“Why were they here?”
“I told ye. Halloway has a bad back. Sleeping on the ground does no’ help matters, but he can’t do anything about that. The poultice helps.”
“So ye aid the enemy?”
She paused and considered him. “That’s a strange thing for ye to say, being as ye’re very tight with the English yerself.”
“We’re not talking about me. It’s not safe foryou.”
“Ah. But it’s safe for ye?”
“They’re unpredictable, the English.”
“I’m safer knowing the sergeant who patrols this area.”
“So you’re playing both sides?”
“I’m playingmyside.”
He seemed to want to say something but held back, and she wondered if he was finally going to mention the people he’d seen leaving her home.Ifhe even saw them, but she was nearly convinced he had.
“You need to move closer to the big house, where you’ll be safer.”
“Nay.”
“Cait—”
“I’ll no’ discuss this with ye any further. Ye may be my chief, but I won’t obey ye on this.”
“This is my land. I can take this home away from you and force you back.”
Alarm skittered up her spine. “Ye wouldn’t,” she said softly.
Chapter 5
Iain watched Cait spoon stew into bowls and prepare a tray of warm, crusty bread.
“It smells delicious.”
“Thank ye.” She didn’t turn to look at him, and for a strange moment he wanted to see her smile. Did she smile anymore? Did any Scotsman have much to smile about these days?
He picked up the tray she’d been reaching for. “Join us,” he said on a whim. He wasn’t usually prone to whims, but it was ridiculous that she eat down here all alone while he and Adair ate upstairs.
He bit back a smile of victory when he heard the light tap of her feet on the steps behind him. Dare he hope that he’d put a chink in the ice she’d formed between them?
Adair was sitting up in bed, dressed in a clean saffron shirt. Iain wondered if the shirt had been John’s but then pushed the thought away.
“You’re looking a far sight better than last night,” Iain said as he placed the tray on the table beside the bed. He handed out the bowls of stew and motioned for Cait to sit in the lone chair while he stood to eat.
Adair ate only a few bites before setting the bowl down. “What have ye heard about the droving?” he asked as he leaned back, his face pale, though looking better than yesterday.
“Droving?” Cait asked.
“Just a bit of cattle thieving,” Iain said offhandedly. It was quite a bit more than cattle thieving, but he didn’t want anyone to know more than necessary. “Nothing serious.”
Adair snorted, and Cait looked between them. “Something tells me that this droving is more serious than ye’re letting on.”
“An old enemy,” Iain said with a shrug, not wanting to get into it.
