Prescribed for Love (7 page)

“I followed Catriona’s advice
,” was Ailsa’s simple reply.

“Who
?” he asked in a puzzled manner.
Alasdair
was
still trying to comprehend the miracle before him.

“Catriona—the woman ye
went to retrieve about a fortnight ago,” she said on a
n impatient
sigh.

“The witch?”

“She is nae
a witch, just a healer,” she replied
curtly
, “And she has done me a great favor.
And now, I want ye to provide me with a great
favor as well.
I
want ye to bring her back her
e so I can properly thank her
and show her the hospitality ye failed to give on her first visit
.”

While
Alasdair
would do anything for his sister, he did not see how this endeavor could be successful.
“I d
oubt she will want to come back.”

“Ye are probably correct. B
ut
, ye will just have to humor me and
convince her ye
dinnae
mean to
kill her
,” was A
ilsa’s rejoinder.

“And if
she refuses?” prodded
Alasdair
.

“I
dinnae
care what ye need to do to convince her to come
back, but convince her ye will,” insisted his sister. “I willna
e
accept any excuses, and I dinna
e
care if you consider this a
n unwanted
burden.
Tis
only right that we make amends for our treatment of her
.
Letting her
believe
we woul
d burn her—
what were ye think
ing
?
”

A short while later Alasdair
smiled
to himself
as he finished
his preparations before seeking the
witch.
N
ay
, Catriona
.
He needed to stop thinking of the
woman as ‘the witch.’
Even though the journey could prove tedious, Alasdair could not help his good mood; he had never thought to see such a miraculous recovery.

While
he did not see a need to bring Catriona back to Duart Castle, he would do as his sister bade him
.
Alasdair
was so glad to see her
well, if she had
bid
him fly, he would have flapped his arms like an arse in an attempt to please her
.
However, Ailsa
was wrong about
one matter
—retrieving
Catriona would not be a
n entirely unwanted
burden.

During his days in the lists, his mind had often wandere
d back to her attractive figure, b
ut
at the time this had only enraged him more. It
had felt like a betrayal to be attracted to a woman when his sister lay in the castle dying.
Yet now that his sister was well, h
e could think of many ways he would like to thank the w
oman.
Although, I doubt Ailsa would approve any of them. I dinnae think that was the type of hospitality she had been suggesting.

Just as
Alasdair
was about to
leave
, he heard footsteps
behind him,
quickly succeeded by a cough
.
Glancing over his shoulder
, he saw Cailen and Branan be
hind
him.

“Pardon Laird, but I intend
on coming with ye,”
said
Cailen.

“As do I,” added Branan.

Cailen continued, “We feel terrible
for threatening the poor lass
ie
.”

“
We want to go with ye to apologize.
We all owe he
r greatly,
”
conceded Branan.

Alasdair
studied the two men and then nodded,
“
Verra well.” He
had his doubts thi
s trip would even be successful. But, he reasoned,
three friendly
faces might have a better chance
for
success than one.

***

In the days
Catriona had stayed with Elspeth,
she had spent time learning various skills from the witch.
Seeing the amount of
effort needed for even the
most
mundane
of
tasks had
made
her
appreciate her own
century
even more.
Unsure how she might once again gain entrance into the castle,
Catriona
had taken
in as much information as she could
. After all, one never knew when a truly authentic disguise might be needed. But, she had yet to come up with an idea she felt might actually succeed.
Cat
was
actually
beginning
to fear she might become
stuck in this century permanently.
Each day s
he gre
w
more desperate to find
a solution
.

Cat
missed her real life dearly, but foremost on her mind was concern for her brother.
She hated to think of Keith
six hundred years in the future,
now compl
etely alone.
As hard as
their parent’s deaths had been, they had still had each other to turn to for emotional
support.
Hoping
a
change of scenery might in
spire her, Cat
decided to go for a
walk among the nearby forest.

