Gilleonan shook his head slowly, “Nay, he doesna strike me as havin’ enough sense, let alone the gumption, tae try somethin’ like that on his own. More like one o’ a group and followin’ orders.”
“Aye, there’s that,” Lachlan agreed. “Or he could simply have been paid tae put the blame on another, tae give the real thieves more time tae cover their tracks. Though why he would pick me I canna guess.”
“I can.” At Lachlan’s raised auburn brow, Gilleonan explained, “I doubt there’s many here hasna heard aboot yer reavin’ past, at least in the servants’ wing. ’Twas discussed openly when ye first showed up, ’atween Their Graces, wi’ servants close enough tae hear more’n they should be hearin’. It’s made for some lively talk down in the kitchen, or so Ranald claims. And he should know. The lass he’s been passin’ time wi’ is the cook’s assistant, so he spends a goodly amount o’ time down there.”
“Well, that doesna help tae narrow the chase down, does it now?” Lachlan said in disgust.
Gilleonan grinned. “Nay, what it did was make ye the first one tae come tae mind, for such a plot which is also why the duke looked no further for a culprit. But we’ll be figurin’ this thing out, dinna worry.”
“Aye, I’ve got every confidence o’ that,” Lachlan agreed. Though that wasn’t exactly true.
Gilleonan nodded, adding, “I had Ranald scourin’ the countryside and the nearest villages for likely places the animals could be hidden, and I’m thinkin’ tae keep him at that for the time bein’. Considerin’ the time o’ day that the theft occurred, wi’ most folks up and aboot soon after, ’tis doubtful the horses were taken verra far from here, or the thief or thieves would’ve risked bein’ noticed.”
“That’s true, and why I was also going tae suggest the roads nearby be covered for the next few mornings at that early hour,” Lachlan said. “’Tis likely anyone found traveling them at that time does so every day and can be questioned if they saw anything.”
“A good point, and I’ll even help Ranald wi’ that, since ’tis only an hour or two that we need be concerned wi’. Any later and whoever travels the roads would be at their jobs. And I’ll still have all the rest o’ the day tae keep watch on Will Ables.”
“It should be easier tae find the horses than tae find the thief, though if we get lucky, we can find the one wi’ the other. The horses by themselves willna prove anything, but at least we’d have more tae go by, and a place we can be sure the thieves will return tae. There’s the possibility, also, that the groom, if he is involved, could lead us tae them.”
“Aye, I’ll be watchin’ for that, you can be sure,” Gilleonan assured him.
“Verra well. I’ll be paying him a visit myself—as soon as I’m up tae a wee bit o’ browbeating. At the moment, I dinna think I’d be inspiring anything but contempt, wi’ this face o’ mine. ’Tis good for frightening maids in dark corners, but no’ much else.”
“Actually it’s—well—” Gilleonan had meant to be encouraging, but ended up sighing. “Aye, there’s no improvement yet.”
Lachlan chuckled. “I’ve eyes and mirrors tae be showing me that—as well as the horrified look o’ the maid who brought me breakfast this morning.”
Gilleonan winced. “Och, I didna think o’ that, but this will be delayin’ yer wooin’ for a spell.”
“Indeed,” Lachlan said.
But actually, he hadn’t gotten around to any serious wooing, because of the simple fact that he couldn’t get Kimberly out of his mind long enough to decide on which of the ladies currently at Sherring Cross he ought to pursue. In truth, all he could think about was pursuing her.
He’d figured that would be pretty hopeless. She’d made that very clear. But that was before she’d shown up in his room the other night to give him such tender care—and come to his defense the next morning. She might have been brisk about it all, but he was beginning to think her attitude was a ruse. She always tried to be correct and proper—and so often failed.
He smiled to himself. He loved it when she failed, and most times she amused him when she didn’t. The lass had a hard time containing her spirit, she really did.
She might have refused to get him out of this predicament the easy way, but then he hadn’t expected her to go that far. As it was, in the end shehadoffered to help. So perhaps she’d changed her mind about him. And perhaps he ought to find out for sure, because there was no point in denying it. He wouldn’t mind marrying Kimberly Richards.
Who was he kidding? It was becoming more and more obvious to him each day that hewantedto marry her.
29
Will Ables was a lanky young man with wiry black hair and large, owl-like blue eyes that gave him a somewhat forlorn look. It tended to make one feel sorry for the chap on first sight, without actually knowing why—at least until you became acquainted with his cocky attitude.
Upon first seeing him, Kimberly thought he appeared so miserable. She had been hesitant to even approach him. She had to actually remind herself that for whatever reason, the man had lied. She knew for a fact that Lachlan hadn’t been here, yet this groom swore that he had been.
For two days now she knew something wasn’t right in Will Ables’s accounting of the incident, and it bothered her. But she couldn’t tell anyone about it, or come right out and accuse him without explaining how she knew. But her forced silence went against the grain. And the fact that she couldn’t do anything about it was making her angry.
And with three days of the mere “week” that Lachlan had been allowed gone now, with nothing new coming to light that she’d heard about, she’d decided to speak to the groom herself. If she could find out anything, anything at all, that might suggest he was indeed lying, then that could be used to clear Lachlan. It was worth a try at least.
She also realized there could only be one reason for him to lie, because he was somehow involved himself. And that made her wonder if he’d even been hit on the head, or if that had just been a ruse.
Had someone checked out that injury? Actually seen proof of it? Or in the excitement, had that been overlooked? She intended to find out.
Of course, there was the unlikely possibility that Will Ables was just confused, that he really did think that he’d heard Lachlan. But this was too serious a charge to not be a hundred percent certain.
She had to ask each groom she came across if he were Ables, since she did not know the man. But by a process of elimination, she finally found him sitting on a bale of hay, eating a large meat pie. And he really did look miserable, with those large soulful blue eyes. But it was just an appearance, not really an indication of what was going on in his mind, as she was to find.
