“They were not my words.”
Nor was Vaila a good conspirator, apparently, though the devilish look she shot Ailsa suggested that she spoke not out of an absence of loyalty but out of the little sister’s determination to rile the elder sibling at every turn.
And that was just like Mairi. Ewan couldn’t resist. He shot Vaila a grin.
“Were they no?”
“No,” she said, fighting her own grin as she refused to meet Ailsa’s gaze. “What I said was that if ye let me train with your men, I’ll teach them everything I know.”
His grin broadened. Oh, he could notwaitto see how James reacted to this.
“Well, their primary training session is at dawn, but there’s near always someone down in the training yard. The Captain of the Guard, James, is there most of the time, unless he’s leading a patrol or if there’s trouble afoot. I’d be well pleased to escort you down to the training yard.”
Vaila looked delighted.
Ailsa looked exasperated.
“You,” she told Ewan, “are making a terrible mistake.”
“Unless you want your sister by marriage to like you, whereupon you are behaving wonderfully,” Vaila added cheerfully.
Ewan chuckled. He hadn’t thought about how marriage would bring him more little sisters, and perhaps the idea ought to have horrified him, given how frequently Mairi drove himto absolute distraction. But, for right now, it was decidedly entertaining to contemplate.
James, however, was less amused.
“So let me get this clear,” he said, mouth drawn into a flat line. “Ye are trying to charm yer betrothed, and so I am now stuck with a woman in my training yard.”
“I wouldnae say I’m trying tocharmher,” Ewan protested. “But if ye think I am above trying to gain Ailsa’s approval through the sisters she obviously adores… Nay, indeed, I am not.”
“I take back my previous observation,” James said. “Marriageisa death sentence. The death of yer good sense, that is.”
“I trust ye will make Vaila feel welcome,” Ewan said pointedly.
“Ach,” said James.
As Ewan moved back toward where Ailsa was lingering near the entrance to the training ground, he saw James leading Vaila around the training equipment, his skeptical expression morphing into one of reluctant admiration as she asked some kind of question that Ewan couldn’t overhear.
Ailsa watched the proceedings with an expression that didn’t cross over into outright doubt, but certainly held a note of distinct skepticism. Ewan hoped that he hadn’t alienated his bride-to-be in allowing her sister to train with the men… though that did not strike him as being at all like the Ailsa he’d once known.
But people changed, did they not? After all, Ailsa had changed into a woman willing to marry him.
He pushed aside the wounded thoughts.
“Do you no’ think yer sister will do well with the men?” he asked when he was within earshot. “From what I’ve seen of hertalents, she’s well able to hold her own. That knife throw was a thing of beauty.”
Ailsa looked pleased at the compliment to her younger sister through most of this, though at this last comment, a flicker of worry crossed her features.
“Aye, she’s skilled,” she agreed softly. “I just dinnae know if she’s yet really considered that she killed a man, and I worry about her reaction when she does.”
“Ah.” Ewan could scarcely blame Ailsa for worrying over that, now, could he?
Still, his monosyllable had her cutting her eyes at him. Those hazel eyes—brown with gold—reminded him of the color of whisky when it was just right. And, now, they held as much bite as did a shot of whisky on a cold Highland night.
“If ye are thinking that she is missish and weak—” Ailsa began, pausing when Ewan held up a hand.
“Nay, not a bit.” Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. “We’ve been blessed with more than our fair share of peace these ten or so years?—”
Peace, he thought with a jolt of anxiety, that might soon be a thing of the past. He pushed those thoughts aside, too. Today was about getting matters straight with Ailsa, the woman hewouldbe marrying, no matter the cost. He would handle the rest as it came.
