Chapter 26

The red glow on the inside of his eyelids told Gair it was day, but he didn't want to open his eyes just yet. He heard someone moving a short distance away and his sleep-filled mind assumed it was the maid. He must have overslept. Maddie would pull the cover from the window and set the table for him to break his fast. Then he realized it didn’t smell right.

The musty scent of damp earth and wet trees filled his nostrils. He could hear the rain on the leaves of the trees, just as if he were in the woods. His room never smelled like this and it was too far from the ground for him to hear rain rustling down through the leaves. A distant rumble of thunder brought last night’s events back to him. He’d been out in a storm with a beautiful woman and a wee lass. She called him Alasdair. People mixed them up all the time, so why did it make him so sad that this woman he didn’t know called him by the wrong name? Perhaps she only knew Dair. He hadn't been able to walk. Why not? Was he injured?

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