Chapter 6

The moment Avery left the great hall, he searched for a maid, a server, a guard, or anyone who might have been watching the room. He found a maid talking to one of the guards, flirting and pushing her chest out, clearly trying to get his attention. Avery held back his chuckle as he stopped beside the pair.

"Apologies for the interruption." Avery shared a smile with the guard, who was already laughing at the maid's attentions. "Do either of ye ken where I will find the castle healer? I have a headache," he lied once more, praying it would get him what he wanted.

"Her rooms are in the east turret of the castle walls," the guard explained.

"But she went into the gardens. I saw her earlier." The maid gestured toward the door. "Through that door and the next, and ye'll find the gardens. She seemed quite upset about something."

"Thank ye." Avery forced a smile and walked through the doors, trying not to look too eager as he followed Callie.

Where have ye gone tae hide now, kid?

He automatically thought of her as ‘Callie the kid,' for it was what he had called her all those years ago, even though she obviously wasn't a child now. He found the gardens and walked along an avenue of lime trees, peering at the moonlit borders in search of her. He thought he saw shadows dancing at one point, then realized it was owls flying overhead, casting shadows in the moonlight across the gravel.

When a murmuring sound reached his ears, Avery stepped between a gap in the trees, finding himself in a small, circular courtyard. In the middle was a fountain, the water pouring out of a lion's mouth and down into a pool around it. On one side of the cobbled ground was a row of rose bushes, and on the other high yew trees, masking him from the view of the house.

Someone was pacing around the fountain, murmuring something repeatedly. It was Callie. She had grown since Avery had seen her four years ago, developed some enticing curves, and wore a much finer gown than the tatty thing he had last seen her wearing.

"Well, I am glad ye used my money tae get ye that new life," Avery said, announcing his presence boldly and stepping into the courtyard.

She skidded to a halt on the damp cobbles and flicked her head in his direction, her dark hair swinging around her shoulders. She stared at him, and he gazed at her, unsure what to say next. That silence elongated as he took in her appearance. She looked bonny, healthy, and no longer starving and as thin as a rake, as she had been before.

Thank the wee man above ye are alive!

He kept the thought to himself.

The silence was suddenly broken by her breath hitching.

"Kid? What's wrong?" He stepped toward her.

"Ye call me that now!" She flung herself toward him. He was unprepared for it. Her arms wrapped around him so fast, he stumbled backwards.

She is hugging me!

He tripped on the ridged cobbles and fell back, planting his palms on the stones to save his head from smacking on the hard surface. Callie fell with him, her hands on his shoulders, and her legs straddling him. His eyes widened at their position, and she froze.

"Well, I warrant this isnae what ye had in mind."

"Ye're alive, ye're alive!" she cried, still embracing him tightly, leaning down despite their position. Avery kept his hands on the ground, not sure what to say or feel. A beautiful woman was straddling him, they were alone in the garden, and his blood was rushing to places it should not have been! He felt his body stirring, and he closed his eyes, blocking out the sight of Callie hanging above him.

Think of Ella. She is my love. I willnae be tempted by lust for another lass.

When her breathing began to hitch, Avery panicked.

"Are ye hurt?" His hands reached for Callie. He took her chin, lifting it up, to find her eyes welling with tears, which slipped down her cheeks.

"I thought ye were dead," she managed to mutter through her sobbing.

"Ha! That is why ye leap at me in the darkness and cry? Ye would persuade a man tae think something else was on yer mind."

She slapped him across the chest, playfully, and he laughed all the more. She adjusted her stance, sitting up in such a way as to release his shoulders but still straddle his waist.

"Dinnae say anything," she warned in a hiss.

"Truly? Ye wish me tae say nothing? Aye, rather hard at this moment."

"That is nae saying anything!" She tried to move off him but stood up awkwardly and fell over again. He chuckled as she landed on him, then moved a hand to her waist and held her still. It was an intimate touch. As she froze, so did he. Her eyes widened as she stared at him.

It's a long time since I've seen those eyes.

They were having rather a different effect on him tonight than before. Her attractions were plain enough to see, and his body was stirring in desire because of their current position. He had to get control, and fast.

"Wait." His forced his mind to be serious. He closed his eyes, blocking out the sight of her. "Ye thought I was dead?" His eyes popped open again, unable to resist looking at her again.

"Aye. The last I saw ye, Wallace put a dirk in yer chest. How come ye still live?" She didn't wait for him to answer but tilted her head to the sky. "Ah, thank God ye did!"

The prayer, the way her head was thrown back, and the feel of her warm legs straddling him, excited his body even more. He struggled to tame the feelings taking him over, knowing he must put a stop to things before his body betrayed his heart any further.

I have vowed my heart tae one woman only, and this lass isnae she.

