AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here’s your food, Sir Alistair,” Jamie said.
Mrs. Halifax held out a plate, carefully avoiding his gaze. Alistair nearly groaned. Her attempt at discretion drew more attention than outright flirtation would. He glanced over her head as he walked to where she sat and met Sophia’s gaze beneath raised eyebrows.
Alistair accepted the plate and sent a stern look at Sophia as he murmured to Mrs. Halifax, “Thank you. I did not mean for you to give up your fishing to serve the rest of us.”
“Oh, it isn’t any bother. I don’t believe I’m particularly clever at the pastime, anyway.”
“Ah, but practice makes perfect,” he drawled.
Her face jerked up at that, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
He felt his mouth quirk. If only they weren’t so public, they—
“Oh! My line!” Abigail shrieked.
Alistair turned and saw her pole bent nearly at a right angle, her line taut and disappearing under the water. “Hold it, Abigail!”
“What should I do?” Her eyes were as big as saucers, her face gone white.
“Just hold it steady, don’t pull.”
He was by her side now. Abigail had both feet braced on the riverbank and was arching backward using all her slim strength to keep the pole in her hands.
“Steady,” he murmured. The line was jerking through the water in circles. “He’s wearing himself out, that fish of yours. You’re bigger, stronger, and smarter, too, than the fish. All you have to do is wait him out.”
“Shouldn’t you help her?” Mrs. Halifax asked.
“She hooked the fish,” Sophia said stoutly. “She can land it, too, never you fear.”
“Aye, she can,” Alistair said quietly. “She’s a brave lass.”
Abigail’s face was set in determined concentration. The line was moving more slowly now.
“Don’t let go your hold,” Alistair said. “Sometimes one fish is a wee bit smarter than the rest of his family and pretends to be tired, only to jerk the pole from your grasp.”
“I won’t let go,” the little girl declared.
Soon the movement slowed to nearly a stop. Alistair reached out and caught the line, swiftly lifting a sparkling fish from the water.
“Oh!” Abigail breathed.
Alistair held up the fish, flopping on the end of the line. It wasn’t the biggest fish he’d ever seen, nor was it the smallest. “A very fine trout indeed. Wouldn’t you agree, Sophia?”
Sophia solemnly inspected the catch. “The finest, I declare, that I’ve seen in quite some time.”
Abigail’s cheeks tinged a faint pink, and Alistair realized she was blushing. Pretending he hadn’t noticed, he caught the fish and, kneeling, showed her how to remove the hook from its mouth.
She watched intently and then nodded as he placed her fish with the others in the basket. “I’ll do it myself next time.”
And a strange emotion welled in his chest, so foreign that it took him several seconds to identify it: pride. Pride in this prickly, determined child.
“Yes, you will,” he said, and she grinned at him.
And over her head, her mother smiled at him as if he’d handed her an emerald necklace.
Chapter Nine
Truth Teller turned to the monster’s cage, and there already lay the woman.
