moonlight and watchers on the ramparts, Aodán and another man-at-arms were there to aid them and help pull the boat from the water.
Noting how quiet Catriona had become, Fin put an arm around her shoulders as they went with the others to the gateway. “Cold, sweetheart?”
“A little,” she admitted, “but not as cold as I probably should be.”
“I’m not going to murder you, Cat,” he murmured close to her ear.
“But you were vexed with me.”
“A little, aye,” he agreed. “But not as vexed as I might have been.”
Smiling, she leaned into him. “Must you talk to Granddad straightaway?”
“Aye, and to anyone else who might be awake. We won’t wake Rothesay or Alex, because with a boat here, we can easily get them away early if we must. But you will go straight upstairs and get into bed even if the others are waiting for us.”
“One of them may order me to stay,” she said.
“I won’t allow it,” he said.
Catriona believed him, although she was not sure that Fin could countermand an order from Rothesay or Alex, or her grandfather.
However, her grandfather was the only one in the hall when they entered, and although he gave her a look that seemed to be half-relief and half-annoyance, he spoke only to Fin. So when Fin nodded toward the stairway, she silently handed him his mantle, which she had kept wrapped around herself.
“It will help you maintain your dignity, sir, because your tunic is still damp,” she said. “The mantle will keep you warmer, too.”
“I’ll warm soon enough. And if I don’t, you can see to it when I get to bed.”
Her body responded instantly to those words, and she hurried upstairs to find Ailvie asleep on a pallet by her bed. The maidservant awoke and jumped up, exclaiming at her mistress’s appearance.
“What are you doing in here?” Catriona asked. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“Aye, sure, and what d’ye think I thought when Aodán woke me to say that yon kitten were a-mewing so loud that he went up to slip it into your room only to find the door ajar and ye naewhere to be found?”
“Oh, Ailvie,” Catriona said, understanding her grandfather’s expression now. “I’m sorry if my absence frightened you, but I was with Sir Finlagh, and now I am back.”
“Ye are, aye, so I willna ask why ye be damp from tip to toe and nae doots shivering yourself nigh to fits. I’ll just get ye out of them clothes and into that bed.”
She soon left, and Catriona lay naked in bed with a purring kitten to warm her. Boreas had not followed her upstairs, doubtless preferring the hall fire’s warmth.
Although, listening to the soothing sound of gentle rain outside, she expected to fall quickly asleep, she soon found herself trying instead to imagine what was happening downstairs and what Fin might say to her when he did come to bed.
By the time he did, she was dozing, but the click of the latch brought her wide awake. When she recognized his figure against the cresset’s glow from the landing, she said, “What did Granddad say?”
“Since you’re awake, I’ll light a candle or two,” he said. Taking one from a nearby small table, he lit it from the cresset and then used it to light two more. When he had finished, he stripped off his mantle and tunic, tossed them aside, and got into bed beside her. The kitten fled.
“You feel warm,” she murmured, as he gathered her close. “But I don’t know why you lit candles only to come to bed.”
“Do you not?” He moved a hand to cup her left breast, brushing its nipple with his thumb.
“What did Granddad say?” she asked him again, trying to ignore the sensations he was stirring in her long enough to get an answer to her question.
“Not to worry,” he said.
“Fin, if making me wait to know is another of your ways of punishing—”
“It isn’t, sweetheart. I just want to make love to my wife.”
“And so you may, but what about—?”
“I told you, he said not to worry—not about Albany or Douglas. He said the weather and our men waiting in good number to meet them will drive them back.”
“The rivers will be roaring high,” she said, nodding. “Not just from the rain but also because the rain is warm and will melt what’s left of the snow. There must be few fords safe enough to use anywhere hereabouts, or in Glen Garry.”