Page 331 of Wicked Highland Heroes

Victoria gave him a polite smile, while wondering how her intelligence would fare against the canny mind of the uncivilized Highlander.

* * *

Once again, the postern door opened and Iain glanced in that direction. When MacPherson men filed in, he rubbed his chin and shifted his attention to the kitchen door.

“Why do you not go and ask?” Thomas asked.

“What?” Iain broke out of his reverie.

“She has developed a friendship with the women in the kitchen.” Thomas spooned more food from the trencher onto his plate. “Perhaps they know where she is.”

Iain rose. “You may be right.” He made his way to the kitchen and found Maude stirring some sort of brew in a large kettle hanging over the fire. “Have you seen the lass?” he asked.

“Vi—uh—oh, aye, the lass.” She shook her head.

“Nay, she hasna’ been here tonight.”

Iain frowned. “Is something amiss, Maude?” She glanced up. “What do you mean?”

Iain studied her. “Never mind. How has she been during my absence?”

“She seems to be settling in well.”

A wave of relief swept through him. “Does she not take her meals in the great hall?”

“Aye.”

“But you have no idea where she is?”

Maude shook her head. “It is early, she may yet show up.”

Before Iain could respond, his attention was captured by muffled voices coming from the pantry.

It was Joanna’s voice he discerned first.

“I tell you, the tale will be told,” she said.

The response was spoken too softly for Iain to distinguish.

“Do you think it a hard puzzle to unravel?”

Joanna asked, laughing. “You know what they say, ‘oh what a tangled web…’” She stopped midsentence, lending the impression the other party knew what she meant.

Her companion raised her voice loud enough for Iain to realize it was another of the kitchen maids, Catherine.

“No doubt,” Catherine said. “Things are bound to spice up a bit. Which is what she had in mind, I wager.” Both women giggled.

“A stroke of genius,” Joanna added. “I would never have thought of it myself, and Vi—”

Iain cursed softly when Maude called out instructions to another of the serving girls, and he caught only the last words of the unsuspecting women, “…and she went along with it.”

“Laird,” Maude’s insistent voice put a stop to his eavesdropping, “is something amiss?”

Iain scowled at the two women as they emerged from the scullery. “Nay,” he answered, throwing a suspicious glance in their direction. “Is she in the

habit of being late?”

Maude looked confused.