The Widow and the Highlander by Keyes Martha

Author:Keyes, Martha
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

After what felt like hours of rolling from side to side, Christina admitted defeat and, as quietly as she could, crept out of her blankets. She couldn’t lie down and do nothing any longer. Elizabeth was sound asleep—she had always been a deep sleeper—and Christina watched her for a moment. She wanted so badly to protect her sister, and the weeks since Gordon’s death had shown her how incapable she was of doing so.

She sighed, reached for Elizabeth’s wrapper, and went to the door, lifting the latch carefully. Elizabeth didn’t even stir at the sound.

As Christina reached the door to the room where the fire had occurred, she paused. She was hesitant to look at it—to remember what had happened, but perhaps even more hesitant to be reminded of what might have happened.

But ignoring those things did not make them go away. Whether she acknowledged it or not, someone seemed determined to kill her. They had compromised the safety of her carriage, they had tried to poison her, and they had attempted to burn her in her sleep.

She needed to face that reality. Perhaps it would give her the courage to do what she needed to do.

She lifted the latch, opened the door, and stilled.

Mr. Kincaid lay in the bed, the covers pulled up around him, his eyes closed. The bed was far too short for a man of his height, and his legs were curled up, his knees hanging over the edge of the bed, reminding Christina of her younger brothers.

She hurried to close the door, cringing as the hinge squeaked and Mr. Kincaid’s eyes opened.

He threw the bedcovers off and stood. “What happened?” He blinked quickly, as if to clear away the sleep.

“Nothing at all,” she said in a reassuring voice. “I did not know you were in here. That is all.”

His body relaxed. The strings at the top of his shirt were untied, and Christina averted her eyes from the view it afforded.

“I only thought I would be more likely ta hear if….” He left the sentence unfinished.

“If the person came back to finish what they started,” she supplied.

“Aye,” he said.

She looked around the room again. It had never been a cheerful room by any stretch of the imagination, but now there was an eeriness about it that gave her the chills, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stop them.

“Ye couldna sleep, I take it?” He ran a hand through his hair. Most of it had come loose from the queue, and, combined with his open shirt and bare feet, it gave him a very unkempt appearance. Elizabeth’s words echoed for a moment in her mind: I cannot think it would be so very terrible to be chained to a man like Mr. Kincaid.

She pushed the thought away hurriedly. “No, I am afraid not. But I did not intend to keep you from sleep as well.”

“Nay bother,” he said with a smile made all the more charming for its sleepiness. “I ken what it’s like no’ ta be able ta sleep.

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