“Hush now, for you will not persuade me,” she said. “You could not have killed so many, nor must you forget that had you died that day, Rothesay would not be having his so-important meeting here now, and I would never have met you. To think that for years I believed I hated all Camerons. But I find now that I do not.”
He caught hold of her hand, but he did not speak. He just gazed down into her eyes as if he might read more of her thoughts there.
“Just what the devil do you two think you are doing?”
Catriona whirled to see her brother James standing on the trail that they had followed from the castle. He stood with arms akimbo, looking very angry.
Chapter 10
Fin took one look at James and stepped away from Catriona. As he did, he said quietly, “There is nowt occurring here to trouble you, sir.”
“Faith, but you have drawn a conclusion that insults us both, James,” Catriona said. “Did you come seeking us for any other purpose?”
Seeing fury leap to James’s face, Fin set himself to intervene if necessary. But Catriona remained calm, clearly awaiting an answer to her question.
At last, after a measuring look at each of them, James visibly relaxed. “The lad at the gate said that you had come this way. I just wondered… that is, I thought you might have walked out with Morag, Cat. It surprised me to see you with him.”
“The guard at the gate did not tell you that I was with Morag.”
“Nay, nay,” James protested. “I didn’t say that. I never asked him about Morag. Sithee, I awoke and she was gone, but I did not want the lad thinking that summat was amiss with her, so—”
“Amiss betwixt the two of you is what you mean, I think,” she said gently.
Fin nearly uttered a protest. That subject was not one that she should initiate in his presence.
James shot her a dour look, then turned to Fin and said frankly, “I do owe you an apology. I ought to have thought a bit before speaking so sharply.”
Extending his hand, Fin said, “ ’Tis generous of you to apologize, sir. Had I come upon my sister in such a pose, I’d likely have reacted as you did. You have my word, though, that nowt was amiss.”
Gripping his hand, James said, “I’ll willingly accept it. My grandfather told me who you are, so I expect that you do understand my reaction.”
Catriona said, “You say that as if you did not know his identity before, James. But I told you and Ivor about him soon after you arrived here yesterday.”
“Ye did, aye,” James said, his gaze locked now with Fin’s. “But you told us his name was Sir Finlagh MacGill, lass. So clearly, you did not know everything.”
Fin’s glance flicked to Catriona, but she was still watching James.
She said, “I know all I need to know. He schooled with Ivor at St. Andrews and he fought on the Cameron side at Perth. He has not kept secrets from me, sir. I did used to think that being a Cameron must be a dreadful thing, but only until I came to know him. The truce between our two confederations still holds, does it not?”
“For the most part, aye,” James agreed, meeting Fin’s gaze again. “Did he tell you that his father was the Camerons’ war leader at Perth?”
“Aye, of course, he did,” Catriona lied stoutly. “Now, prithee, let be, sir. Come to that, if Morag is missing, you must find her.”
“She makes it plain that she does not want to be found,” James said bluntly.
“Nonsense, sir. No woman hides without wanting to be found, and Morag has missed you sorely. I fear she still feels like a stranger here, so she does not confide in us. Still, you must have done something to vex her. Do you know what it was?”
“Sakes, Cat, what man ever understands why a woman does such a thing?”
“Has she told you how much she has missed you?”
“Aye, sure, any number of times.”
“How did you reply to her?”
James flushed and looked helplessly at Fin, but Fin knew better than to enter such a conversation without a stronger invitation than that.
The older man turned back to his sister. “Cat, we should not—”
“I do have reason for asking, sir. So, unless you said something dreadful…”
Shrugging, he said, “I told her I was doing my duty, of course. I explained that I’d