She sighed. The man was obtuse.
Handsome, but stubborn. Though she would never confess to either.
“If ye must ken, I need to attend to personal matters. I am for certs that Seema must as well.”
“I thought ye said we should be there soon.”
“I didnae say that actually. Iaskedye. Which ye ignored, by the way.”
“Fine. But be quick about it. I dinnae want to spend the night outside if we can help it.”
Moira and Seema made their way past some young saplings. A boulder offered privacy from Errol, though he was paying them no attention.
“Ye mustnae push him so, my lady. Do ye forget that he is doing ye a favor by agreeing to this journey?”
“Nay, but he can be more accommodating, dinnae ye think?”
Seema shook her head and held back a giggle. “Both of ye are going to butt heads this whole journey.”
“Why do ye say such a thing?”
“’Tis easy to see. Ye both are too similar. Ye shall see. I fear this will prove to be a verra long journey indeed.”
A branch snapped in the distance and Moira froze, her gaze sweeping to Seema. “Did ye hear that?” She whispered.
Seema nodded.
Moira scanned the trees. She couldn’t see aught out of the ordinary. She stood and ran her hands along her skirts to smooth them.
“’Tis more than likely an animal. Mayhap a deer. They blend into the trees so well.”
“Aye,” Seema agreed. “Let us return to Mr. MacLeod just to be safe.”
When they emerged from the woods to where Errol waited by the horses, he held out a skin to Moira. “Ale. Ye should drink something,” he remarked.
She accepted and took a long pull from the skin afore handing it to Seema. Her maid took a small sip and returned it to her. Handing it back to Errol, she said, “Thank ye.”
“Ready to continue?” He asked gruffly.
With a sigh, she rolled her eyes and nodded. His reaction was as if they had just spent hours in the woods, putting them dreadfully behind schedule.
They rode on in silence, Errol’s jaw set stubbornly.
She didn’t understand why he was acting the way he was.
He was getting half of her treasure after all.
*
It would beso easy to pluck the women off from his current vantage point. They had no awareness of how close to danger they were. Even easier as they would be caught unawares in a vulnerable position.
But now wasn’t the time and he had to choose his actions wisely.Attack when it would be most advantageous to him and most detrimental to them.
Thankfully, the traveling party had been cut in half. With the MacLeod wench and her maid being overtaken by some ague that made them continuously upchuck, it really put them out of him having to fash about them. They would not cause any trouble.
And now that they’d returned to MacLeod Keep, he could concentrate on the three left.
Errol was posing a problem though. The man was a keen tracker. He kenned exactly when someone followed. When someone was near.
