“I do travel… I just have never been this far up the Highlands before. It was my first time in Birlet Shallows. Usually when I visited Scotland, I stayed in the capital with my parents and explored some of the cities near there.”
“The Lowlands arenae as bonnie as it is up here.”
“I know,” she answered with a short laugh. “I like the view.”
Ducks floated among the weeds growing on the side of the loch, and when Jack sucked in a deep breath, he inhaled the fresh scent of the wildflowers surrounding where they stood.
When he was younger, he had visited the loch with his mother often. Jack remembered watching her sit under a tree close by. Then she would raise her head to the sky and stare at it for long before looking back and telling him, “The skies are a world on its own. If ye speak to them, they can hear ye.”
“I love this particular loch too,” he said to her when she lowered herself to a squat again and put her hand in the water. Isla picked a rock from the ground, tossed it into the water and the splash of water suddenly disturbed the water birds hovering on top of the surface.
“There’s many more that I can show ye,” he said to her when she rose to her feet and turned to him again. “Caves, hilltops and bonnie villages. When ye get to the Castle, ye will like what ye see. Humphreys Castle is rumored to be the bonniest in all the Highlands. My ancestors built it on the top of Ardenhill. It took many years for the workers to reach the end of the tower they built, but in the end it was worth it,” he boasted.
“I have read a lot about Scottish history, but nothing can trump seeing all of this myself. I want to see the hilltops too, and caves,” she said with enthusiasm. Jack loved the gleam he saw in her eyes.
“I’ll show ye,” he agreed. They took a detour from their journey to his Castle, and he took her round the Onich to show her the biggest meadow they had there.
Tall trees surrounded the entire place, ants moved through the grass as they strolled around it, and Jack held the reins of his horse tight in one hand as he walked beside her.
Shafts of golden sun lit up the place in patches, and Jack admired the reflection of it on Isla’s creamy skin. When he looked to her, she was grinning and staring at the clouds.
He longed to touch her hair and put his hands on her waist like he did earlier when he taught her to curtsy. Jack imagined bringing her close to him so he could inhale her sweet scent, then he would inch his head ever slowly toward hers until he tasted her lips.
Isla suddenly stopped, and Jack saw her bend over to the ground. “It’s a grave marker,” she said when she looked back up at him again.
“Must have been one of the villagers buried there,” Jack told her as she rose to her feet again. He stared at the stone marker and the carvings in Gaelic that read:To our war hero and father.
Jack’s throat instantly tightened as he read the words. During his father’s reign, Clan Humphreys hadn’t known many years of peace.
They had fought wars, defended themselves against rebellions, and thrived to survive in chaos all because his father had made alliances with power-hungry clans who saw themselves as conquerors.
In the bid to conquer more Highland clans, they had nearly lost everything including their Castle. Jack had vowed on the day his father died never to make the same mistakes.
He wanted to be a peaceful leader, but fierce and dedicated to caring for his people.
“We should head toward the market now. We need to get ye proper clothes.”
Isla put her hand in his when he reached out to her, and he led her back to his horse.
By the time they arrived the market, he could tell that she was stunned. Her eyes wandered the crowd. Some traders were enjoying themselves with the drummer’s music and the Highland dance some lasses were performing. Jack noticed how engrossed Isla was in watching the scene. She didn’t even look at him when he walked past her and got to a trader’s store, who sold silk dresses, and earasaids.
It was always busy in the afternoon, and they could buy what they needed without hassle because they were a lot of varieties to choose from.
He didn’t have enough to buy her expensive clothing, but he could get her something appropriate to wear to the Castle instead. Isla was soon dancing with the crowd of lasses when Jack turned back to look for her.
He paused and admired her. Her steps were perfect, like she had been dancing the Celtic steps all her life. There was a brilliant smile on her face as she kicked one leg in front of her, then put her right hand at her back and side walked around her partner.
She looked so wild and free, laughing as she stepped to the drums and tossing her hands in the air to wriggle her body and match what the others were doing.
Jack enjoyed watching her so much, he forgot he was supposed to be protecting her, and making sure no one suspected that she seemed different from the rest of them. He also had to make sure that she did not tell the things she knew to anyone else.
The dance ended with a loud applause, Isla curtsied just like he had showed her, then she walked over to him.
“That was amazin’,” he told her as she joined him at the trader’s stand again.
“Thank you,” she answered before she surprised him by hooking her hand in his. Isla looked around them and added. “Oh… shopping, that’s my favorite thing to do.”
“Ye just did it again. Used a word I dinnae understand.”