Noting a flash of disappointment on the prince’s expressive face, he felt a twinge of unease.
“Aye, sure,” Rothesay said. “I’ve known all about you from the start. Bishop Traill told me that you had cause to keep your identity to yourself. And knowing how fractious our Highland clans can be, I decided that that cause was likely a matter of self-preservation. Is that how it was?”
“ ’Tis close enough,” Fin said.
“I see. But the great feud was between your confederation and Clan Chattan,” Rothesay said. “So, I did wonder if the Mackintosh knew. But your lady showed no surprise just now when I asked, and one does assume that if she knows, he does.”
“Aye, sure, he does,” Fin said.
“Then, I repeat, why ‘Lady Finlagh’?”
“Because I am a younger son, of course,” Fin said with a shrug. “ ’Tis how folks will style her at home, where my brother’s wife is Lady Cameron.”
“Aye, sure, ’tis the usual way. That reminds me, though, of why I wondered if the Mackintosh knew about you. It was not just that Camerons and Mackintoshes were foes in that battle at Perth. It was also that you belong to the same Camerons who began that feud, over who owns Tor Castle and the Loch Arkaig estates.”
For the second time in less than an hour, Fin indulged in murderous thoughts about Rothesay. And one look at Catriona told him that she had indeed recalled his equivocal reply when she’d asked him about Tor Castle the day after they had met.
Catriona had heard Rothesay’s comments plainly. But it took a moment to realize that the heat she felt rising in her was no longer sensual but emotional.
By the time she recognized her feeling of betrayal for what it was, she likewise realized that she could not vent her reaction to it then and there. But when she shot Fin an oblique, speaking glance, she saw that he was already facing her and had been expecting such a look, if not more.
“Lass,” he said quietly. “I should have told you. We’ll talk about it later.”
Nodding, she dared not speak lest she say exactly what she was thinking.
She was still thinking about what he had said about Tor Castle that day, when she heard Lady Annis, just to her left, say, “That friar of Donald’s did better than one hoped of such a ragged creature. Ye be well and truly wedded now, dearling. And your granddad thinks ye’ve done gey well for yourself withal.”
“Does he, Grandame?” Grateful for an excuse to look anywhere other than at her husband, Catriona added, “I expect Granddad also told you that we mean to stay at Castle Moigh for the next few days.”
“Aye, sure. When he sent the messenger to warn them of your coming, I made sure that all will be in readiness for you. I expect James told you that he and Morag will ride on to Daviot, so ye’ll have the place nearly all to yourselves.”
“I overheard him telling Fin,” Catriona admitted.
“Your Fin is a fine man,” Lady Annis said. “Mind, though, that ye do not let him see that temper of yours until ye’ve taken measure of his. I have seen signs in the man much like those that ought to have warned me to tread warier than I did with your grandsire at the outset of our marriage. We lived here, then, of course.”
“What happened?”
Lady Annis smiled reminiscently. “He scolded me for doing what I thought had been a natural thing for me to do. So I pitched a basinful of cold water at him.”
“You didn’t!” When she nodded, Catriona said, “What had you done?”
Her ladyship shrugged. “I climbed a tree to get a wider view of the loch.”
“Well, I think that does sound perfectly natural. Why did it anger him?”
“Perhaps I ought to have explained that I was wearing only my shift at the time. We had been… um… getting better acquainted, as one might say.”
A gurgle of laughter rose in Catriona’s throat. “Where were you?”
“On the west shore yonder, near the landing. By my troth, though, he lectured me in the coble, all the way back to the castle, and all the way upstairs to our chamber. So, when I’d heard enough, I pitched the water at him… all over him.”
Catriona grinned. “And then?”
“That is all I am going to tell ye, Mistress Impertinence. Ye ken your granddad fine, so doubtless ye can use that fertile imagination of yours for the rest. But I am telling ye—I,