* * *
Duncan watched as their clansmen surrounded Moira, welcoming their returning princess home. She had always been a favorite. Smiles and bursts of laughter followed her as she worked her way slowly through the crowd. Moira spoke to each one, doing her duty as a member of the chieftain’s family without making anyone feel that was why she did it.
Sàr whined beside him.
“No need to fret,” Duncan said and patted the dog’s head. “She’s safe now.”
Duncan wondered if he had brought her to safety only to lose her. Now that they were back among their clan, their time at the MacCrimmons seemed a world away. Perhaps if Moira had given herself to him wholly, Duncan would know she wanted more than to forget Sean for a few days. He had been patient, waiting for her to tell him she was ready.
She never did.
Connor signaled to Duncan, Niall, and Ian to remain on the beach while the others drifted back to the castle. Duncan watched Moira’s back as she and his sister walked arm in arm up the hill to the castle’s bridge.
“’Tis safer to talk here,” Connor said when the beach was empty except for the four of them. “The walls of Dunscaith have ears.”
“You and Moira both look like hell,” Ian said to Niall, who had his arm slung over Ian’s shoulder to take the weight off his injured leg. “But I can tell somebody fed ye well.”
“That would be Caitlin MacCrimmon,” Niall said in a wistful voice. “I’m in love with her.”
This was a fairly common ailment for Niall, so they ignored the remark and went on to discuss serious matters.
“I want to know why my sister has come home without her husband,” Connor said, “and how she and Niall came to be injured.”
Connor’s expression grew darker and darker as Duncan told him of Sean MacQuillan’s mistreatment of Moira and how Sean had died.
“There will be hell to pay for it, but ye did well to bring her home,” Connor said.
Duncan then gave a brief account of the storm and their stay with the MacCrimmons—leaving out the parts that he and Moira spent naked. He gave Niall a hard look to encourage him to keep his mouth shut about them sharing a cottage.
“Did ye learn anything about the MacLeods from the MacCrimmons?” Connor asked.
“I did,” Niall piped up. “The lasses who visited Caitlin’s cottage—that’s where I stayed because she’s a healer—were loose-tongued about the MacLeods.”
Duncan felt Connor’s gaze on him and feared he was about to ask where he and Moira had slept. Fortunately, Niall kept talking.
“They heard that the MacLeod chieftain left Dunvegan with a dozen of his war galleys,” Niall said. “They didn’t believe he was going to his fortress on the isle of Harris, because he left his wife and daughters behind.”
“People will say anything to my charming brother,” Ian said. “Especially twittering lasses.”
“I wonder where the MacLeod was going with so many war galleys,” Connor said, narrowing his eyes. “If he was attacking us, he would already be here.”
“If ever there was a time for us to try to take Trotternish,” Duncan said, “’tis now, while Alastair MacLeod and hundreds of his warriors are away causing trouble for some other clan.”
The others were quiet for a long moment as they considered his suggestion.
“We must take the castle first,” Ian said. “Without it, we have no hope of taking the peninsula—or of holding it once we do.”
“I agree,” Connor said. “We’ve all been inside the castle, but we know nothing about how many men the MacLeods have there, how well trained they are, or what sort of man commands them. We could have a bloodbath going in blind.”
“Shame we don’t have spies there,” Ian said. “That’s one lesson we could learn from Hugh.”
“Aye,” Connor said. “What I wouldn’t give to know if the MacLeods had shored up that weak wall my father never had repaired.”
Niall had been glancing at Duncan ever since Connor had mentioned the keeper of the castle. Duncan hesitated to tell what he knew, but he was already keeping one secret from Connor and did not wish to keep another.
“I know something about Trotternish Castle,” Duncan said.
“What is that?” Connor asked.
