Seduced by a Rogue (18 page)

“I’ll tell ye plain then, sir, that I dinna like the sound o’ that. Nor will Dory. Annie’s a good, obedient lass, but she’s
nobbut fifteen. I’d no want her serving a—”

“Nay, nay,” Rob interjected hastily, realizing that his own choice of words had stirred Walters to think as he did. “Her ladyship
is no bed wench of mine.”

“Her
ladyship
! Beggin’ your pardon, laird, but what
ha’
ye been up to?”

“Only what was necessary, and by my troth, I have not used her as you must think. But she has requested a maidservant to see
to her needs. Would Annie agree to that? Being your kinswoman would protect her whilst she’s here, I should think.”

“Aye, sure, and she’d do it, too, for she’s been a-hoping ye’d wed soon and need a few maidser—But I be talking above me place,
laird. Ye havena said ye’ll be staying on here at Trailinghail. And if the lady will be here only a short time…”

“Only as long as necessary,” Rob said. “But as I cannot say how long that is, I’d prefer that her presence not become a matter
of local gossip.”

“Our people ken fine to keep still tongues in their heads, and have done since the old laird and Herself was here, sir,” Walters
said. “Nowt has changed since, but we canna speak for villagers in Senwick and such places.”

“I know,” Rob said. “Also, the knacker Parland Dow will be along soon. He is a fine source of news from far and wide, but
when he arrives, take good care that we do not hand him her ladyship’s presence as fodder for his tittle-tattle.”

M
airi dressed quickly while the kitten, curled on one of the bed pillows, tracked her every move with its bright golden eyes.

“You look very comfortable,” she said to it.

Its ears twitched encouragingly, but Mairi said no more, lacing herself into her own old blue kirtle, which she had draped
over the kists the night before to air.

Thanks to sea air through the open window, the kirtle felt dampish. But it was no more so than clothes often felt at Annan
House when one put them on.

Unbraiding her plaits, she brushed them out, then braided them into one long, thick plait over her shoulder before moving
to the table to break her fast.

The porridge was warm, and she poured a little milk on it. When she sat on the settle to eat, the kitten jumped up beside
her, looking hopeful.

“You should not beg for food,” Mairi told it.

Unpersuaded, it continued to sit and stare at her.

Forcing herself to ignore it, she finished her porridge and spread bramble jam on a bit of bread, deciding to save the apples
for later.

As she moved to get up the kitten mewed softly, still hopeful.

“Very well, I expect you are hungry, too,” she said. But she placed the nearly empty wooden porridge bowl on the floor.

The kitten, approving the arrangement, lapped happily for a time. Then, abruptly, it lifted its head and looked intently at
the door.

Mairi heard hurrying footsteps on the stairs. Metal scraped against metal, the door opened, and Maxwell appeared at the threshold.

“Get your cloak,” he said without preamble. “I’ll take you to the ramparts for a splendid view. Then I want to talk.”

Delighted—as she would have been with anyone who offered to take her out of the chamber—she got up to go with him. Remembering
the uneven stone steps, she said, “I should put on my boots first. The shoes in yon kist are a bit large for me and lack soles
thick enough for those stairs.”

He nodded, and as she sat to put on her boots, she saw his gaze drift to the still lapping kitten. “I hope you did not let
that beast eat
all
your porridge,” he said.

“And what if I had?” she retorted with one slipper in hand, the other still on. “Are you now going to command my every move
and decision?”

Rob understood from her choice of words that she had not given the kitten her porridge, but he could not help responding to
her challenge. “I command all here,” he said. “If I decide to command you, lass, be sure that I will.”

“And do you hope to undo me by addressing me so improperly?”

“Sakes, lass—” He grinned then and shook his head. “Lady Mairi, the plain fact is that I do not spend much time with women
I must address formally. So it is by habit that I call you so and not by any wish to demean you.”

“Surely, you do not call your grandmother ‘lass,’ or your good-sisters,” she said as she leaned against the bed to pull on
one hide boot.

“Nay, I call my only good-sister ‘Cassia’ and my grandmother ‘madam’ or ‘Gran.’” He smiled again at the thought of her ladyship’s
likely response to a less formal address. “If I may, I’ll call you Mairi, but I hope you will forgive me when I forget, as
I am sure I will. If I lose my temper—”

“Aye, sure,
that
would excuse all, would it not?”

Spreading his feet, he folded his arms across his chest and looked sternly at her. “Do you provoke me a-purpose, my lady?”

Looking rueful, she bit her lower lip, then attended to tying a boot before she met his gaze to say, “I think a demon possesses
me at times, with you. I seem to say whatever comes into my head, and
that
—like hurling objects at people—is
not
my usual behavior.”

“I used to think the same thing about myself at times,” he said.

“That you were possessed?”

He chuckled. “Aye, perhaps. When my temper was up, I’d too often say whatever impertinence jumped to my tongue, as much as
daring my brother to do whatever he would in response.”

“Your
brother
would punish you?”

“Aye,” he said more soberly, remembering. “Sithee, back-chatting Alex was always a mistake, because he was much older and
bigger. But I’d do it anyway.”

“Did you also dare to flout your parents’ authority so?” she asked without looking up as she tied the second boot.

