“I favor my mother. She was an Ogilvy. If ye dunna leave us alone, then that’s who ye’ll have around yer ears. My da has already sent word tae them.”
It was a lie, but she had to make it plain that she was nothing to be trifled with. She’d meant it as a threat. But Ternan didn’t seem concerned.
“Then they can take ye back ontae their lands,” he said. “This is Lindsay land, lass. It has belonged tae us longer than it ever belonged tae the Keith and everyone knows it. Ye should have been gone long ago.”
“Is that why ye burned Netherton and made it look as if we did it? Tae turn the clans against us and drive us out?”
His smile faded. “Who told ye that?”
“It doesna matter. What matters is that we know. And so do others.”
Ternan’s smile vanished completely. “Mayhap ye should tell Drostan that.”
“I’m not going tae tell him anything. But ye can tell him for me that ’tis only a matter of time before we ruin him. He’ll not win this war, Ternan. Beast or no Beast.”
Isadora’s mistake was that she was focused on Ternan too much, not being aware of her surroundings. As she spoke, two men moved up behind her, men she hadn’t seen yet. Her first clue that she was being ambushed was when one man grabbed her and the other knocked the stick out of her hand.
After that, the fight was on.
*
“Issie said yewanted tae speak with me.”
Cam found himself looking at Niall as the man stood in the doorway of his cottage.
It was just after dawn and Cam had been fashioning himself a proper bed frame out of scraps of wood and pieces of rope he’d managed to borrow from Niall’s cluttered barn. He’d hoped to make a proper bed for him and his soon-to-be wife when there’d been a knock on the door.
Now he was face to face with the man he had been trying to summon the courage to speak to, but Isadora had evidently notleft something as important as this to chance. She’d taken charge and sent her father to Cam.
Cam almost laughed when he realized that.
“Aye,” he said after a moment, trying not to appear startled. “I… I was planning tae come and see ye myself. Ye dinna have tae come tae me.”
Niall waved him off. “I was on my way tae see Clova, so it is no trouble,” he said. “And speaking of the old hag, she’s quite taken with ye. Did ye notice that?”
Cam was quickly growing embarrassed. “She was already here this morning, giving me boiled eggs,” he said. “She seems… attentive.”
Niall snorted. “Only with ye,” he said. “If it were me or my lads, she’d shove those eggs right up our… Well, she’s never been so attentive tae us. Ye must have impressed her somehow.”
Cam shrugged, wanting off the subject of old Clova, who had kissed him when she’d left this morning. On the lips.
He was still shaking that one off.
“I dunna know how I made any impression on her,” he said. “I’ve hardly spoken tae her. Have ye broken yer fast yet? I have plenty of boiled eggs.”
Niall shook his head. “Notthoseeggs. She’d probably curse me if she knew I ate them.” He leaned against the doorjamb. “What do ye want tae speak with me about?”
Courage, lad,Cam told himself. He’d never found himself in a situation like this before; he’d never even come close.
There was no use in delaying the inevitable.
“Isadora and I have spoken,” Cam began and then suddenly stopped because he wasn’t sure how to phrase it. “That is tae say, she is agreeable.”
“Tae what?”
“Marriage. I want yer permission tae marry yer daughter.”
Niall stared at him. From his expression, he hadn’t been expecting that. “What did ye say?” he asked.
