"I wager you have enjoyed your fair share of lassies and have not cherished any above any other," she insisted.
"At the time." He said the words matter-of-factly.
"What?" She did not understanding his meaning.
Some of his men chuckled.
Dougald let out his breath as if he couldn't understand how his meaning wouldn't be perfectly clear. "When a man is with a lass, he willna think of anyone else at the…," Dougald clarified, but paused, then shook his head as if he realized his mistake in giving her this particular explanation. She swore his ears colored a little, but it was difficult to tell by firelight. "Never mind. When a man finds the woman of his heart, he will cherish her above all else, is my meaning," Dougald finished.
A couple of men who were supposed to be sleeping, chuckled again.
She was certain, as much as she meant to couch her look of disbelief, that her expression was one of astonishment at hearing his declaration. "So you mean to tell me you would set aside your interest in all other women if you married?"
"Are you asking for yourself?" Dougald sounded far too amused.
Her face felt like it was on fire, and the heat spread down her throat all the way to the tip of her toes. She needed to get away from the fire. And from him and this conversation.
"Nay, of course not. I would never consider marrying a man such as yourself," she said, too haughtily. Her mother had told her if a lady spoke too vehemently about some matter, she would give away her feelings, which wouldn't do. Always be subtle when speaking with others. Let them guess as to how she feels. Alana would never learn.
Again, a few soft chuckles escaped from some of the men who were supposed to be sleeping and from one of the guards on duty who was supposed to be guarding.
"If a lass was to be my wife, which I have no interest in at the moment, rest assured, I would be devoted to her," Dougald said, not sounding all that serious, though she thought he was attempting to.
"Och, you would never settle down, sir. 'Tis no' in your blood. Any lass is like any other by your way of thinking." She almost mentioned he was like her brother, but managed to bite her tongue in time. She would not speak ill of her deceased brother—who seemed far too real to her still—in front of a man who was an enemy to her clan.
Dougald laughed softly. "If you say so, my lady. I wonder how it is that you know so much about me. I wouldna think my reputation was such that it would have reached the Cameron clan. Or your ears in particular."
"We know of your laird and his brothers. That your youngest is living with your second eldest brother, Malcolm, at Lady Anice's castle. That Malcolm could have lost his head to King Henry for taking the king's wife's cousin for his own. My uncle was much impressed. That James wed a lady and was nearly at war with two clans over it. My uncle has oft remarked how interested he is in knowing how your youngest brother and you would fare when seeking a bride. He predicts the lady's da will have to force the marriage where you are concerned."
"Me?"
She raised her brows. "My uncle knows that you were in a dungeon and that a lass helped you to escape. 'Tis your charming ways, no doubt, that earned your release in such a manner. My uncle jested that he would have to lock up all our lasses if he ever took you prisoner. It wouldna be enough that he would put you under lock and key. So you see, sir, you do have a reputation among the people of my clan."
Connell laughed from a place across the fire and her gaze shot that way to see her brother—speaking of the dead—sitting upon a log as if he had been invited to camp with the MacNeill clan this eve. "See, I am no' the only one with such a reputation," Connell said, grinning at her with his rakish charm.
And see where that got her brother! Dead!
Chapter 7
Startled by her brother's laugh, Alana wondered how long Connell had been sitting on the other side of the campfire listening in on her conversation with Dougald. She imagined her brother would have been in the same situation had he been locked up in a dungeon—a willing lass would attempt to free him also!
She took a calming breath and turned her attention back to Dougald. He smiled too wickedly at her, and Alana wondered just what he was thinking. She thought it might be something she did not wish to hear.
She was about to leave him to the fire to contemplate his roguish ways when, with a definite sparkle to his eyes and a small smile, he said, "And what about you, lass? Would you have to be locked up, too, so that you wouldna be tempted to free me?"
She should have told him she would not be tempted to release the devil who would seduce any of the lasses in her castle that he could get his hands on. But that was not her way. If her uncle had imprisoned Dougald for no good reason, she could see herself freeing him. Although she wasn't certain she would risk her uncle's wrath for just any man. So mayhap Dougald had won her over…just a bit.
She rose and very seriously said, "It depends on why you were manacled in our dungeon in the first place."
Then she turned and headed back to her bedding.
The sound of a horse approaching made some of the men sit up and take notice, their hands on their swords. She froze in place before she had a chance to lie down. The Norseman, Gunnolf, looked grim-faced as he rode into camp and cast a look in her direction.
Dougald rose and welcomed him. "Gunnolf, what did you find?"
"If the croft that I visited was the same one that Lady Alana had been to, and the woman within was the same one who is carrying one of our clansmen's bairns, she seemed no' to be ill or with child, as far as I could tell."
Alana frowned. "You spoke with Odara?"
"That was the lass's name, aye."
"You probably gave her a fright, riding to her place and questioning her so. Why would you think she lies? The sickness comes and goes, if you knew anything about it." Men. They had no clue about a woman's sickness when she was carrying a babe. "'Tis too early for her to show." At least she assumed as much if Odara had only just come to the conclusion she was breeding.
"She wasna alone." Gunnolf watched Alana expectantly.
