“Ossian!” Isadora hissed at her downed brother, whose eyes were rolling back in his head. “What is the meaning of this? Why have ye abducted the old man?”
“We dinna abduct him,” Ewan said, slapping at his brother’s face to try to bring him around. “We found him lurking in the vale. He was following ye!”
Cam heard them. He looked straight at his grandfather. “Ye werefollowingus?”
Nikolaus did not look pleased. He eyed the woman and her brothers, straightening out his tunic where they’d grabbed him.
“I told ye that I was coming with ye,” he said. “Did ye think my words tae be hollow? I came tae make sure ye came tae no harm.”
Cam stared at him a moment as if in disbelief. With some remorse, he turned to Isadora and the men.
“This is my grandfather, Nikolaus Netherton,” he said. “It seems that he followed me from home.”
Isadora could see his chagrin. She gestured to the men next to her. “And these are my brothers, Ewan and Ossian,” she said. Then, she looked at the pair unhappily. “I told ye tae go away; what on earth possessed ye tae follow me?”
Ewan was eyeing Cam suspiciously. “We were leaving when we saw the old man in the trees,” he said. “I thought he might try tae harm ye, but I dinna know ye were with that man. Whoever he is.”
They were referring to Cam and Isadora could see that they had no intention of leaving now that they realized their sister had secretly met a man. Whatever wonderful spell that had been cast between her and Cam, if only for a few minutes, had vanished with the introduction of intrusive family members.
It wasn’t an ideal situation.
With a regretful sigh, she stepped away from her brothers, motioning to Cam as she moved a few feet away. Leaving hisgrandfather, Cam followed her until they stood next to the brook, out of earshot of the others.
“My brothers willna leave us alone now,” she whispered. “In fact, they’ll run back and tell my da. He’s likely tae come looking for ye with a pike.”
Cam could see the wariness in the expressions of the brothers and he, too, realized his time with Isadora was at an end.
For now.
“Do ye know where the bridge crosses over Coe’s Burn?” he murmured.
Isadora nodded. “I do.”
“Meet me there tomorrow. And leave yer brothers at home.”
She fought to keep the smile off her face as she nodded. As Cam returned to his grandfather and practically dragged the man back down the path, Isadora watched him go. She was sad that their time together had abruptly ended, but so very glad they’d spent any time together at all.
At least, that was her feeling until she turned to see Ewan and Ossian standing there, looking at her in a way that set her blood boiling.
Judgment.
Isadora could have done one of two things at that moment: she could have been defiant about whom she chose to spend her time with or she could have tried to politely explain her position to her brothers so they wouldn’t tell their father that they’d caught their sister alone with a man they didn’t know.
True to Isadora’s nature, however, she chose a mixture of both options.
The three eggs that Cam had given her ended up on Ewan and Ossian when she threw them like missiles and threatened to do worse should their father hear of this little incident. Knowing that their little sister meant what she said, Ewan and Ossian opted for the only possible choice.
Not surprisingly, Niall Keith never heard a word about it.
CHAPTER THREE
Netherton
His grandfather waswatching him like a hawk.
Not obviously, but Cam could tell. After the incident yesterday in the Vale of Demons, Nikolaus was reluctant to let Cam out of his sight, as if fearful he’d run back to that treacherous dale and the woman who had snared his attention.
In truth, it wasn’t an unreasonable fear.
