home, he might consider wooing the lass. Well, he’d already started down that path—even though his amorous leanings needed to stop. The problem was every time he was alone with the woman, he couldn’t help but kiss her.
In the command tent, James met with Torquil, Davy, and Caelan. It was time they identified the strongest fighters and allocated them to different schiltrons. A cohort of the best would be assigned to James, but there were enough strong soldiers to name a sergeant to lead each group.
After the meeting ended, the first thing that drew his gaze was Ailish heading down the path to the river with a bucket in her hand.
“M’lady,” he called, hastening after her.
She stopped and looked at him expectantly. “Good day, sir knight.”
He looked to the skies. How could she be so guileless? “You weren’t about to head for the river alone, were you?”
The lass held up the bucket. “Friar John needs water.”
“Well, he should not be sending you to fetch it.”
“He didn’t. I volunteered.”
“Nay.” James took the bucket from her fingers. “I do not want you leaving the camp without an escort. Where the blazes is Hew?”
She shrugged. “Not certain.”
“Come,” he groused, heading down the trail. “I’ll catch up with him later.”
“Do not lose your temper with Hew. He left me in Friar John’s care.”
“Then I’ll have a word with Blair and tell him you’re not to leave his bloody sight.”
Ailish’s footsteps pattered the ground, as if she were struggling to keep up with James’ strides. “Are you angry with me?”
He stopped and thrust his fists onto his hips. “Nay.” In truth, he was angry, but being angry with Her Ladyship seemed absurd.
She eyed him. “I sense you are troubled.”
When was he not? “Word arrived that the king has sent Her Grace and his daughter to Kildrummy Castle.”
“But that’s in the far north.” Ailish clasped a hand over her chest. “Do you believe they will be safe there?”
“I do, else the Bruce would have sent them elsewhere.”
Nodding, she glanced down the path. “Oh, I found something of yours.” Her smile radiated warmth as she pulled a silver chain over her head and held out his cross. “This was between the furs in my pallet.”
He stood for a moment watching the silver flicker in the sunlight. “’Twas my mother’s,” he whispered, as he took the cross and put it on, his stomach clenching. The piece was the sole possession he had of his mother’s memory. He never took it off—had it slipped over his head in the fits of a night terror? Most likely.
Gulping, he swallowed his deep-seated emotions and tucked the keepsake under his shirt where he always kept it close to his heart. “How did you ken it was mine?”
“You were wearing it the evening you spent at Lincluden.” Ailish turned the color of a blood rose, her gaze meandering to his chest. The shift of her eyes, the slight parting of her lips made her all the more irresistible, more entrancing. “Remember? You were at the washstand behind the stables.”
James had only relived that moment every night since. At the time, it had taken all his self-restraint not to whisk the woman into his arms, carry her to the loft, and have his way with her. Just as he felt like doing now. They were alone aside from the muffled sounds coming from the camp. But, alas, this was not the time and most likely would never be.
Ailish turned and continued toward the river. “You gave me your pallet in the alcove, did you not?”
Of course he did. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. “I put you in the only place in the entire camp where there was no chance you would be harmed.”
“I suppose you slept outside the alcove as well.”
He grunted, taking the pail from her hand. “His Grace asked me to protect you.”
“On the journey to Lincluden.”
“Aye, but I’m certain his orders would have been perpetuated had he known you would venture to Selkirk Forest…alone.”
“I apologize if I have caused you inconvenience, but I had nowhere else to turn.”
“And that is why I have not sent you away.”
“You would have cast me out otherwise?”
No, his heart wouldn’t allow it, but he’d best not admit it to her. “Let us say I would have done and will do what is necessary to find Harris.”
Her smile was even brighter this time, setting alight a flicker in his heart. But she said nothing. Instead, she continued along the path, letting her fingers brush