“I ne’er would have thought of such a thing as a distraction. Especially not when ’tis barely the middle of the day.”
“Time doesnae matter to a hungry mon, lass.” He grinned when she made a soft sound of disgust. “I but keep wondering why Amiel has stopped so early in the day.”
“He probably just wants a good meal and a bath. Now that he kens who ye are and where ye may be going, he thinks he can take this journey at a leisurely pace. Amiel ne’er liked to do anything that appeared to be work.”
“Ah, one of those men who craves the title but expects everyone else to do the work that comes with the privilege. It looks as if the lasses have finally convinced the men that they will get better service inside the inn. I suspicion Molly told her lad to ask the ladies to do that.”
“Why would she have to ask? Where else would they be able to service the men?”
“In the stable, in the stable yard, in the alley, or near anywhere else where they might stand, sit, or lie.” He glanced at her blush-reddened face and grinned. “I think ye have been verra sheltered, love.” He looked back toward the men. “The last of them has been dragged inside. Best we move. I would love to just gallop out of here but there may yet be one sharp-eyed fellow amongst Amiel’s men, and two people galloping out of town would draw attention.”
The next few minutes were the longest Arianna had ever suffered through, at least since she had been in the water clinging to a keg. She sat tensely on her mount, expecting a cry of discovery to go up every step of the way. By the time they reached the shelter of the trees, she ached from sitting so stiffly in her saddle. She gritted her teeth when Brian began to kick his mount into a faster speed, and followed his lead. Galloping over the countryside was not what she had planned to do today but she would endure.
She prayed those women kept Amiel and his men very busy but did not suffer for doing so. If Amiel even thought he had been tricked, he could turn vicious, and attack the women, Molly, and her sons. It would be a sad way to reward Molly for all her help.
The thought of those women made her recall what Brian had said about where the women could entertain the men. Arianna began to realize that, although her kinswomen had hid nothing about the ways of men and women in marriage, she had been allowed little other knowledge. She had known that her brothers and male cousins went into the village to dally with the maids, but the few times she had thought on it, she had envisioned rooms and beds as the places where the dallying occurred. It was obvious that she still had a lot to learn about the world.
It was late in the day before Brian allowed them to stop for a rest. He had wanted to use the hours Amiel and his men might spend at the inn to get as far away from the man as possible. It would be better if the man decided to stay the night at Molly’s inn but Brian knew he could not count on that. Amiel could have simply stopped for a meal or an ale before planning to continue on. There was only one thing Brian could be sure of and that was that Amiel would get no useful information from anyone at Molly’s. Even if the woman did not have some affection for his clan or Sigimor’s, she would never betray regular paying customers.
He watered the horses and then took out the small sack of food Molly had stuck in his pack before joining Arianna where she had collapsed on the ground beneath a tree. “Nay much farther, love, and ye will be able to rest for more than a night.”
“In a true bed?”
“Aye, in a true bed. And ye can have yourself another bath without worrying about leaving some of the heated water for me.”
“I would like to sleep, just sleep, for a few days.” She sat up straighter and began to eat the food he had placed in her lap. “S’truth, I have badly wished to do that since I first kenned that my lads were in danger on Tillet’s ship and began keeping a close watch on them.”
“Ye can get some sleep at Dubheidland although I am nay sure it can be several days’ worth.”
“Are ye certain your cousin willnae object to our staying there, especially when we are bringing this trouble with us? This isnae his fight.”
“Lucette wants to kill two bairns simply to fill his purse. Trust me in this, Sigimor will want the mon dead for that alone.”
Arianna nodded. She recognized such a man. Her kinsmen would feel the same. It would not even matter if the man were an ally or an enemy, simply that he meant to hurt children because of greed. She had heard a few odd tales about the laird of Dubheidland, ones told her kin by her cousin Alanna and then told to her in what few letters she had received from her family. At least the Lucettes had allowed her to receive those letters, she thought bitterly, wondering if they had read them all and then destroyed ones they didn’t like, just as they had done with the ones she had tried to send those she loved.
Then she tensed. “Brian, I think I have an idea on how Amiel kens where we might go, how he might not need but a whisper of our passing to ken who we might try to get help from.”
“I suspect it is because he has the coin to loosen a few tongues. I fear there are many in this part of the country who ken us weel, the MacFingals and the Camerons.”
“Do ye recall how we thought the Lucettes read the letters I wanted to send to my kin, destroying any they thought were too critical of them?” Arianna could tell by the dark look growing on Brian’s face that he was already seeing what she just had. “What if they also read all the ones my kin sent to me, if only to be certain they destroyed any they believed could cause some trouble for them? Ones that might ask me to come home for some reason or ones asking when they might visit me. Or they looked for information on my family, mayhap to find a way to get some more money from them.”
“And thus they would ken every place ye had kin or allies, or nearly so. That is, if the ones who wrote to ye would speak of such things, tell ye what tales they have heard of concerning other kin and allies.”
“Ye mean they would gossip.” She grinned briefly. “’Tis what it is. And, aye, near all my kin love to tell tales. That is another reason your name and the Camerons seemed so familiar to me. The MacEnroys, as weel.” She sighed. “My family wished me to ken where everyone was and so ’tis verra possible that whoever read my letters has learned it, too. A lot of information about my clan and all we are allied with was in those letters. Amiel was always around and, as Claud’s affair with Marie Anne continued, the elder Lucettes became more and more disgusted with their heir. If Amiel began to aid them in keeping a close eye upon what news passed between me and my kin, then ...”
“Amiel learned about us all and but needed a few clever judgments as to who ye were with.”
She rested her head against the rough trunk of the tree. “I suppose Amiel could have a cunning that I ne’er noticed before.”
Brian nodded and finished his food as he thought over the possibility that the men hunting for Arianna and the boys had come with knowledge of the places she would try to run to. If Amiel had had a plan to murder his brother for a long time, it made sense that the man would learn all he could about his brother’s wife. Yet Brian did not think Amiel had plotted against his brother for that long. The man he had watched in the inn did not have that sort of patience. That meant that Amiel had simply taken advantage of information already collected on Arianna and the Murrays.
The reason for the collection of such information on allies was varied and none of them revealing anything laudable about the family Arianna had married into. None of the reasons mattered at the moment, either. All that was important was that Amiel and the DeVeaux knew too much. He and Arianna could evade the men pursuing them, but never fully shake free of them.
“Ye are verra quiet,” she said, watching him closely. “I am sorry. None of us saw any reason to be verra cautious.”
He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “Ye have naught to apologize for. The Lucettes are allies and ye all thought the family of your husband would be safe. Why wouldnae ye be free in what ye said to each other?”
“In a way I can understand why they carefully watched what I said to my family, mayhap e’en why they watched what my kin said to me. Yet, why make a record of it all as I begin to think they did? What need would they have had to keep such information at hand?”