"I am alive, Callie." He took her waist and shifted the two of them. He tried to roll her off him, but his leg ended up entangled in the skirt of her gown, and he rolled the two of them together instead. She ended up on her back, her hands to the cobbles as he stilled above her.

"Nae quite how I expected tae see ye again," she jested, and he smiled.

"Still have that spirit, I see, kid."

"Aye, still calling me ‘kid.'" She narrowed her eyes in warning, but her glare quickly softened. "Thank the wee man ye are alive." She didn't look away as she said the words this time but stared so intently at him, he was transfixed.

"Ye have believed for the last four years I was dead?" he asked, his voice a whisper. "Nay, fear nae. I climbed out of the window tae flee that fire, and a healer saw tae my wound. I have a scar only tae remind me of that night."

Her eyes flicked to his chest, and he suspected she was wondering where the scar was. Her eyes on his chest weren't helping him to control himself at all.

"Time tae release me, Callie. It would be quite inappropriate to be found like this, do ye nae think?"

"Ye are the one on top of me," she reminded him, her eyebrows raised.

"Yer skirt is entangled in my legs." He tried to kick the skirt out from between his thighs but only ended up brushing his hips against hers. She gasped in surprise, one of her hands reaching for his shoulder.

At that close touch, he narrowed his eyes.

"A little tip. Dinnae gasp like that and grip a man's shoulder at the same time. Aye, it's much more seductive than any of that flirtation ye tried four years ago," he warned her.

"I may have forgotten how insufferable yer humor is these last four years." She glared at him in mock affront. "I have been grieving ye, thinking the man who helped me start my life again was dead!"

"I am sorry for that." He made his voice serious, seeing how much she panted, and recalling how frightened she had truly been that night.

Aye, she has a good heart.

The thought struck him as if a lightning bolt had hit him. She was holding back her tears because of him, for she had feared for him. He had thought much of her these last four years, wondering if she had found a new, better life while he had been searching for Ella and the brothel he'd heard so much about. Now, he could see that Callie had been thinking of him too.

"Truly, I am sorry," he whispered the words this time. "Ye have grieved a man ye barely kenned."

She nodded, not managing any words. She lifted her free hand and wiped her cheeks, trying to stop more tears from falling.

"Have ye been happy?" he asked, finding the question burned within him. She nodded again and smiled.

"Laird Chattan offered me a job here after I came across his men after a battle and helped the wounded. It is my home now." Her smile widened. "And yer sister is a great friend tae me indeed."

"Aye, that is good." Avery wasn't sure why he had made no further effort to get off Callie. They had somehow fallen still, his legs still entangled with her skirt and her hand on his shoulder. His own hands were either side of her on the cobbles as he fought the attraction threatening to take hold of him.

Nay, nay! Dinnae think of attraction! My heart lies with another.

He thought of Ella and the attraction slipped away.

"And ye?" Callie asked, her gray gaze bored into his own. "Have ye been happy?"

"That is a question I cannae answer." He couldn't possibly say he had been. These last four years had been a harsh trial. But there had been some good things, certainly.

He'd helped some friends with passing information across Scotland, and engaged in more than one battle for the good of those who fought for the right cause. He'd practically become a warrior mercenary, but one with a conscience. Yet at each turn, he had failed in his ultimate task of finding Ella.

He now knew the brothel where she worked had to be close to Laird Chattan's lands, maybe even within the borders. But beyond that, he knew nothing.

Someday, I will find Ella. Even if it takes every living day left to me tae find her.

"Ye have suffered?" Callie asked in a small voice. "I pray nae."

"I should really get up now." He pushed down onto the cobbles, trying to stand again.

"Wait a minute."

"Wait?" he spluttered. "In case ye have nae noticed, Callie, ye and I could be mistaken for being intimate right now if we are seen together."

"And still ye speak tae me as if I am a fool." She rolled her eyes. "Calm yer humors and listen, bampot. Listen . . ."

He could have laughed at her insult, but the sounds she was clearly hearing soon reached his ears too. Someone was walking through the garden, their boots splashing in puddles.

"Avery? Are ye out here?" It was Ian's voice.

They both snapped their heads toward the gap in the yew bushes, knowing he could spot them at any minute.

"We need tae hide, now," Avery muttered, trying to pull himself off her.

"Nae time to stand," she hissed in a whisper and pushed into his shoulder. He didn't have time to ask what she was doing as he was rolled onto his back. They rolled over one another, flattening their bodies together.

They landed beneath the rose bushes just as the moon hid beneath the clouds. Thorns pushed into Avery's skin, and then something damp and soft landed in his mouth. He longed to spit it out, but instead, he froze, looking up to see Callie's outline above him, silhouetted in the darkness. She had to bend down close to him, to avoid poking her head out of the bushes. She held a hand over her mouth, trying to stop herself from laughing, just as Avery realized what had fallen in his mouth.

