My Heart Stood Still by Lynn Kurland (best book club books of all time .TXT) 📕

had, of course, learned the saying from his father. He never could have invented it on his own. The mistake he made was thinking his firstborn of that whore was equal to the task."

"Would you have been better at it?"

She blinked. "Why do you ask?"

"It seems to rankle."

"A sheep would have been better suited," she said shortly. "And nay, it never occurred to me. I was a woman, and my tasks were at home."

"It was a different world then," he murmured.

"Aye, it was." She cleared her throat. "Now, Angus had been about his task of traveling, and scattering his seed from one end of Scotland to the other, no doubt, when he met an English-man in Edinburgh."

"And you heard this from ... ?" he asked.

"Angus and my father."

"And you believed them?"

"What choice did I have? Angus said he'd met this man in Edinburgh, that the man was very wealthy, and that I was to be traded as the valuable prize to the man for making an alliance with us."

"And didn't it strike you as strange that a Brit would want to make an alliance with people three hundred miles away?"

"What choice did I have?" she asked again, sharply. "I had nowhere to go, no one to care for me, and no say in the matter. My father sold me. Angus told me the man's keep was on the sea. I knew I had no choice but to make of it what I could."

He was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

"Aye," she said, "so was I. It was only after I died that I learned I had been sold to pay a debt Angus owed the man."

"Who told you?"

"Duncan did. He'd overheard the conversings between the English-man and my father. Angus had promised the man that I knew the secret of our keep and would give it to him when we returned to England. Then, once he wed me, as my husband, he would be able to return to Scotland now and again and avail himself of the untold riches that the secret would provide him."

"The secret of time travel, or the jewels in the chimney?"

"Angus would have known neither, but he knew there was something of value in our keep. He likely made up whatever tale suited him. It apparently suited the English-man, for he took me readily enough."

"Why didn't Angus know the truth?"

"My grandfather William knew, and he told me, but I know he never told my father, nor Angus."

"William didn't trust either of them?"

"Not with his most rotten bit of meat. I daresay none of my family knew the particulars, save it was a secret that must be kept close, and when they had proved themselves, my grandfather would tell them."

"Did he ever?"

She smiled briefly. "He died before he could."

He nodded thoughtfully. "So, you went with the man. Did you know his name?"

"I never stirred myself to ask. I didn't pay him any heed until I was woken that morning and put on a horse to go with him."

"And you went because you had no choice."

"Aye. I tried to escape, but that went badly for me."

Thomas sucked in his breath. "Did he ... ?"

She wrinkled her nose. "He told me he wouldn't lower himself to bed a wench of Scots breeding. But he didn't mind hitting me, which he did quite frequently." She sighed. "We rode for what seemed a lifetime. He didn't bother with any refreshment once we reached his keep. He took me up and locked me in the tower chamber, saw to his men, then returned and demanded the secret of my home."

"And when you didn't give it to him?"

"He gave me the choice of the sword or starving to death."

Thomas was silent for several minutes. "You made a brave choice, then."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Nay, the coward's choice, surely. I'd seen men starved to death in my father's pit. A quick death, no matter how painful, seemed much more bearable."

"I'm sorry."

"Nay, you needn't be. I don't think on it much now. Though I used to," she said, turning her face away. "Every moment of every day for what seemed like centuries." She paused. "It likely was centuries."

"I'll stop it this time."

She looked at him. "I hope you can."

Silence fell. She found that she had nothing else to say. What else was there to say? He was determined, and there was nothing she could do to dissuade him.

And in the secret, innermost place in her heart, she didn't want to dissuade him. If he succeeded, it would be miraculous.

"Will you change your mind and come with me? To the Highlands?" he asked.

Of course, that didn't mean she could bear to watch it.

She shook her head. "I cannot."

It was a very long time before either of them spoke again.

Chapter 25

Thomas knocked on Iolanthe's door. There was no answer, but he hadn't exactly expected one. He wouldn't say the night before had ended badly. They'd spent most of the day in the sitting room talking about her family. The entire time he'd sat there, he'd been almost drowning in the realization that it was possibly the last time he might see her. The odds of success were, in reality, not really very good. He was going to an incredibly inhospitable place where dangers of the unanticipated kind might assault him at any turn.

Then again, didn't that describe Everest? If there was an unfriendly place on earth, that was it. Man wasn't made to linger at 29,000 feet. Yet he'd managed it. He'd survived the cold, the hunger, the weariness, and the altitude. If he could survive that, couldn't he survive the Middle Ages?

Then again, Everest hadn't been coming at him with a sword.

He sighed. There was no use in comparing the two. The only thing he knew for sure was that thinking about failure was a sure way to ensure the same. He shook aside his doubts, picked up his bag, and descended the steps. He reached the entry hall, then came