In Search of the Past (Stacey and Shane Mcleod, #2) (3 page)

“Thank you, Mrs. Maxwell, that’s very kind of you but it’ll be better if I wait in the car.”

While Stacey was on the phone with the towing service, Doctor McLeod had been 

leaning against the dining table with his arms crossed over his chest watching Miss Scott. He wondered, how in the devil did she wind up here of all places. Then he remembered, in her dream she had lived in Yorkshire.  He thought; what a beautiful, stubborn young woman she is to go looking for some dream man who died seven hundred years ago.  He became a little irritated to think she cared so much for this imaginary man.

While Doctor McLeod stood looking smugly on, Aunt Letty said, “Oh, no dear, my name isn’t Maxwell, it’s Foley and I insist you join us. Who knows when this fog will lift and you being a friend of Shane’s and all...”

He was leaning against the dining table giving, what Stacey knew to be a sardonic smile. What Stacey would really like to do wasn’t permissible and Mrs. Foley had been so nice.  She would act like a lady; even if it killed her.

As Mrs. Foley and Doctor McLeod’s mother left the room, Stacey, through gritted teeth, hissed at Doctor McLeod, “You could’ve told me her name wasn’t Maxwell.” As she gave him a swat on his upper arm with the back of her hand.

Shane, much surprised by her swat; put his hand over his bicep and said, “I beg your pardon, but I fail to see how your mistake was my fault, Miss Scott.”  The look Stacey gave him could have froze a polar bear. Aunt Letty offered tea, so the four of them were sitting in the living room having a cup of tea when Mrs. Foley asked, “You’re an American, aren’t you dear?”

“Yes ma’am, I am,” Stacey said with a smile. They asked a lot of questions about America.  “Actually, I’m from Texas,” Stacey said. They wanted to know where?  She told them,  “Rawhide. It’s a little town between Waco and Austin.”

Mr. smug britches just sat and didn’t enter into the conversation at all.  Oh, how she would love to remove that smug look off his face.  She still resented what he had said to her in his office.  A knock on the door brought her back from wherever she was.

It was the man from the towing service. “Sorry miss,” he said. “it can’t be fixed, so we’ll be towing it to the garage. I’m sure they’ll be sending you out a replacement.”

“May I ride into town with you so I can get a hotel?” Stacey asked.

“Sorry, miss. ‘Tis against the rules,” he said, “but I brought your cases and sun shades to the house.”  He sat them just inside the door.

“Well, thank you anyway,” Stacey said, then turned to Mrs. Foley and asked, “May I use your phone again to call a taxi?”

“Nonsense, my dear. You can stay right here with us.” 

“Oh, no, thank you,” Stacey said. “I couldn’t impose that way.”

“Nonsense,” Aunt Letty said. “tell her, Shane.”

“I guess that’s settled,” Shane said. “I’ll take your cases upstairs.”

Stacey stood there in awe.  She couldn’t remember ever before being so cleverly

maneuvered.  An older gentleman came in and Aunt Letty introduced him to Stacey as her husband, Sir John Foley.  They had to tell him all about the fog and how the car had

malfunctioned and about her being an American, from Texas.

When Shane came back downstairs, he said, “Your room is the first door to the right of the stairs.” 

Stacey thanked him, then like an after thought, asked, “Is your wife with you?”

“Wife? What wife?” his mother asked, frantically.

Shane grimaced at Stacey and said, “I’m not married, where did you get that idea?”

“At the fundraiser. I thought the woman with you was your wife.”

“If you had stayed around a bit longer, Miss Scott, I would have introduced you to her.  She was on the ‘fund raiser’ committee.”

“That’s a relief,” Shane’s mother said. “I should hope he would tell me before he marries, if he ever does.  He tells me he’s a confirmed bachelor:”

A little later on Mrs. McLeod said, “If you will excuse me, I’ll go up and dress for dinner.” 

Stacey wasn’t accustomed to dressing for supper, but when in Rome..., she asked to be excused so she could go up and change. When she came down she had on a blue sheath dress with huarache sandals.  Stacey had brought very few, but basic clothes with her.  She hadn’t expected to be socializing, she thought herself to be on a mission.

An older woman announced that dinner was served: Doctor McLeod introduced Stacey to Mrs. Nickels.  Stacey shook hands with her and said, “Hello; it’s so nice to make your acquaintance.”

Mrs. Nickels said, “Thank you pet. Not many young people have your manners now days.”

