a head taller, and half again as wide, as any knight who had sworn allegiance to her dead husband.
Considering what was behind her, Shona could wish that these men were of the clan she’d come north to seek refuge with, but she knew she had no friends or family among the Sinclairs. They weren’t likely to take kindly to what they would perceive as an Englishwoman trespassing on their land. Perhaps the laird would approve safe passage through, if only to get rid of her and her companions. She could but hope.
She had to make her way to Balmoral Isle.
It was the only chance they had at safety, her one hope to preserve her son’s life and her own virtue. Or what was left of it.
At Balmoral, she had family, at least, though the relation was somewhat distant. She had no doubt her arrival would come as something of a shock. She could only hope it was not a wholly unwelcome one.
“They’re not giants, sweeting, merely warriors of the clan that makes these lands their home.” Shona tried to infuse her tone with confidence while her own mind screamed with warnings and worries.
“Really?” Eadan asked, his eyes, the same indigo blue as his father’s, filled with awe.
“These are Highland warriors?” Audrey asked, before Shona had the chance to affirm her assertion to her son. “They’re huge.”
“’Tis the way of the Highlands, I suppose.” And among some of the clans that bordered the Highlands as well, like the one in which she’d grown up.
Audrey gave her twin brother a sideways look. “Perhaps you’ve got more growing to do, but I don’t think you’ll reach their stature, even so.”
Thomas looked chagrined. “You don’t know that.”
Shona couldn’t imagine why they were speculating at all. Thomas was English, just like his sister; children of a lesser baron whose holding bordered her dead husband’s on the west and was only a few miles from land claimed by Scotland’s king.
Shona’s sleeping daughter stirred in her arms and she looked down to see pretty green eyes so like her own blinking up at her. “Mama, is there giants?”
At three, Marjory was as different from her older brother as night from day. Petite and quiet-spoken, she adored the older brother who was and had always been big for his age and confident to the point of brashness.
So like his father it made Shona’s heart ache, though she’d never let her children see it.
“They’re the laird’s guard come to greet us,” Shona claimed, her voice maintaining a shocking steadiness despite the blatant lie she’d just told.
One look from her two adult companions assured her they weren’t fooled by her words. But neither of her children were frightened and that was what mattered.
She just had to believe that the Sinclair was a better man than some who had been in her life. His reputation as a fierce but fair leader even as far south as England had led to her decision to travel on his lands instead of taking a more circuitous route to her final destination.
They rode for another ten minutes before meeting the Sinclair warriors.
Shona halted her horse and the rest of her party followed suit.
“Who are you and what are you doing on our land?” Though the soldier’s words were abrupt and his demeanor nothing less than ferocious, Shona felt no fear. Something about the man speaking made her think he would not hurt them. Perhaps it was the flash of concern in his eyes when he looked at her children.
The big warrior would have been devastatingly handsome but for the garish scar on his cheek, but Shona felt no draw to him. She had only ever wanted one man in her life, and, despite having been married to another, that had not changed. Nor did she believe it ever would. But she did not lament her lack of interest in the opposite sex. Men could not be trusted and she was better off keeping what was left of her heart for her children and her children alone.
“I am Shona, Lady Heronshire, seeking safe passage through your laird’s lands to visit my family on Balmoral Isle.” The words were formal, and she spoke them in flawless Gaelic, her native tongue.
“Did you get that scar in a fight?” Eadan asked.
Audrey gasped, but Shona just sighed. Her son had no cork for the things that came out of his mouth.
The warrior’s attention moved to Eadan and he studied him closely for several seconds before something that could have been