“He is one who will assume encouragement whenever he likes,” Lady Annis said, looking sternly at Catriona. “If ye’re wise, ye’ll not give him any. Nor will ye, Morag. Dinna be thinking that your being James’s wife will dissuade that lad.”
“Faith, Mam,” Ealga said. “You make it sound as if Rothesay would behave improperly to them. Surely, he would not do so in our own castle!”
“Piffle,” Lady Annis retorted. “That young rascal dared to flirt with me, did he not? They say he’ll flirt—aye, and much more than flirt if he’s of a mind—with anyone who wears a skirt. Ye’ll heed my warning, Catriona. Ye, too, Morag.”
Catriona was glad that her father was talking to her grandfather just then, but in chorus with Morag she said obediently, “I will take care, madam.”
Supper was overlong, although she knew that that was only because they had more men to feed than they’d had for months.
With Rothesay’s men and her father’s in the lower hall, and her brothers and Rothesay’s nobles at the high table, the din of conversation made it hard for the four women to hear each other. Her grandfather, in particular, had a booming voice.
Hearing it raised then, Catriona remembered with a smile that Fin had thought that the Mackintosh must be decrepit. She wondered what had given him that notion.
Fin had hoped to find opportunity to talk with Ivor while they ate, but James had invited him to sit between them instead, with Ivor at Fin’s right.
“Sithee,” James said, “our grandfather will want to talk with Rothesay and also to ask my father about all we’ve been doing in the south. So, this is a good time for us to learn about you. My sister said that you hail from Lochaber. What part?”
From Fin’s right, Ivor said, “Sakes, James, don’t quiz him whilst he’s trying to eat. You’ll soon have Granddad complaining that he can’t hear in this din, and as you’re sitting next to him…” He grinned.
“Aye, that’s true,” James said to Fin. “Granddad likes to bellow now and again, and one takes care not to be the nearest target. We can talk swordsmanship. I’ve heard men talk of your prowess in both field and tiltyard, Sir Finlagh. Were you not one of the twelve knights selected with Rothesay for the Queen’s tourney?”
That gambit was one that Fin was accustomed to deflecting by taking the first opportunity to shift discussion to other men’s skills. Since the other two had fought in the eastern part of the Borders with the Earl of Douglas, while Fin had spent his time with Rothesay near Edinburgh or Stirling, they had much to discuss.
At one point, James said, “I can see why we never met in the Borders. Rothesay takes good care to keep out of the Douglas’s way, does he not?”
Fin was adept at avoiding that topic as well. Archie the Grim’s son, the fourth Earl of Douglas, being Rothesay’s good-brother and fond of his own sister, lacked even their late father’s scant tolerance for Rothesay’s profligate ways.
Fin said quietly, “Rothesay is his own man, sir. One in my position does not question his motives or discuss them, as I am sure you will understand.”
“I do, aye. I’ve heard he has a fiendish temper. I have also heard that we are to be his hosts for some time longer.”
“If you expect me to tell you how long, I cannot oblige you,” Fin said with a smile. “He rarely shares his exact intentions.”
They talked desultorily until the Mackintosh indicated that the meal was over and suggested that Rothesay and Shaw join him in the inner chamber.
When Shaw gestured for James to go with them, Ivor said in an undertone to Fin, “Don’t you dare go anywhere until we have talked, my lad.”
“I was just going to say the same to you, albeit more courteously,” Fin said with a rueful smile. “I am, after all, enjoying your family’s hospitality.”
“If that was meant as a comment on my manners, we can go out to the yard to discuss which of us has got better ones,” Ivor retorted with a glint in his eyes.
“Hawk, I have already deduced where your sister got her temper,” Fin said. “You needn’t remind me.”
“Just what did you do to learn that she has a temper?” Ivor demanded.
“Nowt to raise a brother’s hackles, as you who know me better than anyone should know,” Fin replied calmly.