Read Online Tess and the Highlander by May McGoldrick - Free Book Online

livable.”
    “Is this what you do? Are you a sailor?”
    “I suppose I am.” If he wanted her to trust him
enough to answer his questions, Colin knew he needed to set the
precedent. “I have sailed on Macpherson ships for as long as I can
remember. I have traveled from the Orkneys to Africa. But up to
now, I’ve been more student than sailor.” He glanced out at the
stormy sea. “But now that I am finished at the university, I
suppose you can say I’m a sailor.”
    Tess pulled the hood of her cloak up. The wind—wet
and cold—was picking up. She started toward the building Colin
guessed had been the original church. A long ago fire had taken the
roof and the door was gone. Looking in, he could see a chancel with
a stone altar at the far end. He could almost envision gray-robed
monks chanting their prayers there. The end wall was half gone, as
well, and several gray and white sea birds were perched on the
bottom ledge of an arched stone opening that had once undoubtedly
held a stained-glass window.
    Her voice broke into his thoughts. “May I ask how
old you are?”
    “Twenty.”
    “You’ve accomplished so much already.”
    “Would you tell me how old you are?”
    She paused first, but then answered.
“Seventeen.”
    “Seeing how well you take care of yourself and
everything around here, I should say you have accomplished
quite a bit.”
    “’Tis hardly the same,” she whispered.
    He saw the flash of sadness in her eyes. “Why do you
stay here?”
    “This is my home…where I belong.”
    “But you were not born here.” He held her gaze when
she looked up at him, startled by his words. “Tess, I told you I
have sailed these waters. For as long as I can recall, there was
never any word of the old keeper and his wife having any
children.”
    “I have been here a long time. If no one knew about
me, that is because these good people were trying to protect me.
They were afraid of what might happen to me if people knew I was
here—the sailors of passing ships…or the fishermen from the
mainland…or even the occasional pilgrims coming here during the
warmer weather. Auld Charlotte and Garth wanted to keep me
safe.”
    “I am not questioning what they did. What I am
wondering is where you came from. Who is your family?”
    She moved away from him without answering, and Colin
followed, fighting back his frustration. At least she was no longer
trying to feed him stories about her family being out fishing in
storm-tossed seas. He caught up to her.
    “With Garth and Charlotte gone, how will you stay
here all by yourself? What if you should fall ill? or break an arm
climbing the cliffs for birds eggs? or slip on one of those damned
shells and crack your head open?”
    She turned her back to him. He wasn’t giving up,
though, and moved around her. “What the keeper and his wife were
concerned about before is nothing compared to what you should fear
right now. You are a beautiful young woman, Tess. Do you have any
idea of the dangers that…”
    “Do you want to see this priory or not ?”
    Temper had moved in with the speed of a Highland
storm, altering her mood immediately. Colin knew he needed to
restrain himself from pressing on his argument until she understood
her dilemma. At the same time, he understood her stubbornness…and
her desire for independence.
    He nodded resignedly, knowing full well that they
were far from done with this argument. The wind seemed much
stronger as Tess walked away from the cluster of buildings and led
him to the middle of the old cemetery. Looking about him, beyond
the walls, Colin couldn’t help but be affected by the wildness and
the beauty of the terrain—so much like the young woman who stood
beside him.
    “For such a small island, there are a lot of
graves.”
    “Garth told me that more than one person is buried
in many of the graves,” she answered.
    “How did he know?”
    “In his years here he had to bury a number of
pilgrims who died of their illnesses while