Amanda Scott (30 page)

Isobel watched in shock as her usually staid sister turned to the holy-water font, now beside her, snatched the water-filled glass liner from its stone bowl, and dashed its sanctified contents right into Sir Hugo’s angry face.

As the outraged Hugo grabbed her by the arm, Michael stepped hastily forward, took the glass liner from Adela, and put a hand on Hugo’s shoulder.

Adela glared equally at both men, jerked her arm from Hugo’s grasp, then turned on her heel and stormed toward the stairway.

Choking back bubbles of laughter, Isobel hurried after her.

Chapter 18

L
et her go, Hugo,” Michael said quietly when his cousin moved to follow. Understanding that he had not yet relinquished his battle fervor and thus had reacted only to knowing that Adela and Isobel had walked into danger, Michael added as he set the liner back in the holy-water font, “They did nothing wrong, and you know it. They thought they were obeying an order from the princess Margaret.”

“I know, but that lass needs a strong hand,” Hugo said. “I may have a word with Macleod, or with that aunt of hers. They should keep a closer eye on her.”

“Macleod women are strong-minded,” Michael said, smiling. “If you dislike that trait, I’d advise you to seek elsewhere to wed.”

“Sakes, I don’t want her,” Hugo said. “I’ve too many things on my plate as it is. Moreover, we cannot just stand here. Those two are halfway to their chambers and will likely run into more mischief if we don’t see to their safety.”

Realizing there was no point to gain by trying to reassure him and not altogether certain he was wrong, Michael gestured for him to lead the way. His cousin’s rapid pace told him that Hugo cared more than he was willing to admit about Lady Adela’s safety, and he shook his head a little, wondering if his cousin’s generally carefree nature was undergoing an unexpected change.

They were approaching the next landing when Henry stepped onto it from the quiet, narrow corridor they had searched before. Holding a finger to his lips, he gestured to them to follow him.

Isobel and Adela hurried to the bedchamber the latter shared with Lady Euphemia and, finding it empty, went inside. They had not spoken, because Adela was still angry and Isobel, suppressing her own amusement, had not wanted to stir her to say anything outrageous where others might overhear her.

As she shut the door, however, Isobel said, “What a thing to do, Adela!”

Adela whirled. “That man!” she exclaimed. “That arrogant, unfeeling, odious man! Someone ought to flay him.”

“I’m sure that Waldron would oblige you, given the chance,” Isobel said dryly, “but sakes, Adela, what has Sir Hugo ever done to you?”

“Done to me? Faith, he has done naught to me,” Adela said, flinging her hands up. “He flirts with anyone wearing skirts, of course, so his smile means naught, nor his pretty words. Despite all that false charm, he could not even take a quarter hour to ride to Chalamine and collect your maid and belongings when he heard you had gone with Sir Michael, but he takes it upon himself to take
me
to task at every turn, to tell me that I ought to wear my hair free or pinch my cheeks, or that I ought to have known a fake gillie when I had no reason on this earth to think for a moment that the horrid man was aught but what he said he was. And then—”

“Peace,” Isobel cried. “I can see that Sir Hugo has offended you, but to have thrown holy water in his face! Adela, that is not like you at all.”

“And what am I like, Isobel? Do you have any notion? You, who took the first opportunity to leave Chalamine and live instead with Cristina and Hector? Don’t talk to me about what I am like. You have spent all your time doing just as you please, whilst I have spent mine tending someone else’s children and someone else’s household. So don’t you dare presume to tell me what I am like.”

“If that is what you think of me,” Isobel said more tartly than she had intended, “I fear that neither of us knows much about the other.”

Adela burst into tears.

“Oh, mercy,” Isobel exclaimed, rushing to take her sister in her arms. “Don’t cry, love. What on earth has that dreadful man done to you?”

Michael and Hugo followed Henry to a point near the middle of the long corridor before he stopped and turned to face them.

“My lads are seeing to that unholy pair,” he said quietly. “This corridor is not heavily occupied yet, as it contains the rooms of certain of the bishop’s minions who are of higher rank than others and thus entitled to some degree of comfort. They have departed for the nonce, however, in order to leave sufficient space to house everyone who will attend my ceremony Sunday, so I think we can talk undisturbed for a few minutes, and it seemed wiser to speak here than to make it plain to others that we are conferring.”

“Why are we conferring, Henry?” Michael asked.

