Ada said nothing, and they finished their meal in silence until Graeme dismissed her. “Ye will go straight tae yer room, lass,” he said. “That is yer punishment for disappearin’ today. Angus will take ye.”
She nodded in defeat, leaving her father behind without so much as a good night, and she met the older guard outside the main hall door. She reserved a smile for him, however. Ever since she and Ella were little, he had always been kind to her, along with Darren, who often watched them as well. But now that it was just her in the castle, she no longer needed to be two guards.
She wasalone.
“Off tae bed now, lass?”
“Aye, Angus,” she said, walking alongside him.
As they went up the steps, Ada was lost in thought. She twisted a finger around her ginger hair, hanging loose as usual. It was one of the small, perhaps ridiculous, ways she tried to experience a little freedom for herself. But she was at a loss.
Outside her door, she bid Angus goodnight and went inside to sit by her crackling fire. Picking up the stolen whiskey she usually absconded with from her father’s study, Ada poured herself a glass. The nights were lonely now without her sister by her side. She was happy for Ella and her newfound happiness with her husband. But still, something was missing in her own life. Without her sister, she had no confidante, no true friend. Her father’s forced isolation meant she was on her own.
I will make me escape one day, just as I told Ella before.
But she’d hesitated after her sister’s marriage, hopeful that her father had changed. However, now she knew that it would still be the same until she began to fight back. Taking a sip, Ada started to make her plans.
Why did I agree tae this job?
Blair had asked himself that nearly every day, multiple times a day, since Ella and Cameron had married and he'd been asked to return to MacPherson Castle to serve as Ada's guard until she married. He had been Cameron's man-at-arms, but he and Ella thought this would be best. He'd returned a few months before, and it'd been one crazy day after another. Ada MacPherson couldn't sit still and follow orders. She made his job a hell of an ordeal.
And that particular instance was no exception. He was standing beneath the tree in the castle courtyard, watching Ada strain to reach a kitten. He hadn't arrived in time before she made the decision to climb the tree and stop her. Whenever the guard changed, the lass always found a way to do something risky.Damn it!
“What in God’s name are ye doin’, Lady Ada?” he called and turned when he saw a group of young children hurry into the courtyard.
“See? I told ye the lady was up there tryin’ tae get our kitten!” one of them cried.
Blair rolled his eyes and rubbed a frustrated hand over his face.
“I am tryin’ tae help a poor creature in need of assistance,” Ada called back, turning to look at him through the branches. Her long ginger hair was hanging over her shoulders, and even though she pinned him with an angry glare, he was struck with just how lovely she was.
Ada is always lovely. There is never a time when she is nae, even when she is acting so foolish.
He sighed, trying to talk some sense into himself. Thinking about Ada as a woman did him little good. She was hisduty, and he needed to be able to fulfill said duty without such unsettling thoughts about how bonny she was.
“Ye ken that ye could come and help me with this, Blair,” she accused, “instead of just watchin’ me, since ye think me so frail and unable tae handle me own affairs.”
“Ye are nae able, Lady Ada,” he began, but he paused when he saw the interested looks on the children’s faces. “Ye may fall, and then where will we be?”
“I have climbed trees before!” she yelled as she strained for the kitten, but it meowed and crawled back further onto another branch.
“Ye can dae it, me lady!” one little girl with hair of gold cried, and the rest of them clapped their hands in encouragement. “It is me kitten, sir, and she told me she’d help.” The lass stood beside him, looking up at Ada with awe.
He understood the look entirely, even though Ada’s reckless actions would soon be the death of him. Despite his anger at what she was doing, he couldn’t help but smile, just a little.
She was a conundrum. She liked to act spiky, constantly snapping back or teasing, trying to get away with things. But at the same time, she had a heart of gold. She’d do anything for her sister, and now, she was risking her life to help a silly kitten down from a tree to make one of the little girls happy.
“Almost there!” Ada had moved to another branch, and Blair’s heart flipped as he saw it was too weak to hold her.
He stepped forward as she reached out for the small white cat. “Be careful!” he cried, his sudden outburst surprising her.
Her scream pierced through him as the branch broke, and then so many things happened at once. Blair raced forward, pushing the children out of the way so that they wouldn’t get hit as Ada fell from the tree. He made it just in time, his arms outstretched to catch her before she reached the ground.
“Shite!” he cursed as they both fell to the grass, and the cat hissed, scratching Blair’s face before scampering off.
The children dashed after it, not before thanking her, and then it was just themin the courtyard, breathing heavily. His arms remained tight around her, holding her firmly as his heartbeat slowed. Her hair tickled his face, and he swallowed, trying to ignore the sensation of relishing her proximity.
“Lady Ada, are ye all right?” he asked.