Free PENETRATE (The Portals of Time Book 1) by Jackie Ivie

After a span, he’d learned to ignore them. He rarely even noticed. Such travails were part of life. He didn’t allow it to become his issue.
    Not then.
    And he wasn’t about to start now.
    He finished the buttons. Started attaching the ruffled front piece. “I need to know about the will, Mason. Refresh my memory.”
    “What do you recollect?”
    “Parts. But I’m a bit...uh...vague on the betrothal stuff. Give me the exact wording, and—now, wait...just a minute here.” 
    The shirt was finished. He’d watched Mason wrap the coils of linen at Neal’s wrists and slide little chains through them, making a cuff and link affair, securing the sleeves in place. Menswear really needed to get updated. And then the valet had approached and tossed a hank of the plaid over his Neal’s shoulder.
    “You need to hold still, your—I mean, Neal.”
    The man circled behind him, came back around to the front, wrapping material as he moved.
    “Come on. You’re not joking? This is it? I don’t get anything else? No underwear? Nothing? Doesn’t the wool...um. You know? Itch?”
    “Well. That’s one of the uses of the sporran, Neal.”
    Mason Millbourne pointed to the purse-thing. He was chuckling. And it wasn’t all that funny.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    For once, Ainslee did as she’d been ordered.
    She stayed in her tower room.
    It wasn’t an onerous chore, in the worst of times. She loved every inch of the old stone edifice, even if it was freezing cold in the winter and unbearably stuffy some nights in the summer. On those nights, she could always climb the ladder and sleep atop the highest part of the castle, watching the stars, secure atop the wooden latticework tower ceiling that an ancestor of hers had seen constructed.
    She also loved the tower because it was an access point to the secret passages. She’d found it by trial and error one particularly severe winter when she couldn’t keep the fire going. One section of her room was so much colder than anywhere else, while it seemed to have a continual breeze. By standing on a chair and hanging on one heavy shield, she’d twisted the thing a half turn, and it had come away from the wall, opening right out like a door! That shield hid a crawlspace just large enough for her, and beyond that, all sorts of halls and steps that linked her to the entire castle.
    That passageway meant freedom.
    And nobody else knew about it.
    This evening, however, she was obeying because she had preparations to attend to, and not because any chance encounter with Father might remind him of her promised punishment. It seemed ridiculous to think the Laird of MacAffrey might still be planning and devising a beating for his younger daughter. He sounded like he was in great spirits. His laughter rang out more than once since the Straith laird had arrived.
    Ainslee hadn’t been able to see the official arrival, since her tower was on the opposite side of the entrance gate, but the walls weren’t high enough to completely obscure the Straith retinue as they’d approached on the road. The day had altered since this morn – a normal event – and the skies were now gray-cast, with low-hanging clouds that promised rain. She’d still been able to make out the duke, easily seen since he was the only mounted man. He’d been surrounded by a double row of clansmen that denoted his Honor Guard. Directly behind them would be the bard, an elder clansman who kept the oral history of clan. He was followed by pipers, blaring out the clan marching tune. Although she couldn’t see it, behind the pipers should be the clan spokesman known as a bladier. After him came an uncountable number of clansmen, all wearing the red, white, and black plaid denoting the Straith Clan. It looked extremely impressive. She almost gave into her curiosity and snuck down the passageway so she could watch their greeting. The only thing that stopped her was she didn’t wish to upset her