“She has a talent with horses, to be sure,” Hamish agreed.“That was how we knew her.She came to the Temple, disguised as a boy, to aid in their care.She was friends with Bartholomew, the squire of the knight Gaston I mentioned earlier.He served almost twenty years with the Temple, and Bartholomew was his squire all the while.It turns out that Bartholomew is the lost heir to Haynesdale, and now he is lord there.”
“Well, well, Mhairi, our Hamish has gathered powerful friends in his time away!”
“And how did Lady Leila come to be in your party, then?”Mhairi asked.
“Her uncle had betrothed her to a man she distrusted and would not listen to her protests.She fled and asked for our protection.Laird Fergus took her as his squire, saying he had bought so much for Lady Isobel that he had need of another squire.We called her Laurent, and I did not know she was a lady until several weeks ago.”
Rodney chuckled at that.“It is no good thing to be adept at disguise, lad.”
“She defended my lord’s belongings and his welfare more than once,” Hamish said with ferocity.“I would trust Leila as well as Laird Fergus, in any situation.”
“Well, there is an endorsement for you, Mhairi,” Rodney said.“And a potent one as well.The boy has found his voice on his journey, to be sure.”
“An honorable nature is all well and good, and truly I am glad to hear of hers,” Mhairi said.“But there will be trouble yet over her faith, upon that you can rely.”
His uncle nodded sagely.“Killairic is prosperous and Laird Calum is aged.We had best brace ourselves for assault.”
Hamish disliked this forecast and knew his feelings showed, for his uncle gave him a nudge.“What is it, lad?”
“I had thought all was different here.I had thought we rode home to peace.”
“Perhaps that is one trait men hold in common, a desire for whatsoever belongs to another.We have seen our share of war and pillage in your absence.”Rodney was philosophical.“I am glad to hear that my lord Fergus has taken a good woman to wife, though.That is reassuring, whatever her faith.”
“Aye, for he could have wed Lady Isobel.”Mhairi grimaced.
“Mhairi...”
Mhairi shook a finger at her husband.“We have not seen the last of that one, not since Laird Fergus came home, hale and handsome, with riches besides.I would wager that old Stewart MacEwan is not looking so alluring on this night.”
Hamish guessed from what he had witnessed the day before that his aunt was right.
“Mark my words, she will try to find a way to return to Laird Fergus’ affections.I hope this time he is wiser about the truth of her nature.”
“What is the truth of her nature, Aunt?”
“Mhairi...”
Yet again, Mhairi ignored her husband’s warning.“She is one who sees to her own advantage alone.She wed Stewart because he admired her and offered her a home.In absence, Laird Fergus lost his appeal to that one.It is a measure of her nature that she could not keep a pledge and that her love was so thin that it could not sustain her while she awaited his return.And now, she will wish to leap from one to the other, for her spouse is older and perhaps harsher.Nay, we have not seen the last of her.”
“Mhairi, you see shadows in every corner.”
“Usually, because they are there.It will be that little maid who aids in the matter, to be sure.”
“Which maid?”Hamish asked, though he already guessed his aunt must mean Agnes.Pretty Agnes, who smiled at him so sweetly and whose attention made his heart pound.
“The one come from Dunnisbrae, that one with the fair face and the dark heart.”
“Agnes,” Rodney contributed.“The orphan.”
“Who is cut of the same cloth as Lady Isobel, to be sure.It is no wonder they could not abide in the same hall and no coincidence that she came from Dunnisbrae to Killairic, purportedly in search of labor.Nay, she came to watch for Laird Fergus and her loyalty is to Dunnisbrae if not her own self.To be sure, Laird Fergus comes by his kindness of heart honestly, for his father shares it.”Mhairi gave Hamish a hard look.“Do not be fooled by that one with her twitching skirts, lad.”
“Of course not, Aunt,” Hamish said stoutly, though he very nearly had been so tricked.“Tell me what else is new in the village.”
“Well,” Rodney said, his manner becoming expansive as they returned to topics of greater comfort to him.“Gavin at the mill there, he finally married young Inge.It took no small resolve on the part of both fathers, given that she was out there on the isles, but they are happy, to be sure.”
“Two sets of twins she has born to him in four years,” Mhairi contributed.“And you never saw such handsome children.”
“You think all children are handsome, Aunt,” Hamish teased and the older couple laughed.
His aunt leaned toward him with sparkling eyes.“I will tell you this, Hamish.There will never be a babe more beautiful than the first one you sire.”
Hamish found his neck heating.“I am too young to wed, Aunt.”
“Nonsense!You have been across the width of Christendom, served with the Templars and are pledged to Laird Fergus.Your future is as secure as ever it will be.”His aunt raised a brow and Hamish nodded agreement.
He had not considered marriage, not yet, although he had thought of intimacy with Agnes.Perhaps one day, he would find a woman of merit, just as the knights in their company had done.If naught else, he would help Leila to find allies at Killairic, for defending a lady was what a man of any measure should do.
Hamish smiled because he had learned that from his uncle, long before he had journeyed to Outremer.
