“I havena left ye. Ye left me,” she reminded him.
“Aye, that is true, and ye ken there was a good reason. But ’tis still true that we’ve spent more time apart than together. Can we both stay in one place for a while?”
“For the next ten-day, aye. But then I need to go to Inverness with Cook. And some of yer men.”
“Where will ye stay?”
“I have friends there. ’Twill be a simple matter to find lodging, especially if we are a group of no more than four or five.”
Her tone made Erik think she was holding back something. But her expression remained eager and seemingly guileless. Well, he didn’t have to say aye or nay right now. “We’ll discuss it later,” he said, “once Cook kens how great a need we have.”
A shadow of disappointment appeared in her eyes and just as quickly disappeared. Why? Was she so eager to return to the town she’d lived in for several years and get away from the rougher conditions here? Did it mean she was unhappy with her choice to come with him? The idea chilled him.
“’Tis sensible,” she agreed, making him doubt what he thought he’d seen in her expression. “Now, must ye go back into the forest right away?”
“Why?” Did she want to spend time with him alone? The thought pleased him, but he could not dally with his wife while his men worked. What Osgar had accused him of would not be a good thing to make real.
“I want to get a better idea from ye which of yer folk I should talk to next, and which can wait a wee. To make a list of that and of ideas they give me for how to make a difference here.”
“We can do that this evening. In the meantime, start with one of the lasses who keeps a garden. They will be interested in yer ideas for a walled garden, since ye ken the one at Rose, and they may ken more than ye realize about growing what we need.”
“I already planned to speak to them soon. I will start today.”
Erik stood, took her hand, and helped her up. “I’ll leave ye to it. I must go back to work. As must ye.” He cupped her cheek and leaned in for another kiss, then handed her his bowl. “Thank ye for what ye have done here today. Ye are well on the way to being a great Lady Ross.”
She rewarded him with another kiss, then let him go.
It was harder to leave her than he thought it would be. She continued to impress him. He looked forward to being alone with her tonight.
CHAPTER 10
Erik’s men disappeared back into the forest, but her husband and Tormod got waylaid by Cook, and stood speaking with him for a few minutes before they, too, headed into the forest. She turned her thoughts to what they would discuss this evening. His question about where they would lodge had given her a bad moment. She’d avoided telling him she now owned the house there. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to keep that to herself. Was she afraid the marriage would not work and at some point, she would want to return to Inverness? Possibly. It was a better alternative than returning to Rose, where its laird would find her another husband. She’d rather stay out of sight and out of his plans for further alliances. The one she was currently involved in was enough.
She knew she was lucky to be wed to Erik. He treated her well. She hadn’t seen any sign of the fierce reputation Clan Ross was known for, and frankly, that lack kept her on edge. When would it appear? And how would she deal with it when it did?
There were too many variables to be able to anticipate what she would face. But it gave her some comfort to think she might have a place to retreat to if she needed it. A trip to Inverness was important to her for that reason. And if the house still stood andhad not been taken over by strangers, who would she want to take care of it for her? She needed a lodger, someone to ensure the house remained hers. Hamish?
She should have dealt with some of these questions while still at Rose. Or made the trip back to Inverness as soon as they learned the bridge fire had not spread to the town. She wouldn’t miss another opportunity.
But keeping a secret like this from her husband? That alone would bring the trouble she feared. Did her marriage mean that he now owned the house, not her? That thought stopped her in her tracks. When he found out, if he found out from someone other than her, she might see his fierce side aimed at her. She needed to ask Mary to find out more about the bequest.
So much to do, to think about, to guard against. She barely knew where to start. But she’d told Erik she would speak to some of the women about their gardens, so that is what she would do.
She put that aside when Cara walked up and introduced herself.
“Cook said ye wished to speak to me.”
The healer lass was not as young as Fiona had imagined. Close to her own age, she thought. “How did ye come to be the Ross healer?” That was the first question Fiona asked her, mostly to get her talking. She didn’t want to begin their relationship asking why she couldn’t do all a healer normally did.
“I took on the role simply because no one else would, and I had some ability for it. Ross used to have a healer, an older woman who’d married into Ross, but she left once Donas and Silas were both gone. She’d been close to Silas and didn’t care for the change in leadership, so she returned to the clan she was born into.”
“And she didna train ye.”
“She didna train anyone. She guarded her secrets closely. I think she felt they were all that gave her status in the clan after her husband became ill and died a few years ago.”
“Would ye like to train with a healer? Is this what ye want yer future to be in Ross?”
“I think so. I’m good at what little I can do. I dinna ken the herb lore, making potions and such, save for a few simple things any lass learns from her mother. My stitching is neat and precise. And there are a lass and a young lad who sometimes help me treat most of the injured in the clan.”
