Tamed by a Laird (43 page)

She could not blame him for being angry with her. She knew he fumed as much because she had left him sleeping while she went
to the minstrel camp as from any fear that she might have met with danger.

He was unlikely to accept her need to find Peg as an excuse. Moreover, she admitted to herself that fortuitously meeting Fiona
and her own impatience to
see
Peg and the others, rather than any need, had spurred her outside to the camp.

She was glad on two counts that he was letting Reid and Peg come with them. Not only did she hope they could help her explain
what she suspected had happened but their presence might also shield her for a time from his anger.

That she and Hugh were again to take supper at the high table should shield her for an hour or two, as well. But she would
have to face him alone eventually. And heaven knew what he would do or say then.

They came to Fiona and Mairi’s chamber, one landing before their own, then went on as soon as Fiona had stepped inside. Peg,
Reid, and Lucas followed them.

At their own landing, Hugh reached past Jenny to push open the door and entered ahead of her to hold it. When they were all
inside, he shut it with a snap.

Jenny realized she was holding her breath, waiting for him to speak. Forcing herself to breathe slowly and deeply to calm
her nerves, she wondered if he was doing likewise as he stood silently and looked at each of them in turn.

When his gaze met hers, he said, “Well, lass, what have you to say?”

She looked at Reid and said, “I mentioned your friend earlier because I thought the description the guardsmen gave us…” She
paused, hoping Reid would feel obliged to supply the rest himself. But he just looked steadily back at her until she added,
“I think the man you call Sir Alard Bowyer sent them away.”

“I
call
him! Sakes, do you think that is not his name?”

Hugh said grimly, “Does the description fit him, Reid?”

“Aye, it does,” Reid said. “Just as it fits half the other noblemen here.”

“Then, why did you say you thought you should come up here when Jenny asked for you do so?”

“Because I’d feared…” He paused then until Jenny wondered why Hugh just seemed to hold his gaze and did not urge him to get
on with it. But at last, Reid said, “He does fit their description. At least, he is wearing a short blue cloak, a plumed cap,
and Spanish leather boots. So I did think I should tell you more about him.”

“I think you must,” Hugh agreed.

“At our feast, he introduced himself by asking me what I thought of the minstrels. He was looking to hire some to entertain
at his place and had not done so before. I said I thought they were some of the best I’d seen. Then he wondered if I’d heard
of a rash of thefts occurring at other houses where minstrels had performed.”

“Thefts, eh?” Hugh said. “That
is
interesting.”

“Aye, but I hadn’t heard of any thefts then, and he did not suggest that the minstrels at our feast were responsible. In fact,
he said he knew nowt of them. I knew little myself, but I said I’d heard that such folk were usually honest.”

Jenny said, “When you left the table at the feast, you said you had to talk with a chap. Was that when you met Sir Alard Bowyer?”

He gave her a look. “I said that because I was tired of sitting there, ignored by the lass I was supposed to be marrying.
I did meet him soon after that, though.”

“Did he ask you anything else?” Jenny asked.

“Only if we’d taken precautions. I told him that Dunwythie, being a cautious man, had given orders to search anyone lacking
first-head privileges or personally unknown to our guards. Bowyer agreed such precaution was wise and might avert trouble.
That is all I knew of him till I met him again at Castle Mains.”

Hugh thought he had heard more than enough about Bowyer until Reid added, “I did think it odd when he turned up at Castle
Mains.”

“Why?” Hugh asked.

“I don’t know,” Reid said. Faced with Hugh’s skepticism, he added with a grimace, “It just seemed odd that he would be so
delighted to see me on such a brief acquaintance, especially as I knew I’d been gey drunk when we met. But the reason I knew
I must talk to you now is that I was sure Jenny had seen me with him.”

“She said she had,” Hugh reminded him.

Jenny said, “I think he means today, sir, out in that field.”

“Is that it?” he asked Reid.

“Aye, I saw him at the same time I saw Jenny, before I came looking for you. But I swear I thought nowt of his being there
until those guardsmen described the clothes he was wearing. If he told them he was her brother to deprive her of their protection…
But why he would, I swear to you, Hugh, I cannot imagine.”

Hugh saw Jenny catch her lower lip between her teeth and give Peg a long look. And Peg, who had remained silently thoughtful
for some time, looked even more so as she met Jenny’s gaze.

“I wondered why anyone would send that escort away,” he said.

“Aye, but there’s more,” Reid said. “When you and I were looking for her, and that crowd around her suddenly thinned so we
could see her, I saw him. He was hurrying away from her with a number of others.”

Hugh said, “Did you see him, Jenny?”

“Nay, but…” Looking as she did at Peg then, and back at Reid, she might as well have voiced aloud her desire to speak privately
with Hugh.

He said, “Reid, you and I must talk more later. We all need to change for supper, and I have much yet to say to these two.
But you and I will put our heads together on this. Whatever comes of it, I thank you for coming to fetch me.”

Reid glanced at Jenny as if he would say more but left without doing so.

“D’ye want me to go, too, mistress?” Lucas asked with unnatural diffidence when the door had shut with Reid on the other side
of it.

Jenny hesitated, glancing at Peg. Hugh was about to tell Lucas they could do without him when she said, “Nay, Lucas. I doubt
I’ll keep many secrets from you.”

“
Is
it a secret, lass?” Hugh asked.

“I doubt I’ll keep any at all from you, sir,” she said with a little smile. “If I’m right, I have already told you about the
incident in question, but I’d liefer not tell Reid.” She turned to Peg. “What
did
you see after that man grabbed you out there?”

