Black Richard's Heart (The MacCulloughs #1) - Suzan Tisdale Page 0,75

table like well-bred young men. Ye must have done something horribly wrong.” He looked at Lachlan. “Have they burned down the stables?”

Lachlan threw his head back and laughed.

Aeschene placed a hand on Richard’s forearm. “Richard, really,” she said, as if he’d just accused them of being spies for the English.

“We did not burn down anythin’,” Raibeart replied, genuinely hurt by the accusation.

Richard had to look too Lachlan for an explanation.

“It seems yer wife kept the lads busy, just as ye asked.”

Perplexed, Richard looked to Aeschene. “What did ye do?” Truthfully, he wasn’t certain he was going to like the answer.

“I did not do much,” she replied with a smile. “But Raibeart and Colyne certainly did.” To them she said, “I am verra proud of ye.”

Richard was losing patience. “Would someone mind explaining why my wife is so proud of me brothers?”

“We worked hard today,” Colyne said as he stuffed a bit of fish into his mouth. “I learned how to thatch a roof today.”

Seeing his cousin’s confusion and distress, Lachlan stepped in to explain it all. “’Twas Aeschene’s idea. Yer brothers not only thatched a roof today, they also helped to weed a few gardens, chopped wood, carried water,” he paused to recollect what else he’d been told.

“I milked a cow, too,” Colyne added with a mouthful of food. “Do not forget that.”

Stunned, Richard stared at his brothers for a long moment. “Raibeart, is this true?”

“Aye,” he replied proudly. “We also gathered rushes for auld Maudie and widow Flora.”

Still not fully grasping what he was being told, Richard said, “And what pray tell did ye do to deserve such punishment?”

“They did it all voluntarily, Richard,” Aeschene told him.

“Ye jest.”

Hurt on behalf of her new brothers-by-law, she said, “Nay, I do not jest. They were quite happy to help.”

Richard shook his head in dismay as he rolled it all over in his mind. The only voluntary thing his brothers ever did was get into mischief.

“They want to help make yer keep and holdings beautiful again,” Marisse told him. “They want to help ye, m’laird.”

None of it made a damned bit of sense to Richard.

“’Tis true, cousin,” Lachlan said with a proud smile.

With a shake of his head, Richard went back to his meal. “I give it a day or two more before those two are back to makin’ trouble.”

Aeschene took his statement as a personal affront. “If ye expect the worse that is what ye will get.”

Puzzled and a bit irked with her tone, he glanced up from his trencher.

“Have faith, Richard, in yer brothers. For ’tis certain they have all the faith in the world with you.”

As much as he hated to admit it, he knew to a certain extant his wife was right. However, she had only been here a few days. He had years of experience trying to keep his brothers from killing each other, or worse yet, someone else with one of their shenanigans.

“Pardon me, but I am more used to me brothers fightin’ like cats and dogs and getting into more trouble than a group of drunken Highlanders visitin’ Edinburgh for the first time.”

“I can assure ye, Richard, that those days are gone,” Aeschene told him pointedly. “And I believe Colyne and Raibeart would give ye their words on that as well.”

He scoffed openly before glancing at his brothers. His stomach tightened when he saw the hurt in their young eyes. Clearing his throat, he said, “Be this true? Would ye give me yer word that you’re done behavin’ like heathens?”

“Aye,” Colyne replied.

“My word is my bond.” Raibeart sat taller, the solemnity in his voice rivaling that of an aged Highlander.

Richard accepted their promise, but inwardly, he firmly believed their good intentions wouldn’t last long. Still, he had to give them praise for at least making the attempt.

With their dinner finished, Black Richard sat back in his chair, rubbing his stomach.

Raibeart stood up and patted Colyne on his shoulder. “We have a long day ahead on the morrow,” he told him. “We should get to bed.”

Richard waited until they were half way up the stairs before he leaned in and whispered into his wife’s ear. “Are ye certain ye have not drugged them?”

Aeschene rolled her eyes. “Richard, really.”

“An exorcism mayhap?” he asked playfully.

“Must ye look a gift horse in the mouth?”

He chuckled and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Ye have no idea the trouble those two have gotten into over the years.”

“Of course I do,” she told him. “I had to listen to complaints all