Highlander's Charm (Highlander Heat #3)

“Please, can you take me to her?” Nanna wasn’t the laird’s mother.


“Aye, come and warm yourself inside. I’m Ian, the laird’s captain.” He holstered his weapon, clasped her elbow and marched her across the beach and up the grassy incline.

Puffing, she barely kept up with her wet skirts slapping her legs.

A rock-cut ditch, close to twenty-five feet wide, curved around the castle and butted into the forty foot sheer rock wall Mingary was built on. A thick wooden drawbridge spanned the divide on the landward side. They passed under a raised portcullis, and ahead, Mingary’s impregnable castle walls rose.

Through the darkened doorway, Ian steered her. “Where exactly do you hail from, lass?”

“Sydney. I lived with my grandmother there until recently.” Best to keep as close to the truth as possible. Hopefully Nanna hadn’t gone too far off base, even though she’d apparently claimed she was the laird’s mother.

“Mistress Jean spoke of a village named Sydney when she first arrived.”

“Really?” She stumbled on a jutting floor stone but quickly righted herself. A stream of light from the inner courtyard flared into the gloomy passageway and struck the corner stones. An image flittered through her mind, one of a woman standing near an ivy-covered well. The same vision from when she’d first arrived here with Zayn and wandered through the ruins. Only now the woman’s face was clear. Nanna.

Clutching her soggy skirts, she raced into the courtyard. The muddy rubble littering the ground was gone and moss no longer grew in clumps along the crumbling sections of wall. Nanna stood there, her black hair wisped with gray, pinned high atop her head. Gone were the casual slacks and floral blouses she’d always adored, and instead she wore an elegant olive gown with long sleeves hemmed in layers of lace. “Is it truly you?”

“Yes, my dear. We’re finally together again.” Nanna opened her arms.

She bounded into them, held her tight. “I’ve missed you, so much.”

“And I’ve been waiting forever for you to arrive.”

“You’re here. You’re really here.” She squeezed her and tears streamed down and mingled on their mashed cheeks.

“Look at you. You’re a wet mess.”

“I took an unexpected dip.”

“I’m not surprised, and that sounds like a story I need to hear.” Nanna glanced at Ian as he watched them from the entrance. She lowered her voice, whispering in her ear, “I haven’t spoken of what’s happened to us, not with John still away.”

“Ian just told me you’re the laird’s mother?”

“Yes, I have far too much to explain, but not with an audience. Once we’re alone. I promise you’ll hear it all.” Nanna steered her toward the winding stairs, then slowed as a maid walked toward them. “Meg, please prepare a bath for my granddaughter, and be as quick as you can. She’s to have the chamber next to mine.”

“Yes, my lady.” The girl dashed upstairs.

Scrubbing his thickly bearded jaw, Ian stepped in front of them and barred their way. “With the laird away, I’m responsible for this clan.”

“Of course you are.” Nanna wrapped an arm around Lila’s waist. “Thank you for bringing my granddaughter to me.”

“You’ve never spoken of her. Isnae John your only son?”

“Yes, though he’s unaware Lila lives and I wasn’t certain she’d find her way here. As I told you when I arrived, I shall speak to John when he returns from the king’s business in Edinburgh. It’s only right he be the first to hear my news.”

Gosh, Nanna was talking as if she really was John MacIan’s mother. That surely wasn’t possible.

Nanna tightened her hold on her. “It’ll be all right. Not long now.” To Ian, she said, “Let us pass.”

“Aye, you may go.” He stepped aside. “We shall speak on the morrow.”

Nanna guided her upstairs and along the dimly lit passageway. Ahead, two lanky lads with their shirttails fluttering loose over their breeches heaved a tub through a doorway. Nanna pressed one finger against her lips in a quiet plea to wait.

She could be patient.

They entered the chamber and the lads shuffled out. Across the room, Meg knelt at the hearth, coaxing the sparks of a welcoming fire into life. She added a log and it crackled and caught alight.

Rising, she dusted her hands against her aproned sides. “Is there aught more you need, my lady?”

Nanna smiled at her. “Yes. Could you fetch some gowns from my ambry? My granddaughter arrived without her trunks.”

Meg bobbed her head and quietly closed the door behind her.

Nanna hauled her into her arms. “Finally we can talk. Tell me everything that’s happened.”