“So, you live in a small town, Stacey, what is your fathers profession?” Sir John asked as they sat down to the table. 

“He’s a doctor and a rancher.” 

“So, you live on a ranch?”

“Yes sir, we do,” Stacey said. “We raise cattle and quarter horses and we train cutting horses. Dad has won a few ribbons for some of his horses. Harlan’s really in charge of the horses, though. He’s a horse whisperer.”

“I’ve heard of horse whisperers,” Sir John said. “How does it work?”

“It takes a lot of patience and perseverance, plus a love of horses,” Stacey said. “Harlan is the best. My gramps says Harlan has horse sense.  It’s a good thing he does, he’s the ramrod of the horses. The cutting horses we use when we have a round-up. They are an absolute necessity.”

“What exactly is a cutting horse?” Sir John inquired.

“It’s a quarter horse that’s been trained to anticipate the movement of the animal he’s cutting from the herd.  You know how sheep ranchers use dogs to herd and keep the sheep together.  Well, we use horses pretty much the same way, except we use them to separate an unbranded calf from the herd or a new one from its mother.  That’s when the horse and rider cut them from the herd and prevent them from returning.  Then they are roped, tied, branded or tagged.”

“Isn’t that when you castrate them also?” Doctor McLeod asked.

Stacey gave him a look of disgust and with annoyance in her voice said, “Yes, it is. I didn’t realize you were so familiar with ranch life.”

Undaunted, Doctor McLeod said, “If my information is correct, you cook and eat the testicles, do you not?”

“Some people do,” Stacey said, as she gave him a withering look across the table.

“How do you know so much about this Shane?” Aunt Letty asked.

“I was wondering that myself,” his mother said.

“Last year when I was in San Francisco, they were on the hotel menu as calf fries and something else, oh yes, mountain oysters,” Shane said, nonchalantly.

Stacey saw her chance and pounced.  She wasn’t about to let this, ‘know it all, sophisticated, smart ass,’ get off that easily. She asked sweetly, “Did you try them?”

He shook his head, “No.”  Stacey looked him straight in the eye and said, “No? Oh you should have. They’re so tender and succulent.”

“Oh, dear lord,” Aunt Letty said, excused herself from the table. Luckily, the meal was over. Stacey, trying not to be impolite started stacking dishes.

“You don’t have to do that,” Doctor McLeod said.

“Oh, yes, I do. I don’t expect others to wait on me.”

“Why did you feel it necessary to gross out my aunt?”

“Don’t you dare lay that at my door. I left out the castration part, but no, you just couldn’t leave it alone! Could you?”

“I think you’re a very spoiled, high tempered young woman,” Doctor McLeod informed her. Stacey turned on him with eyes flashing and said, “Oh, do you now?  Well, you don’t know me well enough to make that assumption, Doctor McLeod.”

Mrs. Nickels came in the dining room to gather the dishes. When she saw Stacey stacking dishes, she said, “No, no, miss, I’ll get these.”

“Please, I wanna’ help,” she said.

“Yes,” Doctor McLeod said. “Miss Scott can wash and I’ll wipe.”

Stacey looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Mrs. Nickels smiled to herself and said, “No thank you, Doctor Shane. I fancy to do them myself.  I don’t have dishes for breaking, you young people go on in and visit. Go along with you now.”

Stacey and Shane walked into the front parlor to join the others. Stacey sat down in a chair; while Shane stood by the fireplace with his elbow on the mantle. They knew there was friction between Shane and Stacey, however, they didn’t know why. Shane stood watching Stacey, wondering what was going on in her head and why she had taken such a dislike to him. He was accustom to women vying for his attention.

Sir John brought in a bottle of blackberry wine and said, “Look what I found in the wine cellar. I thought you might like some Stacey.” 

“Yes, I would love some,” she said.

As they enjoyed the wine, Sir John asked, “What brings you to our part of England Stacey?” 

Aunt Letty spoke up and said, “Stacey is an archaeologist, John.”

“Oh, so you’ve come to take a look at our old castle, or what’s left of it,” Sir John said. 

Stacey looked straight at Doctor McLeod with fire in her eyes.  She was sure he knew about the castle and just didn’t tell her.  Doctor McLeod knew immediately what Stacey was thinking and quickly said, “I didn’t know there was an old castle near here. I swear to god I didn’t.”

