Page 27 of Defy the Highlander

“I must go that way,” she said. “It will be faster than going through the city.”

“May I walk with ye?”

Lilia shook her head. “It would not be safe,” she said. “Ye never know who might see us together. If Lady Currie found out…”

He got the message. Since they were out in the open and there were a few people about, nearer to the city, he didn’t want to make a spectacle out of kissing her, so he lifted her hand to his lips, kissing it sweetly.

“Someday, we willna have tae meet in secret,” he said softly. “Someday, we’ll be together for all tae see and I’ll be the proudest man in Scotland.”

Her fingers brushed against his hand. “I hope so,” she said. “I do hate tae leave ye.”

“I miss ye already.”

Throwing caution to the wind, Lilia impulsively kissed him on the lips, a lingering gesture that had him grabbing for her, wanting to pull her into his embrace, but she pushed his hands away, quickly taking her basket from him and moving off. She was already heading towards the east where Hawkhill wasn’t more than a half-hour away with a brisk walk.

Brody stood there and watched her walk away until she was nothing more than a dark spot against the green of the land. When she finally faded from his view, his attention turned towards that hive of human stain and corruption, The Sticky Wick.

He’d been genuinely surprised to hear that she had been there so many times and he hadn’t noticed her, or at least noticed the carriage, but if the carriage pulled into the alleyway behind the tavern, he wouldn’t have seen it.

Tonight, however, he was going to see it.

And he was going to find out what he could about joining the Ludus Caledonia.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“She was off fornicating again,” Colly hissed. “M’lady, ye must punish her. She’s lied tae ye!”

It was another face off in Lady Currie’s lavish bedchamber that smelled of stale wine and exotic perfumes. Lilia had no sooner stepped into the chamber with her basket of flowers than Colly was shouting at her.

Startled by the shouting, but not entirely surprised, Lilia ignored Colly as she went to Lady Currie with the basket full of autumn blooms.

“Look what I found for ye, m’lady,” she said. “See these pink flowers? I had tae go tae the north of Edinburgh tae find them, but they’re very pretty. I thought ye’d like them.”

“Lies!” Colly shouted. “She went tae find him!”

Lady Currie was genuinely delighted with the flowers as she took them out of the basket, but Colly’s shouting had her holding up her hand to silence the woman.

“Colly, please,” she said. “Lilia has come back with some beautiful flowers. Will you not look at them?”

Colly was in a huff. “I was down in the kitchen yard when she came in,” she said. “Why was she gone so long?”

Lilia pulled out a long, perfect stalk with small pink flowers on it. “I told ye,” she said. “I went tae the fields north of the city tae find these. I thought m’lady would like them.”

“And ye went alone?”

“Of course I went alone.”

“Prove it!”

Lilia looked at the old woman with limited patience. “If ye’re so convinced I was with someone, ye prove it. I’ve nothing tae hide.”

Colly’s mouth was working as if she wanted to argue but she wisely backed off because she had no proof for her accusations. Lilia was thankful of that but in the future, she knew she’d have to be very careful about meeting Brody.

Colly wasn’t beyond sending one of her minions out to follow her.

With the old woman corralled for the moment, Lilia turned back to the flowers she’d brought Lady Currie, who asked for something to put them in. There were two beautiful vases that Lady Currie had brought from her father’s home, porcelain pieces that had come from Paris, and Lilia quickly filled them with water from a bucket that was kept in a servant’s alcove. She gave them over to Lady Currie, who took delight in arranging the flowers.

As the woman shuffled the flowers around, the servants in her chamber watched. She always had at least six in the room at any given time because she didn’t like to be alone. Tynan’s mother was in the chamber, a tiny woman with reddish-blonde hair.