“I won’t do it, but Rory Comyn was right about one thing. My brother James has said that it is more than time that I married. Before he and the others left for the Borders, he threatened to arrange a marriage for me himself.”
“But surely your father—”
“He is the one who matters, aye. And he can be more indulgent, but…”
“How stands your other brother?”
Smiling again as the younger of her two brothers leaped to mind, she said, “Sithee, Ivor calls me Wildcat, so he just laughs at James and says that until they find someone who can tame my wild ways, any such effort must end in disaster.”
“So, you are wild then and not just possessed of an independent mind?”
Nibbling her lower lip, watching her step, and wondering why she was telling him so much about herself, she said, “Some do call me wild, aye.”
“I have seen how fond you are of roaming the woods alone, even when you must know that such woods harbor villains,” he said.
His tone of voice sent a shiver up her spine and reminded her of how swiftly he had disarmed Rory Comyn—almost as swiftly as Ivor might have. The edge in his voice reminded her of Ivor, too. Hoping to turn the subject from herself, she said, “So you suspect, as I do, that Rory Comyn or one of his men shot that arrow.”
“That smirk of his made me sure of it,” he said. “Does it not occur to you that if he has been lurking about, watching Rothiemurchus, he or one of his lads might have seen you row across the loch yesterday and followed you, taking care to keep the dog from catching his scent? If, in doing some such thing, your Comyn saw me, might he not have suspected that I had come to meet you?”
“He is not my Comyn,” she retorted.
“He thinks he is.”
“Well, he’s not! Faith, you don’t think I was going to meet him, do you?”
Fin did not reply, so she whirled to face him, to make sure that he understood her loathing for Rory Comyn before they took another step. Having assumed that he had dared to disbelieve her, she was astonished to see him smiling.
Her hand, with a mind of its own, had risen to strike. She quickly lowered it.
Her reaction told Fin that his silence had somehow sparked her temper. But her flashing eyes and glowing cheeks stirred only a strong urge to kiss her, despite certain rules that applied to knights who escorted young noblewomen. The first and foremost rule forbade the knight to take unfair advantage of the lady.
And, too, a wise man would first consider her grandfather… and Rothesay. Alienating the Mackintosh or infuriating the prince would be imprudent at best.
There was also the fact of his being one of the “wretched Camerons.”
Her lips parted, and Fin felt his cock leap in response.
Anger stirred then, at himself. How could he even be thinking of her in a sensual way when he had sworn to seek vengeance against… nay, to kill her father?
“Is aught amiss, sir?” she said. “You were smiling and now you frown, but I don’t think that you are angry with me. Does your head ache again?”
Her concern awoke a long dormant sense of warmth inside him. He tried to recall the last time someone had made him feel so. Wishing that he deserved her disquiet, he said gently, “My head is fine. I was wondering if your love of wandering or your quick temper had led you to think of yourself as a wild creature.”
Looking relieved, then rueful, she said, “As you have just noted for yourself a second time, sir, my temper does inflame quickly. My brothers tease me about it. Ivor says I spit like a fierce kitten. But in troth, I just say what I am thinking.”
He nodded. “I have seen that, but a lass’s temper rarely troubles me. It troubles me more when she risks her life or her safety foolishly. I trust that you will heed your grandfather’s command to end your solitary roaming until we can be sure that your woods are clear of Comyns and any other such vermin.”
“Aye, sure,” she said. Then she grinned. “Granddad has a temper, too. He is the embodiment of our clan motto: ‘Touch not the cat but with a glove.’ ”
Satisfied that he had made his point, he said, “I will try to avoid stirring coals with either of you. Shall we walk down to yon