Page 10 of Scot of Seduction

Tad didn’t speak for a minute as the innkeeper mumbled something to him. He was distracted, thinking only of how grown-up Catreena appeared. In one easy movement, she had dismissed a man’s interest.

She is nay longer the girl I kenned.

He had a sudden flash in his mind of a much younger Catreena. He remembered watching her running and hiding from her brothers in the grounds of the Mackintosh estate. He saw her wild blonde hair as she tried feebly to hide behind a bush. He had laughed at her that day, young, childish, naïve.

Then the image disappeared in a flash, and he was staring at the version of Catreena before him. He saw those blue eyes that were so often fierce. He also saw the way she held her head high, commanding attention from many onlookers in this inn, yet unbothered by it.

When did she become so firmly a woman rather that a girl?

“Me laird?” the innkeeper must have been trying to get his attention, for he said the term a little strongly. Tad turned back around to look the innkeeper in the eye.

“I’m sorry, Tom, me mind wandered. What were ye saying?” Tad had stayed at this inn a few times on the journey between his own clan and the Mackintoshes. Tom had been a good innkeeper each time, fair minded, and understanding that though Tad was a laird, he did not need everyone in the inn to know about it. Tom had always kept the secret.

“I was saying that because of the storm…” Tom paused, looking uneasy as he squirmed, his feet shuffling on the floor, “we are struggling with rooms.”

“Ye dinnae have a room fer the night?” Tad asked, stunned. His mind was already racing with ideas of what they would do next. He could just imaging Catreena’s fury if he suggested camping under a canopy of trees instead.

“Well, if yer soldiers are willing tae sleep in the stables, that would be fine,” Tom said with some unease, his eyes trailing on the weapons at the soldiers’ belt. “That would leave one room for ye and the young lady tae share.” He nodded at Catreena.

Tad smiled a little. It was not the first time Tad had brought a lady to this inn, and as it had always been before, Tom had presumed he had come to bed the lass for the night.

“Ye wish us tae share?” Catreena asked with sudden wildness. Tad smiled at her expression. Her cheeks were already red with rage as she folded her arms across her fur-clad chest. “I’d rather share with a rat.”

“Well, it looks like we have come tae an agreement,” Tad said, smiling even wider. “Ye have called me a rat before, so I’ll dae fer yer bedmate fer the night.”

Her lips fell open in outrage.

CHAPTER FIVE

“Ye are nae sharing that room with me,” Catreena said for what she felt had to be the tenth time already. She sat down by a raging fire as Tad sat opposite her. A passing maid placed down two trenchers of meat and an umble pie between the two of them, along with tankards brimming with ale.

The three soldiers sat nearby at a table of their own, practically falling face first into their own trenchers in hunger.

Tad didn’t answer her this time. He started serving up the food between them, placing a rather large chunk of the pie on her plate and far too much meat.

“Tad,” she waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention, “if ye insist on guarding me, then ye can sleep outside the door of the room.”

“Like a dog?” He scoffed and lifted his tankard to his lips. “Nay chance. I will need sleep too, Cat. The only way tae get that is in that room.”

“Pff.” She scoffed, digging into her pie.

“I would have thought it was a relief tae ye, tae hear that I intended tae sleep alone.”

“Enough.” She was sharp, digging her fork into the pie. She didn’t need him to talk about… that, when she had just learned they would probably be sharing a room that night. He chuckled at her reaction, then added more to her plate. “I dinnae need any more food.”

“Ye need yer strength.”

“I’m a lass, nae a soldier who marches on his stomach.”

“Ye still need tae eat more.” He gave her more regardless.

“Ye are always telling me what tae dae.”

“And ye always dae as ye please anyway,” he said, a glint of humor in his eyes. “I’m just making sure I dinnae eat it all. This way, ye get yer fair share.”

Unsure how to feel about this nonchalant show of consideration, she focused on her food, trying to block out the rest of the inn around her, though it was impossible. She was all too aware of the way people looked their way. Some were probably curious, and perhaps had heard a rumor that the Laird MacBean was staying in the inn that night. Others ogled her in their drunkenness. Yet there were bar maids too and the occasional lass who couldn’t resist looking at Tad.

Catreena glowered at one such bar maid who smiled very warmly at Tad as she came to place a second tankard of ale in front of him. He winked at her, before she caught sight of Catreena’s glower and hurried off like a pup with its tail between its legs.