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“I think I can manage.”
“Good.” Mistress Malloy took charge, seeing that another log was added to the fire while the tub was filled with warm water, and soft linens were laid out on a chair.
“You’re not to attempt to stand alone, miss.” With the housekeeper on one side of her and Cora on the other, they supported Briana from her bed to the tub. With the servant’s help, Briana removed her nightshift and stepped into the water.
While Cora scrubbed her hair, Briana closed her eyes and sighed with pleasure. “Oh, it has been years since I’ve felt so pampered.”
“You do not bathe in the convent?” one of the servants asked.
Briana laughed. “We wash in a basin of cold water.” She shivered just remembering.
“Could you not heat the water over the fire?”
“There was no time. We had only minutes to wash before we had to hurry to chapel for morning prayers.”
“Did you cry when your hair was cut off?” Cora asked.
“Aye. I wept buckets of tears. But later, when I was doing penance for my display of false vanity, Mother Superior reminded me that it’s not what is outside a person that counts. It is what’s in one’s heart.”
“Well said.” Mistress Malloy nodded in agreement. She liked this lass. A refreshing change from most of the highborn women who thought themselves above the rest of the world. Of course, such humility was to be expected of a woman who’d promised her life in service to the Church.
“But your hair, my lady.” Cora poured warm scented water to rinse away the soap. Then she held up one short gleaming strand, while the others gathered around to study it. “It is the color of fire. It must have been lovely before it was shorn.”
“I always thought so. But it no longer matters.” Briana snuggled deeper into the warm water, loving the feeling of freedom. “I have not seen my reflection, nor cared to, in three years now.”
The servants exchanged looks before one of them said, “But my lady, you are truly beautiful. Even with your hair shorn.”
“Beautiful? Now I know you jest. For Cora told me that even the old man who found me thought I was a lad.”
“Because you were covered with mud and blood, my lady. Now that we can see you, you truly are pleasing to the eye.”
Briana waved a hand in dismissal. “It matters not. What matters is that I am alive. And so enjoying all your tender ministrations.” She found herself laughing, and loving the sound. “It has been so long now since I’ve felt this joyful. But it is the knowledge that I am free. Truly free.”
“Free? What do you mean, my lady?” Cora asked.
“I am free of the confining rules and restrictions of the convent.”
“You are not going back?”
“Nay. I was heading home when we were attacked. And now, for the first time, I realize just how much I have survived, thanks to Lord Alcott. Not only the attack by the English soldiers, but the last threat to my freedom. You see, as soon as I am strong enough, I will be returning home, to my beloved Ballinarin.”
“You’re certain she said she is not a nun?” Vinson stood in the shadows of the hallway, his voice low.
“That is what she just told us.” The housekeeper’s eyes were shining. “You saw how obsessed he was with her. She could be the answer to our prayers.”
The old man shrugged. “Maybe. But you say she is eager to return to her home.”
“Aye. But she is far too weak to attempt the journey yet. It could be weeks, months even, before she could endure it.” Mistress Malloy lowered her voice. “She seems a lovely, simple lass. I see no harm in throwing them together and seeing what transpires.”
“This is a dangerous game we play with other people’s lives.”
“Aye. But there’s so little time. You said yourself he plans to leave. And he is our last, our only hope.”
Vinson stared off into space, mulling it over. Then he nodded. “Leave it to me. I’ll think of a way.”
“My lord.”
Keane looked up from the ledgers and was surprised to see the evening shadows outside the window. Where had the day gone?
“Aye, Vinson.”
“The lass felt strong enough to bathe.”
Keane nodded. “A good sign.”
“Aye, my lord. Very soon now, she will be well enough to leave.”
“So it would seem.” He had won the battle. The patient was not only alive, but growing stronger with each day. He took a certain amount of pleasure in the knowledge that he had played a small part in her survival. There’d been so little in his life to be proud of.
Vinson cleared his throat.
Keane tensed, waiting for the old man to say what was on his mind. He was eager to return his attention to the ledgers.
“I thought, since the lass is strong enough to bathe, you might wish to invite her to sup with you.”
Keane frowned. “I’m certain she’d prefer to eat in her chambers.”
“She has not left her room in a fortnight, my lord. The change might do her good.”
Keane pushed away from the desk and strode to the window. His voice lowered. “I think the lass dislikes being in my company.”
“Why do you think that, my lord?”
“Whenever I am near her, she watches me the way prey might watch a hunter.”
“You can hardly blame her. She was, after all, nearly killed here on your land.”
Keane’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not her enemy. If she doesn’t know that now, after all I’ve done to save her, she never will.”
“It could be because of the horror of what she suffered, my lord.”
Keane nodded. “There is that, of course.”
“Or she could be shy, my lord. She is, after all, a lass educated in the convent.”
“Aye.”
The old servant decided to poke and prod a bit more. “You might find it pleasant to have someone with whom you could talk about the books you’ve read, the places you’ve been. She might prove to be an interesting companion, something in short supply here in Carrick.”
Keane stared out the window, seeing nothing. Neither the green rolling hills, nor the flocks undulating across the valley, nor the way the sunset turned the cross atop the chapel to blood. All he saw was the emptiness, stretching out before him. Endless emptiness.
“She has nothing to wear. I doubt she would sup with me wearing a borrowed nightshift.”
Vinson smiled. He’d anticipated the problem. “There are your mother’s trunks. Mistress Malloy could no doubt find something that would fit the lass.”
Keane turned and met the old man’s look. “You’ve put a good deal of thought into this, haven’t you, Vinson?”
