Prescribed for Love (10 page)

“It’s fine, thanks
for asking
,” replied Cat.
Seeing his genuine concern, she realized her distrust of him had been misguided.
Yes he had threatened her, but his motivation only been concern for his
sister
.
He would not have saved her from the Camerons if he had intended to kill her; it would have been
a
wasted effort.
And when he had carried her to this room, he had been so gentle.
No one would go to such lengths to keep her comfortable, only
to
then
burn her in the morning.
S
eeing
Alasdair
still lingering outside her door she asked,
“Is there any other reason you are here?”

“Aye, I wanted to return
this to
ye.
I t
hought ye may have need of it fo
r ye
arm, but I see ye are already well bandaged.
”
Catriona looked down to
his hands.
My purse!
She had not expected to have it returned to her so quickly. She made no attempt to
hide her joy at seeing the
bag—after
all, it held her ticket home. Driven by pure excitement,
she threw her arms around
Alasdair
’s neck
in
uninhibited
gratitude
.

***

Alasdair
could not deny his attraction to
Catriona.
Consequently, when she had answered the door, he had completely forgotten the reason for his visit.
She
wore only a
thin
nightdress that clung enticingly to her curves.
Struggling to resist the temptation, Alasdair had
asked after her arm as a means of stalling until he could
gain control over his body’s desires. However, he had had no idea she would respond with such exuberance to the return of her satchel. With her breasts now firmly pressed against his chest, he surrendered to his lust.

Alasdair brought his
left arm
around to the small of her waist and pulled her in tightly—e
liminating what small space had been left between them
.
His right hand traced the length of her spine until his fingers
entwined with the hair at the nape of her neck.
He then used
his hand to guide her lips to his.
The
caress started
sweetly, but when
a soft moan escape
d her lips, he began to kiss Catriona
in earne
st. He
teased her with his tongue, and then took
full advantage when she opened her mouth to him. Feeling
his body
ignite
as she arched her back into him, he
deepened the kiss
to an almost frantic tempo
.
When his mind finally
caught up with his body
’s actions, h
e released her.
“I apologize, I didna
e
mean for that to happen. Goodnight.”

Alasdair left before he could change his mind. When he had broken the kiss, he had expected to see Catriona’s face filled with rage at his forwardness; but instead, he could have sworn she had looked almost disappointed.
Maybe
she will…Nay.
Alasdair stopped the thought before it even finished. He needed to turn his mind to more important matters—like the reason for the Cameron attack.

***

Catriona
giggle
d
as
she closed the door after
Alasdair
’s departure. She
knew she should be embarrassed by her behavior, but she honestly could not muster up any shame.
She had
no
t intended anything more than a thank-you with her hug, but when he
began his sensual assault
, she decided to just go with the flow.
Since she would never see
Alasdair
again (
and
s
eeing as how
he was the most
attractive man she had ever met)
she figured she might as well get a good kiss out of it.
I mean really, why the hell not?

With her
beloved
bag back in her possession, Cat hurriedly looked for
the book.
Her eyebrows crinkled in consternation
when she
did not immediately find it—she
would have thought it wo
uld have been right on top
. She shoved her arm in further to see i
f it had somehow gotten buried, but still
had no luck
.
P
anicked
,
Cat
jogged to the bed before
dumping
the contents
of her purse
over its surface.
Normally
, she would never go to such an extreme
—
it took
way too muc
h time to repack the damn thing. B
ut
,
she was anxiou
s to find the key back to her ti
me
, so this called for extreme measures
. Looking through the spilled
contents
she catalogued the item
s
to herself.
Wallet…daily planner…t
ampon
s (
glad I d
idn’t need those
)
…mini-tool-set…oo
h chocolate!
...c
arabiner
(
ha,
hopef
ully I won’t need that again
)…sunglasses.
Crap,
it
’
s not in here!