“Because we need a plan,” Henry said. “You and Hugo have apparently stirred up more than we knew if that precious pair was willing to molest two noblewomen to find what they seek. We all know that Waldron is not particularly nice in his ways when he is angry, so we must decide what to do next.”

“I need to get to Roslin as quickly as possible,” Michael said. “Perhaps I should leave at once.”

“Nay,” Henry said. “You do not want to make a song about it, lest you draw more interest than necessary. Moreover, I think Hugo should go with you, and if you both depart before the ceremony, it will just cause more talk. Our mother, for example, will be annoyed.”

“Aye, she would be,” Michael agreed. “But if you keep Waldron and the abbot locked up—”

Henry smiled ruefully. “You know I cannot do that,” he said. “Part of my agreement with the Norse King is not to stir trouble with the King of Scots or the Lord of the Isles, and much as their graces dislike the Green Abbot, I warrant they will not take kindly to my arresting men who are not my subjects and keeping them locked up without even giving them fair hearing. Would you like to engage in a battle of words with that pair over who is at fault and why?”

Realizing that Waldron would invoke God and the Pope in such an exchange, might not even hesitate to accuse Henry and himself of stealing from the Holy Kirk, Michael shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I would not.”

“Nor I,” Hugo said. “Art sure you cannot simply stow them somewhere?”

“There is no dungeon here,” Henry said. “Nor can I simply load them into a galley and take them to Caithness with me when I leave here. My own men are loyal, but others are here already, and more will arrive tomorrow. Many of them will know the Green Abbot if they do not know Waldron, and many fear the abbot’s power, as you know. It would be better, I think, to allow them to attend the ceremony and depart afterward as if naught of any awkwardness had occurred.”

Michael nodded, seeing his point. “Then mayhap they should see us departing as well, but for Caithness rather than Roslin.”

“Why Caithness, and how would they know?” Hugo asked.

“We would tell them, of course,” Michael said. To Henry, he added, “You have invited some of your guests to visit you at Castle St. Clair, have you not?”

“I have, of course,” Henry said. “The bishop wants his palace back, and it is not far out of anyone’s way to journey from here to St. Clair Bay. By the bye,” he added on a more petulant note, “I have decided that I want no more to do with the French branch of the family. It is plain to me now that Waldron’s early training is what led us all to this point, so I am going to return to the spelling our grandfather preferred. Henceforward St. Clair shall be spelled as Scotsmen pronounce it.”

“I thought you preferred to avoid our mother’s displeasure,” Michael said.

“Aye, well, it won’t happen overnight, nor do I intend to make a song about it. I warrant she’ll have time to get used to it before she realizes what I have done. But what course did you have in mind for my guests at the castle, Michael?”

“I’m just thinking that if you were to invite Princess Margaret and the others from the Isle of Mull and Ardtornish to visit you there, everyone would assume that Isobel and I were with them. We, on the other hand, could leave before they do.”

“You must attend my ceremony. Everyone would notice if you did not.”

“Aye, but we could leave directly afterward. Dusk is already growing darker, and you could explain a single galley departing by saying you’ve sent to warn the household at St. Clair to expect more guests. And, if you put the Green Abbot and Waldron off the island early in the morning so they can see your departing guests only from a distance, Hugo and Lady Adela can take our places with the group from Mull. You know yourself how often people mistake Hugo and me for each other, and Lady Adela can easily be mistaken for Isobel.”

“Aye, that might work,” Hugo said. “At least, it might if you can persuade that temperamental lass to be seen in my company again.”

Henry grimaced. “Have you offended Lady Adela, Hugo? If so, ingratiate yourself again. Waldron must not suspect that Michael goes to Roslin. If there is aught to find there, Michael must be the one to find it and make all safe. We may not know what we guard, but we do know that our primary duty is to guard it well.”

Hugo groaned but Michael nodded, suppressing a smile. He recognized, if Hugo did not, that Henry’s amusement matched his own.

Adela was still weeping.

“Sir Hugo is clearly just as dreadful as you say he is, and Cristina and I were beasts to leave you with all the responsibility at Chalamine,” Isobel said gently. “But if you will not tell me what Hugo did, can you not at least say something?”

She had hoped that, by placing the blame at Hugo’s door and her own, she might at least calm Adela, and was gratified when her sister’s tears ceased at last.

