Kiwi Bride Series: Highland Kiss (10 page)

Ruby nodded. Mrs. McKenzie
strolled to the door and said, “Tell me if ya need more books,” as
she looked at the stack piled on the round table beside Ruby. With
a nod, she closed the door, and locked it.

Ruby glanced at the door
and then at the bed. A perfect plan was forming in her
head.

She placed the sleeping
Westies on the seat beside her and strolled to the bed, pulling the
duvet away.

Bed sheets!

She smiled and knew what
to do. But first, she needed to eat. She didn’t want to run away on
an empty stomach now, did she?

Sitting down, she began to
have her lunch. She ate slowly, savoring every taste in her mouth,
taking her time. Then, half an hour later, it was not Mrs. McKenzie
who came to get the empty tray, but Lizzie, who looked withdrawn
and not as friendly as before.

Ruby noticed that and wondered why, but she didn’t have
time to ponder it. She made up her mind to run away and was sure
she would not see Lizzie again.

“
Ya finished all yer food,
so ya musta been ‘ungry,” Lizzie commented.

“
Yes, I was,” Ruby
replied, surprised she could understand Lizzie’s accent more
clearly. “Er, Lizzie, can you bring me new bed sheets please? I
want to change these. They are getting a bit smelly now. Oh, and
don’t worry about changing them, I’ll do that myself.”

“
Bed sheets?” Lizzie
queried uncertainly. After that awful event a few days ago, Mrs.
McKenzie promptly lectured her about locking the lass in because
she was suicidal. Now Lizzie had become more careful whenever the
lass asked for anything after that.

“
Yes, Mrs. McKenzie
promised to bring me some, but it seems she must have forgotten.”
She smiled sweetly at the maid.

“
Aye, then,” Lizzie said
with some relief because she did hear the lass mentioning Mrs.
McKenzie. That meant it was safe then.

She picked up the tray and
turned to the door.

“
Lizzie, is Alec
here?”

Lizzie knew Master Alec
hadn’t seen her for three whole days. The young, somewhat suicidal
beauty must have been missing her lover.

Lizzie gave a little laugh
and said, “Nay, lassie, ‘e’s gone fer the day. I dunna know when
‘e’ll be back.”

Excellent!
Ruby
secretly smiled.

“
Master Alec is a very
nice man, lassie, joost don’t try too hard. ‘E’ll notice ya soon
enough. Joost give ‘im time.”

Ruby frowned
What was
the maid talking about?

“
Er, Lizzie, there’s one
more thing I would ask you to do,” Ruby added as the maid was about
to leave.

“
Aye, lassie?”

“
Lizzie, I was wondering if
you could give me some clothing. I mean something suitable
to, er—” She paused there. She couldn’t possibly tell Lizzie of her
plan to escape, could she? But what should she tell her so that she
could find her suitable pants, shirt, and boots? She couldn’t
possibly run in this damn shirt and no pants.

Lizzie laughed. “I
understand, lassie. I ‘ave a ‘usband, ya know. Don’t ye worry,
joost leave it ta me.”

Ruby smiled. “Really?
Thank you, Lizzie.”

“
Right then, I’ll be back
as soon as I can.”

“
Okay,” Ruby said as
Lizzie shut the door.

Ruby was excited as she
rehearsed her plan once again in her head. Now, all she needed to
do was to break the blasted thin window, tie all the sheets
together, and climb down the building. She’d run far away from this
place and find someone who could help her get back to London. Then
she’d go to Brian’s hotel, the one he owned, the one he took her
for dinner that evening and where he met that blond bombshell. What
was her name? Susan? Or something like that.

Oh, how she missed
him.

Twenty minutes later,
Lizzie returned. She opened the door and said, “More sheets an’
clothin’ fer ya.”

Ruby rushed to get the
sheets and clothing. She threw the sheets onto the bed and held up
the folded fabric. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets as
she stared at the thin nightdress.