It was a rose. This time, he spat it out. She plastered a hand to his mouth at the sound, silencing him.

"Hmm!" He fell quiet a second later, hearing Ian's footsteps growing closer.

"Avery? Ye out here? Yer sister is asking for ye again."

Avery didn't make a sound against Callie's hand. He laid as still as he could, peering through the leaves around him to see Ian's boots nearby. They stepped into the courtyard, but because of the lack of light, Ian plainly couldn't see them. He hovered there for a second, then moved on.

Avery and Callie didn't move for several minutes, during which Avery barely breathed, afraid of being caught. To be seen with his brother-in-law's healer in such a compromising position could end up with him being made to wed her, for Noah was an honorable man.

I cannae do that. I have vowed tae marry Ella.

When a door closed in the distance, indicating Ian had retreated back inside the castle, Avery took Callie's wrist and tugged it away from his hand. Her face was just a few inches from his own. He could have reached up and kissed her. It certainly would have satisfied the longing in his groin, the desire stirring within him.

"Had enough of straddling me yet?" he teased her.

"I'm beginning tae wonder why I mourned ye at all," she grumbled, but she revealed a small smile as she finally slid off him and hurried out of the rose bushes, complaining when the thorns cut into her. He rolled out from beneath the bushes, pushing the leaves aside and ending up with more thorns in his hands. Straightening up, he pulled thorns out of his palms, aided by the light of the moon.

"Aye, good tae ken ye missed me," he said in mischief. "Though I had nae idea ye had missed me in that way."

"Enough," she pleaded, waving her hands at him and stepping away. "I am simply overwhelmed to see ye are alive, all right?"

"I ken." He sighed, falling still, serious for a minute. "I am glad tae see ye have found a home, Callie. Truly. I have often thought of ye." At his words, she smiled sadly, her hands on her hips. When he winced at the cuts on his hands, she inspected them.

"I have some salve that will help with the cuts."

"A healer, eh? Where did ye learn that trade?"

"I already kenned it before ye and I met." Her words captivated his attention, and he looked up from the blood beading on the palms of his hands. "I tried tae help my mother, long ago." She flicked her eyes toward him, then away again. "I learned botany and about medicinal herbs. It is the one trade I have. I thank the stars every day that I have been able tae turn it into a livelihood here."

"That is good." He lowered his hands to his sides. "They dinnae ken, then? I dinnae imagine Laird Chattan would take kindly tae kenning his healer was once a thief?—"

"Shh!" She waved her hands at him and stepped so close, the attraction flickered to life again in his stomach. He held it down, as her hands neared his mouth.

"Going tae silence me with yer palms again?" he asked in mischief.

"Nae jests," she warned. "Only Lady Scarlett kens something of my past, but nae more than that. She disnae ken everything, and I prefer it that way. I am safe here. Safe! Do ye have any idea how much that is something people like me crave?"

"I ken." Avery felt sobered, thinking of Ella. Unlike Callie, Ella still suffered at men's hands. At least Callie had managed to escape that group of highwaymen and find a good life for herself.

"They cannae ken. I pray ye, Avery, please. If ye are still the kind man ye were four years ago, then I beg of ye, keep my secret." She stared at him unblinkingly. There was an innocence in her face Avery recognized. He had seen it four years ago when he had stopped her from stealing and pulled a knife.

Why did I ever pull a knife on her in the first place?

He was ashamed at the memory, disgusted by it, but he'd acted on instinct to protect his money. Years living on the road had trained his reflexes to reach for a blade.

"They would get rid of me in a moment, I fear it," Callie pleaded, stepping so close to him now, he had to tilt his chin down to look at her. The idea of a kiss entered his mind again, and he saw the dangers of being around Callie for any length of time.

The woman she had become was quite entrancing. She was no longer a child but a woman. He should avoid her as much as he could, for he would be faithful to his vow.

"I give ye my word," he said without hesitation. "What passed between us four years ago will be kenned by nae one, nae yer part in the story, nor mine neither."

"Ye wish it tae be secret too?" she asked, one eyebrow raising. "Why?"

"Let us just say, I have my secrets, as do ye." He looked away toward the castle, thinking of Scarlett. His other sister, Eloise, would be there tomorrow, and the three of them would be a family for a while. That should be his focus now. It shouldn't be the attractive Callie, who was staring at him now in the moonlight. "I should return, but ye have my promise. The past stays secret."

He went to walk past her, but her hand reached out and touched his arm. It was the lightest of touches, but he halted all the same.

"Thank ye," she said, her voice quiet.

"Dinnae thank me. Ye dinnae need tae." He lingered longer than he should have, his eyes flicking down to her lips. Then, he left, striding back toward the castle. The place where she had rested her fingers on his arm still tingled as he walked away.