meaning. And I wasn’t overly compelled to find out exactly what her meaning might be. I was too distracted by the commanding view of the fields and the mountains beyond.
The carriage was slowing, coming to a stop at the front entrance of the manor. Footmen opened the doors and helped us disembark. To Hamish’s dismay, the guards had ridden off once we were inside the walls of the keep and were nowhere to be seen.
“Amelia,” Ailie said. “Christie will show you and Hamish to your guest chambers. You’ll be quite comfortable there for now.” I remembered: I was to undergo an extensive interrogation by the almighty laird himself, and at his very first opportunity. I honestly didn’t feel up to such an encounter at this present moment. My usually staunch self-preservation-at-all-costs outlook felt as if it had been somehow undermined, just slightly, by this vast, resplendent place. I wanted to be left alone, to drink it all in and appreciate it for a time.
Christie seemed to sense this. “After I show you to your chambers, you can take a stroll through the gardens if you’d like. After all the traveling you’ve done, you might like to take some time, to settle in and clear your head before the noon meal is served in the hall.”
I was very touched by her kindness. I smiled at her. “Thank you, Christie.”
She returned the smile. She reached to finger a long ringlet of my hair that had come loose. “Your hair is the most outstanding color. Not blond, not red. Something in between. With a myriad of shades from rose gold to copper.”
“Strawberry blond,” clarified Hamish. It was what my sister called it. We had read the term in a book somewhere and we had mused at the fanciful-sounding word. In fact, we had no idea what a strawberry was, or what color such a thing might be.
My nephew was in somewhat of a mood, since he’d discovered the soldiers had taken their leave of him. Christie had noticed his immediate attachment to the burly guards—and their weapons. “No doubt you’ll have an opportunity later, Hamish, to visit the soldiers’ barracks, and to meet with Lachlan, and perhaps even Laird Mackenzie himself. He has the biggest sword of them all.”
Hamish was placated enough by her comment, but it left me with a singular flush of unease. Knowing I would have to face this Laird Mackenzie—and his big sword—and spin my elaborate lie seemed less larkish than it had from afar, now that we were here within the walls of Kinloch.
Christie led us into the manor, through a grand hall that was being cleaned by a number of efficient workers and up a stone staircase. Every detail of this place shone with gleaming attention. Large candles sat in grooves carved into the outer edge of every second step, illuminating our path with a modernistic glow. Deer antlers had been weaved to make a rustic chandelier overhead. Tapestries depicting hunting scenes, the scenic loch I already recognized, a wedding and other stunningly crafted portraits of Mackenzie history decorated the stone walls. We were led to our private chambers, which was small but charming, and very clean. It was a narrow room with a large window at one end. There were two single beds laid with thick furs, a dresser between with a porcelain pitcher and bowl on top and a small table with two chairs placed by the window, which overlooked the orchards.
“’Tis very simple, but I hope you’ll find it suitable enough during your stay,” Christie said.
“It couldn’t be more perfect,” I assured her. “Much better than a hay wagon.”
Christie smiled again, her white teeth small and neat. She was so pretty and petite. I was several inches taller than she was and much more voluptuous. I knew I had the kind of figure that won the attention of men—I’d had more than enough experience with their admiring glances and lascivious comments to understand that much. But now standing here next to Christie made me feel less like a womanly treasure and more like a prize-winning heifer. “Once you’re settled, feel free to stroll the gardens as you like,” she said. “A meal will be served at midday, in the hall. You’ll hear the bell. When Knox is ready to see you, he’ll send someone.”
With that, she left us to it. I washed my face with some cool water and brushed my hair, tying it in a loose coil, but Hamish was too energized to stay cooped up in our room.
“Let’s go, Ami. I want to explore the orchards and see if any of the fruit is ripe enough to pick.”
“I would think it’s still too early for the fruit.”
But I was soon pulled at his insistence out the door and down the stairs. The workers took no notice of us. They were likely accustomed to guests and visitors. We found our way out-of-doors and into the day. The light was clear and golden, slightly hazed with the climbing heat of summer. The orchards themselves were something akin to a wonderland of lush green. Soft, waving grass carpeted the expanse. Compact, leafy trees created inviting little curling paths so exquisite that if someone had told me faeries were hiding among their branches, waving magical wands and leaving gold-dust trails, I would have believed him. Hamish ran ahead. I called to him, but he had disappeared. He wouldn’t have gone far, I knew. Let him be, I thought. He needed to play, to run. To be a child for an hour or two.
I strolled along, thoroughly enjoying myself, taking a deep breath and feeling the air in my lungs and the sun on my face for the first time in...perhaps ever. This was a different sun from the muted light of the city. This sun felt healthy and restorative. I unpinned the clasp of my shawl to feel the warmth on my skin.
I heard laughter. From somewhere up above me.
“Come down from there,” I told him. “You’ll fall.”
“I won’t fall. You should come up here, Ami. I can see over the orchards. And at the very top of the tree, the apples are turning red.”
“Pick one for me.”
“There’s one right above you,” Hamish exclaimed. “On that branch there. You could reach it if you climbed across.”
I looked to see where he was pointing. A thick, low branch was within my reach where it met the trunk of the tree, rising at an inclined angle as it grew outward. At the end of it was a very big, very red apple. It nearly glowed with its luscious rosy ripeness in the dappled sunlight. “You get it,” I said.
“I’m all the way up here. You’ll have to.”
I’d never picked an apple straight off a tree before and eaten it when it was still warm from the sun. It simply looked too good to resist. This truly was Eden, I couldn’t help musing, and I was Eve, overcome by temptation. Laying my shawl on the grass, I reached up and slid my palms over the comfortingly rough bark of the tree branch. Placing one hand farther, then the other, I inched my way along it until I was hanging several feet off the ground. My arms were already getting sore from the effort, but I was now determined to reach my apple. And I was almost there.
I was close enough to reach out, through the leaves...I almost had it. My fingertips brushed against its smooth, perfect surface. But then I heard a sound. Someone was clearing his throat. The deep rumble was so close behind me it startled me and I lost my grip, tumbling to the ground in an unruly heap.
Slightly dazed from my fall, I looked up to see the most striking vision I had ever laid eyes on.
A man.
He was very tall and backlit by the sun so that his lit silhouette was framed by a wash of bright, molten gold. The shape of him was somehow superb, as though he’d been carved by a master. I could see the colors of him and the details of his white shirt, loose and open at the neck to reveal the tanned skin of his throat. His shirt
