Chapter 11
He devoured her face with a hungry gaze.
She was even more enticing when she was angry.
Her green eyes sparkled with a luminous fire, and her pale skin flushed with passion.
The ribbon around the neck of her undergown was open, showing a delectable hint of cleavage, and her thighs were so damp with sweat that the thin wool of her kirtle clung to them as if it were wet.
Lachlan watched as two hot blotches of color spread over Ada’s cheeks after she slammed the tasse down on the counter.
“Sláinte, Ada,” Lachlan said with relief, as she seemed to have forgiven him.
The healer’s daughter kept him wondering what the next thing coming out of her mouth would be: a curse or a chuckle? He never knew.
“Now, let’s get ye home afore Iona holds me accountable for yer tardiness too!”
When she did not answer him, he got worried. What had upset her now?
“Dinnae blush to be seen walkin’ out with me, lass. I will nae ask ye to strip off yer clothes for me again until ye beg me to!”
Another jest, but still she remained silent, staring at him with shock and surprise in her eyes.
“What, lass? What have I said wrong this time? Take pity on a man who worships the ground ye walk on. I am just another ordinary suitor for yer hand at the end o’ the day.”
His beseeching words had no effect. Ada shook her head, stepping back from him with fear in her eyes, her face slick with beads of sweat.
“C-Calvin…” He could hardly hear her anguished voice. “Don’t…touch it…”
She reached out for his glass still standing on the counter, swiping at it with a shaking hand. She missed twice and then managed to send it smashing onto the floor, where the contents splashed out onto his boots.
He comprehended what was happening immediately. Lachlan bellowed to the alehouse keeper, “Let no one else be served from that whiskey!”
Lifting Ada up, he ran outside. Finding a horse tethered outside, he galloped her down to the kitchens as fast as a cat could blink its eyes.
Dismounting, dragging her with him, he barged into the scullery and thence into the kitchen itself.
“Salt! Put it in a mug o’ water. Do it now!”
The cook knew what was going on and prepared the emetic herself.
She did not even bother stirring the salt into the water, just handed the mug to Lachlan with an expression of deep concern on her face.
He tilted the drink down Ada’s throat, holding her at such an angle that she would be forced to swallow.
When the drink was down, he turned her onto her stomach, holding her up by the waist so she would not fall.
The scullions and the cook waited with bated breath for the emetic to work.
Ada was worryingly limp, but then her stomach rebelled at the salt.
She heaved, spewing out the concoction with wretched spasms of disgust.
But it saved her life. The salted water was tinted amber with the whiskey.
The liquid bubbled ominously on the kitchen flagstones as Ada’s tremors subsided.
When her purge was over, Lachlan lifted her up gently and carried her out of the kitchen.
The sound of the cook praising the heavens came behind them, but Ada was too faint to notice. She was limp in his arms.
He carried her to his bedchamber because it was closest. After laying her on his bed, he went to the bell rope. The page boy came after a moment or two. The cook had obviously wasted no time in getting the word out that there had been another poisoning.
“Make haste to the healer’s cottage an’ let her know all is well. Bring her here.”
The page ran off to carry out the order.
Iona was hefted to the main Castle house by one of the sentries.
There was no use setting sentries to guard the gates anymore; by this time, everyone knew that the poisoner was in their midst and did not gain access to the Castle and its inhabitants via the gates.
After the sentry placed Iona down on the bed, the healer lay down beside her daughter, touching the young girl’s face and cuddling her.
“Ada? Ada, ye have been me reason for living since the day I found ye, child. Dinnae leave yer auld mither to live out her last days on her own.”
Lachlan could not bear to watch such a close family scene, but he was glad he had been given the chance to see why Ada was not keen to leave her mother to get married.
The two women had a close bond beyond a man’s understanding of the matter.
He closed the door quietly and went to tell his grandfather what had happened.
“Two poisonings in one day?” Laird Calvin was finding the news hard to take. “This is serious. This is no nightshade berry accidentally baked in a pie. This is murder.”
