Excusing himself, Douglas left to see to his men, who had gone to the Great Hall to find food and drink after the long ride.
As soon as he’d gone, Robbie turned to MacKay. “I assume you are here for a reason?”
The big Highlander nodded. “Aye. You and Dragon need to gather your things. We’ll need to leave as soon as possible if we are to make it by nightfall.”
“Where are we going?”
“Lochmaben. We’ve received word of a shipment of silver from Carlisle heading north to pay the garrison at Stirling. The coin will be heavily guarded—the English aren’t taking any chances of it not getting through.”
“Your information is reliable?”
“Extremely,” Lamont interjected. Hunter’s new wife, the former Janet of Mar, had worked with a source inside Roxburgh Castle who had never been wrong, and Robbie assumed from Lamont’s confidence that was where the information had come from. They’d taken to calling their informant the Ghost.
“The English have taken a few of our lessons to heart,” Sutherland added, “and have set up a diversionary shipment going to Caerlaverloch. Chief, Hawk, and Viper are monitoring the coast, just in case, but we intend to intercept them before they reach Lochmaben for the night.”
“How many?” Seton asked.
“We’re not sure,” Lamont said.
“Possibly as many as fifty,” MacLean said with a shrug.
Robbie lifted a brow, anticipation for battle already surging through his veins. “What are the rest of you going to do?”
He even managed to get a chuckle out of Arthur Campbell at that. The famed scout was one of the quieter members of the Guard.
Robbie was just about to send his brethren to the Hall to get some food while he and Seton headed off to Douglas’s tent (where he’d removed from prying eyes the distinctive armor he wore on Highland Guard missions), when MacGregor let out a low whistle.
“Christ almighty, if that’s your hostage, I think I’m going to start joining you on your raids.”
Robbie followed the direction of his gaze, seeing Rosalin hurrying out of the Hall, looking as if the devil were on her heels. She must have seen Douglas. If the bastard had scared her—
He stopped, thinking of another bastard. “Stay the hell away from her, Arrow.”
He might have growled.
MacGregor wasn’t the only one to look at him. The other Guardsmen eyed him with varying degrees of lifted eyebrows and understanding.
“Is that the way of it?” MacGregor said slowly, considering him. “Clifford’s sister? Of all the women in the world to finally catch your eye! I can’t wait for Hawk to hear about this.”
Robbie silently swore every foul word he could think of. Since when had he become so transparent? He clenched his jaw. Since the moment Rosalin Clifford had ended up tossed over his lap.
“The lass is my hostage, nothing more. My temporary hostage. But yours is not a face most lasses forget. I think you’d probably rather not have her brother learn of your presence in camp.”
It was a good excuse, but not one any of them believed.
MacKay stayed back while the others strode off. He gave Robbie a pitying look. “I’ve been there,” he said. “And so have most of the others. I think only Chief and Hawk escaped the curse.”
“What curse?”
MacKay’s mouth hardened. “The curse of that damned face. Bloody hell, my wife threatened to have Arrow watch over her if I wouldn’t when she came on our missions.”
Robbie gave an involuntary shudder. No man would want his wife in that kind of proximity to MacGregor. “It’s a wonder you didn’t kill him.”
MacKay smiled. “I made him pay on the practice yard, and enjoyed every bloody minute of it.”
“You could have done something about the face.”
MacKay shook his head. “I tried, damn it, I tried. But I think Arrow’s mother dipped it in the same water that Achilles’s mother used. He heals without a scratch.”
