She entered the hall from a doorway on its opposite side, and Cameron’s breath caught in his throat. He’d tried to quell his rising interest in her, but she’d done so much for him, he supposed falling for her was a natural reaction. She was beautiful and kind and wise, but so were other women he knew, and thoughts of them did not fill his nights as she did.
Cameron headed toward her.
“Cameron!” The surprised pleasure in her voice was unmistakable. “I didna expect to find ye here. I was just coming up…”
“I was ready to come down, so, here I am.”
She gave him a brilliant smile and took his arm. “Let’s sit down, then. The meal will be served soon.” She steered him toward the high table. “Da is busy and willna be here, so the meal will be more informal than usual.”
He stopped her. “In that case, may we sit down here, so I can meet some of yer clan?”
Mary’s hand lifted to her chest. “Ach, Cameron, of course. I’m sorry, I didna think. Ye’ve been in that chamber much too long.”
She chose the last two empty two seats at a table near the hearth and introduced him. “If ye will, go around the table and tell Cameron a bit about ye.”
Cameron smiled and nodded as each personintroduced themselves, committing their names to memory.
When everyone had finished making themselves known, one of the lasses, Annag, spoke up. “We kenned the healer and Mary were caring for someone ill. That was ye?”
Cameron ducked his head disarmingly and smiled. “It was, Annag. And as ye see, they took good care of me. I’m much improved.” Annag had straightened and smiled when Cameron said her name—it was a device he’d often used. Most people never expected anyone to remember names in a group, but Cameron had made a point to develop the skill.
“Where is Sutherland?” one of the lads asked.
“To the north, across the Moray Firth” Cameron told him. “And ye are…Edan, aye?”
“Aye,” the lad answered and sat back, looking pleased.
“We heard ye were stabbed by a gallowglass man,” Annag announced.
Cameron nodded and glanced at Mary. How much had she told her clan about him?
“They ken what happened to ye,” Mary told him softly. “And how sick ye have been since. But like me, they ken little about ye.”
“There’s little to tell,” Cameron answered with a lift to his eyebrows, sweeping his gaze around the table as he spoke. “I have four siblings, all older. I’m a merchant’s factor, so I travel a lot, lately to St. Andrews, where I met Lady Catherine through her cousin, Abigail Duncan.”
“We heard how ye brought Cat home,” another lass said. “It must have been very dangerous.”
Cameron shrugged. “Kenneth Brodie and I helped herget home, Cailean. He took care of her. I mostly rode scout.” The lass smiled at the mention of her name, as Cameron intended.
“What is Sutherland like?” Edan broke in.
“I’ve heard ye have a grand castle,” another lad added.
“We do, Duncan,” Cameron told him, earning another smile. “But ’tis where I grew up, so I tend to take it for granted.” He turned his attention back to Edan. “Like Rose, ’tis also very near the sea.”
“I’d love to see it,” Annag said.
He felt Mary shift next to him. Her eyebrows lifted when he glanced her way, but he couldn’t tell if she was surprised or amused by Annag’s boldness.
Servants arriving with food and drink saved Cameron from extending an invitation. If he took anyone to Dunrobin, he would take Mary. She’d spent so much time caring for him, he owed her. And based on things he’d heard her say, getting her away from Rose for a while would do her a lot of good.
But he wasn’t naive enough to think her father would allow him to take her anywhere. Given how much she thought her father depended on her, she would never agree, either.
He answered several more questions while they ate and managed to get in a few of his own. Since he’d been ill, he’d had little access to information on how things stood at Rose. Mary had shared the most, whether she meant to or not. Still, she had said little about what impact the recent trouble had on Rose between the Warden of Scotland—the Duke of Albany—and Domnhall of the Isles over nearby Ross territory. The servants mostly came and went from his chamber without a word,and the healer spent her time inspecting his injury and making him drink noxious potions, then telling him what to do.
Before he left Rose, he must learn more. He looked around the hall while the others talked. It had filled for the meal, and given the number of lasses who sat with other lasses and their children, Rose had lost some men.
Enough to make them vulnerable to Albany or the Lord of the Isles? He turned his attention back to Mary. Would she be safe here when he left? Would anyone?
