Read Online Flame by May McGoldrick - Free Book Online Page B

and then finished the broth, as a curious
frown creased the brow of the woman.
    “Not all!” she answered then. “They are not all dead!”
    Staring at her from behind the lowered rim of
the bowl, Gavin waited, hoping to learn more. But the old woman was
clearly done with their chat. He watched her as she raised herself
to her feet and picked up a satchel that lay on the ground. Gavin
sensed that he was being dismissed, but he had no desire to leave.
Not yet. So he pushed himself to his feet as well, and fell in step
beside her.
    For the next couple of hours, Gavin walked
with her as she wandered through the sun warmed hillsides
surrounding the valley. Something about the way the sunlight fell
on the river, on the rocks and the grass--something in the time
they shared--reminded him of days he had spent as a lad in the
hills around Jedburgh Abbey in the Borders. He didn’t press her to
tell him more, and she seemed to tolerate his presence. He helped
whenever she allowed him to--pulling a stubborn root, holding her
satchel when she would relinquish it. But when they eventually
reached the fields where Gavin--from the top of the hill--had seen
villagers working the land, the new laird bent down and took up in
his hand a cast off hoe.
    “Why are they hiding?”
    “They do not trust you,” she said. “They are
afraid!”
    “But why?”
    She turned her gray eyes up to his face. He
could feel the sun on his back. But she never squinted or raised a
hand to shield her eyes against the light. “What makes you so
trusting?”
    There was a sharp edge to her voice, and
Gavin frowned at her, trying to understand what her question had to
do with the overwhelming fear that could drive an entire village
into hiding at the sight of one man.
    “I decide where to place my trust,”
Gavin answered.
    “You accepted the broth out of my hands and
drank it unquestioningly.”
    “I would not pass an offering of
hospitality,” he argued.
    “I could have poisoned you!”
    “Aye. You could have, at that. But I trusted
you.”
    “You did not know me.”
    “Still, I trust you.”
    “Why?” she almost hissed, frustration
becoming apparent in her wrinkled features.
    “Because I have done nothing to incur your
ill will. Because I wanted us to be at peace. You did not run away
and hide like the rest of them. You stayed out and faced me. For
all that you knew, I might have come to harm you. But you trusted
me, so I trusted you.”
    “‘Twas no trust, you fool,” she snapped. “I
have no fear of any violence that you or any other man might bring
down upon me. At my age, I have no fear of death.”
    “Nor do I!” he said coolly.
    She bit back her next words, and they stared
at one another in silence. Gavin spoke again.
    “I have come to the Highlands in peace. I am
here to be laird, and I want the trust of you and these
people.”
    “They fear you. They hate you.”
    Her harsh words were a blow, but Gavin
shrugged them off. “I have done nothing to deserve their hate.”
    “Perhaps, laird. But the ones before you have !”
    Gavin stared for a moment. There was so much
that he needed to learn about these people--about Ironcross Castle
and its past. His words were clipped when he spoke again. “I cannot
change what is past. I can only control the present. I can only
work for the future well being of all who live on these lands.”
    “Ha! You think you can control the present?”
She lifted a finger and pressed it against his chest. “You cannot
force us to hear you. Nay, laird. You will have to bear the price
of your predecessors’ guilt. ‘Tis too late to...”
    “Nay, Mater.” He cut her short, wrapping his
giant hand around her bony fingers. He knew how easy it would be to
crush them in his grip, and he could see in her face that she knew
it too. But he just held the hand--gently--and let the flesh of his
palm warm the coldness of her old bones. “Nay, Mater. I will earn
their respect and trust. I will earn