“’Tis serious for me more than others, Grandfaither.” Lachlan knew he must tell the truth. “Ada an’ I were squabblin’ again when it happened.”
This news galvanized Laird Calvin into jumping out of his chair and coming around to the other side of his desk so that he might shout up at his grandson with more intensity.
“What did I say!? Why did ye ignore me!? Did I no’ order ye to stay away from the healer’s daughter? Are ye mad? Why d’ye court disaster in this fashion?”
Lachlan was apologetic. He did not like distressing his grandfather like this.
“Pardon, Grandfaither, but I had nay choice. I love her.”
“Spare me yer vapid protestations o’ love, Lachlan.” Laird Calvin spat out the words. “Ye ken naught o’ the word ‘love.’ Ye want to bed the girl, that is all! If ye truly cared about Ada, ye would leave her be during such dangerous times. Now the girl’s nearly dead ’cause o’ ye.”
Lachlan had to defend himself against these accusations. “Nay! It’s love, I tell ye. I could nae stand the thought of her leavin’ the Castle from the first time I laid eyes on her.”
The laird scoffed, “Pshaw! If ye were true a member o’ the Calvin clan, ye would ken better than to mistake the effect Ada’s precious maidenly beauty has on yer inflamed loins!
Ye writhe around like a lust-filled lad with neither wit nor brain!
An’ now that the healer’s daughter lies deadly ill after spurnin’ yer advances, who d’ye think the clan will blame? ”
Lachlan had plenty of arguments left to make to persuade his grandfather how much he cared for Ada, but this stopped him in his tracks.
“Aye, lad.” Laird Calvin nodded when he saw the realization dawning on Lachlan’s face.
“The clan will blame ye for this latest poisoning. Only Ada an’ ye were at the scene of both, and only Ada is sick.
What d’ye think the clan will have to say about that?
D’ye think they’ll want ye for their laird when all this is said an’ done? ”
Striding to the library door, Lachlan shouted over his shoulder, “I don’ care what all those auld addlepates make of the latest news! I love the healer’s daughter an’ would never hurt a hair on her head!”
He ran to his bedchamber, praying that Iona would believe him when he told her he had nothing to do with this. It felt strange to knock on the door to his own chambers but he did not want to barge in if Ada was still recovering from her illness.
“Ye may enter, Lachlan,” Iona’s voice called out.
He went in and was shocked beyond words. Ada was sitting up in bed, leaning her head back against the pillows. She was pale, and there was still a tint of purple around her mouth, but she was conscious enough to give him a wan smile when he walked into the bedchamber.
“Good evenin’ Lachlan,” Iona said. “Please don’ rush out an’ tell everyone Ada is well. We want the poisoner to think she is at death’s door for a wee bit longer.”
He wanted to tell them that he had no intention of leaving.
“How did ye ken it was me at the door, Mistress Iona?” was all he could think to say as he stepped toward the bedside.
Iona laughed. “Ye have a particularly heavy hand, Lachlan! I could tell yer pounding away on the door panels anywhere; ye have yet to learn how to knock quietly as a request, not a demand!”
He tried to muster up a smile, but he was too worried about how Ada felt with him being so close to her.
“May I approach the bedside, Mistress Iona?”
In reply, she hooked her foot around a small stool next to the bed and pushed it toward him, saying, “Afore ye sit down, Lachlan, will ye be so kind as to pull the bell rope again? I must venture out into the clan in order to show meself willing to leave me daughter with ye in private.”
When the page answered the summons, Lachlan told him to fetch a soldier to help carry Iona back to her cottage. On the way out, the healer said loudly, “I trust ye to keep me poor daughter safe throughout this night, Lachlan MacNair. She nearly died, ye ken!”
It was news the page boy promptly carried to just about everyone else in the Castle. The healer did not suspect the laird’s grandson, and she might even be trying to promote a match between the couple!