“Only for protection,” Niall answered. “Annie is a headstrong lass not given to following good, common sense.”
“Her own common sense or yours?”
“Mine, since I sometimes think she does nae have any.”
Aidan smiled again. “I suspect she might nae agree.”
“Which proves my point.” Niall shook his head. “Just weeks after Annie and Bridget were attacked, the lass wanders down Virginia Street by herself and is near accosted again. How many lasses do ye ken would enter a trade union meeting and expect to be heard? Twice, mind ye. Her club was booed the first time, but did Annie learn her lesson? Nae. Back she went for a pelting of rotten fruit.” A shudder escaped him at her narrow escape. “The daft woman could have been killed.”
Aidan gave him a thoughtful look. “Ye care about her.”
“Nae…I…” Niall paused. “Well…I mean…I like her, but she is too willful and stubborn by far.”
Aidan laughed. “Which means she has nae succumbed to your charms.”
Niall snorted. “Charms? The lass will nae even accept a compliment.”
“That’s a first for ye.”
“Aye, well. ’Tis nae the topic.” Niall was pretty sure Annie didn’t take compliments seriously from anyone, but he didn’t understandwhy. Most women craved them, even when they knew the comments were insincere. They enjoyed flirtation. Not Annie though. She acted like such a thing was an insult. That confounded him too. Annie was certainly pretty enough and, when her mouth wasn’t sparking fire at him, quite a good conversationalist, quick-witted and well-informed. Hedidlike her, he realized. Shedidhave intelligence. Shecouldthink. She just wouldn’t listen to him. He sighed.
“Annie talks of wanting to be more than is often a woman’s lot. That they want to be bankers and solicitors and such. I ken that is the Progress Club’s purpose.”
“Unfortunately, Britain is nae ready to entertain those ideas,” Aidan replied.
“Ye doona have to tell me,” Niall said. “I think Annie kens that will nae happen, but her group sees getting the skilled jobs that weavers and wrights and cordwainers have as a start.”
Aidan grimaced. “None of those are easy jobs.”
“True, but the wages are far more than women’s jobs pay,” Niall answered. “ Nae depending on a man for support is important to them.”
“Do they nae realize how angry men become with just thethoughtof a woman replacing one of them?” Aidan asked. “Those workers camepreparedto throw rotten fruit Monday night.”
“Exactly what I have been trying to tell Annie.” Niall lifted his hands in the air and slumped back in his chair. “Now ye understand the problem. She does nae listen to what I have to say. The lass is too headstrong, obstinate, unbending—”
“I think ye have already covered those traits,” Aidan said, “but ye are nae her husband and cannae order her to stop.”
There was that phrase again.Nae her husband. Annie had used those words herself. “I doona think she would listen to a husband if she had one.”
Aidan nodded. “Ye are probably right. Alasdair doesn’t fare well anytime he attempts to order Bridget about or Robert either when it comes to his wife, Shauna. But ye are doing all ye can to protect Annie.”
“Well, ’tis one more thing I can do.”
“Which is?”
Niall pulled a small dagger from inside a hidden sheath in his belt. “I can teach her to use this.”
Aidan eyed the sharp knife. “Ye may want to rethink that. Given the lass’s temper, she might be inclined to turn it on ye.”
“Nae man has ever bested me with a knife.”
“But a lass might, if ye let down your guard,” Aidan said. “Annie is a most unusual woman.”
Niall grinned. That she was.
****
An unusual woman. Aidan had no idea of how right he was, Niall thought on Saturday morning as he and Annie stood in the small yard behind the boardinghouse. Not only had she learned the art of throwing a knife quickly, she was also hitting the target on the tree almost dead center.