“Grabbed!” Hugh exclaimed.

Without taking her eyes from Peg, Jenny held up a hand to him. “What, Peg?”

“It wasna so much seeing, mistress,” Peg said. “ ’Twas hearing his voice first and seeing his face after.”

“Ah,” Jenny said. “I, too, heard a familiar voice but did not believe my ears.”

“Nay, for what would one o’
them
be a-doing here?”

“Who?” Hugh demanded.

Peg looked at Jenny. “Did ye tell him about them, mistress?”

“Aye,” Jenny said. “So tell us who you saw today.”

“ ’Twas one o’ them English from Lochmaben, me lord. The ones…” Again she looked to Jenny for reassurance.

Hugh said, “The men who accosted the two of you by the garderobe?”

“Aye,” Peg said, looking relieved that he did know. “The one who grabbed me today were one o’ them for sure.”

“And the man calling himself Bowyer is the other one,” Jenny said. “His face has been teasing me since I first saw him with
Reid. But at Lochmaben he was just another man-at-arms, one who did not talk much. And although I fear you will say I am still
dreaming, I think his may be one of the voices in my dream.”

Hugh said, “Have you heard his voice since, to compare?”

“I don’t know, but just before the man who grabbed Peg spoke to her, I heard a similar voice yell, ‘Beware ahead, lads, let
be!’ Reid said he saw Bowyer rush away from there, so he may be the one who shouted. You did suggest that the voices in my
dream may have been English, sir, like Cuddy’s. What’s more, Cath said Cuddy’s cousin Drogo is here somewhere, and he is also
English.”

Peg said, “But why would that Bowyer warn anyone that Sir Hugh were coming? Them English canna ken that ye be married to him.”

“You forget, Peg, that Lochmaben is where Hugo and I first sang together,” Jenny said. “The way we sang the love song was
one of the reasons you and the others thought we’d make a good match. Moreover, I am wearing the same kirtle I wore then,
and Sir Hugh is wearing breeks and a jack-o’-plate that any Borderer might, with no sign of his rank. He needed only look
as if he took interest in us to scare them away, particularly if they harbored ill intent toward us.”

Peg raised her eyebrows at that. “He did look right fierce, mistress.”

“Bowyer also knows Reid, and he was with me,” Hugh reminded them, knowing how fierce he must have looked even before he had
seen Jenny. “If they are up to mischief here, they doubtless recognized you two from Lochmaben and tried to grab you to keep
you from identifying them as English men-at-arms.”

Jenny explained her suspicion to Peg that someone was plotting mischief or worse against Archie the Grim. “I did not tell
you before, because I could not explain why I felt as I did, and I could not chance spreading such a rumor.”

“And ye ken fine I’d likely ha’ told Bryan,” Peg said. “If that Drogo be involved in summat that’s wrong, Cath willna be surprised.
But Cuddy?”

“That is another odd thing,” Jenny said to Hugh. “Although the two men who escorted us to the minstrels’ camp said the one
who had sent them away told them he was my brother, Cuddy told us that another
guards
man had come to say they were needed on the field because the men at practice would be stopping soon for dinner and were all
armed. They did stop to eat, sir. So who lied?”

“Cuddy,” he said without hesitation. “The two guards-men had no cause to lie and reason to think the truth might help them
avoid their captain’s wrath, and mine. I’d guess Cuddy heard what Bowyer said—if it was Bowyer—and doubting you had any brothers
here, altered his description and tale to something you would believe.”

That statement reminded him that he still wanted to know why the devil she had not asked a couple of stout lads from the camp
to see them back safely.

“Nah then, if ye want any supper, sir, ye’ll ’ave to stop maulin’ this about till later,” Lucas said with a shrewd look as
he moved to one of the kists containing Hugh’s things. “And ye’ll ’ave to bestir yourself, Peg-lass, or our mistress will
look a proper sloven at t’ table. Ye’ll find a screen ye can drag out for ’er by t’ window.”

Jenny looked at Hugh and saw his chiseled features form an expression of uncharacteristic indecision. She knew he itched to
scold her, but she doubted he would do so while Peg and Lucas were there unless he meant to scold Peg, too.

It occurred to her only then that he might have words for Lucas, too, for leaving the landing after Hugh had told him to stay
there. But although he had told Reid he had much to say to her and to Peg, she could not imagine what Peg might have done
to incur his displeasure.

Therefore, she was not surprised when he murmured agreement with Lucas and told him to bestir himself as well. After that,
they all hurried.

While Peg got the screen and set it up, Jenny slipped her dirk and its belt and sheath from one of her kists and concealed
it by wrapping it in a fresh shift. Behind the screen, she grinned when Peg’s eyes widened as she uncovered the weapon.

Peg only shook her head and helped Jenny dress. But when Jenny told her she would wear only a lacy veil and pin up her plaits
beneath it, at her nape, Hugh said firmly from the other side of the screen, “Wear a proper caul as well, lass. I’ll not tell
you to pluck out your eyebrows or shave your forehead, because I like your own look better. But recall that the minstrels
will perform tonight. I’d liefer none recognize you at the high table.”

Jenny opened her mouth to protest, but Peg spoke first. “How can they not, sir?” she asked. “They’ll see
Hugo
on the dais, and ye’ll no be wearing breeks and a jack there. Ye’ll look much as ye do in your troubadour’s garb, and ye
canna pretend to be any man save yourself at high table. Also, for all that
she’ll
be on the ladies’ side, them in the company will be amazed to see
ye
there, and they’ll ha’ only to look to guess who ye be with. A caul doesna change her
that
much.”