Page 85 of Edge of Yesterday

“We are not going back to Raghnall.” Lennox sipped his wine.

“Oh?” Julianna lifted her goblet, drank a bit. “Where are you heading, then?”

Frustration flickered in his gaze “That is none of your concern.”

“You would not by chance be meaning to visit Reay Abbey?”

Lennox narrowed his eyes. “You have been talking with my men.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps.” The corner of Cailean’s mouth twitched in obvious amusement, but she pretended not to notice. “What do you hope to find at the abbey?”

“That is none of—”

“My concern. So you say. But why is it yours?”

“Julianna—”

“Lennox,” Cailean broke in, “ye might as well give in. She can follow us there just as easily she did here.” He glanced at her. “Does your mother know you left the castle, my lady?”

So, the man reminded her that they’d met on a night when she’d slipped away without her mother’s knowledge. She smiled sweetly. He might be reminding her that she disobeyed her mother, but he hadn’t told on her.

“It is she who insisted I take a dozen guards.”

“And she was right,” Cailean said.

“Julianna will return home, if our father commands it.” Lennox looked at their father.

She smiled at her father and covered his hand with hers. “Why would he do that?”

“Father—” Lennox began.

“Lad,” her father cut him off, “the monastery is a short journey through thick woods. Thereafter is a two-hour ride back to Raghnall. From what you tell me of Cailean’s skill with the sword, she is safer with the two of you than without you.”

On that point, Julianna knew Lennox wouldn’t argue. He might be peeved with her—he was indeed—but her safety came first.

She turned to him now. “Why are you going to the monastery?”

Lennox blew out a breath. “Cailean hopes to find information about his family.”

Julianna’s eyes snapped onto her father.

He nodded. “I know he is a Ross.”

She grimaced. “Then you know more than our mother does.”

Her father lifted a brow. “Who does she think he is?”

Julianna looked at him through her lashes. “Cailean Mackay.”

His mouth quirked upward. “I wouldnae want to be you when you tell her the truth.”

~*~

An hour later, Julianna walked alongside Cailean as they left the Monk’s Elbow and started out for a cottage just outside the village. “It is kind of ye to come with me.” She glanced at him. “I didnae realize Barbara had given birth already. The babe is three weeks early.”

He laughed. “A man doesnae refuse a request from Baron Ravenstone.”

Not exactly a declaration of love, but she would get him there.