my lads and I parted miles north of there,” he said. “I did not realize that I would not find another ford on this side. I do recall fording numerous burns and rivulets, but only the Spey seemed tumultuous enough to produce any good falls.”
“I know of a fine one on the way to Castle Moigh,” she said. “If you should go on to Lochaber from here and take the right path, you will see it for yourself.”
“I still want to see the burn spilling out of Loch an Eilein,” he said. “I like to explore the landscape wherever I am. Will you show me the way after we eat?”
Cocking her head, she said, “You do not need a guide to find that burn. If you just follow the loch shore northward, it will take you there.”
“But your grandfather is more likely to let you take the wee coble. I don’t want to have to swim ashore and back again.”
“The distance from the island to the west shore is less than half the distance you swam just now,” she pointed out, meeting his gaze and instantly feeling the same prickling sense of warmth flowing inward that she had felt the day before.
“I’ll need dry clothes when I get to shore,” he said without looking away.
“Then ask a gillie to row you across and collect you when you return.”
“I don’t want a gillie. I’d rather go with a fine-looking lass and her dog.”
Aware that she was blushing but determined to win, she said, “My grandfather would be even less likely to let you take me with you than his boat.”
“The Mackintosh kens fine that he can trust me with you, for he said nowt about our being together so long yesterday. He might not be so sure about the boat. Sithee, he kens its size and mine. He’d fear that I’d sink it if I treated it carelessly.”
“He would likewise think a dousing no more than you’d deserve for your carelessness,” she retorted. “It would be, too.”
“Would it?” he asked, stepping closer, and holding her gaze as he did.
Swallowing, feeling new heat surge through her body, Catriona fought to ignore the sensation. When he put a hand on her shoulder, she managed to collect her wits enough to say, “You go to him just as you are, sir. Ask him what he thinks of your plan. Even if you change first and dry yourself, you’d best hope that no one who sees us out here tells him how you look now.”
He looked down at himself and chuckled. “You’re right about that, lass. I warrant he’d have a few things to say to me. Still, if he grants us permission, will you walk with me to that outlet?”
“Aye, sure, if he gives permission.” As she said the words, she wondered at his confidence. Perhaps he had not taken her grandfather’s full measure yet. But if he thought he could act so audaciously with the Mackintosh’s granddaughter, he would soon learn his error whether the Mackintosh took exception to it or not.
The lady Catriona’s blushes became her, Fin thought. She was enticingly unlike the women he’d met in Rothesay’s company. Most of them were more skilled at the art of dalliance than Fin had been when he had entered Rothesay’s service.
Before that day, Fin had believed himself well experienced. He was three-and-twenty by then and had not lived as a monk. But few would debate the Mackintosh’s opinion that the young Governor of the Realm was a profligate and reckless, withal.
Rothesay was the same age now as Fin had been then, but wherever Rothesay went, he assumed that any female he met would welcome his attentions—that noble or not, married or not, she would welcome him in her bed or elsewhere. So far, he had been right most of the time, even when the lady’s husband chanced to be at home. Such was royal privilege, as Davy Stewart himself frequently declared.
Although many knights who served him were years older than he was, they quickly learned that he did not welcome friendly teasing, let alone warnings away from his prey. But most people liked him despite his behavior. He had inherited all the Stewart charm that his uncle Albany lacked, and more.
That females submitted to Rothesay’s slightest smile had often made Fin wonder at such females. However, he had never professed to understand women. His sisters had been mysteries to him, and by the time he might have been old enough to figure them