But Adela said, “It is not your fault, Isobel. I don’t know what made me say that. I would have welcomed neither your advice nor the behavior of which you were capable then. I was the eldest at home after Cristina and Mariota left, so it was my duty to assume responsibility for the household. Recall that Maura and Kate were still home, too, and all three of us are older than you are. Moreover, if you will forgive my saying so, Sidony and Sorcha were much easier for us to look after without you there to tempt them into mischief. Not,” she added with a reminiscent gleam, “that Sorcha has ever needed encouragement in that regard.”

“She does have a mischievous nature,” Isobel agreed.

“Mischievous! That scamp would try the patience of God himself. I think I told you that her behavior is the reason Father refused to let her come here.”

“You didn’t, but I am not surprised,” Isobel said. “And, of course, Sidony did not come because Sorcha could not.”

“Aye, but—” Adela broke off at the sound of footsteps approaching the door. “Do
not
tell Aunt Euphemia about the holy water, Isobel. Pray, do not!”

“I won’t,” Isobel said, but she immediately deduced that the person outside was not Lady Euphemia when a firm fist rapped sharply on the door.

Raising a hand to silence Adela, she swiftly raised her skirts, drew her dirk from its sheath, and moved quietly toward the door. Before she reached it, however, the rap came again. “Isobel, are you in there?”

“It’s Michael,” she said to Adela, slipping the dirk back into its sheath and reaching for the latch.

“If Hugo is with him, don’t let him in.”

Fortunately, since Isobel was not sure she could keep Hugo out if he chose to enter, or that Michael would intervene to stop him, Michael stood there alone.

“I thought I’d find you here,” he said, making no attempt to enter. “You’ve done well tonight, sweetheart, but come to bed now. We’ve much to discuss.”

“I don’t want to leave Adela alone,” Isobel said.

“I’ve sent a lad to fetch Lady Euphemia,” Michael said. “She’ll be along straightaway, and in the meantime, Henry will wait out here to keep Adela safe.”

“
Sir
Henry?”

“Aye, my lady,” Henry said, stepping into view. “Had I known the pair of you would dash off as Michael tells me you did, I’d have left two of my lads to escort you. I don’t blame you for being distressed, but I mean to make sure no one else annoys you whilst you are my guests, and lest you think I am not competent to guard Lady Adela until your aunt arrives—”

“I do not think that at all,” Isobel hastily assured him. “Indeed, sir, I have been curious about something, and would like to ask you a question if I may.”

“Certainly, madam. What is it?”

“You told me that you had once seen a map that would let you sail past the ends of the earth. Wherever did you see such a thing?”

“Why, my father showed it to me once when I was but a lad,” Henry said.

“Truly? May I see it sometime?”

“Aye, sure, if we can lay hands on it,” he said. “However, I own, I have not seen it from that day to this. I warrant it will reappear someday, though, and when it does, you shall be among the first to see it.”

“Thank you, sir. In the meantime, I am sure that Adela could not be in more competent hands than yours.”

To her astonishment, he turned bright red and bowed deeply to her as he said, “Why thank you, my lady. Did I tell you how glad I am that you have joined our family? I cannot doubt that your presence will much improve us.”

Chuckling, she bade Adela goodnight and let Michael escort her to their bedchamber. They met Lady Euphemia on the way, but although she attempted to quiz them about what had happened, Isobel and Michael adroitly extricated themselves and hurried on their way.

“And to think,” Isobel muttered as they approached their chamber door, “Adela believes that I have spent the past seven years doing just as I please, whilst she has been trapped managing my sisters and the household at Chalamine.”

“Would you have wanted to trade places?” he asked, opening the door for her.

She grimaced. “You do know how to strike to the heart of the matter, sir. I would not, nor would I have had that option, as she herself reminded me. I was just thinking that families can too easily create a quagmire that one can step into without even knowing it exists.”

“You may well accuse me of creating one for you now,” he said, shutting the door. “Aye, and for the lady Adela, as well, because we have come up with a plan.”

“As long as part of that plan is not to send me safely home with Hector and Cristina, or with my father, I want to hear it,” she said, moving to poke up embers glowing on the hearth. “Fetch a couple of those sticks for me, will you?”

“Yes, my lady, at once, my lady,” he said subserviently. When she looked up at him guiltily, he grinned.

“Impudent man,” she said. “Would you have preferred that I send for a gillie to do it, or should I have asked you to tend the fire yourself?”