“Gone?” He was beginning to sound like a parrot, but he couldn’t help himself. “What do ye mean,gone?”
“Gone.” Simon’s scowl deepened. “G-O-N-E. Vanished. Not anywhere to be seen. Do ye get the meaning?”
“I ken what ‘gone’ means, brother.” Niall frowned. “How could ye lose her? ’Tis nae market day. The streets were nae that crowded. Did ye look into the shops?”
“Do ye think me daft? Of course I did.”
“She couldna just have vanished.”
“She might have,” their father said, “if she had someone waiting to sprint her away.”
“Aye, I thought of that,” Simon said. “It would make sense if she were waiting for Charlotte to appear.”
Niall managed—just barely—to keep from swearing at both of them. “I think ye are both barmy, but for the sake of argument… How would the woman know that Charlotte would be coming into Inverness?”
“We told the lass yesterday that we would be going in this morning,” his father answered. “That would give her ample time to send a message.”
Niall couldn’t believe his ears. “With whom, Da?”
His father shrugged. “A stable lad, most likely, but it could be just about any of the green lads that work here. She’s quite bonnie.”
Simon snickered. “Aye. They all do eye her when she walks by.”
His blood stirred slightly and he felt a momentary pang of…jealousy?. Hehadnoticed the lads acted like mooncalves around Charlotte, and he didn’t much like the fact that they did, but he’d never seen her taking notice or interacting with any of them. He’d not seen cause to worry. Certainly not to be jealous, for God’s sake. He wasn’t. He was just reacting to his brother’s ridiculous prattle.
“Ye are fabricating stories out of thin air.”
“Mayhap,” Simon said, “but even if she didn’t sent a message, a courier would ken to wait until she showed up. They’d agree to a designated spot where the courier could blend in and it would not seem out of the ordinary to meet.”
“Like the shopping area where women go all the time,” his father added, “and then the bench at the riverside. No attention would be drawn to one woman talking to another while taking in the view.”
“I think both of ye are letting your imaginations go wild,” Niall said. “Neither of ye have any proof.”
“Did ye notice that Charlotte nae mentioned the meeting?” Simon asked.
“She probably didna think it important.”
“Or she hoped no one had seen her.”
“How did the other woman just disappear if someone were nae waiting to whisk her away once she had a message to convey?” his father asked. “And, remember, we deliberately fed information to Charlotte so there would be a message to deliver.”
Simon looked at Niall, not without sympathy for once. “The logical conclusion, brother, is that the English have planted a spy in our midst.”
Their father nodded in agreement. “And the best way to keep an eye on a spy is to keep her nearby.” He grinned suddenly. “That rhymed.”
“Do ye think this is a game, Da?”
“Nae.” His father sobered. “But if the lass has been sent to relay information about our plans, then we need to let her do that. With the wrong information, of course.”
Niall clamped his mouth shut and didn’t answer. He didn’t want to believe that Charlotte was a spy.Wouldn’tbelieve it. It couldn’t be.
Chapter Eight
“Ye want to do what?”
Charlotte was tempted to laugh—or at least smile—at Niall’s befuddled expression. However decorum was probably the better path to take at the moment. She’d asked to have a word with him in the study after dinner that evening.
“I said I would like to seek employment.”