“Aye, my lord.” The old man remained ramrod straight. Not a hint of a smile touched his lips. “The lass needs a chance to properly thank her benefactor.”
Keane gave the slightest nod of his head. “All right. Invite her to sup with me. And tell Mistress Malloy to rifle through the trunks for something appropriate.” As the old man turned away he added, “Suggest that she find something modest. We wouldn’t want to scandalize such an innocent.”
“Aye, my lord.”
When the door closed behind the servant, Keane glanced at the portrait of his father staring down from the mantel, and beneath it, a set of crossed ancestral swords. The two symbols he most detested. Bloodline and misuse of power. Life and death.
He could still hear his father’s harsh tone, lecturing him on his weaknesses. “The man who puts the love of God, country or woman ahead of gold is a fool. For, in the end, gold is all that matters.”
He’d rebelled, determined to prove his father wrong. He’d have the rest of his life to regret it.
To occupy his mind, he returned to his ledgers. But as he bent over the page, he found himself thinking about the lass’s strange voice. And the way her lips looked whenever she smiled. Odd. He hadn’t felt this quickening of his heartbeat for a very long time. But it wasn’t the lass that caused it. It was merely loneliness. He’d kept himself locked away with his ledgers too long now. But they were all he had now, since he’d become a stranger in the land of his birth.
“This will do nicely, Cora.” The housekeeper held up a gown of pale lemon, which she had retrieved from the trunk in the tower room. Though it appeared to be far too big, it was the only one she’d found with a modest neckline. “Can you make it fit the lass?”
“I’ll do my best, Mistress Malloy.” Cora signalled for Briana to stand. Then she slid the gown over her head and began plying needle and thread, nipping and tucking, until the fabric began to mold to the shape of the slender body.
“Oh, my lady, this is lovely on you.” Cora tied the waist with a lace sash, then, because there were no boots to fit, added satin bed slippers.
“Now, if you’ll sit, I’ll do what I can with your hair.”
Briana did as she was told, closing her eyes as the little servant dressed her hair.
“Are you feeling weak, my lady?”
“Nay.” Briana gave a dreamy smile. “It’s just that these past hours have been so luxurious, I’m beginning to feel whole again.”
Cora stood back, admiring her handiwork. “Now if you’ll just step over here, my lady, you can see what I’m seeing.”
Leaning on Cora’s arm, Briana walked to the tall looking glass and stared in amazement.
“Oh, my.” She lifted a hand to her mouth. Words failed her.
Seeing her reaction, Cora smiled. “Then you are not unhappy with what you see?”
“I’m…speechless.”
Gone was the girl she had once been. In her place was a woman. A stranger.
It was the gown, she told herself. A pale lemon confection with a high, tight circlet of lace at the throat and wrists, and a full skirt, gathered here and there with lace inserts. With a critical eye she studied the slender body revealed in the gown. She hoped she wouldn’t appear frail. In her whole life she had never thought of herself as anything but robust.
And then there was the hair. Or rather, the lack of it. The last time she had looked at her reflection in a looking glass, she’d had thick, fiery tresses that fell to below her waist. Now it was no more than a few inches long, a tumble of curls framing a face bronzed by the sun.
Oh, what had happened to her fair skin? It was not only tawny, it was freckled. Dozens of them. Hundreds, perhaps, parading across her nose, down her arms. And to think she had once protected her fair skin beneath bonnets and parasols.
“Come, miss.” The housekeeper’s voice broke the silence. “Vinson is here to escort you to sup.”
She turned and saw the old man’s look of approval before he lowered his gaze. When she accepted his arm, she was grateful that he matched his steps to her halting ones.
“I see Mistress Malloy found a gown that suits you, miss.”
“Do you think it does, Vinson?”
“Aye, miss. And Cora worked her magic to make it fit.”
“I’ve…” She swallowed. “…lost a bit of weight.”
He patted her hand and slowed his steps.
As they made their way along the hall, she stared at the ancient tapestries that depicted the history of the O’Mara lineage.
“I see from the number of swords and battles that Lord Alcott comes from a family of warriors.”
“Aye, miss. Do you disapprove?”
She shook her head. “My family can trace its roots to King Brian, whose sons were baptized by St. Patrick himself. And we are, proudly, warriors all.”
She missed the old man’s smile of approval as he whispered, “I must share a secret, lass. Lord Alcott disdains his title. He prefers to be known as merely Keane O’Mara.”
“Thank you, Vinson. I’ll keep that in mind.”
The old man paused, knocked, then drew open the doors to the library.
“My lord. The lass is here.”
“Thank you, Vinson.” Keane set aside his ledgers and shoved back his chair. He’d been trying, without success, to keep his mind on the figures in neat columns. But it had been an impossible task.
Briana, leaning on Vinson’s arm, walked slowly into the room.
Keane knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help himself. He hoped his jaw hadn’t dropped. Quickly composing himself, he called to Vinson, “Draw that chaise close to the fire for the lass.”
“Aye, my lord.”
The old man hurried forward to do his master’s bidding, while Keane led Briana across the room. The minute he touched her he felt the heat and blamed it on the blaze on the hearth. He shouldn’t have had the servants add another log. It was uncomfortably warm in here.
When she was settled, he asked, “Would you have some wine?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse, feeling that such a luxury should be saved for important guests. Then, recalling the festive meals at Ballinarin, she relaxed. Before the convent, it had been an accepted custom. It was time she adapted to life outside the convent walls. “Aye. I will.”
Keane turned to his butler. “We’ll both have wine, Vinson.”