“They both died before I was seven, but I did try it on my grandparents the first time I visited them. That was a mistake.
Are you ready now?” he asked, reaching to take her cloak from the hook by the door.

“Aye,” she said. Turning to let him drape the cloak over her shoulders, she added, “How great a mistake was it, with your
grandparents?”

“Great enough that my grandfather skelped me blue and my grandmother vowed to do worse if she ever heard me speak so insolently
again to anyone.”

“Mercy, what could she have done that was worse?”

He chuckled. “I never had the courage to find out.”

She laughed then, and he felt an unexpected sense of accomplishment in having provoked her laughter. Her beautiful eyes were
alight with it. As she threw back her head, the delicate skin of her slender throat seemed to invite a kiss.

Turning abruptly from that dangerous thought, he put a hand gently to her shoulder and urged her out of the room, nearly stepping
into the wooden box of dirt he had set down there before opening the door.

“Oh, what a good notion!” she exclaimed when she saw the box. “I feared he might use the floor or even the bed. I meant to
ask you what we should do.”

“I hope he’ll use the box,” he said. “Cook set one out in the kitchen, and I think the wee devil has used it. But we can leave
this door open for him now. I’ll just set one of the kists by it to hold it open against the draft from yon window.”

He did so, noting that the kitten had leaped onto the bed and looked as if it meant to stay there.

“That way,” Rob said then, gesturing up the stairway.

Catching up her skirts—her own skirts, he noticed—she hurried ahead of him to the top, where she waited by the door to let
him open it.

He held it for her to step out onto the flat roof of the tower. The parapet surrounding it was low enough that the wind off
the Firth caught her skirts and blew them tight against her body, outlining its curves.

Rob shut his eyes to ease the effect the sight stirred in him, and wished he could relieve his body’s less controllable reactions
as simply.

The wind felt bracing and Mairi could, with relative ease, control her skirts’ inclination to fly up around her. But she was
glad she had decided to arrange her hair in a single plait and had not bothered to wear her veil. Silk cloth whipping at one’s
cheeks could be most annoying.

The view from Trailinghail’s ramparts was spectacular enough to delight anyone’s soul, she thought. Although she had seen
that one side of her chamber overlooked the bay and another the Firth, she was glad to have a clearer idea of the tower’s
position and layout.

From the uppermost floor of Annan House, she could often see the English coast. She could not see it now. To the south lay
only open sea.

Looking north, she saw the kirk steeple she had seen from the galley and the whole coastline of the bay. She also saw the
towers of Castle Mains near Kirkcudbright and the kirk spire in the town, northeast of the castle.

A man-at-arms stood at the southeast corner of the ramparts. When he turned to look at them, Maxwell gave him a wave, then
drew Mairi to the southwest corner. The wind still blew from that direction. She loved facing into it. It felt good, and she
no longer had the morning sun in her eyes.

Looking down over the south parapet to a small inlet, she saw that the tide was still flowing in, crashing against immense
boulders and shooting spray high.

Strongly aware of the man beside her, she remembered why he had said he was taking her outside. “What did you want to talk
about?” she asked.

He was quiet long enough to make her wonder if he feared that what he wanted to say would make her angry again, or upset her
in some other way.

Then, with a look of rueful amusement, he said, “The truth is that, although I do have a wee surprise for you, I knew you
were chafing to get out of that room. My brother often accuses me of failing to consider details when I make plans, and I
fear that this time, that is just what I did. I thought only of how your father would react, and of providing for your physical
comfort. It did not cross my mind to wonder how you might occupy yourself as a prisoner here.”

“In other words,” she said, “
my
feelings did not concern you.”

He met her gaze more easily than she had thought he would. “I did not know you then… my lady, and I did not expect to abduct
you when I did. I cannot claim to know you much better now, but I do owe you truth when we talk. Your feelings did not affect
my plan then. Now they do.”

“Why?”

“Because I cannot keep your presence here a secret,” he said bluntly. “Nor will I ask you to lie about why you are here when
you talk to my people.”

“I have talked only to Gibby.”

“Aye, but you should have female company—someone to look after you. So I’ve arranged for my steward’s good-sister to attend
you. However, there is a rub.”

“Mercy, I should think there would be more than one,” Mairi said.

“My steward, Fin Walters, dislikes the idea that she might stay overnight and would be going about her tasks in a tower filled
with men. He will be at ease with the notion only if she comes in just by day, or sleeps with you at night.”

“But you assured me that
I
am safe in this tower full of men.”

“I did, aye, and ’tis true. It would be true for Annie, as well, especially with her good-brother as my steward. No man here
would harm either of you. But Walters fears that tongues may wag in Annie’s case, and I agree they may.”

“Will they not wag about me, too?”

“None so much,” he said. “Everyone for miles knows Annie, so if she were to begin spending nights in the tower, people would
talk. They don’t know you, so although word may begin to spread of an unknown female staying here, as long as no one knows
exactly who you are, your reputation will be safe. ’Tis why I mean to call you Mairi when others are about and would like
you to call me Rob.”

“Gibby knows he is to call me ‘my lady,’” Mairi reminded him.

“As will others know that they should,” he agreed. “Annie will know you as Lady Mairi, so others will know that, too. But
Annie will be discreet. ’Tis the Dunwythie name that would undo us, so I want to keep that quiet.”