“Lady Keely,” Mathe called, following her outside.
“I doona wish to speak to ye, Mathe.”
“Ye’re not allowed to wander about without an escort.”
She clenched her hands. “Get behind me, devil,” she swore. “I have reached my limit, Captain. I will walk alone, and if ye send anyone after me, I will punch him in the nose.”
Mathe gaped at her for a brief moment, then bowed. “Aye, milady.”
Satisfied he had taken her seriously, Keely headed for the loch. She perched on one of the boulders, admiring the water. Happier times had been known there. She and Alex dinna have to worry about anything. And they’d fallen in love so easily.
Her solitude dinna last; she heard the crunch of grass and gravel beneath someone’s boots.
“Lady Keely?”
It was Petro.
“Did Alex send ye?” If he had, she’d send the scholar back to him.
“No. I excused myself and decided to find you.”
“I am glad,” she admitted. “Ye’re the only person I could tolerate right now.”
“And how did I win such favor?”
She gestured for him to sit on the rock next to her. “By not making any demands of me and by treating me as an equal.”
He sat down. “I’ve always found women more intelligent than men.”
“Aye?”
“Why else would God bless you with the ability to carry children and give birth?”
“I think most women have been taught it’s a curse, punishment for Eve’s sins.”
Petro chuckled. “Men wrote the holy book, Lady Keely. And men are the ones to teach it. How different it might be if women were entrusted with such things.”
She stared at him in shock. “Have ye shared these thoughts with anyone else?”
“Never.”
“Good,” she said. “I think ye better not. If Father Michael overheard ye, he might have ye burned at the stake.”
“Which only proves my point.”
“So it does,” she agreed.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Nay.”
“Why did ye run to the Sutherlands?” he asked.
“I will not apologize for my choice.”
“I do not expect you to.”
“I couldna face my sire. By leaving John, I betrayed the MacKays and my family. I sought refuge in the one place I knew no one would look for me. Though I never intended to stay there for five years.”
