“More aboot trade in spring when the weather is reliable once again.”
“When is the weather ever reliable in Scotland?” Maude chortled.
“Nearly never, but when the roads are clear, they’ll want more of our Highland coos, and they know my clan would benefit from their grain. I’ll speak to them at another time.”
“Kier, I don’t want to come between you and clan business. If this is something that you need to attend to, the garden will be there tomorrow.”
“Unless you tell me you don’t want to walk with me, naught is keeping me from accompanying you.”
Maude searched Kieran’s steely eyes before nodding. She didn’t push the issue, and allowed Kieran to escort her outside. There’d been a dusting of snow during the night, and the steps were slippery. She was glad to have his sturdy frame to lean upon while the other ladies gripped one another, and windmilled their arms to keep themselves upright. The slick ground didn’t faze Kieran, who walked surefooted toward the garden’s entrance. He stopped Maude where it was possible for him to stand and block the wind from her.
“I like the pink in your cheeks and the tip of your nose. It’s a shade that reminds me of your raspberry nipples,” Kieran whispered as his hands rested at her elbows while she rubbed her gloved hands together.
“Wheesht. Someone will hear you.” Maude attempted to make her words stern, but the giggle that bubbled forth reassured Kieran that she enjoyed his randy comments. She made a sound of disappointment when Kieran stepped away when the other ladies and the queen approached.
“Maude!” Arabella called out to her, holding up Maude’s scarf. Maude shuffled to retrieve it from her friend. “I rushed back to our chamber to nab mine when I realized the poor weather and guessed you might want---”
Maude turned to see what was happening behind her that made her friend trail off. A group of matrons and widows had joined the ladies-in-waiting. Several stared at Kieran, but when Lady Bevan stepped in front of Kieran, her heart felt pinched like a vice grabbing hold. Kieran watched her and barely glanced down at Lady Bevan’s upturned face. Maude saw Kieran’s lip moved in what looked like the words “pardon me” before he stepped around his former lover. He walked toward her and Arabella.
“Thank you, Lady Arabella,” Kieran said as a greeting. “It’s a wee brisk this morning. Lady Maude will benefit from an extra layer.” He took the scarf dangling from Arabella’s hand. They had quickly forgotten it as the two women watched with bated breath to see what would pass between Kieran and Lady Bevan. Arabella nodded before muttering “you’re welcome.” Kieran stepped before Maude and wrapped the scarf around her neck, leaving enough slack for her to pull it up over her mouth and nose. The act of intimacy seemed even more forward than when they walked out to their first dance holding hands.
“Kieran, you’re drawing attention to us.”
“Didn’t we assume my presence would?”
“Aye, but I didn’t imagine you’d be so bold. You might as well run through the streets announcing it to all and sundry.”
Kieran adjusted her hood to better cover Maude’s ears, but dropped his hands when he realized that he’d done it without thinking about it. It seemed natural to take care of Maude as though she were already his wife. He turned them to join the others, and she wrapped her arm through his once more.
“It makes you uncomfortable?” He asked.
“I’ve spent my time here attempting to blend in and go unnoticed. I’ve gone from enduring an angry tirade to being the prey of the worst lechers at court to now openly receiving attention from one of the most eligible bachelors in the country. All in the space of two days. So much for being inconspicuous.”
“I’m sorry, buttercup. I didn’t think before I acted. I saw the scarf and didn’t want you to grow too chilled. It seemed natural to wrap it around you, but even I remember a betrothed wouldn’t take such liberties. I tried to be thoughtful and rather ended up being thoughtless.”
“I appreciate it. I like your concern and feeling important to you, but it makes me anxious having so many people looking at us. Lady Bevan wanted to speak to you, and you ignored her. I don’t want people to think ill of your manners.”
“There is only one reason for her to speak to me. Two, actually. One to see if I’ll bed her again, and the other to prove she can take my attention from you. Neither will happen. There was little point in engaging in mindless chatter when I couldn’t be bothered. I came to be with you, not anyone else.”
Maude nodded but fell silent. They walked through the gardens as the queen led the way with the matrons who accompanied her. The ladies-in-waiting paired off or gathered in small groups as they followed the queen’s leisurely pace. The cold never seemed to bother the woman, and her morning walks, unless it rained or sleeted, lasted at least an hour. She insisted upon her morning constitutional, even when it snowed. The Lowlanders complained when out of earshot, but the Highland ladies pulled their hoods up, tucked their chins, and grinned and bore it. The weather remained milder than most were accustomed to on their clan’s land. Maude’s home, Dunrobin, sat on the North Sea’s coast. It remained one of the most northern keeps, with her Sinclair cousins’ home of Dunbeath being a day’s ride further up the coast. While she didn’t enjoy the cold, even in the dead of winter the weather in Stirling seemed balmy compared to her home. She picked her way along the path, shuffling her feet when she sensed a patch of ice would appear underfoot. She clenched Kieran’s sleeve more than once when she feared slipping. His sturdy presence kept her anchored even when her heart dropped, then raced with the gut clenching moment of fear that she would fall.
“How was the weather while you returned home?” Maude realized Kieran sacrificed his morning in the lists to walk with her so they might become better acquainted with one another. Sulking in silence wouldn’t further her cause if she wanted to learn whether they suited.
“Rather mild considering the season. It snowed thrice and rained every other day, but the wind didn’t chill me to the bone like it often does.”
Maude had never been to the Outer Hebrides, but was familiar with their geography and clan territories. She remembered an interesting connection that hadn’t come to mind even when the incident in Assynt increased tensions in the north.
“We’re distantly related, but not by blood,” Maude blurted out.
“I don’t know aboot that. I’ve never learned of such a connection to the Sutherlands. At least not within the past several generations.”
“It’s in a rather roundabout way. My cousin, Callum, who’s the son of my late aunt who was my father’s sister, married a woman who was a Mackenzie, but her mother was a MacLeod of Assynt. So, we’re related of a sort but indirectly through marriage.”
“Aye, the chieftain there is a distant cousin. His grandson is near my age.”
“He’s Siùsan’s cousin. Her mother was the chieftain’s daughter. She’s a wonderful woman, but her childhood was atrocious.” Maude peered up at Kieran, unsure if he wanted to listen to her story.
“Tell me, buttercup. I would learn aboot your family.”
