THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

his state of mind at the time, surely ‘twas understandable. But she’d not understood his terror at the time and that was the most important point. Rachael had done well in telling Beth his whole sordid history with regard to his past wives, but what if Lady Beth still harbored resentment? And there was still the matter of her believing her bizarre tales of ghosts and living in the twenty-first century. Augh!
    Pondering his approach to Beth, he studied the activity of the bailey. He watched the bairns at play, a few deliberately tripping their harried, unusually quiet parents to get attention as they carried casks of dried fish. More casts were off-loaded by more quiet men and carried past him and into the keep for storage. He looked above the battlements to see distant fields looking like coats of arms, white stripes against green, as newly made, urine-soaked cloth bleached in the sun. Aye, all was as well as could be expected outside, but not so within. He heaved a heavy sigh. He’d put off facing Beth long enough.
    Climbing the steps to the solar he harbored little doubt his lady wanted to cleave his head from his shoulders.
    He garnered his courage with a deep breath and cautiously pushed open the solar door. Marked disappointment filled him finding the room empty. Thinking he might find her in the library, he retraced his steps and turned at the second floor corridor. As he rounded a corner, he collided with Flora. He reached out to steady her, and she fell into his arms.
     
     
     
    Chapter 14
     
    Hunger drove Beth to the great hall. She’d spent a futile two hours in the solar hoping Duncan would come and apologize. Her monumental relief in learning she hadn’t made love with a raving lunatic had bolstered her spirits and her hope for their relationship. She just wished someone had had the foresight to enlighten her about Duncan’s second and third wives earlier. Had she known, she definitely would have responded to his fury differently.
    Deep in thought she stepped into the unusually quiet hall, and found all eyes turned toward her. All but the children then developed a sudden interest in the trenchers or ale before them.
    They know. Everybody had apparently heard the argument.
    Appearing before them for the first time with a naked face couldn’t compare to the embarrassment she now felt. Duncan owed her for this. Big time. And where is he?
    Back straight, she crossed the hall to the tightly wound staircase that would take her down to the bailey.
    Outside, people again stopped what they were doing to stare. When she stared back, they quickly averted their gaze as if she were naked. Feeling an outcast just by being among them, her discomfort grew as she made her way toward the chapel, the place Duncan had spoken of with fondness during the night, in the hopes of finding him there. She wanted—-no, the operative word here was needed —him to apologize and then he had to rectify the good people of Blackstone’s opinion of her. Once that had been accomplished, he could kiss her if he liked. But only once. She was still mad at him.
    Not twenty feet from the chapel’s arched doorway a blond child of three or so darted out from between two casts chasing after a huge gray cat and nearly tripped her. Apparently unaware of the danger, the child followed the cat out the open portcullis. Expecting to find a frantic mother chasing behind, Beth scanned the women and realized no one had noticed the child’s exit.
    She ran after him, hoping one of the guards had already captured the dirty-faced urchin and given him a good dressing down while at it.
    But outside the gate she saw to her horror that no one stood between the sea and the child as he raced after the cat. Not knowing his name she yelled, “No baby! Get back. Baby get back!” 
    She ran. Only feet from grabbing him, the cat jumped onto a tethered boat and the child, reaching for the boat, lost his balance and toppled over the quay’s edge and out of sight.
    Beth heard a woman’s scream just as she plunged feet first into the frigid water after the boy.
    Slipping below the churning waves, Beth felt the icy cold hit her with the force of a solid fist. She almost gasped from shock and hoped the child had enough sense not to. Tossed between the quay and the boat, she felt rather than saw the frantic child. She latched on to the wavering fabric of his shirt and kicked for the light. A breaking wave knocked her against a hull as she broke the surface