Amanda Scott by Lord of the Isles Page B

Holy Kirk. Suppose we just see how we get on. At present, I assure you, my only desire is to put distance between ourselves and Chalamine.”
    With that, he turned toward the door again, yanked it open, and gave a shout for his man. Then, with a muttered exclamation, he bent over and picked up something from the floor outside the door, presenting Cristina with an excellent view of his fine, muscular backside.
    Turning back into the chamber, he shut the door, and she saw that the object he had picked up was a wicker basket with a flat lid. A stubby willow peg thrust through loops in the wicker held it shut.
    “With luck,” he said, “this contains bread and ale for our— What the devil!”
    Cristina heard mewing as he unfastened the lid and spilled two fluffy kittens—one coal black with a red ribbon around its neck, the other ash gray with a white one—onto the floor of the bedchamber. The black one promptly attacked the gray one, and they rolled right over one of Hector’s feet.
    “Isobel,” Cristina said confidently. “I recognize her red hair ribbon on the black one. She must have decided to present them to us as wedding gifts.”
    Again, he surprised her, for instead of expressing anger or annoyance, he scooped up both kittens, one in each hand, and strode back across the room to hand the gray one to her.
    “Cute little things,” he said, tickling the black one under the chin. “They look like ashes and soot. How old do you think they are?”
    “I know exactly how old they are,” she said. “The kitchen cat produced six of them just two months ago. Our cook has complained ever since that he can scarcely move without tripping over them.”
    “So your little sister decided to help him out by giving two of them away.”
    “I warrant she thought I’d like to have something to remind me of home,” Cristina said. “But if you do not want them, we can leave them here.”
    “Would you like them to go with us?”
    She thought for a moment, wondering if it would annoy him if she said yes.
    “Don’t worry about me,” he said, as if he had read her mind. “I don’t care one way or the other, although it would be churlish to refuse her gift, I suppose.”
    “We’ll keep them both then, and call them Ashes and Soot,” Cristina said firmly as the gray one climbed onto her stomach, sat down, stared at her unblinkingly, and began to purr.

Chapter
6
    H alf the household was apparently still asleep, but Hector left Cristina with one of the women to dress and pack anything she still had to pack, while he sent his man to prepare their horses, and went to look for Macleod.
    Finding that rascal in the great hall, already tucking into a large breakfast, Hector said with careful control, “We’ll not strain your hospitality, sir. My wife and I will be leaving for Lochbuie as soon as she is ready to depart.”
    “I see ye’ve come to your senses then about which o’ me lasses will suit ye best,” Macleod said matter-of-factly. “I’d no taken ye for a man o’ much sense afore now, but I dinna mind admitting that ye’ve surprised me, lad.”
    “We are not finished with this business,” Hector said grimly. “You have proven yourself a most untrustworthy man and not one who is ever likely to regain my respect, but neither will I humiliate your daughters, sir. Apparently, their feelings did not enter into your scheming.”
    “Nay, then, why should they? They are but daughters and do as I bid. As for untrustworthy, faugh! We never spat on our thumbs to seal any bargain betwixt us, and ye got exactly what I promised ye from the outset—me firstborn daughter. Me clan’s good fortune must come afore aught else, and if ye dinna understand that, me daughters do. They’ll marry as daughters should, at their father’s will.”
    “Legally, they have the right to refuse to marry,” Hector pointed out.
    Macleod shrugged. “I ha’ raised them to be obedient, and I’m thinking ye’ll be one to thank me for that