Wild about the Witch Read Online Free PDF Page B

stayed at all.
    “I’ll see ye tomorrow,” he said, tilting his head down the hill toward the barn. “I work here, remember?”
    She hadn’t remembered, but was delighted to get to see him again. “What do ye do?” she asked.
    “I help take care of the animals. Do ye like goats?” he asked. “We’ve just got them, and they’re quite small yet. And we’ve got a few sheep left, though sheep are unlucky around here. There’s a pig now as well, but Danny deals with her, as she hates the sight of me for some reason.”
    “I love goats,” she said, wanting to tell him how she followed the goatherds around at her aunt’s farm. Mellie cleared her throat loudly behind her and she felt terribly rude and forward, and all sorts of wrong things.
    Shane grinned at her, completely unaware of all her transgressions. “See ye tomorrow, then.”
    Mellie pulled her back inside. “Just no,” she said. “Shane’s a bit of a letch, best leave him be. Now, tell me everything.”
    They stayed up well into the night, and Catie found herself having a wonderful time and stuffed herself full of the food Mellie kept placing before her. At first it seemed strange that she would so readily accept everything Catie told her, but she realized Mellie must know the truth about Lachlan.
    She wanted to ask about the fearsome witch, but didn’t want to offend or cause Mellie to say something that might later get her in trouble. After all, Piper Sinclair was the owner of this castle, and Mellie’s employer. She must keep a tight rein on her powers, to be accepted by the townspeople. Shane and his mother hadn’t seemed scared of her, either. Catie wondered if they all might be under a spell, but they seemed in control of their faculties from what she’d seen so far.
    “Lachlan is going to freak out when he sees you,” Mellie said, after she told her story of how she got there, only leaving out the part where she feared for his safety.
    “Is he all right?” she asked tentatively. “Well, I mean?”
    Mellie nodded. “Do you mean the sickness when he first got here? He hasn’t had it at all that I know of. He doesn’t even wear the amulet anymore.”
    Catie didn’t know what to make of that and sighed. At least her brother was in good health. But was he in his right mind? Would he recognize her when he saw her? Mellie went on to tell her what she already knew, that they wouldn’t be home for a week.
    “We’ll ramble around the village and have a good time until they get home. I have classes in the morning, but we can get you some more clothes tomorrow afternoon.”
    “What do ye study?” Catie asked, not wanting to admit she only had four pounds.
    “Nursing. I’m almost finished, but honestly, I’m not sure I even want to do it anymore.”
    “What will ye do instead?” she asked.
    Mellie shrugged, seeming unconcerned. “Work here. Maybe start a business. I don’t know.”
    “Will ye get married?”
    “Sure, but not for years and years. And I want an American or someone from London, so I’ll have to travel eventually, I suppose. I still can’t believe you’re only seventeen and they were trying to marry you off.” Mellie offered her a slice of cake, but Catie was bursting at the seams. “Shame about your fortune, though.”
    “It isna as if I had it long enough to regret it overmuch,” Catie said, deciding to come clean about her poverty. “In fact, I only have 4 pounds left, so I’ll have to make do with what I have.”
    “Not to worry. Piper’s got accounts at all the shops.” Mellie led her to a room close to her own on the ground floor. “If you’d rather something bigger, you can go upstairs, but I find it creepy up there when no one’s home.”
    “This is lovely, thank ye. But willna Piper, er Miss Sinclair, be angry if I spend her money?”
    “She’ll be angry if you don’t,” Mellie assured her. “And she’ll bring the hammer down on me for letting you run around in the same pair of jeans for