“Thank ye,” she said.
“Are ye Col’s new housekeeper, then?” asked the woman, putting the coins in a drawer behind the counter that she locked with a key on a chain from her belt.
“Aye,” said Aihan readily enough. It was as good a description as any, she thought.
“Hm.” The woman’s lips compressed, and she looked Aihan over again, as if appraising her worth and finding her wanting. Aihan bristled at this, but swallowed her ire. Col wouldn’t thank her for causing a scene in the village, she suspected. Gathering up her packages, she gave the woman a dignified nod and left the shop. But she could feel the woman’s eyes on her all the way out the door.
Her next port of call was the Spotted Chicken, or Speckled Hen, as she had learned was the actual name of the tavern. Entering the dark and warm interior of the tavern, she found the publican behind the counter as before. The tables were crowded with customers drinking and eating, and a comfortable buzz ofconversation filled the air. A fire crackled in the large hearth, the source of the warmth. As she approached the counter, the conversation gradually died down as all eyes turned to look at her. She flushed faintly but ignored this and the conversation gradually resumed.
The big man with the red bushy beard raised an eyebrow at her and said, “Aye, lass what cannae do fer ye?”
“Information,” she said, placing one of her own gold coins on the counter.
He looked at the coin and back at her.
“Aye, what d’ye want to know?”
“Tall Chinese man. Ming Liang. Where he go?”
He leaned on the counter and stroked his beard.
“Well, I don’t rightly know, lassie. South, I guess, but where exactly?” He held up his hands and shrugged.
“Who know?”
“Bobby Farrell’s yer man. He was tracking the Chinese, full of it he was.”
“Where he?”
“Edinburgh at the moment, on business. He’ll be back in two or three weeks.”
She nodded and pushed the coin towards him. “Thank ye.”
He frowned at her. “Mac Sceacháin spoke to him, did he nae tell ye what Bobby told him?”
Aihan’s heart skipped at this confirmation of her suspicions. She shook her head and left. Like the woman in the shop, she could feel his eyes on her all the way to the street. She had a slightly sick feeling in her stomach that Mac had kept things from her about Liang. Her next task was to find out what and why.
Chapter Twelve
Dinner was another one of Aihan’s tasty concoctions of meat and vegetables, this time pan fried with spices and more of her noodles. When Col was preparing to take the dogs out after the meal, Aihan surprised him by appearing in cloak and boots and demanding to accompany him.
He smiled and shrugged. “If ye like, lass.” It was a fine night to cap off a fine day, and although the air was nippy it wasn’t cold by Scottish standards. Striking out across the grass towards the trees, the dogs sprinted ahead, not that Hector could keep up with Gussie, but the deerhound would circle back to collect her companion regularly, thus stretching her long legs twice to three times as much as Hector’s short ones. If she suddenly took it into her head to course after something she saw, Hector would give up and come back to him to wait for Gussie to return. Which she would in her own good time.
He was conscious of Aihan striding out beside him. She didn’t seem to have any difficulty keeping up with him, despite her lack of inches, but then she did have long legs for her height. Thoughts of those legs and what lay at their apex had latent heat stirring to life in his breeches. Was she contemplating a reprise of last night or not?
“My brother, Liang,” she began abruptly, interrupting his train of thought.
“He’s yer brother?” he said with some measure of relief. Not that he seriously thought the man could be her husband after she made such blatant overtures to him, but it was good to know the relationship.
“Aye,” she said. “Did I nae say?”
He shook his head. “Ye may have in yer own language, lass, but I didnae ken it.”
“I need to find him. Ye help me?”
“Of course, lass.” He hesitated and then went on. “He went south. If I tell ye where he was last sighted, will ye promise not to go haring off on yer own?”
She stopped and turned to face him. Putting a hand on his chest, she looked up into his face. The moonlight caught her dark eyes and made them glitter, casting part of her face in shadow. “Aye. Tell me.”