“
This? Are you
sure?”

“
Aye, lassie, ’tis
perfect.”

“
But it’s a nightdress!
And besides that, it looks too big for me,” Ruby said with a
frown.

“
Now, I can fix it fer
ya,” Lizzie reassured her, taking the thin garment from
Ruby.

“
No, don’t you worry about
that. Listen, I was thinking of something more like pants and a
shirt and boots.”

Lizzie stared at Ruby with
raised eyebrows. “Oh, I see. Ya wanna play rough. Ya joost wait an’
I’ll see what I can do, all right?”

Ruby nodded and Lizzie
rushed out the door again.

Ruby returned her
attention to the sheets. She hauled the duvet aside and jerked the
sheets off the bed. Now she had four sheets, and she was sure
they’d be long enough to drop her to the ground. Just then, Lizzie
returned. By that time, Lizzie thought it was a hassle, always
locking and unlocking the door.

“
Aye there, lassie, I
found somethin’ I think might fit ya.”

Ruby took the pants,
shirt, and boots. Looking old and much too large for her, they were
not like any type she had ever seen before. But they would have to
do. She thanked Lizzie for her trouble, and when Lizzie left, she
got back to work.

She started tying the
sheets together. Just then, Westies woke up. He came up to her side
and started licking her hand. She patted his head and said, “Good
boy, now go play.”

Westies barked and jumped
excitedly as he rushed away to lie down near the bathroom door.
Ruby grinned. The dog was very cute, but unfortunately, she
couldn’t take him with her.

She went into the bathroom
and changed. The trousers were slightly loose around her waist, and
the shirt was also too large. She tied the hem of the shirt about
her waist so it wouldn’t hang loosely on her. She tried on the
boots, but found them very uncomfortable, so she took them off and
tied the laces together.

Rushing back into the
bedroom, she picked up the rope sheets and tied one end to the
bedpost.

That finished, she sighed
with satisfaction. Hands on hips, she scanned the room for a
suitably strong object to break the window. Grinning like the
Grinch with his bag of stolen presents on Christmas, she rushed to
get the brass candleholder on the bedside table. With her weapon in
hand, she flew back toward the window, pulled out a chair, climbed
on it—and shutting her eyes, with all her might—smashed the
candleholder against the window.

The window shattered into
pieces, glass falling everywhere on the floor and outside the
building onto the ground below.

Smiling with glee, she
jumped down, ran to Westies and said, “Well, it’s time. Goodbye,
Westies. Have a good life.”

Standing up, she found the
boots, and hung them over her shoulder as she turned and picked up
her rope-sheet. She threw it out the window and glanced down,
sucking in her breath. She hated heights. She had always been
afraid of them. But she had to conquer her fear and climb
down.

With a deep breath, she
perched on the window ledge. Then she grabbed onto the first bed
sheet and started to rappel downward.

“
Don’t look down,” she
whispered to herself.

Slowly, she started
descending the rope-sheet.

Woof! Woof!
Woof!

Ruby glanced up to see
that Westies had climbed onto the window ledge. Presumably, the dog
must have jumped on the chair and then onto the window.

She panicked.

“
No, Westies, go back
inside,” she whispered.

The dog kept barking
before jumping down to her.

Ruby’s heart nearly
dropped on the ground as she held her breath, watching the dog
jump. He landed against her chest.

“
Westies, you naughty boy!
How could you do that to me? I’m escaping, you stupid dog. You’ll
give me away.” As she mumbled to the cute dog, now looking at her
incomprehensively, she continued her endeavor.

She was surprised she
could climb down without too much trouble, despite having the dog
in her arms and her fear of heights.

Once she was at the very
bottom, she jumped onto the thick grass, landing on her backside
with Westies in her arms. She quickly put Westies down on the grass
and hastily pulled on the boots, saying, “Look here, boy, I simply
can’t take you with me. I know you’re cute and all, and you’d make
me very happy, but I just can’t. It’s just not meant to be.” With
that, and having pulled her boots on, she left the dog there and
ran across the field. She was just about ready to start crossing
the stream when the dog sprinted after her, barking
loudly.

