Ice Maiden Read Online Free

his
authority, Amy knew she couldn’t. “I am sure neither of us would
question your command, if the need arises.” Amy looked at the
Captain and felt relieved to see his face more relaxed.
    “As you say, my Lady, we would not think of
questioning the Laird’s authority in such circumstances.” Amy felt
she’d not mistaken the man’s sarcasm, deciding it was probably
deserved where Laird Randall was concerned.
    “My Lady, I will fetch Mistress Tilly to
escort you to your chambers.”
    “Thank you, Captain.”
    She felt Bern come up behind her when the
Captain left them. He was so close she could smell the woodsy scent
from the glen still clinging to his hair. She tried desperately not
to let him see how nervous he made her.
    “Your wiles will not work on me, Amelia. I
warn you, do not try to foil me, you will be my wife.”
    Her pride came forward against the man’s
obvious desire to dominate her will. “Do you always threaten your
intended bride, Laird Randall?”
    Bern leaned down so his lips were but a
breath from her ear. “As I have never had one before, I cannot
honestly answer. But in your case it is a precaution I dare not
proceed without.”
    The thick stone walls and straw strewn floors
no longer held any interest for Amy, all her attention was captured
by the man intent on becoming the husband of a woman she somehow
became!
     
     

CHAPTER 2
     
    Seeing her distress, Mistress Tilly sent all
the ladies away from the chambers, leaving Amy alone with her
troubled pacing. Where the solitude should have helped her sort out
some of what happened Amy only found herself adrift in a sea of
unanswerable questions.
    “How did I come to be here?” After falling
into an exhausted sleep, yesterday, Amy woke to find she still
remained.
    Again she turned to walk the cool stone floor
of Lady Amelia’s chamber. The tower rooms were awash in the noon
sun flooding through the stained glass windows. Each of the
circular panes were set strategically in the three outside castle
walls to capture the sun’s warmth and light at all angles. The room
was large and impressive, with a huge fireplace at its inner wall.
The sleeping chamber set back in a raised alcove. A huge bed took
up the entire space, great heavy drapes hung from the ceiling to be
closed for complete privacy.
    Amy’s fingers absently ran over the elaborate
stitches grazing the sheets and pillows.
    Wrapping her arms about her, her eyes swept
over the delicate feminine items about the area. The embroidery
stand with its unfinished piece, the gold-inlaid lute leaning up
against the wall, to the veiled pearl and velvet head pieces
hanging from wall pegs beside the lady’s setting table. “Where did
you go, Amelia?”
    Amy didn’t want to ponder what might have
happened to either of them. What she couldn’t avoid was the
present. Nothing and everything said she was really here, in what
appeared to be the fifteenth century. The castle was Morgan Castle,
of that she was positive. Though she never really saw so much of it
intact, she couldn’t be wrong. She couldn’t dispute the obvious
that everyone believed her to be Lady Amelia Morgan, not Amy
Bonner, Professor of Archeology, in Wales on a dig in 2009.
    “Peter...” Amy cringed at the unwanted memory
and the events she refused to let invade her mind. With them came
fears she refused to deal with right now. “The beast--Oh, Amy what
has happened to you? I’m not going back, am I?” The lack of answers
didn’t change her fate. “What am I going to do? And that, that
Randall! What in the world can I do about him?”
    “I told you before Amelia--nothing.”
    Amy spun about and had to grip the bed drape
to keep from falling. “You! How did you get in here? Get out!”
    Bern planted his booted foot on the hearth,
his body coiled tight, ready to prevent the flight he saw in her
eyes. “Who is Peter?”
    Her sharp intake of breath vibrated between
them. “No one.” She hated the breathless shaking in