“I’m sure you didn’t, Shane,” Uncle John said. “It’s on the other side of the lake, way up and off the beaten path.”

“You have a lake too?” Stacey asked.

She couldn’t believer her good luck. It was beginning to sound quite promising that she was near Dun-Raven castle. But she didn’t understand why she couldn’t find any information in Leeds about the castle. Maybe this old castle wasn’t the right one after all.

“Yes,” Sir John said. “I’ll be happy to guide you up, should you care to see it, of course. We’ll have to go by horse back there’s no other way up there from here. Do you ride? Oh, dear, silly question of me. Of course, you do.”

“I think that may be like asking, do ducks swim?” Shane said, a bit sarcastically.

Once again, he got that cold drop dead look, from Stacey.  She was wondering, why does he irritate me so much? She decided to ignore him. These were such nice people and she didn’t want to offend them. Even if Doctor McLeod didn’t think so she had been raised to be polite.

“Sir John, can you tell me anything about the castle?” Stacey inquired.

“There’s nothing there but rubble now,” he said. “It must have been a very large place at one time.  I know this house was built from some of the stones and Wakefield manor also, or so I’ve been told.  The local people in the village can probably tell you more than I can. We only moved here from London five years ago. The locals still think of us as, new comers, you know.”

Stacey was quiet and thoughtful for a few minutes, then asked, “When you bought this house did you ask about the history of the name and the road?”

Sir John frowned and said, “No, I didn’t. A solicitor friend found it for us. We were intrigued by it as soon as we saw the old place.”

Stacey suddenly felt very tired. She thanked them all and said goodnight, then excused herself and went upstairs.  She had just put on her over sized Baylor tee-shirt to sleep in when there was a soft knock at her door. When she opened the door there stood Doctor McLeod.

“Sorry to disturb you,” he said, “however, we share a bath and you’ve locked me out.”

“Oh, sorry,” Stacey said, and shut the door on him.

He went back to his room and as he was entering the bathroom he heard her door close, but not lock.  He grinned to himself as he realized that she thought of him as no threat. What a blow to his male ego. After breakfast the next morning, Sir John, Shane and Stacey headed out for the castle.  Stacey was very quiet. Shane left her alone, he seemed to know she didn’t want conversation. Stacey was deep in memories.  She had laid awake most of the night remembering the life she couldn’t possibly have lived, yet where did she get all these memories? Could a past life be possible?  Maybe seeing the castle would help in someway. What happened, she wonder, for it to be rubble now?

It took over an hour to go around the lake then up to the ruins. When Stacey saw the river, she knew the rest of the way and without thinking she took the lead. Shane and his Uncle John looked at each other in amazement, but said nothing.  For the first time, Shane was beginning to believe there was more to Stacey’s dream than he realized.

Uncle John had an appointment, so he turned back when he realized Stacey knew the way to the castle.  He said he would see them later at home.  Sir John sat on his horse for a few minutes and watched Stacey and Shane ride toward the ruins. He was mystified by Stacey’s knowledge of a place where she had never been to before now.

As they approached the castle grounds, Stacey saw where the orchard had once stood. Now it was overgrown with thistles, thorns and snarled roots of bushes. Wild flowers grew along the river bank but heather covered most of a wide ditch she didn’t remember being there. Again she wondered what happened here?  It was such a wonderful safe place at one time. Stacey sat on her horse looking at a place she knew she had never been before, except in her dream. Now she was hoping to find answers to her dream.

After a while they dismounted and walked around the ruins. Shane watched Stacey as she looked around with pain and recognition in her eyes. What he saw was heartrending.  He could tell she was in distress.  She’d been standing in one spot that may have been a room at one time.  She was standing with her head bowed and her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Shane realized she was deep in the past and silently weeping.

Witnessing her gut wrenching emotions, he wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her but didn’t know what her reaction might be. Stacey, stood looking around at the ruins.  Some of the foundation could still be seen, although the castle walls were all gone. Worn away by wind, rain and time, as well as by the destruction of human hands. As she wiped her tears away, she wondered again, what happened here for it to be so totally demolished.

Shane waited, feeling useless. Finally he muttered, “Bloody hell,” walked over to Stacey, turned her around and put his arms around her. Stacey laid her head against his shoulder.  She was no longer crying, she just stood there in the comfort of his arms and was surprised by the hardness of his body and the sensual male smell of him. Her senses went reeling until she heard him whisper softly, “Steady on lass, it was only a wretched dream.”