He felt Maggie stiffen in his arms an instant before she pulled away. “It’s dark now. We’d best be going.”
Braden clenched his teeth, but as Sin stepped out of the shadows and into the bright circle of moonlight, he forgot his anger in another peal of laughter.
Maggie looked at him with a frown.
Braden couldn’t speak, all he could do was motion to Sin’s legs which were almost gleaming white beneath his plaid.
“Do you want to die?” Sin asked nonchalantly.
“Nay,” Braden choked. “But have you seen your legs, man?”
Sin growled low in his throat as he shifted the pack over his shoulder. “Aye, and I know they’re whiter than a dove’s tail. With any luck the sun should blister them up fairly well on the morrow and by the time we reach anyone who might care, they should be a half normal color.”
Sin inclined his head to Maggie. “Given how hers look, I doubt anyone will ever notice mine anyway.”
The thought sobered Braden instantly. “Aye, I thought of that myself. We’ll have to be finding her a larger pair of boots I’m thinking, and some padding for them.”
Sin tossed a brown pair of boots to him. “I always plan ahead.”
“Good lad.” Braden handed the boots over to Maggie. “You must come in handy on all those sieges the English love so well.”
“I hold my own.” Sin looked about the small courtyard. “So, where are our horses?”
“We’ll be walking.” Maggie sat down on the ground and exchanged the new boots for her old, worn pair. “We’ll draw less notice that way.”
The stunned, horrified look on Sin’s face was comical.
“Walking?” Sin choked. “Och, now lass, are ya tryin’ tae kill me?”
Braden chuckled at Sin’s brogue. “Do yourself a favor, brother, if we come across anyone we don’t know, don’t open your mouth. Your brogue is more likely to give you away than your legs.”
He glowered at Braden. “I don’t want to hear another word from you about my legs. I’m sure by the end of tomorrow they’ll be acceptable even to you.”
“Let us hope so. For as it stands now, it’ll be a race to see which of you gets us hanged first.”
Sin cast an interested stare to Maggie’s legs. “Aye, but between the two, I must say I prefer hers.”
Braden smiled lecherously as he ran his gaze over them as well and wondered how long he’d have to wait before he got a full taste of them. “As do I.”
Rising to her feet, Maggie flushed. “Would you two stop? Is there ever a minute in the day when a man doesn’t have wenching on his mind?”
“Aye,” Braden said with a smile. “But it usually involves the minute and a half that we’re eating.”
She shook her head. “And Lochlan wondered why I chose the method of reaching his warriors that I did.”
Before Braden could retort, a door opened from the dormitory across the yard.
Maggie gasped as she dodged into the shadows. The men quickly followed suit.
Pegeen paid them no heed as she crossed the yard to the chapel, then vanished inside.
“That was close,” Maggie whispered. “We’d best be leaving before someone sees us.”
Braden nodded solemnly before leading the way out the small postern gate that Fergus had used earlier that day.
They moved quickly through the meadow and clearing behind the kirk and into the thick woods toward the MacDouglas lands. None of them spoke as they put as much distance as they could between themselves and anyone who might want to stop them.
It was nearly two hours later before Maggie dared to speak. “Do you think we stand a chance of changing Robby MacDouglas’s mind about the feud?”
