“We’ve drovers all over the Highlands, paid to drive herds of cattle or flocks of sheep to market. It could have been as far as Aberdeen or Fort William. Or both. That would look less suspicious, I reckon—dividing up the flock.”
This was getting more interesting—not because of her ready answers, but because this quest wasn’t some ploy manufactured to keep him occupied. She didn’t know who’d done this—and he meant to give her the answers she wanted. “In other words,” he said, “anyone could have taken them, and sold them anywhere.”
“Aye.”
“That’s not helpful.”
Her arms crossed over her pert chest. “Ye asked me what was amiss, and I told ye. Sheep are missing. We lost another four yesterday. I didnae say ye’d be able to discover who stole that hundred head.” She tilted her head, the dark hair that caressed her temples drifting across her face in the breeze. “As backward as we Highlanders are, even we might’ve been able to find the thieves if they’d kept the flock in their garden.”
“You should address His Grace more respectfully,” Sergeant Kelgrove stated, his expression annoyed.
Gabriel had nearly forgotten his aide was even present. “I’m already accustomed to Miss Blackstock’s direct manner of speaking.”
“It’s her between your tenants, your servants, and you, sir. The way she addresses you will be imitated by others.”
“Dunnae speak aboot me as if I’m nae here,” Fiona protested. “And I reckon ifGabrieldoesnae like how I address him, he can tell me so.”
Adam looked like he’d swallowed a bug. Gabriel, though, didn’t feel nearly as annoyed as his aide looked; she’d called him by his given name in front of someone else. It shouldn’t have mattered in the slightest, but it did. Covering his abrupt urge to smile by turning his back to collect Jack, he couldn’t explain even to himself what seemed to be happening, except that in the midst of this chaos and frustration at the stubborn nonsense keeping him from his duties, he felt… easier. Not quite relaxed, because God knew he’d stepped from one battle direction into another, but lighter. Because of her, and her relentless pushing at his well-established sensibilities. It would never serve him in Spain, but here humor seemed to be an essential part of dealing with Highlanders and the Highlands. And it felt like it had been a very long time since he’d laughed.
“Are ye finished, then?” Fiona asked.
He mounted Jack and swung the bay around to face her. “Here? Yes. The trail’s too old. Why don’t you take me to see my gamekeeper? I imagine he would have noticed any odd comings and goings.”
Even if he hadn’t been watching for it, he would have seen the widening of her dark eyes, the way she checked her advance for just a heartbeat. His hunch had been correct, then; it had been Ian Maxwell who’d kissed her. It was therefore time that they meet. Past damned time.
“Sergeant, return to Lattimer and send people out to give me a head count of the stock I have left. Employ some additional shepherds to help keep watch.”
“Some of them have sons and daughters who know what they’re aboot,” Fiona put in, still being unexpectedly helpful.
“Your Grace, it isn’t… proper for me to leave you out here alone with Miss Bla—”
“Och, I promise ye I willnae ravish yer commander,” she broke in. “Dunnae be such a lass.”
Kelgrove flushed. “Once again, I am trying to do my duty. Insult me all you like, but the fact remains that—”
“The fact remains that I can’t be in two places at once, and so you’re going back,” Gabriel finished. “I want to know where we stand, and I want to move a few steps ahead of our thieves. You’ll provide me with accurate information, and she knows where to find this Ian Maxwell. Go.”
With a curt nod Kelgrove dug his heels into his mount’s ribs and galloped back toward Lattimer. Or MacKittrick, or whatever the castle wanted to be known as today. The old manse could be more fickle than a woman, it seemed.
“If ye wanted to be alone with me, ye should have told me where ye were headed this morning,” Fiona commented, swinging up as easily as any man to sit astride her mare.
“I frequently want to put my head through a door after a conversation with you, Fiona, but I think I’ve made it clear what I want of you. And since you followed me out here, I conclude that you want me in return.”
“Mayhap I’m only being neighborly,” she returned, moving into a trot beside him.
He snorted. “You? Neighborly?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “I’m very neighborly. Ask anyone.”
“Anyone but me, you mean,” Gabriel said, kneeing Jack to send the bay a touch closer to Fiona and her black mare. “While I happen to find your antagonism charming, I wouldn’t call it neighborly.”
“My antagonism’s yer fault,” she retorted with a half grin, “because ye’re hard-heartedandtrying to give yer sergeantmyjob. I’ll nae give the stewardship up withoot a fight, ye ken.”
“Good. I like to fight.”
“I’ve noti—”
He reached out, caught Fiona beneath the arms, and dragged her out of her saddle. Pulling her across his thighs, using her flailing grab around his shoulders as she tried to steady herself to draw her still closer, he took her mouth in a deep, hard kiss.