She stared at the blond hulk of a man in disbelief. Then she considered that the lad she'd sent to take care of Odara's sheep until she felt better might have stayed inside her croft with her overnight. "I sent a lad to help with her sheep."
"'Twas no' a green lad I saw with her," Gunnolf said. "Beyond that, I had already discovered the lad sleeping in the shed."
That gave her pause. What was Gunnolf intimating? That the man who had been with Odara was her lover? "Mayhap he was one of my kinsmen seeing to her welfare, or mayhap trying to learn what had become of me."
"He was in bed with her," Gunnolf said bluntly.
Her cheeks flamed as if they were on fire again. "In bed?" She didn't want to know if they were doing anything more than just sleeping. Then she recalled how adamant Odara was about loving the man called Rob MacNeill. "Was it Rob MacNeill? The father of her bairn?"
"Nay, lass, and they were rather noisy while conducting their business, which was why they did not hear me enter the shieling. They were together as lovers, no' in any other way. Because of what you had told us, I thought I might have discovered our Rob MacNeill, and then the task of finding him would be finished. But 'twas no' him."
Her heart was beating erratically, and she felt her knees weaken. Dougald stalked forward and caught her arm before her legs gave out beneath her.
"No' Rob MacNeill," she said in a very small voice.
"She still may believe Rob is the father of the bairn, if there is a wee one," Gunnolf said.
"And then took another lover? She wanted Rob. She said so. My uncle is trying to wed her to a man named Gilleasbuig. She doesna love him."
"Gilleasbuig?" Gunnolf snorted. "'Tis the very same name the man gave me, after he tried to kill me."
"He…he had to have forced himself on her," Alana reasoned.
"Aye, when she was asking for more, begging him to go faster," Gunnolf said, his ire raised.
Alana was certain she would combust into flames at hearing the crude remarks. Dougald was fully supporting her now, rubbing her arm in a soothing way. She couldn't quit thinking of how it would have looked had she returned to the croft and found Gilleasbuig rutting with Odara, and the woman wanting more of the same.
Alana would have been shocked to the core like she was now. And angry.
"Do you know her well?" Dougald asked. "Well, enough to determine what the shepherdess's reason was for having sent you on this errand?"
A fool's errand, Alana thought. "You must return me to the border at once," Alana said, her voice determined as she tried to mask her alarm.
"Do you know her well?" Dougald asked again.
"Aye," she said, then hesitated and shook her head. "Nay. No' really well. We played together when we were little and her da brought her to the castle when he sold sheep to my da. I tended to her another time when she had taken ill. She had to bring her sheep into the bailey when we had trouble with a neighboring clan once or twice after her da died." She paused, realizing the neighboring clan and the trouble was with the MacNeills. "She is a quiet woman, not one to chase after the men." Alana let her breath out. "She is too quiet. Mousy even. I canna see she would be behind this deceitfulness."
Although she could conceive that the shepherdess might have been forced to play her role. "She sent word that she was ill. My uncle refused to tell me the woman was sick. That since she refused to wed Gilleasbuig she could just suffer her complaint."
"I can only report what I myself have witnessed," Gunnolf said, arms folded across his chest, standing by his observation, though he looked as though he wished the news had been otherwise.
"Was your uncle adamant about this? Did he suspect you would go against his word and see to the woman?" Dougald asked.
"He wasna at the keep. One of Cook's assistants gave me the word. She said the lad had spoken on Odara's behalf to my uncle. My uncle had already left before daybreak to meet with one of the bordering clans. I didna learn of this for three days."
"'Tis the kitchen help's claim your uncle knew about any of this," Dougald said darkly. "Are you certain any of it happened as she said?"
"That the lad spoke to my uncle? Nay."
Dougald furrowed his brow. "And that the woman was ill?"
"She was…flushed, hot, but not feverish when I arrived.
"What if she had run inside in a panic when she chanced to see you coming?"
Alana didn't say anything as she considered the notion and found it did indeed have merit as much as she hated to admit it.
"Was she dressed?" Dougald asked.
"Aye." Which hadn't made sense to Alana if the woman was so ill, she couldn't take care of her sheep. Then again, she wondered if she had been caring for them all along, had intended to take them out into the glen, when she'd heard a rider—Alana—and rushed to carry on the pretense that she was ill. Or mayhap, knowing she had to care for her sheep and not having any other choice, she was doing so, ill or not. Though if that was the case, why would she have sprinted into the croft and pretended to be resting? "Return me and I will speak with—"
"Nay. If someone put the shepherdess and the cook's assistant and whoever else might be involved up to this, you could be in harm's way. Who within your castle walls would benefit if the MacNeill took you hostage?"
"No one would benefit." Alana wiped the clamminess from her hands on her wool brat and was attempting to assess the dilemma. What was the shepherdess plotting and who would have solicited her involvement in such a scheme? And how had she sought Pelly to assist her in getting the word to Alana? When the two did not live close by. Pelly lived with the servants in the keep. And Odara had no horse to ride to the keep and give her the word that she was ill.
