Page 13 of Taken By the Savage Highlander

When she pulled aside a branch, she revealed five tiny, wriggling kittens. They were so little their eyes hadn’t yet opened. Their small paws scrambled uselessly against the dirt, not yet strong enough to move from their hiding place.

“I heard that they found a female cat early this mornin’,” Tilly said as she knelt beside Margo. “She didn’t make it. These must be her bairns.”

Margo’s heart sank. Those poor things did not stand a chance without their mother. They could do nothing for themselves there was no way they could find their own food. She could not just leave them there.

“We must take them into the castle,” Margo said, reaching forward to pick them up.

The tiny animals spat with fear, but the first, an orange tabby kitten, relaxed immediately when Margo held it in her palm. She scooped up two more, ignoring their protests. Tilly slid in beside her, gently grabbing the last two cats.

“They’re freezin’,” Margo said as the two girls stood. “We must take them inside. They need a warm blanket and milk. The hearth in my chambers should be enough to keep them warm.”

“Aye, ye’re correct,” Tilly said, leading Margo inside once more.

As they walked through the castle corridors, Tilly instructed another maid to bring milk. It did not take long before they were back in the quarters she was meant to share with Cameron. She settled on the floor next to the hearth, placing the kittens on her lap. Tilly passed off the two she had been carrying before rushing to the wardrobe to pull out a blanket.

“Ye ken,” she said as she returned, setting up a place for the kittens far enough away from the hearth so that the kittens were not at risk of wandering into it, “ye and Laird MacLeod are alike; always carin’ for the helpless and voiceless.”

Margo hummed, holding her tongue. She disagreed. She and the Laird were nothing alike. She might help those more vulnerable, but it seemed to her that Cameron only hurt the voiceless and helpless.

She was not given the chance to dwell on the thought. Another maid came in, holding a tray loaded with a bottle of milk, a bowl, and several utensils to help feed the kittens. When she settled next to Margo, Margo’s focus shifted to the wee lives in her lap.

Getting them fed was tedious. They were too little to drink from a bowl, so she had to painstakingly drip milk into their mouths. With the help of the maids, she got all five of them fed and settled on their blanket.

“They will need to be fed every few hours,” Margo murmured, stroking their soft, downy heads. “I suppose I won’t be doing much exploring for a while.”

“I will stay with ye,” Tilly said, unable to take her eyes off the kittens.

For the next few days, Margo and Tilly did nothing but care for the kittens. They slept in shifts, and Margo only left the room for meals. It wasn’t until the end of the fifth day that she realized she had not seen MacLeod at all. Once she noticed, though, it was the only thing she could think about.

Where could he possibly be? And why does it bother me so much now that I have noticed he’s gone?

“Oh, what is he doing to me?” she asked the gray kitten she was feeding.

As if in response to her question, hoofbeats rose in the courtyard below. After making sure the kitten she was feeding didn’t miss a drop, she put it down next to its siblings. She got up and walked over to the window, curious to see what all the ruckus was.

The first thing she saw was Cameron on his horse, the sun shining off of his long hair. The carriage she had seen leaving a few days before followed close behind him. When it came to a stop at the centre of the courtyard, the door opened, and a guard helped a young girl out.

“Eleanor?!” Margo yelled, her voice carrying out over to the courtyard.

Before her sister or anyone else could react, Margo tore out of the room. Her hands fisted in her gown to lift it from the floor so she would not trip, as she ran down the corridor. Taking the stairs two at a time, she was outside in an instant.

Eleanor was standing next to Cameron, her eyes wide as she took in her surroundings. When she spotted Margo running towards her, her face broke out into a smile, tears of relief swimming in her eyes. The two of them met in the middle, wrapping their arms around each other as they cried.

“I missed you so much,” Margo sobbed, holding onto Eleanor as tightly as she could, as if her sister might disappear again.

“Margo,” Eleanor replied, seemingly unable to say anything else.

Words were not needed, though. Margo could feel Eleanor’s relief, and she was sure that Eleanor could feel hers as well.

Finally, when she lifted her head, she saw Cameron watching them from a distance. Their eyes met briefly, and for the first time since she arrived, she offered him a genuine smile. He nodded; then turned away and made his way into the castle.

I did not think he would bring her so quickly.

“Laird MacLeod, we werenae expectin’ ye,” a fisherman said, stepping away from the storm-damaged boat he and the other men were working on. “To what do we owe the honor?”

“I’m just doin’ me rounds, Harold,” Cameron said as he took in the boats along the coast. The recent weather had destroyed nearly half of their fishing fleet. “It seems as though another set of hands would do ye well.”

“If ye’re offerin’ to help,” Harold said, jerking his head back toward the men, “we wouldnae turn ye away. We’d like to get these back in the water as soon as possible.”