“Curse it, Craig! Ye shouldnae sneak up on people like that.”
“Why?” Craig replied, grinning. “It’s great fun.” He turned his attention to Mara, who wagged her tail excitedly. Mara had known Craig since she was a pup, which explained why she’d not barked to warn Deryn he was there. Craig was carrying a sack over one of his broad shoulders.
“Been to market?” Deryn asked as the big man fussed the dog.
“Aye, right over in bloody Dun Finas. Darla wanted some cloth for Lily and Sean’s new clothes and reckoned the only place to get anything decent was from the Flemish merchants in Dun Finas. I’ve been walking half the morning.” He tapped the sack slung over his shoulder. “She’d better bloody like it. If she complains about the color, she can go and bloody well change it herself!”
Deryn grinned. Craig and his wife, Darla, Deryn’s neighbors and the only people with whom he shared his valley, bickeredconstantly. But it was good-natured, and he knew neither could live without the other. They were like two sides of the same coin—not that either of them would admit it.
“I’d like to be there when ye tell her that, my friend.”
“Nay, ye wouldnae. It’s best not to be within a hundred yards of my wife when she hears something she doesnae like.” He cocked his head. “What are ye doing out here anyway, Deryn? Lambing is almost upon us. Shouldnae ye be attending yer flock?”
“Aye, I should,” he agreed. “But I had some...er...errands to run first.”
“Errands? What sort of errands are more important to a farmer than the spring lambing?”
“Errands that nosy folks shouldnae stick their beaks into.”
Craig laughed good-naturedly. “With a nose as big as mine, sometimes ye canna help it.” He studied Deryn. “Is everything all right, my friend? Ye look troubled. More troubled than usual, I mean.”
“I’m fine,” Deryn answered, rubbing his forehead. “I’ve just got a few things on my mind.”
Craig’s eyes narrowed. “Ye know, Lily told me something odd yesterday, but I took no notice at the time. She came running in all out of breath claiming to have seen ye taking a woman and young boy to yer house. I thought it was a child’s fancies, as I know how much ye despise company. But now I’m wondering if there was more to it.”
Deryn opened his mouth to tell his friend to mind his own business, but then paused. The last few days had been a confusing whirlwind he could not make sense of. Maybe somebody else would be able to.
“Lily told ye right. I have...guests.”
Craig blinked in surprise. “Well, there’s a turn up for the books. How long have ye lived in this valley now? Three years?Four? And in all that time I dinna think I’ve ever known ye to have ‘guests. Who are they?”
Deryn sighed and slumped onto a large boulder, putting his head into his hands. “Craig, my friend, I think I’ve gone and gotten myself in over my head.”
“I’d say so!” Craig said jovially. “Bringing yer woman home for the first time will do that to a man!”
“She isnotmy woman!” Deryn snapped, anger flashing through him. “It isnae like that. I havenae broken my vows!”
Craig’s smile vanished. He held up his hands. “My apologies. I didnae mean to suggest that ye had. So, if she isnae yer woman, who is she? And why is she staying with ye?”
Deryn blew out a breath. “Mayhap there’s a part of me that keeps forgetting I’m just a farmer now and farmers would do well to mind their own business.” He looked up. “Her name is Madeleine Green, and the boy is her son, Rory. She’s Laird Rodric MacKay’s mistress and the lad is his son.”
Craig whistled softly. “Ye dinna do things by halves, do ye, friend? Why, by all that’s holy, would ye have the mistress and son of the local laird at yer farm?”
“That’s a long story.” He related all that had happened since he’d rescued Madeleine from the gully during the storm. Had it only been a few days ago? It felt much longer.
As he spoke, Craig’s eyes widened. “The poor lass,” he said when Deryn fell silent. “I’ve always said Rodric MacKay is a bastard, havenae I? He thinks he can take what he wants, regardless of the consequences. Ye did right in bringing her here, but what will ye do now? If what ye say is true, he’s likely to be looking for them.”
“I know. But he willnae find them here.”
“Aye,” Craig said nodding. “He willnae. This is the place people come when they want to get lost and stay lost.” He smiled wryly and Deryn knew he was remembering the events that hadled him and his family to come to this valley. They had been running, just like Deryn.
“Ye should bring them over to visit,” Craig said. “I’m sure Lily and Sean would like a new playmate, and I know Darla would love another woman to gossip with. She says she gets sick of my company all the time.” He scratched his head. “I canna think why, me being the wonderful conversational companion that I am.”
Deryn grunted. “Nay, I canna imagine. My thanks for the offer, but they willnae be staying long enough for that. They’ll be on their way home as soon as I can arrange it.”Although I dinna have the first clue how I’m going to do that,he added to himself.
Craig shrugged. “If ye change yer mind, ye know where we are.” He hefted the sack over his shoulder and turned away with a wave. Deryn watched him go, pondering his friend’s words.
MADDY LEANED ON THEsweeping brush, wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, and nodded in satisfaction. Yes, the little cottage definitely looked better. She’d swept out the hearth, dusted the walls and the rafters, scrubbed the table, rearranged the pots and pans hanging from hooks into a more orderly arrangement, then swept and mopped the flagstone floor. She’d even been outside and gathered some early spring flowers, which she’d placed in a tankard in the middle of the table. The place looked a hundred times better, even if she did say so herself.