However, t
his
en
deavor soon proved to be
futile
when
no
new
ideas
presented themselves
.
She sighed and leaned against the nearest tree in exasperation.
Looking up into its leaves, a wave of nostalgia came over h
er.

After their parent’s demise
, Keith had been incredibly distraught.
To combat his emotional turmoil, h
e had adopted
the habit of climbing high into the trees in the
ir aunt’s
back
yard
to
cry in privacy.
When
Cat
discovered his
ritual, she
began
to join him in the
branches
to
 
share their
grief.
At first, the t
opiary
had been
a solemn p
lace in which to mourn, but
soon became a place of solace.
Now, a
cutely aware of Keith’s abse
nce, Catriona decided to climb
the
limbs
above her. She
desired
to replace her current sorrow with the peace
she was once able to find
among
the
leaves
.

Glad
she
had
insisted on trews and a linen shirt, rather than a dress, Cat began her ascent.
While she had not climbed in years, the exercise was still second nature to her.
The only time she had any trouble was when her short stature prevented her from reaching the next branch ab
ove her.
Deciding her current elevation was satisfactory;
Cat straddled the
offshoot
and
once again began to
try to
formulate a plan
.

Further considering the idea of a disguise, she thought she might be able to gain entrance as a simple peasant
.
If
Ailsa was still sick,
Cat
could claim she was a healer and hopefully gain access to the inside of the keep.
With any luck, she would find a moment to search for the spell
book.
If Ailsa was well, Cat could reveal her identity and demand the book be returned to her.

Even though the plan was weak
,
Cat felt this was as least a place to start.
She w
ould
run the idea by Elspeth later.
However,
right now she wanted
to spend a little more time relaxing in the tree
; it really had lifted her spirits
.
But, her respite was to be short-lived
,
for the branches began to dig into her flesh and cut off circulation
.
Ugh, I can’t feel my ass.
I must be getting old—this never happened when I was a kid!
Cat
shifted her l
egs in order to adjust her seat but was u
nable
to find a comfortable position.
Defeated, s
he
intended
to jump down and
return
to Elspeth’s home.

***

Alasdair
and his men would soon be nearing
the hut of the witch.
While they
now knew it
was not actually
Catriona’s
residence, they had determined it would be the best place to start their search.
With any luck
,
she would have returned to the location.
If not, they at least hoped they might learn something of her wh
ereabouts from the actual witch
.
Alasdair
sincerely hoped no harm had come to woman.
After all, it
had been
his poor treatment
which had inspired Catriona
to flee alone.
He knew
how dangerous travelling
unaccompanied
could be.

An unusual rustling came from some
nearby trees
—throwing Alasdair’s body into sudden alert
.
The
noise only sounded like one person,
but
he was concerned it might be a Cameron
spying
on them, or
possibly
waiting for an opportunity to attack.
Ensuring
both Cailen and
Branan had also hear
d, Alasdair
signaled
direction
s
to
dismount and
surround the
origin of the
clamor
.
The three
readied
their weapons
as they
drew closer
.

When
Alasdair
was but a few feet away, a young lad suddenly jumped out of the tree.
Reflexively
,
Alasdair
lowered himself into a fighting stance.
Cailen and Branan also adopted
sim
ilar
postures
. If the boy intended to attack or escape, the endeavor would prove unsuccessful.

“
Who are ye, lad
?”
he asked as the young stranger stood. Judging by his height, the boy could not have been very
old
,
but
Alasdair
still kept his sword
ready
in case there was a need.

When
the
boy
turned
,
Alasdair
was horrified
to realize
the
lad
was actually Catriona. “Oh
g
od! You’re here to kill me aren’t you?
Lo
ok, I tried to help your sister. H
o
nestly! But you wouldn’t listen!
”
she said all in one breath.

Alasdair
had been
taken so off-guard
he h
ad not even
lowered his sword.
Relaxing his stance he said
in the
gentlest
t
one he could manage, “We are nae
here to kill ye.”