with him to fight two potential clans but also perhaps the English. Now that the English were back, they could not be discounted as a potential threat. This was what she’d trained for her whole life—helping to protect the people of Scotland—but she would be denied that honour because of her inability to shoot her arrows as she had before.

Isolde stood with her back straight, not moving until the gates were closed and the drawbridge closed. The joy she had experienced over the last several days ebbed from her as she curled her empty left hand at her side. Her quiver and bow were safely tucked upstairs in her bedchamber. She’d have no need of the weapon here, inside the mighty walls of Dunvegan. Or perhaps ever again if her arm did not heal well. She could feel the cool aloofness she’d been forced to wear as a cloak in the wilderness come over her once more. An outcast was what she was, and it was time for her to own up to that fact. Whether she was ready or not, it was time to leave and resume her shadowed life.

She could be gone before Orrick and his brothers returned. And this time, no one would ever find her again—not animal, man, or the English. Her experiences over the last year had taught her many things about being invisible. It was time to put those skills to use.

As she headed inside the castle, her heart would have been heavy had she allowed emotion to slip through her newly erected barrier. It would be best if she left a note for Gwendolyn and Alastair, thanking them for her care. And a separate note for Orrick, explaining her decision. Then she wouldn’t have to say goodbye. Isolde could leave, and eventually they would forget all about her.

She, however, would remember Orrick for the rest of her life, and especially the kiss they’d shared earlier. Just the thought of him brought a curl of heat to her core. The feel of his hands in her hair and tracing the curves of her back, his lips sliding against her own, the taste of him on her tongue, were all branded into her memory.

After gathering paper, ink, and a quill, Isolde hurried up the stairs to her bedchamber. The sooner she left, the better it would be for them all.

Isolde had just finished with her letters when a frothy grey mist slithered beneath the doorway. The mist gathered, then coalesced into the shape of a woman, her image growing more solid with each passing moment.

The castle is in danger.

The words resounded in Isolde’s head as she stared at the woman before her. Even in her ghostly form, Isolde could see fear in Orrick’s mother’s eyes.

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