Someone else had to have asked or forced the women's compliance. But why had three days passed before the word was given to Alana? Why not earlier, if all of what she had said had been a ruse and they needed Alana to chase down a Rob MacNeill, lover of Odara's, who was not her lover?
Did Rob MacNeill exist? And what of his niece?
She couldn't imagine her uncle arranging such a ploy. What if she had not gone to see the woman? Then what? Besides, he would have been too concerned for her safety.
Anyone who knew her well enough would also know she would always go to someone's aid who was ill and needed her help.
After she had visited the shepherdess, what if she had not tried to find Rob MacNeill? Only treated the shepherdess with the herbs, then returned to the keep? But then there was Rob's sick niece, which would have ensured Alana would have sought the man out for that reason alone.
Again, anyone could have known she'd seek to aid the woman both to help her overcome her sickness and to search for the man who was the father of the babe and to see to his sick niece. Her uncle had accused her of being too tender-hearted as if she would suffer too greatly if she didn't harden her heart to the cruelty of others.
Now she wondered if Odara's child was a deception also.
Had Odara known that Alana wouldn't be returning this eve? If she had returned, Alana would have caught Odara with Gilleasbuig. She shuddered at thinking of how she would have seen them, him on top of Odara, naked, grunting, her clawing at him, urging him to go…faster.
She noted Dougald and the other men were all watching her, waiting for her to come up with some conclusion that would explain why she'd crossed their border alone.
"Are you absolutely certain, Gunnolf, that Gilleasbuig had not forced himself on Odara?" Alana asked one more time, not wishing it to be true, but wanting to believe Odara was innocent of claiming any untruth.
"She noticed me when I stole into the croft and watched them, to see if they were both agreeable to committing the act, and also to see if it might be Rob MacNeill. She didna warn him that I was there, and I thought that odd. After the man finished with her and turned to see me standing there, he came at me with both fists."
Alana shuddered at the image of that—a naked sweaty Gilleasbuig, hairy and meaty and no doubt red-faced with rage.
"I broke the mon's nose, and he sat on the floor holding it, cursing me. I tried to learn who he was, certain it was no kin of the MacNeil," Gunnolf said. "He readily gave up his name. I wanted to ask the lass about carrying a babe, but thought better of it. She seemed to wish to speak with me alone, but couldna with the man in her shieling."
"Three days ago we were informed a Cameron raiding party had crossed into MacNeill lands, but we have seen no sign of anyone, except the lass this day. And she doesna appear to have done much raiding." Dougald said.
"My uncle has been away these past three days." Alana folded her arms. "His men wouldna raid when he is gone."
Appearing as though he was considering her sincerity, Dougald studied her for a moment, then asked of his men, "Who sent word that the Cameron had a raiding party on our lands?"
The lad, Callum, spoke up. "Tavis did. A man he didna know told him when he was hunting rabbits."
"When Tavis became separated from the other hunters?" Dougald asked.
"Aye. He told me that two of our men were chasing a deer. Unable to keep up with them, Tavis spied a rabbit and went after him instead. A man stopped him before he got very far and warned a raiding party had just crossed our border."
A frown furrowing his brow, Dougald rubbed his whiskery chin, then said, "Why did the man tell the lad? Why not seek me out?"
The lad shrugged. "Tavis was excited to learn of it and made haste to speak with you. He didna think to question him, but thanked him and hurried back to find and warn you. You were on the hunt with the other men and had just returned with another deer."
"Yet we discovered no raiding party near the border or anywhere else on our lands, nor have we had any word from our crofters that they had been plagued by raiding parties." Dougald cast a glance in Alana's direction.
Everyone else turned their attention on her. Her cheeks burned. "I told you there had been no raidi
ng party. The men of my clan wouldna have left the keep to conduct one with the laird away."
"What if you were supposed to be told of the shepherdess's ailment three days ago?" Dougald asked.
"There is no need to speculate. I didna receive word, nor did I come earlier."
"But what if you were to be told? And somehow the plan didna going into effect like previously plotted?" Dougald insisted. "What if we had also been told to go to the border for that very reason and would have intercepted you then?"
She shook her head. She didn't know what was going on.
"Did the man who warned of the raiders know who was leading our men this time?" Dougald asked the lad, sounding suspicious.
"He said to get word to you. So aye, he mentioned you by name. That is why Tavis thought he knew us and was one of us."
"Aye." Again, Dougald looked in Alana's direction, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Probably was just as confused as she was. Or mayhap not. She wasn't used to men's scheming ways. Mayhap he knew just what this was about. Or worse, mayhap he thought she was part of the whole plan. Whatever it was.
"Even if we find every Rob MacNeill in your clan, I suspect none will come forth to say he has been with Odara. If anyone had been meeting her," Alana said glumly. "Now that she is seeing Gilleasbuig, you must return me to the border at once. This has all been a big mistake."
"Nay, lass," Dougald said. "I am certain there was some purpose in you crossing the border, and we shall learn what it was in time."
"You were warned a raiding party had crossed into your territory," she corrected. "It was a mistake and has naught to do with me."
His mouth curved up, but his eyes held no mirth. "Aye, led by and made up of only one wee lass three days late. We will let James decide what is to be done with you."