Ian gave her a faint smile. She was beginning to see that those smiles were a rare gift from the solemn man. From Finn they were virtually nonexistent. Except that one shining moment….
She forced the impact of that smile away and watched him. Even with his children, though his expression was lighter, less menacing, there were no smiles from him. Life had clearly been unkind if he couldn’t summon one for those two adorable ragamuffins.
“We were on our way to fetch Finn for supper and settle the children into the nursery for their own,” Ian murmured. “Would ye care to join us?”
“God help me, nay.” Her muttered response was drowned out by Finn’s own emphatic rejection.
They both looked at him. Ian’s lips quirked again. “Miss Marshall was eager to be on her way,” Finn explained as he released his children. “It would be rude to keep her.”
“But, Da!” The two older children protested in unison and turned to Aila with bright, pleading hazel eyes and gap-toothed smiles. “Da says we might take Rab to the nursery wi’ us but that the decision was up to ye, Mistress Marshall.” Niall’s lips moved in a silent repetition ofplease, please, pleasewhile Effie piped up with a more vocal, “Please, Mistress Marshall, may we?”
They were a quite a pair. Five, maybe six years old given the missing teeth, not that she knew much about it. While they’d been a wee bit mussed earlier in the day, both were noticeably grubbier now. Mud streaked their clothes and faces. Bright blond hair tousled. Effie’s ribbon dangled listlessly from the end of her braid. Pink cheeks, yet heavy lidded. They’d clearly made the most of their play time with Rab. The dog’s purpose was supposed to be to protect her, and couldn’t they sense that sort of thing? Aila didn’t know. What she did know was that the men were no threat in the physical sense. The only person she needed protection from at this point was herself. She glanced down at the dog as he gazed at the pair with open adoration before his pleading eyes shifted back to her.
How could she say no to that?
“Well, Mistress Marshall?” Ian cocked a questioning brow in her direction. “Are ye eager to be on yer way or shall we rudely keep ye?”
For the second time that day, Aila was pulled back from the brink of doing the right thing. Just as Finn’s “send her back” earlier had prompted a contrariness to do the exact opposite, so had his insistence now that she needed to be on her way. She’d have stayed through the meal if only to irk him further.
Hearing the name Boyce echo through the servants’ hall sealed the deal.
She’d found a Boyce without even trying! Her avid gaze followed the man as he shuffled along with a sack of what appeared to be flour propped on his shoulder. Was he the right one? MaybetheBoyce? Could be. She searched for any resemblance to the portly clan members of her time but found none.
With tufts of faded orange hair peppered heavily with white poking out from under his wool flat cap and reddened ears, he could have been Auld Donell’s drinking buddy. Though Donell’s true age was surprisingly indeterminable, he had to be older than sixty. Much older. This Boyce appeared roughly the same age. Old enough, in any case, to have been at least in his late teens to early twenties when the first duke was alive. He crossed the hall with the cook Aila had met earlier, disappearing through the kitchen door.
“Mistress Marshall?” Ian’s prompt drew her attention back to the two men. Both looked expectant, though by Finn’s expression his expectation for her answer was clearly in the negative.
She did so hate to disappoint him but if taking a meal with him gave her the opportunity to delve into the mystery of the treasure, she was going to take it.
Thenshe’d leave. With or without answers.
Chapter 9
“Supper sounds lovely.”
Squeals of delight, and one fierce frown, met her assent. Effie threw her arms around the dog, tighter than any domesticated beast would normally bear. Yet this one only panted happily and licked the girl’s cheek. The pair bounded down the hallway with Rab on their heels. Ian’s nursemaid followed the children with a long-suffering sigh.
The sound of Finn grinding his teeth again roused a certain degree of pleasure. As she’d told him, it was awfully good to know she wasn’t the only one aggravated by the other. On the flip side, she still didn’t know for sure whether the burning desire Finn roused in her was reciprocated or if it was vexation alone that riled him. What she did know now, Aila realized with a start, was that it wouldn’t be immoral any longer to solve that particular mystery.
As a widower, he was free to take a lover if he chose. Would he? Could he? Had it been long enough for him to do so with an unencumbered heart?
When she’d asked the question earlier, it had been asked out of sympathy. Now her curiosity was focused on whether the loss were recent, a fresh wound, or if he mourned still.
She could see it now. It wasn’t rage that filled him, despite Ian’s claim. It was loss. Perhaps a dash of defeat. Poor Finn. Left to raise his son and daughter alone.
Ian directed a servant to return her trunk to her room. Aila let him relieve her of her cloak with a murmured thanks and he passed that off to the servant as well. Castle maids and footmen gathered around a long table with the housekeeper seated at one end and the majordomo at the other. Aila let Ian lead her to a smaller table set next to the fireplace.
“Why are ye sitting way over here?”
“A compromise. Despite Finn’s position here, he is neither servant nor guest,” he told her. “The steward would have us dine in a more formal setting, while I…let’s saypreferto maintain a discreet distance between the two of us.”
“I dinnae blame ye. I wouldnae want to share his company either.”
Sitting, she watched Finn from beneath her lashes as he sat opposite her. Empathy had never been her strong suit, yet her heart ached for his loss. She longed to brush away the furrow between his brows along with his worries. To hold him, comfort him.
And more.
If he were able and willing. This wasn’t exactly a good moment to solve that particular conundrum. Thankfully, she had another at hand.
