The Highlander's Lady Knight (Midsummer Knights #2) - Madeline Martin Page 0,59
her abrupt departure. Mayhap even use it to elicit sympathy for a further reduction in the cost of the fabric.
Disappointment pricked her. It had been fine wool.
She flicked her attention to the alleyway and found the man no longer there. The tension did not ease from her shoulders, however. Instead, wariness tapped at the back of her mind.
She quickened her pace to where she would be meeting with her brother, Drake, on the outskirts of the village. He’d gone to see about getting a cow for them while Faye attended market.
She glanced over her shoulder and found the old man behind her, mere paces away.
“I’d like a word with ye.” His voice was gravelly despite his Scottish burr and imbued with the same confidence as his squared shoulders.
She walked more quickly and discreetly slid the dagger from her belt. While she preferred the cut of her own sharp tongue, in a pinch, the blade did quite nicely.
“Mistress Faye Fletcher.” Her name on the stranger’s lips made her step falter.
She spun around. “I’m not someone ye want to trifle with.”
He lifted his brows with apparent amusement and swept his gaze over her. “Ye’ve grown into a bonny lass.”
“And ye’re a leering old goat.”
He tsked. “Is that any way to speak to yer grandda?”
The apprehension in Faye’s gut drew into a hard knot. She met his green eyes, a shade disconcertingly similar to her mum’s. Prickles ran over her flesh.
She’d heard enough about him to be wary. He was Chieftain of the Ross clan, a man with power and greed running in his cold veins. He was so cruel and self-serving that Mum had risked her family starving rather than take her children to live near Balnagown Castle in the highlands.
Faye glared at him. “My grandda is a dishonorable cur who rules with fear and manipulation. If ye are indeed who ye claim to be, I want nothing to do with ye.”
The mirth fled his expression, and his face went red under his rust-colored beard. “Impudent chit.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “It doesna matter what ye want. I’ve come to fetch ye to deliver ye to yer betrothed.”
She tightened her grip on her dagger. Betrothed? What was he on about?
She scoffed derisively to cover her unease. “Ye’re mad and I dinna have time for this.”
She turned away and strode swiftly toward the large tree where she’d planned to meet Drake, hoping to God he was already waiting. Her grandda’s strong, wiry grasp caught her arm and spun her back toward him.
This was exactly why she carried a blade. She rolled her arm over his and gripped his thick wrist, twisting it sharply. He grunted in pain, but she didn’t stop there.
Quick as a blink, she put the point of her dagger to his withered throat. “Leave me be and dinna bother coming to find my family, or I willna stop my blade next time, aye?”
He grimaced, his teeth yellow beneath his thin lips. “Let go of me, ye impertinent chit.”
She shoved him from her, then backed away.
“Ye willna go unpunished for that.” He glowered at her, then slipped between two homes, disappearing.
Faye slowly exhaled, and a tremble softened her limbs. Was he the man he said he was? Her grandda? And what was his claim of her being betrothed?
She kept the dagger clutched in her grasp as she made her way to the large tree. Drake was already waiting for her with a velvety brown cow whose soft eyes were large and framed with long lashes.
Drake frowned as she approached. “What is it, Faye?”
There was a single moment that passed where she considered telling him what had happened. But only one before she resolved to keep news of their grandfather’s presence in the village to herself.
Drake was the eldest of the four of them and had been visiting the last sennight. The following morning, he was due to return to the English side of the border to resume his duty as Captain of the Guard at Werrick Castle.
His job was one of great importance and brought him an abundance of pride. It was not the knighthood he’d hoped to obtain as their father had, but it was an honorable position in a notable household. One that afforded them all a much better life than the one they’d had before.
No longer were they forced to wear threadbare clothes that kept them chilled in the winter. Nor go without food so long that their bellies snarled with hunger.