Page 114

She shot her brother-in-law a curious glance. “How could you possibly—”

“Spies,” he said, narrowing his eyes conspiratorially. “I have them everywhere. In fact—”

Allie giggled. Gillian shot her a look as she lowered herself back into her seat.

“Malcolm arrived just moments ago. Graeme sent him ahead to let us know he was not far behind. A day at most,” Aidan said.

“Gill, are you drinking ale?”

Gillian placed her mug back onto the table. “Indeed.”

“Should she not drink ale?” Aidan asked her sister. “The English are strange, I will admit. But—”

“You were saying Malcolm brought word of Graeme?” Gillian was impatient to hear the rest of it. “I thought the chief traveled with two clansmen at all times?”

Aidan did not appear concerned. “This would not be the first time my brother ignored the edict. Though why he sent someone ahead, I can’t be sure. Malcolm said Graeme sent him here straightaway to let us know he would be delayed, but by no more than a day.”

“Us?” Gillian held her breath. “As in—”

“You and I,” he replied.

When she continued to look at him, Aidan replaced his mug and placated her. “He said, ‘Tell Aidan and Gillian that I will be delayed, no more than a day behind.’”

He picked up the mug once more. “You can stop staring at me now. He said nothing more.”

“I’m not staring,” she protested.

“You were staring.”

“This”—she widened her eyes and made a face at him—“is staring. I was simply—”

“Who,” her sister interrupted, “are you?”

Gillian didn’t understand the question.

“If Father or Mother could hear such an exchange, they would surely be aghast.”

Gillian sat up straighter in her seat. “It seems my brother brings out a different side of me than you are used to seeing.”

In fact, both of the de Sowlis brothers had that effect on her, Graeme even more so than Aidan.

“It will happen to you as well, Lady Allie, if you do indeed stay here.”

“What will happen?” she asked, her expression innocent.

Aidan scrunched up his face to make it appear more menacing. “We’ll rid you of your English,” he said in a thick brogue not typically found this far south. “And turn you into a true Scottish lass.”

Allie looked at Gillian, who shrugged. “And what, pray tell, do your Scottish lasses do differently that we should be given such a fate?”

The two of them bantered for the remainder of the meal while Gillian thought about Malcolm’s return. When Graeme had left for Dunmure, he’d done so without a word. And though he’d bid her goodbye before taking his more extended journey to Kenshire, he’d appeared almost reluctant to do so. Had something changed?

Either way, she was ready for him.

Gillian would tell him everything the moment they were alone. She loved him, and if it took a day, a fortnight, or a lifetime, she would do everything she could to make him love her too. For the simple fact that she could not help it.

“Gill?”

Allie brought her back to the conversation. Though she hadn’t seen him get up, Aidan stood talking with a messenger at the entrance to the hall.