Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy Read Free Page B

day,” he said with a wry smile. “Forbye, I must tell you how sorry I was to miss your wedding to Niall.”
    “And are even sorrier to see me here now,” she said. “ ’Tis true, is it not?”
    With a rueful look, he said, “It is, aye, though in courtesy I should not say it.”
    “With respect, sir, you may always speak the truth to me. I admire candor. What others call tact or cosseting often results in misunderstanding of one sort or another. Do you not agree?”
    His blue eyes twinkled. “
I
might, but others would disagree, madam. Most people, in my experience, don’t appreciate honesty as they should.”
    She smiled but said, “That
was
young Jamie Stewart I saw come aboard from the coble last night, was it not?”
    “You saw that, did you?”
    “I did, aye,” she said. “In troth, Niall ought not to have let me come.”
    “Niall didn’t know,” Orkney said. “Very few people do. I sent my secretary to Danzig to arrange quietly for this ship simply because it had not sailed in Scottish waters before and was unlikely to be known as one of mine.”
    “I see. Am I right to deduce that we are taking James to France? Or have you another destination in mind?”
    He glanced around before replying in a lower tone than before, “We do sail to France, Lady Alyson. But this ship’s captain and crew are Prussian. So, although we’ll address both boys by their given names, we’ll say little about them to others.”
    “Doubtless that is an excellent notion, sir. However, I trust that you won’t keep two such lively lads cooped up below, in that wee cabin opposite mine.”
    “They slept on pallets in the master’s cabin last night, with me, and are still asleep,” he said. “Likely, I’ll turn Mungo and your husband out of the cabin next to mine and order
them
into that smaller cabin below. I did not do so last night for fear of waking you and your woman.”
    “I see,” she said. “But if you want no undue attention drawn to the boys…”
    Henry frowned, saying, “I thought that as Jamie has been living rough these past months, I could at least givehim the more comfortable cabin. But I should not. Still, one dislikes…” He paused thoughtfully.
    “In troth, I have been trying to imagine how Ciara and I might earn our place on this ship, sir. Since you are unhappy to have us…”
    “Not unhappy, my lady, nor is it of use to repine now if I were.”
    “I was thinking that whilst we travel, we might help look after the boys.”
    His relief was visible. “I’ll accept that offer,” he said. “After more than three months on that rock, my ability to devise new entertainments has abandoned me.”
    Satisfied that she had eased his concerns, Alyson went to tell Ciara that their voyage would no longer be as tedious as it had so quickly begun to seem. What Niall or Mungo might say to it all, she did not trouble herself to consider.
    When a seaman brought food to her cabin so she and Ciara could break their fast, he told them that Orkney had also ordered food for the boys and had ordered their belongings moved to the cabin across the way. Alyson assumed that the earl would soon shoo the boys out of his cabin and summon his secretaries to see to what business they could as they sailed.
    When the seaman returned to collect the remains of their meal, he affirmed that assumption. “Them two lads be on deck now, m’lady,” he added. “It be still blowing a gale, but they dinna seem tae mind.”
    Alyson gave the boys time to acquaint themselves with the ship before she donned her cloak and went up to find them at the railing, peering down at the sea.
    Addressing James, whose current title was Earl ofCarrick, she said, “I am Alyson MacGillivray, my lord Carrick. Orkney has suggested that, if you do not object, we might devise ways of entertaining ourselves together whilst we sail. My husband, Niall Clyne, serves as one of Orkney’s secretaries. My woman, Ciara, is with me, and our cabin is across