Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy (14 page)

She broke off, coloring deeply.

“
What
do you think?” Jake asked her.

“ ’Tis naught,” she said. “One just has the sense that if someone close to one has died, one would sense the loss. Doubtless, ’tis plain foolishness. I did not think straightaway of Albany, although I do see that I should have,” she added in her usual tone. “Everyone knows how long he has coveted the Scottish throne.”

Will looked up then, glancing from Jake to Alyson before he said, “Sithee, I ken that Albany chap m’self. He’s Jamie’s wicked uncle, and I can tell ye Jamie didna trust the man—and nor do I—as far as we could spit. He’s a bad man, that ’un. Jamie did say that ’twas because Albany wants the throne that he and the wicked Douglas did kill Jamie’s big brother, Davy.”

Alyson shuddered, barely able to heed Jake’s words when he told Will that they would talk of less important matters while they finished breaking their fast.

“I just meant I ken fine about evil men,” Will said.
“Them in the kitchen canna hear us, any road.” To Alyson, he said, “I’m a-wondering, too, how ye could be so sure o’ your man when ye’ve scarce clapped eyes on him since we boarded the ship. Ciara said that she’d seen nearly nowt o’ him since your wedding day.”

Alyson stared at the boy as she tried to wrench her thoughts away from Davy Stewart’s death and Niall’s possible demise. Before she could gather her wits to reply, Jake said sternly, “If you can tell me how someone else’s marriage is any concern of yours, my lad, prithee do so at once.”

“In troth, sir…” Alyson began, only to pause when he shook his head.

“Aye, well, it isna my business,” Will said. “But I can tell ye that when
I’ve
got a wife, I mean tae treat her better nor he treats her ladysh—”

Speaking over that last word before Will could finish it, Jake said with steel in his voice, “When you marry, it will be your
business
to decide how a man should treat his wife. Until then—”

“Och, aye, then, I’m mum,” Will said. But he shot Jake another of his penetratingly direct looks and muttered, “I were just a-saying…”

He fell silent then, which, judging by the look that Jake was giving him, Alyson thought showed wisdom.

“Go fetch what you’ll take with you, lad,” Jake said, adding, “Mace, we’ll leave as soon as everyone’s ready. Take a turn around the yard, and find out if anyone kens aught about that troop that rode through earlier. I want to know what route they took, and if possible, how long it will take them to reach the line from here.”

“ ’Tis a pity we canna follow them,” Mace said. “Or follow them ships.”

“We’d have nowt to gain,” Jake said. “The ships sail for London, and we’ve no way to stop them. The riders aim for the border, and we cannot stop them either. If I could have a chat with Mungo, I might learn what I want to know. But even if we could abandon our charges here, we’d not get close to him whilst he’s riding amidst a troop of English men-at-arms.”

Nodding, Mace left, and Alyson said quietly, “Don’t be too harsh with Will, sir. He is a bit too direct, but I think he takes his ways from Jamie.”

“I don’t mean to skelp him, if that is what you mean. But he does have a habit of saying what he thinks without counting the cost. He’d be wise to learn to curb his tongue until we’re safely aboard the
Sea Wolf
. But come upstairs now. I must talk more with you before we leave, and we can be privy in your chamber.”

“Until Lizzie comes looking for me.”

“Aye, so let us not dawdle.”

Accordingly, she led the way upstairs to her chamber. When he walked right in with her, she knew it would be foolish to object. Moreover, instinct had told her from the start that she was as safe with Jake as with Ivor.

“What is it you want to discuss?” she asked as he shut the door.

“First, I want to say that I accept your opinion of Clyne,” he said. “Also, to tell you that although Albany is no friend of mine, I do know him and have learned much about him over the years. He can be ruthless, and he uses people, but he rarely involves more people than he must in any scheme. Nor does he share his plans with underlings.
Moreover, he has spies everywhere, lass. I’d wager all I own that Mungo is involved but is
not
the sole source of whatever information Albany gleaned of Jamie’s whereabouts or of his grace, the King’s, decision to send Jamie to France.”

“He would not have told Niall that he was involved,” she said firmly.

“I agree. However, you also said that you didn’t think Clyne would be able to fetch a ransom. What if he names your family? Farigaig is wealthy, is he not?”

“I expect he is, but Niall has no claim on Father’s wealth,” she said. “Most of what he owns will go to my brother, Ranald. My two older brothers, as I think you know, were killed some years ago, so only Ranald remains to inherit.”

“And you, surely,” Jake said.

“I have my tocher,” she said. “When I married, Father gave me two estates. Braehead lies northwest of Perth and Ardloch on the river Findhorn near the Moray Firth. It is also near my grandfather’s lands and my cousins’ at Rothiemurchus. Niall collects the rents from both, but they are not enough to provide a ransom like those for Jamie and Orkney. Faith, who else
could
command as much as they will?”

“Still, Clyne might have been wise enough to say that he could. Or mayhap Orkney said so on his behalf without suggesting the Sinclairs as its source.”

“Perhaps,” she said. “Henry is kind enough to promise such a thing and generous enough to do it. But one does wonder if it would occur to him. Sithee, he has a temper, and when he loses it, he does not always think clearly.”

