Everlastin' Book 1 by Mickee Madden

previous night brought a
whimsical smile to her mouth. Eggs Benedict, wedges of cheese, and
fried dough slathered in butter and honey. Anything beyond eggs,
he'd told her, was out of his league.
    A soft laugh caressed her
throat. She'd never known anyone like him and probably never would
again. He could be the most entertaining companion, or a royal pain
in the—
    Carlene and
David.
    Giving in to a wide yawn,
Beth groggily sat up. Surely they would return today, or Beth would
give serious thought to returning to the States and getting on with
her life. If she remained too long without Carlene around to act as
a buffer, Beth knew she would give in to making love with Lachlan,
and she wasn’t sure she could leave him behind after sharing that
kind of intimacy with him.
    After a long bath, she went
through the motions of preparing herself for the day. Dressed in a
pair of acid wash jeans and a baggy lightweight sweat shirt to ward
off the morning chill of the house, she left her room. The bedroom
door across the hall was shut. A secretive smile on her lips, she
headed down the hall.
    Never had she imagined a
house could be so absolutely quiet, so full of silence, and yet the
air seemed to possess a tangible presence. Trying not to dwell on
it, she headed out through the double set of front
doors.
    Three of the peacocks called
out upon seeing her. Leaning against the stone front of the house,
she watched the birds through a wan smile.
    “Early risers, aren't you
fellas?”
    The birds strutted about,
pecking at the ground, and fluffing up their feathers. Proud and
arrogant. Secure in their surroundings. Going about their business
but keeping an eye on her.
    One came close to her and
boldly looked her over. Its train of feathers rose up and spread
into a magnificent fan of colors. Then as if to put her in her
place, it brushed up against her leg and strutted off in the
direction of the house.
    Placing a hand over her
heart, she laughed.
    What had Lachlan called one
of the birds the other day?
    Brau....
Braussaw.
    An admirable name for such a
haughty creature. In many ways, the birds reminded her of
Lachlan.
    A mist lay over the land.
Looking to the west, she thought about the tower and wondered what
the view of the loch would be like from that vantage
point.
    “No time like the present to
find out,” she murmured.
    Returning inside the house,
she went to the second floor. When she arrived at the drapes that
concealed the newel staircase, something else caught her attention.
The door perpendicular to the drapes was open. Beyond it was a
narrow, descending staircase of stone.
    A wonderful aroma filled the
passageway and embraced Beth's mounting hunger. She inhaled deeply,
released a moan of longing, then descended until she reached the
bottom and passed through an open, narrow arch. Surprise stopped
her in her tracks. A few feet across from her, an elderly woman
stood bent over the large, black stove. She looked up to spare Beth
a curiously nonchalant look before placing the rest of the food
she'd cooked on a silver tray.
    “Good morning.”
    Beth's soft voice brought
the woman's head to turn in her direction again. The heavily lined
face showed impatience, and her pale watery-blue eyes ran a slow,
measuring look over Beth's form.
    “Abou' time you came down.
You don’t expect me to climb the stairs, do you?”
    The old woman was about to
lift the tray within her gnarled hands when Beth rushed forward and
took it into her own hands.
    “Is this for me?”
    Barely five foot in height,
the old woman placed her hands upon her hips and scowled up into
Beth's face. “I'm no' here cookin' for ma health now, am I,
Missy?”
    Beth's expression sobered.
She had the strangest compulsion to apologize to the cook—but for
what, she didn't know.
    “Did Carlene ask you to cook
this for me?”
    “His Nibs.”
    Mistaking “His Nibs” for
David, Beth glanced over the contents of the tray. Two boiled eggs
on toast. Thick slices of fried