That wasn’t why she’d tried to stop him.
“It’s okay, Eddie,” Pip said with a devilish grin.
Cate shot him a look and started to explain to Gregor, but it was too late. Gregor had taken the boy’s hand from hers and drawn him forward.
Cate said a silent prayer the little boy didn’t get too scared or upset.
“When is your saint’s day, lad?” Gregor asked.
Eddie gave him a big gap-toothed grin and Cate heaved a sigh of relief. Maybe it would be all right after all. “All Saint’s Day. Pip gave me a new ball ’cause I was sad.”
“Why were you sad?”
The smile fell as quickly as it had appeared. “I missed my mummy.”
Gregor’s voice was even softer yet, and Cate felt her heart tumble from her chest. “What’s your mummy’s name, Eddie?”
“Mummy.” His little jaw started to tremble. “I want my mummy.”
Cate would have moved toward him, but Gregor put a firm hand on his back. “I know you do, lad. And I would like to find her for you, but I need to know her name. What did other people call her? Janet? Mary? Elizabeth? Christina…?”
Eddie brightened with understanding. “Ellen! That’s what my Gram called her.”
“And did your mum have nice red hair like you, lad?”
Eddie nodded furiously.
Gregor smiled, gave the boy a pat on the head, and stood. The smug look on his face did not bode well. The boy’s answer seemed to have convinced Gregor that he was not his father.
The matter decided in his mind at least, Gregor turned to the little girl, who was wiggling in Ete’s arms. “And who is this?”
“Mathilda, my laird,” Ete said. “A right heavy handful this one is.”
Gregor frowned. “Doesn’t she walk?”
Cate and Ete exchange a look. “Not really, my laird,” the older woman answered dryly. “It’s more of a run.”
As if on cue, a determined “Down!” was added to Maddy’s wiggling.
Gregor looked at Cate. “She talks?”
Cate shrugged. “A few words here and there. We think she’s about sixteen months—give or take a few.” Cate held out her arms to a struggling Ete. “Here, I’ll take her.”
But for once, Maddy didn’t seem to want Cate to hold her. She’d apparently overcome her temporary fear of Gregor and was eyeing him intently, while squirming and saying “no” over and over to Cate. Her face was growing redder and redder, and Cate feared those “no’s” were about to turn to a screech. That had to be avoided at all costs.
“Here, you take her,” Cate said, thrusting the child into his arms and not giving him a chance to refuse. “I think she wants you.”
The stunned look on his face would have been comical if Maddy hadn’t immediately quieted and started making a sound Cate had never heard from her before. In between sniffles from the cold she was still getting over, the cranky toddler—theverycranky toddler who hadn’t done much but scream for the past week—started to coo and goo, making eyes at him like…
Good lord, did he have the same effect on females of all ages? It appeared so. The little girl was flirting!
“I think you’ve made another conquest,” Cate said dryly.
Some of Gregor’s shock had worn off, but he was still holding the little girl out like she had the plague. He did, however, grin. A devastating grin that made Cate suck in her breath. It was a grin that had made countless women fall at his feet, her included.
“Apparently the lass has good taste. I guess that is something.” He examined her like a piglet at market. “She’s a cute little thing, if you like white-blond hair and big blue eyes.”
She would have wagered he did, but something about the way he said it made her wonder.
