Bride For A Knight Page 0,44

I dinna mean yon Hughie Mac and his music!"

Sliding his arm around Aveline's waist, he drew her against him, feeling a need to shield her. "Whether the bridge is gone or not, there might yet be something left that the bogles dinna want us to see. If so, I mean to find it."

He glanced round at his kinsmen and friends, making sure everyone had heard him.

Hoping anyun -friends who might be about, heard as well.

"And when I do, it won't be me who'll be the sorry one," he added, pulling Aveline along with him as he strode for the tower stair.

But their exit was marred by a feminine gasp, a rustling flurry of skirts as Gelis leapt to her feet and dashed after them.

"O-o-oh, you canna go near the cataracts," she cried, grabbing Jamie's arm. "Say you will not!"

He swung around and looked down at her, the fear in her eyes and the paleness of her face making him all the more determined to go indeed. Especially since she was Linnet MacKenzie's daughter.

He knew better than to discount warnings coming from that direction, but he also recognized the need for caution. So he patted her hand and forced a reassuring smile.

"Ne'er you worry," he lied, telling a falsehood to an unsuspecting female for what was surely the hundredth time in just the last few days. "I willna go near the Rough Waters."

But I might poke around a bit on the braeside overlooking them. That last, of course, he left unsaid.

"I did not like the way she looked at you."

Aveline blurted her concern the moment they topped the turnpike stair head.

"Gelis?" Jamie shot her a bemused look. "The Black Stag's sassy wee gel?"

Aveline nodded.

She smoothed her hands on her skirts, annoyed by their dampness. Truth was, she hadn't seen anything wee on the MacKenzie lass.

Not that it mattered.

She'd liked the girl. And Jamie - clearly hearing with a man's ears - had totally misunderstood her.

Even so, she wished the words unsaid. But that was impossible, so she let him lead her down the dimly lit passage and into the empty bedchamber that had been his brother Kendrick's.

She bit her lip as they crossed the threshold, her own agitation immediately forgotten. Faith, but the room's silence twisted her heart. Truth be told, she'd liked Kendrick tremendously. Though like her sisters and any female with a whit of sense, she'd known not to take him seriously. A notorious skirt-chaser; laughing-eyed, full of himself, and e'er amusing, he'd been the most dashing of the Macpherson brothers.

Quick to smile, outrageously flirtatious, and able to make even the most withered stick of a crone feel beautiful.

Aveline swallowed, fighting against the thickness in her throat. Even the few times she'd glimpsed his ghost, he'd looked, well, larger than life. Anything but ... dead.

"Come, lass." Jamie looked at her over his shoulder. "You needn't fret o'er Gelis. Or fear this room. Kendrick isn't here."

But Aveline wasn't so sure.

Gelis didn't really bother her, but traces of Kendrick's zest lingered in the chamber and it was all she could do to keep from glancing about, looking for him. Half-expecting him to swagger over to them, offering refreshments and a lusty, wicked tale, she shivered and clasped her hands before her, looking on as Jamie closed and bolted the door.

He humphed as soon as the drawbar slid into place, but other than that noncommittal grunt, he gave no sign of intending to say more. Far from it, he strode across the chamber, taking the night candle from the table beside the bed, then lighting it at the hearth. A charcoal brazier already hissed and glowed in one corner and a few of the wall sconces had been lit and were throwing off their light as well, but Jamie continued to move about with the burning taper, tipping its flame to the wick of every candle in the room.

"To better see the bogles ," Aveline thought she heard him say. But she'd been listening for other voices, finding it so hard to imagine Kendrick gone. And feeling not quite at ease claiming his quarters. The notion sent chills sliding up and down her spine no matter how many candles Jamie set to blazing. An unnecessary extravagance, for enough moonlight streamed into the chamber to stretch deep into the room, silver-gilding the elegant trappings, illuminating the sumptuousness.

And the room was sumptuous.

Looking round, Aveline knew she'd seldom seen anything quite so fine. Rather than the usual rushes, furred skins covered the wood-planked floor and