Defeated,
Catriona
wanted to cry—
even though she
knew that
was irrational. After all,
the
book had to be here somewhere
. B
ut
still,
she had been so excited
at the prospect of returning to her time
, the disappointment was almost overwhelming
.
Keith was probably
freaking
out
by now.
Taking a calming breath
,
Cat
rea
soned she woul
d just have to
look for
it
elsewhere in the castle
tomorrow
.
Since the last place Catriona had seen the book was in Ailsa’s room,
she would ask the girl
if she might know where it is.
If not, she would just have to figure out something else.
But for now, there was nothing else Catriona could do but get a good night’s rest.

Ailsa
came
into Cat’s room the next morning with clothing on her arm
.
“I thought ye might
need a few new
things
.
Cailen and Branan explained yer plight to me last night. I
couldna
e
imagine being stolen away from my home in such a manner! Ye are handling this much better than I ever could.”

Catriona
smiled at the girl’s candid manner
, “Thank you, I don’t think my clothes from yesterday fared very well.”

“What clothes?” asked Ailsa. “Ye were barely wearing anything when ye arrived. I thought yer attackers had ripped off yer dress.”

I definitely need to get out of here, I hate wearing dresses all of the time.
Sure
she had been wearing one at graduation, but that had been a special occasion.
However,
Cat’s clothing preferences would just have to take a backseat to more important matters
.
“Ailsa
,
have you happened to see the book I
had with me
the first time I came here?”

“The big book
Alasdair
thought was yer spell
book? Nay, I
havena
e
seen it since that day.
Alasdair
took it out of
my
room along with the bag,” she replied. “Ye can ask hi
m where it is when he returns.”

“Returns? Where did he go
?”

“Yer encounter with the Camerons made him nervous. He is worried there may be more of t
hem
lurking
about. He left this morning with a few men to
see if they could find anything,
”
explained Ailsa.

“When will they be back?”
asked Catriona.

“I
dinnae ken. But,
the men are usually gone between two or three days for these types of tasks
,
”
replied Ailsa as she began to help Cat dress.

This new
s was disappointing;
Cat
really wanted to go home.
Growing desperate, she asked,
“Is there anywhere in the castle he might
have put the book? I really need to find it.”

“
Well, if ye
would like, I could give ye a tour of the castle today. M
aybe we will come across it
then
,
”
s
uggested
Ailsa

“
Perfect!
” replied Cat
. “When can we start
?”

“My goodness, this book must be important if ye are in such a hurry.
I asked
Lainie to bring
breakfast
.
As soon as
ye have had yer fill
we can begin
,” promised Ailsa.

***

Alasdair
frowned as
Niall, cousin to Branan and
the guard he had sent
to scout ahead
,
returned. “
What did ye see
?”

“S
omeone had set up a small camp. I canna
e
be sur
e it was a Cameron, but I dinnae
like it. He
would have been
able to see the castle while nae
being se
en himself,” replied the guard.

“I agree; tis
suspicious.
Did he leave a trail
?
”
asked
Alasdair
.

“Aye
, Laird
. He
couldna
e
have left more than a
n hour or two hour
ago
, we should
soon
be able to overtake
him,
”
affirmed the man.

“L
ead the way,
”
bid
Alasdair
.

Alasdair
and his guards
came upon the spy quicker than expected; h
e had done a very poor job of covering his tracks. They were only a few feet
away before the man
realized he wa
s surrounded
.
Recognizing the man
for a
Cameron,
Alasdair
snarled,
“Wha
t are ye doing on my land?”

“I...I...I’m following orders.”
Alasdair
was
surprised by the fear in the man’s voice
considering his brazen behavior—very few men would risk venturing so close to rival clan’s castle alone. B
ut then
, he
realized he was not dealing with
a
man. Before
him
was a youth.

“And what
were yer orders
?”
asked
Alasdair
as he brought his sword to the boy’s nec
k.
He would not actually harm someone so young, but
if
Alasdair
was to discover the truth, he needed to let the boy think he would.
When no answer appeared to be forthcoming, Alasdair said, “Answer me laddie
, the secret is
nae
worth yer life.”