“True, but a dire situation can clarify any man’s thoughts.”

“Perhaps,” she said. “But if Niall
is
still alive and a captive, it will likely be a long while before we know his fate. Even captives who fetch high ransoms, on either side, often take years to return home.”

Chapter 7

A
s Lizzie led them along a path that followed the cliffs overlooking Filey Bay, Jake saw that the tide was out, exposing hundreds of rocky pools.

The wind had increased, and atop the cliffs, it was strong enough to blow the women’s skirts wildly if they did not take care. When the path drew them near the highest clifftops, Will said, “How high are we?”

“About three hundred feet,” Jake said.

“That be what I thought, m’self,” Will said. “These be near as high as—”

“Keep away from the edge,” Jake warned him hastily, certain that Will had been about to say that the cliffs they were crossing were as high as the Bass Rock.

Gesturing toward several large white birds with visibly black-tipped wings, circling over the bay, Will shouted back, “Coo, them be gannets! Ye’ve nae need tae fear I’d get too close tae
their
rocks. I’d ken them big devils anywhere.”

“Wouldst tha, laddie?” Lizzie asked.

“I would, aye, so mind where ye step! I hope they stay out there,” he added, looking up as if he feared to see one directly overhead.

Hearing the birds’ distant hoarse cries, Jake watched as one tucked back its wings, much as Highland osprey did, and plunged headlong into the sea after a fish.

“Me da says that ours be the only gannets nesting in all England,” Lizzie said to Will. “Hast tha been here afore, then?”

“Nay, but likely the ones I saw was Scottish birds,” Will said.

“What can a bairn like thee ken o’ Scottish birds?”

Jake shot a glance at Alyson and saw her eyes twinkling. He said, “We live near the Borders, Lizzie. I dinna ken nowt o’ birds, but the lad takes an interest. Likely, he’s seen Scottish ones cross the line now and now.”

“Aye, that would be it,” Will murmured, avoiding Jake’s gaze. But when Alyson drew Lizzie’s attention to a plant a few minutes later, asking if she knew what it was, Will looked ruefully at Jake. “I should ha’ kept me mouth shut,” the boy said. “Can I run ahead for a bit? I havena had a good run for months.”

“Run on then,” Jake said. “But stay where I can see you and keep away from the edge. I don’t want to have to fish you out of the bay.”

“Ye won’t.” Grinning, Will took off, leaping over hillocks and apparently forgetting any danger of stepping into evidence of the gannets’ presence.

Noting that Alyson had drawn Lizzie ahead, Jake seized the opportunity to talk with Mace but learned only that, in the opinion of those to whom Mace had spoken, Mungo and his English escort would at least take four days to reach the border unless they rode more than forty miles each day.

“They’d ha’ tae change horses often,” Mace said. “And
he’ll need two days more from the border tae reach Stirling if that be where he’s a-heading.”

Jake agreed. “I doubt that Mungo or any of those others are Borderers, who can travel fifty miles on an overnight raid.”

“Aye, but most men dinna be as mad as Borderers.”

“You’d do well to recall that I was
born
a Borderer, my lad,” Jake said.

“I do recall that, aye,” Mace replied, grinning. “Be we likely tae see the
Sea Wolf
soon, a-sailing into this bay?”

“Coll won’t bring her in until after nightfall,” Jake said. “It will be easy enough even then, with the bay’s curving shore, to judge where its midpoint is.”

“I’ll be glad tae see her, and the lads, as well,” Mace said.

“I’ll be even happier to get shut of England,” Jake said.

He was watching Alyson and Lizzie, noting that Alyson did not seem to have any trouble conversing with the taverner’s lass.

“Me mum said thy man died nobbut a short time ago,” Lizzie said abruptly during a pause in their discussion of plant life. “Be that so?”

“I do fear that I am a widow, aye,” Alyson said.

“Ah be a widow woman, too,” Lizzie said with a sigh. “Me man, Jeb, were a fisherman like most lads hereabouts. Ah miss him sorely, though he’s been gone nigh a year now. I expect tha must miss thy man even more.”

Alyson realized guiltily that she did not miss Niall. She was concerned about him and feared for him. But Will had been right. She and Niall had spent very little
time together since their marriage—or before it, for that matter.

Ruefully, she realized that more than she feared for his safety she feared that she would find herself doomed to live as a married woman whose husband’s fate was unknown, trapped in the bosom of her loving family.

Since that very sense of entrapment had spurred her to marry him in the first place, if such a thing
was
happening, it would be an ironic betrayal of Fate.

Apparently mistaking her silence for overwhelming emotion and a resultant inability to talk, Lizzie said, “Ah shouldna ha’ brought it up. Me mum would say Ah should no be asking personal questions. But Ah dinna ken anyone else near me age wi’ such a loss. Still, if tha wouldst liefer no talk o’ thine…”

“Ah dinna mind,” Alyson said. “It will be easier with time and doubtless easier each time Ah do talk of it. Doest tha still find it hard?”

“No to say ‘hard,’ ” Lizzie said. “Ah wish the lads hereabouts would stop thinking that Ah be ripe for picking, though. Ah do miss bedding wi’ Jeb, but that doesna mean Ah want to leap into bed wi’ every Jack that kens me name.”