his gaze from her and went to his wardrobe. He pulled out a black shirt and threw it over his head.
“What could Hugh want that is so urgent?” she asked.
“The horses,” he answered noncommittally. “I asked Hugh to keep an eye on Doublelet. You must be careful when a horse is in foal.”
She nodded, accepting his excuse. It made him feel ill-at-ease to lie to her.
He crossed to the bed and gave her a great bruising kiss. “You wait here and we’ll finish what we’ve started when I come back.”
“Don’t be long,” she whispered.
Sweet, sweet Anne. He left the room, the sooner to return.
Anne stretched out on the bed, her body still stimulated and humming with excitement. The fine, thick fur felt good against her bare skin. She hoped nothing serious had happened to Doublelet. Everyone at Kelwin knew Aidan anticipated great things from her foal.
Perhaps she should join him in the barn. It would be easier than waiting.
And she could be close to him.
She rose from the bed and started dressing. Fussing over her hair, she hurried to his wash basin by the windows where she’d left her pins.
It was cloudy but the moon was full. A lover’s moon, she reminded herself. It came out from behind the clouds just long enough to wink at her. She almost laughed at it, she was so happy, but then she noticed movement.
Anne peered into the darkness. There, on the cliff path, were walkers. Who would be out at this time of night? The cloud shifted again, and she recognized Hugh.
And Aidan was with him, as were several of the other men from the clan.
A sense of foreboding came down on top of her, crushing her earlier well-being.
Why would Aidan tell her he was going one place and then go to another?
Anne backed away from the window. She should go back to bed. But she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
And when he returned—?
For a moment, she wavered in indecision. She didn’t know if she could stand the pain of discovering his passion was nothing more than a ploy to hide his subterfuge. A successful ploy.
The suspense of waiting for him to return was unacceptable. She wanted answers now. Hurrying to her room, she changed into her blue cambric dress and followed her husband out of the castle and down the cliff path.
Her kid slippers were not the best for climbing down a rocky path at night. She had to walk slower than she wished lest she slip and give away her game.
Halfway down the path, she could see a group of men on the beach. What were they doing? She traveled as closely as she dared. Fang’s middle sons served as watchers but they weren’t doing a good job of it. They were more interested in what was happening at some point out at sea.
Anne strained her eyes to see what they saw. All was inky darkness…and then she heard a sound of oars in the roiling water.
She settled behind a rock and waited. A few minutes passed like hours. Against the sand of the beach where she and the girls had danced the morning away, a dinghy was pulled to shore. She caught sight of her husband’s tall form. He helped land the boat as men jumped out of it. They greeted him in a language foreign to her but which Aidan knew passably well.
They didn’t talk long, but set to work unloading small kegs. He’s smuggling, Anne realized, and didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried.
Another dinghy came ashore and the Scotsmen quickly helped to unload it. The line of kegs along the beach rapidly grew.
Aidan called his lookouts to the beach. Anne moved closer. She had to know what was in those kegs. It couldn’t be brandy. Aidan had no taste for it and he was wealthy enough through his family. What could he need with smugglers’ booty?
The dinghies pulled away from shore, their cargo unloaded. In the distance, Anne could see the lights of a ship she’d not noticed before. The Scotsmen waited, it seemed, until the boats were too far out to see what they were doing. They lifted the small kegs on their shoulders and started to walk toward the far cliffs.
Anne knew there was a path there leading along the coast, but they didn’t go toward the path. They seemed to disappear.
She frowned. She had to get closer.
Aidan’s watchers were busy helping to carry the kegs, and she took advantage of it. She even