that it is time ye were in your chamber, lass,” he said in his usual stern way. “We can talk more of this in the morning.”
“With respect, my lord,” she said, meeting that piercing gaze. “This concerns me as well as Sir Finlagh, because I am the one who told Rothesay. I think you will agree that it would be unfair of me to make Fin answer to you alone for that.”
“Mayhap it would,” Shaw agreed. “Nevertheless, he is going to talk with me alone. If ye do insist, ye may join us afterward to hear then what I will say to ye.”
That was not what she had wanted, as Fin could plainly see from her look of frustration. But when Shaw nodded to Ivor and Ivor put a hand on her arm, she turned obediently if reluctantly away with him.
“Don’t take her to the ladies’ solar, Ivor, but to the wee room opposite the muniments chamber above it,” Shaw said. “I will talk with her before she need tell your mam or grandame about this, so leave the gist to me. Ye’re to go with them, James,” he added. “Take your time, though. I’d liefer that nae one think aught of it or follow any of us upstairs. Do not speak to Morag, either, until I give ye leave.”
“As you wish, sir,” James said with a nod as he turned away.
Fin waited to hear his own orders while keeping an eye on Rothesay, who was still enjoying himself and clearly expected to hear what Shaw would say to Fin.
However, Shaw spoke to Rothesay first, saying, “One of your lads told my good-father that you can doubtless beat him at chess, my lord. He would welcome a match, if you would so honor him, and awaits you now in the inner chamber.”
Rothesay grinned, saying, “I will, aye, and gladly, because I must tell you that I have been seeking a way to amuse myself tonight. But sithee, Shaw, I think that this secretive pair should marry at once. Forbye, it would amuse me more than a good game of chess and may lighten the mood betwixt my cousins and make them easier to bend to my will.”
“As to that, my lord, we shall see.”
“I could make this marriage a royal command,” Rothesay said provocatively. “Mayhap I have not made it clear that the match has my blessing.”
“An honor, to be sure,” Shaw said in the same stern tone. “We can speak more of this if you wish, after I talk with Sir Finlagh and my daughter.”
Seeing Rothesay’s quick frown, Fin wanted to warn him to recall his need for Clan Chattan support. But Rothesay, glancing at him, clearly did remember, because his brow cleared, and he said, “I would like that, aye, Shaw.”
“Good then,” Shaw said. Turning to Fin, he added, “You come with me.”
Hearing those words and Shaw’s ominous tone, Fin’s mind played him an unexpected trick with the sudden thought that had he known a month before that he would find himself alone in a room with the war leader of Clan Chattan, he would never have guessed that it would be for such a purpose or that he would be hoping only to soothe the man’s rightful fury.
Appalled at what she had wrought and angry with herself for putting Fin in such a fix, Catriona kept her emotions in check until Ivor ushered her into the tiny room across from the much larger one where the clan’s important documents were stored. The larger chamber was also where her father closeted himself when he had private business to attend or a daughter to scold.
But when Ivor turned to shut the smaller room’s door, she said evenly to his back, “I don’t want to talk to you about any of this, or to James either. Not yet.”
Ivor turned then to face her, and in place of the anger she had expected to see, she saw compassion and a glint of humor. “Do you not, Wildcat?” he asked. “I can well understand that. But what devil possessed you to declare such a thing?”
“I cannot tell you,” she muttered.
“Cannot or will not?”
She did not know how to reply to that.
“I see,” he said, “or mayhap I do not. But I suspect that Fin will ask the same question, so you had better think of an answer before he does. Have you any idea how much trouble you have created for him?”
“I know,” she said miserably. “I did not mean to do