Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy by Amanda Scott Page A

swim!”
    “Since we cannot know what they did, such speculationis useless. If you did not see him with Mungo and the other riders, Niall is likely with Orkney and Jamie. The only other choice is that he is dead. You did say earlier, however, that he possesses a complaisant nature, did you not?”
    “He seeks to oblige, aye. But if he knew that he had left me to die on a sinking ship, or that Mungo had…” She paused, frowning.
    “What is it?”
    “I don’t know exactly. My words just then felt wrong somehow.”
    “What do you mean,
felt
wrong? You were just thinking aloud.”
    “I was. But don’t you get feelings sometimes, when what you say does not—rather suddenly—seem to agree with the facts as you know them?”
    He opened his mouth to deny it, only to realize that he had experienced such feelings. “I think I do,” he said. “The sensation is akin to what often happens when someone asks how long it will take us to reach a destination. I tell that person how long it usually takes from where we are, and sometimes I get an odd feeling when I do. I’ll realize, after I think, that I’d unconsciously noted things about the weather that meant a change was likely coming. Such details had simply not added up yet to full awareness. Is that the sort of thing you mean?”
    “I don’t know. It seems as though it might be similar, but I often get such a feeling and cannot explain it so easily.”
    “Forbye, we are left with the same possibilities for Clyne’s fate.”
    She nodded. “We must learn where Mungo is going,but we must also take care and keep an eye on those pirates.”
    His mouth tightened, but he did not argue with her. He did have to learn all he could, if only to report the details to Wardlaw. But he was experiencing feelings or instincts of his own that did not bode well for the others who’d been aboard the
Maryenknyght
. To her ladyship, he said only, “I suggest that before we do aught else, you finish dressing. Meantime, I’ll go downstairs and see what I can learn.”
    “I
am
dressed,” she said.
    He smiled. “You might want shoes.”
    Glancing down, she looked at him ruefully. “You must think me demented.”
    “Nay, only worried about your husband. Go and put your shoes on. Mace has bespoken our breakfast, so it will be ready when you are. I just rousted Will out of bed, though. I’ll tell him to wait for you.”
    He saw her back into her chamber, spoke to Will, and then went down to the common room. From the turn of the stairway he saw that two strangers sat at a table near the kitchen door, drinking from mugs of what was likely ale. The two talked as equals, and since he did not know which one was Mungo, he studied both closely enough as he continued down the stairs to recognize either man again.
    Mace caught his eye when Jake reached the foot of the stairs and gestured toward their table of the previous night. Jake nodded but said nothing, strolling to the front door instead to have a look at the yard.
    The two strangers chatted too quietly for even his quick ears to catch all they said, but he heard enough to tell him they were waiting for something.
    Outside, the wind was still high, but an azure sky alive with scudding white clouds seemed to belie the storms of the previous week. The air still felt wintry, and the breeze carried more than its usual dampness. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the salty tang in the air as he studied the scene before him.
    Away to his left, off the road, a mounted troop waited. Some walked their horses, but most seemed to be talking. He tried to decide if one of the men might be the lass’s husband. To him, they all looked like men-at-arms or armed ruffians.
    Seeing the taverner crossing the yard toward him, Jake strode to meet him.
    “Ye’ve a fine place, Metlow,” he said when he was near enough.
    “Suits us,” the Yorkshireman said. “Will tha be off t’day?”
    “ ’Tis true the weather ha’ turned for better,” Jake said noncommittally.