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The first man whistled. “Chief, aye?”

Niall was finished with this discussion. “Move along, or we will ensure it.”

He said it low enough that it took a moment for the words to penetrate. When they did, MacBrannigan did not take kindly to the threat. However, Niall did not take kindly to their presence.

“My brother will not hesitate to engage you,” Kieran said. “Mind that as you consider your next move.”

The men looked back and forth between all four of them. Thus far, Fergus had remained silent, which was surprising given he’d been anything but in the hall.

“We seek no quarrel,” the smallest of the four, riding in the back, said. “Move on,” he added, and surprisingly, the others listened. He’d not been the one Niall would have expected to command the others’ movements, but sometimes, ’twas not the loudest voice or biggest man, but the smartest among them who commanded respect. Clearly, they respected their clansman, because even though they had been one breath away from reaching for their swords, all four of them abandoned the thought and rode away.

“They are a long way from home,” Fergus said when the men were no longer in hearing distance. So, the man did have a voice. Then he said to Niall, his tone accusatory, “You provoked them.”

“Better to provoke them than say nothing.”

“I can protect my sister.”

That, from McKinlay.

“I can protect myself,” she responded. Niall angled himself to see her. Indeed, he’d spotted the bow at her side and assumed she carried it for a reason. So, the woman was proficient with a bow. The fact did not surprise him.

“There is a river there.” Kieran broke the tension, which had risen high after the altercation, by pointing northwest. “Perhaps we should water the horses and take a wee reprieve.”

Niall would prefer to keep riding—the sooner they got to Glencloy, the sooner he could be away from his companions. Although, there was one companion, if he were being honest, Niall was not so ready to part from.

Without answering, he followed his brother toward the river. Eventually, he heard the sound of the horses behind him. The others silently joined them, though slightly upstream, as the riding party watered and fed their mounts. By the time Niall returned from relieving himself and opened the saddlebag, pulling out a dried piece of meat, Lina was gone. When she did appear through the thicket once again, Niall did not hesitate.

Her clansmen otherwise occupied near the riverbank, Lina, eating what appeared to be a slice of bread, stood near her mount. As he approached, she lifted it. “Baked this morn,” she said. “Packed dutifully by my maid, who considers things I would not.”

“Such as food for the journey?”

“Aye. Why did you move in front of me on the road?”

Though not prepared for the question, he should have been. Lina MacKinlay was no modest maid. “I do not know.”

Her head cocked to the side. “We are enemies,” she said as if Niall were not aware.

“Aye,” he agreed.

“Why, then, does my blood not boil as it should when you are near?”

Her boldness fascinated him. Niall had met no other like her. “Perhaps because you are so enthralled by me,” he said, matching her boldness with his own, “that you forget to hate when I am near.”

She seemed to consider his words.

“’Tis perhaps the same reason I moved to protect you when nothing should have been further from my mind, for many reasons.”

“Such as?”

Her brother watched them.

“You are my enemy.”

“That is all?”

“And you’ve clansmen to protect you.”

“You forget, Niall, that I can protect myself. I do not bring my bow for decoration.”