“
Oh, that stupid dog,” she
mumbled as she ran toward the forest.

* * *

The BlackBerry kept
ringing insistently as Alec drove into the courtyard. He slammed on
the brakes and the car came to a halt. Grabbing for the cell phone,
he flipped it on.

“
Sue?”

“
Alec! I have good news.
Alec, I’m at Westwick Castle with Brian and his sister.”

Alec grinned. “That’s
good, Sue, and everything is going according to plan, I
daresay?”

“
Yes, Alec. This is the
best ever,” Susan said. “I love you, Alec. Oh, how is Captain Snow,
by the way?”

Alec turned the car engine
off and opened the door. “I presume the blasted dog is
fine.”

“
What do you mean,
you
presume
? Oh, never mind. I
have to go now. It’s going to be a cozy evening for me and Brian,
just the two of us in front of the fire. It’s supposed to rain, and
I imagine it’ll probably be storming up there.” She laughed. “Well,
got to go now.”

“
Hmm,” Alec replied,
staring off into the distance at the dark clouds gathering. Susan
was right. There was a big storm coming tonight.

“
Bye then,” Susan said
before hanging up.

Alec flipped his cell off
and walked into the manor.

“
Mrs.
McKenzie!”

The housekeeper emerged
from the drawing room with a vase in her hands. She was just about
to arrange the vase with peonies.

“
Master Alec?” she said
with raised eyebrows.

“
Captain Snow all right?”
he asked.

“
Aye, sir, Captain Snow’s
havin’ a fine time. Found a new friend, he did,” she said, nodding
her head and grinning from ear to ear.

Alec stood there
hesitantly and said, “And, er, Ruby?”

“
Aye, Miss Ruby, now
there’s trouble. Complain she did, sir, about that blasted storm
last night. Said she couldn’t sleep a wink, she did. Why didn’t ya
move her ta the room next ta yers? Much nicer there,” she
suggested, nodding her head.

“
She complained about the
storm, did she?” Alec asked, his hands in his pockets.

“
Aye, she did, sir. I fear
fer her, those blasted windows coulda break any day now wif the
storm. And lookin’ outside now, it wouldna surprise me if they
broke tonight.”

Alec nodded again. “Thank
you, Mrs. McKenzie.” He turned and took a step up the
stairs.

Just then, there was a
continuous yapping from the front door. Alec turned to see Captain
Snow racing toward him.

“
What’s the matter, boy?”
Alec said, bending down to pat the dog on the head. The dog jumped
up and down, yelping at the top of his little lungs. He ran to the
door, turning back to look at Alec, and continued barking
furiously.

“
What on earth is Captain
Snow doin’ ‘ere?” Mrs. McKenzie said in horror. “’E’s supposed ta
be wif Miss Ruby upstairs.”

Alec snapped his head up
and glanced at Mrs. McKenzie, who stared at him with huge brown
eyes. He shot up and sprinted toward the stairs, racing across the
second floor corridor, before halting at Ruby’s door. He unlocked
it, and shoved it open.

“
Shit!” he growled when he
saw the makeshift rope bed sheets dangling just outside the broken
window. He rushed down the stairs, taking them three steps at a
time.

He was at the front of the
manor in seconds with Westies running behind him on his short,
little legs.

Alec ran to the north side
of the manor, muttering, “Shit!” again when he saw the long bed
sheets dangling from the second floor window of Ruby’s bedroom. He
looked wildly around for her.

Westies reached him then,
followed by Mrs. McKenzie, who was still holding the vase. Westies
barked and ran toward the stream. He stopped at the bank, jumping
up and down there, and turned around to bark at Alec.

Alec raced over to the
dog. There he saw a pin-sized Ruby running into the
woods.

“
Shit!” he swore
again.