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“You willnae look for her?”

“Someday, aye. But I know two people who can give me the answers I seek with whom I should speak first.”

“I am pleased to hear it.”

“As I thought you would be,” he said as Lina approached.

“My brother awaits in the hall,” she announced. “And wishes to offer a meal before we leave.”

Niall said nothing to his wife. Instead, he approached her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She whispered something into his ear. Maisie looked away. It seemed too intimate a scene to watch. Instead, she glanced up at Kieran.

“I am glad for her, to have reconciled with her brother.”

“As am I.”

He was thinking of his own reconciliation, Maisie was certain of it.

“Perhaps,” she ventured, “the answers you seek are just under your nose, like the mystery of the cattle.”

“Perhaps. It seems,” he said, “the others are ready. Shall we dine with my kinsmen?”

His teasing tone about such a serious matter told Maisie much about how he felt now compared to when they first met. Clearly more at ease with the situation—likely reconciling with Niall had helped tremendously—it seemed he was ready to learn the full truth, for better or worse.

“Your kinsmen,” she said, following him and the others. “They are not housed here.” She mused aloud and did not expect him to respond.

“Nay,” he said quietly. “They are not.”

Maisie froze. Kieran stopped alongside her.

“‘Tis the first time you’ve acknowledged as much since we met.”

“You are good for me, I believe. In more ways than one.”

This time, his smile was tinged with something more. A suggestiveness that she both recognized and appreciated. “When you look at me that way,” she whispered as they began walking once again, “it feels as if I am the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“Because you are, to me. I thought it the first time I saw you, but now knowing you, believe even more. There is no other woman for me, Maisie. Just you.”

His words did something to her insides. Did she want to marry again? Nay. But did she love this man and want to be with him always? Aye, she did, very much.

“This eve,” she said. “We shall talk.”

“I hope to talk well before then. At the meal. On our return. I would speak to you about everything, Maisie. We’ve so much yet to share.”

He spoke as if they would remain together. And if she were being honest, Maisie could not imagine it any other way.

“Indeed,” she said, anticipating what she thought to share with him this eve. “Indeed, we do.”

25

Chapter

He wanted nothing more than to go inside the inn and be with Maisie. But on their ride back, she told him it was not possible for her to leave so soon to accompany him home. Yet he was unwilling to leave her alone after what happened with MacBrannigan. The bastard might be dead, but no doubt his clansmen would be out for revenge.

It was Lina who provided the solution.

She and Niall would stay at the inn while Kieran returned with the others. He could not even wait until morn. Niall told him of some clan troubles he hadn’t wished to burden Kieran with earlier.

“We will ride through the night,” he told Maisie, dismounting only long enough to speak with her. “I will return posthaste.”