“Anchor there,” he said, pointing with his finger. “Set yer feet. Shoulders low. Count on me call.”
The men moved without fuss.
Calum gave him a dry look. “A grown man’s game, me Laird.”
“Aye,” Alex said. “And better for it.”
He felt the shift in the yard before he saw it. Voices rose, but not in alarm. He turned, and the twins spilled out of the small door at the edge of the wall, dragging Erica between them as if they had trapped a rare prize.
She wore blue that caught the light and threw it back in a clean line across her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed from what he imagined to be running down the stairs, and her eyes were bright.
He remembered the previous night at the lake and pushed the thought out of his mind the minute it came. He turned his eyes to the girls instead, watching their wide smiles grow closer as their grip tightened on Erica’s hands.
“Is it just me, or do the lasses’ hair look redder than usual?” he muttered under his breath.
Calum shifted beside him. “The sun. Mine is redder as well.”
“Must be the sun then,” Alex responded, his voice clear.
Erica drew nearer, still looking from post to post. He looked at her, and for a second, he could have sworn her cheeks were flushed.
“What is going on?”
“Training day,” he said. “‘Tis a tradition Grandmamma started. The whole castle has to engage in it every few months.”
“Really?” Erica asked, swallowing.
“Aye. Very convenient that all she has to do is sit and watch it, though,” Alex added, raising his voice with each word so the older woman could hear him.
Grandmamma spoke from her chair under the tree. “Blame old age, nae me.”
Erica laughed, a clear, short sound that cut through the yard. It drew his attention before he could stop it.
Bettie seized her hand. “Ye are with me.”
Katie latched onto Alex’s sleeve. “And ye are withus.”
Alex looked down at her. “We will lose,” he said.
Katie wrinkled her nose. “Only if ye cheat.”
“Then we are safe,” he said, earning a small gasp of mock outrage.
Erica smiled across the rope. “We have to win.”
“Do ye now?” Alex drawled.
“Aye,” she said.
He set positions and watched as the men took their places behind the children, ready to give weight without trampling small feet. He took the anchor on his side because Katie demanded it. Erica went back three places on the other line with Bettie wedged at her hip.
A guard with a loud voice raised a hand for silence.
“On me call,” Alex said. “Ready.”
The rope went tight with breath alone, and the yard fell quiet. Grandmamma leaned forward, and a few maids stood on the step with trays they forgot they were holding.
Alex raised his hand.
