He waved her away, but instead of moving, she stared at him with her jaw hanging ajar. “Will ye not even glance my way, my lord?”
She sounded neither hurt nor offended.
He stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her. She could tell by the way his eyes kept trying to look away, but couldn’t, that he thought her pleasing to his eyes despite her knotted hair.
Not all men thought the same as him. Thankfully. She was considered plain with her eyes giving color to her pasty, paleskin. She appeared sickly and poor with dull yellow hair tied behind her nape. So different than how she used to look.
But Logan the Catholic reacted as if he found her bonnie.
She looked away, and then he did too.
“Jamie, show Miss Woodburn to a room.”
“I will do it, Logan,” Ewen stepped up and stood beside her.
“Jamie will do it,” Logan corrected and silenced any further argument.
Ewen stepped aside, making way for Jamie.
“Does she tempt ye to protect her?” Logan asked his cousin.
“Tempt me?” Ewen chuckled. “If I feel pity fer her fer havin’ to endure a servant’s life after knowin’ only comfort as Lord Dunley’s daughter, then aye, I’m guilty.”
“Yer mercy fer her could get us all killed.”
Elspeth sucked in a breath. “Pardon me? I’m standing right here!”
Logan looked at her. “Am I wrong to think ye would kill us all first chance ye got?”
“Nae,” she said after some hesitation. “Ye are not wrong.”
“My clan brought catastrophe to yers,” he said with a gentle thread lacing his voice. Or mayhap she just imagined it was gentle. “I understand why ye hate us,” he went on. “My reasons may be more private, more subtle, but they exist and they remind me of what I feel every time I try to lift a sword. If ’twere up to me, I would do away with every Covenanter I came across, just as was done to us.”
Elspeth’s gaze dipped briefly to his arms, hanging at his sides. What did he mean by hetriedto lift his sword? Ewen had mentioned his cousin suffering a great loss. She had thought he meant a loss of his loved ones. But could he have been speaking of Cameron’s arm? Mayhap, his fighting arm?
She blinked and raised her gaze to his again. If she was correct, she was glad he could no longer kill.
But though he just threatened innocent people, his eyes belied the hard warning with something soft and warm.
She had heard of the times Catholic Royalists were hunted and killed like game. After trying to discover why her father had taken a Cameron as his prisoner, she came up empty-handed. She could find no crime the prisoner had committed. Nothing, save that he was a Catholic. But she refused to believe her kind father would bring a man to the brink of death just because of his political and religious beliefs.
“Yer kin murdered my family,” she said, holding tight to her convictions to hate him and his kin. “I dinna care if ’twas to save ye. My kin should not have died fer ye.”
“They died,” Steafan interjected angrily, “because yer father held Logan captive and tortured him. He likely wanted information on Logan’s father so he could attack and kill more Royalists.”
Was that true? Her belly flipped and made her feel ill. Was her father involved in the Royalist/Covenanter war? Nae! He couldn’t have been. She wouldn’t listen to these deceivers!
Feeling her insides burn with unquenchable flames, she turned her glare on Logan Cameron. “What did ye do to incite my father’s wrath?” She smirked as if she knew his secrets. “Tell yer murdering kin the truth. My father didna take ye prisoner fer believing differently than him. What is the true reason?”
He stared at her long enough to make her steady herself firmly on her two feet. She mustered her strength against his potent gaze. “What did ye try to steal from him?’
His jaw danced as he grinded his teeth, then. “A glimpse of his daughter.”
The Main Hall went silent.
“Pardon me?” Elspeth finally managed. It took her an eternally long moment to realize what he said. Her father had him stabbed and beaten for seeing her somewhere and lookingat her? It was even more absurd than her father capturing him for being a Royalist.
“Logan,” Jamie interrupted. “What are ye sayin?”
