Chapter Three
“Wake up, milady, it is morning.”
Linnette’s eyes sprang open and it took her a good moment to realize she was in her own bed inside Castle Whitby and that she wasn’t still running from the headless horseman on the moors.
She’d been so shaken by the time she’d returned to the castle last night that she had gone straight to bed and ignored her handmaid’s questions of where she’d been.
“Open the shutter, Paulina. I need to see the sun.” Linnette felt as if seeing sunlight would somehow burn up the horrible image in her mind of that ghost of a rider that had chased her last night.
“My lady, where were you until late last night? And why were you sleeping in your clothes? You seem so shaken.”
“What?” Linnette pushed up in bed to realize she still wore her clothes from last night.
Realizing she didn’t want to keep this secret and that she needed to tell someone, she chose to confide in her handmaid, who was a few years younger than her own age of twenty summers.
“Oh, Paulina, I sneaked out of the castle last night to meet someone.” She flipped back the covers and dangled her feet over the edge of her bed.
“A lover?” asked the girl in a teasing voice, taking a fresh gown from the wardrobe and walking over to help Linnette change into it.
“Not a lover yet, but hopefully my husband soon.”
“Do you mean your betrothed, Lord Thomas Payne?” asked the girl, helping Linnette out of her crumpled gown.
“Nay, not him! I despise that man and he is a good two decades older than me and already has six sons but greedily wants six more.”
“Then who?” asked Paulina, pulling the fresh gown over Linnette’s head.
“His name is Duncan MacKeefe.”
“‘MacKeefe’?” Paulina’s jaw dropped. “Are you in love with a Scot, my lady?”
“He’s a Highlander, and yes, I do think I’m in love. I’ve only met with him in secret a few times this past year, but I know that he is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, and not that pompous old goat, Lord Payne.”
“Does your father know about this?”
“Of course not!” Linnette bent down and picked up her shoes while Paulina grabbed a boar’s bristle brush and ran it through Linnette’s hair. “And you will not tell him, either.”
“I will keep your secret, my lady. So…will you be running away with the Highlander, then?”
“I sent him a missive to meet me on the moors.”
“‘The moors’?” gasped the handmaid, almost dropping the brush. “You need to stay away from there. Everyone knows that the headless horseman roams the moors looking for his lady.”
“Yes, I know. Better than you think.” Sighing, Linnette stood up and adjusted her bodice. “I didn’t see Duncan last night, but the ghostly horseman chased me.”
“Nay!” Paulina held a hand to her mouth. Her eyes opened wide. “You know that he was going to steal away his lady lover, and now you plan on sneaking off with a Highlander right there on the moors? It is the same thing! Hopefully won’t end in the same manner.”
“The moors is where we meet. And also the only place I’m safe from anyone following me. No one will go there purposely.”
“And neither should you, my lady. Your precious Duncan could end up losing his head, just like the man from the legend.”
“If my father doesn’t find out, there is no chance of that happening. Besides, Duncan is a warrior and can defend himself. I’m not worried.”
“Please, don’t go to the moors again.”
“I must. I am going there again at nightfall. I know Duncan will come for me.”
“It’s too dangerous. Especially at night and unescorted.” Paulina tried to change her mind, but Linnette would never do that.
“Paulina, I am more afraid of being stuck marrying Lord Payne than I am of being attacked by a ghost.”
“Was he…scary?” The poor girl looked pale, as if just the thought of seeing the ghost was going to make her swoon. The ghost frightened Linnette more than anything, but she couldn’t admit it now.
“Yes, Lord Payne is very scary,” she said instead.
“I meant the ghost, my lady.”
Linnette smiled, knowing exactly what she’d meant. “I can take care of a ghost, don’t you worry.” She turned and headed for the door.
“At least take someone with you. Please. Don’t go there alone again.” The handmaid wrung her hands together.
Linnette chuckled softly and slowly turned to face the girl. “You’re right, Paulina. I will take someone. You will go with me.”
“Me?” Now the poor girl really looked as if she were about to fall over.
“I’m jesting,” she told her with a giggle. “Relax. However, you might have a point. I’ll ask one of the pages to accompany me tonight. Do you have any suggestions? It has to be one who can keep my secret.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Paulina looked to the ground.
“Or better yet, how about that stableboy who fancies you? Brom is his name, I believe. He is big and strong for his age.”
“He’s only fourteen,” said Paulina, shaking her head as if she thought it were a bad idea.
Linnette knew that Brom would do anything Paulina asked of him. She hated to do this, but he was the only one who could possibly help her as well as keep her secret.
“He’s also so smitten with you that he’d kiss the ground you walked on if he thought it would get you to return his attention. Now come. Let’s go find Brom so you can ask him to join me on the moors tonight.”
“Yes, my lady,” the girl answered, walking slowly to the door with her eyes downcast. “But please, don’t let Brom get his head chopped off.”
“Now, what kind of talk is that?” asked Linnette.
“No one is going to die. This is a happy occasion and will hopefully land me with the man I want as my husband.” She left the room, trying to sound confident.
In reality, she was hoping that this wouldn’t end as badly for her as it had for the star-crossed lovers of the legend of the moors.
*
“So how long are we going to have to stay in this godforsaken place?”
Duncan awoke the next morning to see North sitting on a chair with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.
His long legs were stretched out and he rested his feet atop the pallet that Duncan now occupied.
“Why are ye so ill-tempered this mornin’?
” Duncan yawned and stretched his arms over his head.
“Some of us were no’ so lucky to get a nice, soft pallet to sleep on.”
“Och, that.” Duncan flashed him a grin and sat up, rubbing his back. “It’s rather lumpy. And scratchy.”
“I would have liked to have been the judge of that.”
“Ye’re just scowlin’ because ye’re away from yer wife.” Duncan stood up and shook out his plaid.
“I miss Matilda, that’s right. And I should be with her instead of hidin’ in a broken-down, bug-infested hut in the middle of a wretched moor.” North’s feet hit the ground and he stomped atop a bug.
“As soon as I collect Linnette, we’ll head on back across the border.”
“With an English army on our tails, no doubt.” North stood up, shaking his head. “This is a bad idea, Duncan. I never should have let ye talk me into comin’ here with ye.”
“Would ye feel better if instead of waitin’ for Linnette, we went to her?”
“To ask her da for her hand in marriage?”
“Nay, no’ that.” Duncan wrinkled his nose. “He’d never agree to it. We’ll have to sneak her out.”
“Ye really are mad, I can see that now.”
“Do ye have a better idea?” Duncan asked his friend.
“Instead of walkin’ into the lion’s den and announcin’ we are there? Aye.” North plopped down atop the pallet and lay back, throwing his arm over his eyes. “We take a wee nap and wait for the lassie to come to us.”
“Now why didna I think of that?” asked Duncan in a sarcastic manner. He pulled open the door and peered out. “It seems to be sunny, but there’s still a low-hangin’ fog over the moors.”
“Did ye expect to see butterflies and birds flyin’ around? It’s a damned moor, ye fool.”
“Nay, I didna expect to see butterflies,” said Duncan, surveying the area, not able to get the image of the headless horseman out of his mind. “However, I think I’d prefer a butterfly to what I saw last night.”
North didn’t answer, but instead let out a guttural snore. Duncan released a deep breath and slowly closed the door, wondering how any of this could possibly end in a good light.