tray tipped and the carcass slid off. They'd quickly stopped and replaced the beast on the tray and continued forward, and the meal had still been good, but they'd had to pick off the pieces of rushes and other unsavory bits that had stuck to the animal after the fall.
Men to help with the heavier kitchen tasks might have saved such an accident. It also would have freed the women to serve the other dishes more quickly. And really, having three or four men in the castle to help with such tasks would hardly leave him lacking men to train, and the men could take turns at it; a day in the castle, three or four at practice perhaps. His wife's suggestion really was a good one he admitted reluctantly. He would have to arrange it.
"I wish to take a bath and cannot do so with the two of you standing there watching," Evelinde repeated with exasperation, finding it impossible to believe her husband had really ordered the men to stay in the same room with her. What had he been thinking? Obviously, he hadn't been thinking at all when he'd given that order. At least he hadn't been thinking about the fact that he'd ordered a bath for her as well. Good Lord! Were the two men going to crowd into the privy with her when she needed to use it?
Evelinde tried to push that thought out of her mind the moment it entered. Just thinking about it was likely to make her need to relieve herself, then she'd be in a real pickle.
"The laird ordered that we are to stay in the same room with ye," Fergus repeated stubbornly. He was looking a bit angry and annoyed at the whole business. Obviously, he was displeased with getting into trouble and unwilling to risk disobeying Cullen's order. Tavis, on the other hand, was grinning like an idiot at the idea of her having to bathe in front of them.
"Now, this is just folly," Mildrede said with exasperation, weighing into the fray. "You cannot stand there while she bathes."
"And we cannot leave," Fergus said firmly. "She will just have to wait until Cullen returns to bathe."
"Oh, that would be a waste," Tavis protested. "The water will get cold, and after the ladies worked so hard at heating and bringing it up here."
Evelinde scowled at her husband's cousin, knowing he didn't care a fig for all the work the women had put into preparing the bath. Otherwise, he would have helped carry up the bloody tub. Shifting impatiently, she headed for the door, asking, "Where is my husband?"
When she got no answer, Evelinde glanced back to see that while they were following her, their expressions suggested they had no idea where the man had gone. Shaking her head with exasperation, she pulled the door open and sailed out of the room, aware that the men were still following. Evelinde paused at the top of the stairs, her gaze sliding over the great hall below with irritation. She'd hoped to find him below dealing with some business or other, but he was absent from the nearly empty room and could be anywhere. He might have been in the bailey, the stables, working in the practice field or he may even have left the castle. How annoying!
Evelinde stood at the top of the stairs, undecided as to what to do. Then she nodded firmly to herself and swung back around. Fergus and Tavis broke apart to make way for her and followed as she moved quickly back along the hall, but when she reached her room, Evelinde opened the door just enough to slip inside, then slammed it quickly closed as the men realized what she was doing and rushed forward. She barely managed to slam the bar into place before they thumped against the other side of the wooden panel.
"Me lady!" Fergus snapped from the hall. "Open this door! We are not to let you out of our sight."
"I shall open the door as soon as I have finished my bath," Evelinde announced serenely as she started across the room toward the tub, where Mildrede was chuckling softly as she checked the temperature of the bathwater.
"Oh, now, Evie," Tavis wheedled, making Evelinde's eyebrows rise at the use of the nickname only Mac had ever used. "Ye'll be getting us in trouble. Open the door, lass, and let us in. We promise not to look."
Evelinde snorted at the claim as she quickly began