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“If you can send word to the Red Stag Inn north of Aberdale?”

MacKinlay took a deep breath. “You are welcome to await word here.”

At that, Lina burst into tears. Tossing her arms around her brother, she cried on his shoulder. They were the tears of a sister who had just regained a brother. Which, of course, made Kieran think of Niall.

And his parents.

When we met, you were wroth with your brother until you spoke to him. You must do the same with your parents.

“Thank you for the offer,” he said. “But I have reason to return to the inn. I will meet you in the courtyard,” he said to Lina, who wiped her face with a handkerchief her brother had given her.

“Nay, in the hall,” her brother said. “If you willnae stay the night, at least take a meal before you leave. You are, after all, a MacKinlay.”

He may have been so at birth, but no longer. “I am a Duncraig,” he said, certain of it. “But an ally to your clan given the circumstances of my birth. And because of Lina.”

Sniffling, her nose red, his sister-in-law seemed incapable of speaking, but she did manage a smile at him.

Taking his leave, Kieran thought of everything that just happened. When he rejoined the others, Niall asking him if they’d learned anything, he simply laughed. “Aye, brother. We learned much, though I am unsure where to begin.”

24

Chapter

Maisie was in disbelief. She’d heard the tale of the MacKinlay cattle, of course. It was the reason Niall and Lina had met. But to think it was her brother, the clan chief, who had attempted to renew the feud in such a manner?

“How did you realize ‘twas him?” Niall asked.

Kieran shook his head. “I cannae say, precisely. His manner, perhaps. He was angry, but in a different way than most. When Father forbade Lina in his hall because she was a MacKinlay, it was a different sort of animosity. And though I know MacKinlay’s quarrel runs deep having lost the battle, there was just an almost madness there that immediately made me realize it was him.”

“All that time,” Niall mused. “How did we not realize before?”

Kieran’s lips turned up just slightly. It was his perpetual smile Maisie had first noticed. Well, perhaps it was other things, but his smile was certainly one of them.

“You were preoccupied, brother,” Kieran said, looking at her.

His implication was clear. It was Kieran’s turn to be preoccupied. With her. His words continued to ring in her ears. I love you. Marry me, Maisie.

She’d been prepared to share her own feelings when he stopped her, for there was no doubt she loved him too. Even now she could be carrying his babe, though Maisie suspected not. Her husband had tried more often than she would have liked to plant his seed in her, but naught had come of it.

What am I to do? I cannae marry again. Can I?

“You are thoughtful,” Kieran said as his brother turned to their men.

“‘Tis much to consider,” she said. “Lina’s brother. Your aunts. And one you will likely locate to learn the true story of your birth.”

Though Kieran appeared skeptical that she truly was thinking of such things, likely by the way she looked at him, he did not comment on it. Instead, he cleared his throat, as if wishing to tell her something of import.

“Now it is you who appears thoughtful.”

“You were right,” he said.

“As I usually am,” she teased.

“I’m learning as much,” he teased back. “In this particular situation, I refer to what you said this morn. I must speak to my parents.”

To say she was surprised would be an understatement. “You will do so?”

Kieran sighed. “Perhaps I should find this aunt someday and learn of my birth, but as I watched Lina’s brother lash out at her, it occurred to me the damage such extreme hate can wreak. I would not wish to have such a thing chip away at me in that way.”