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“I’m impressed, Alastair.”
“I took yer words to heart, Fia. Now that my faither’s funeral is over, I had time to think and realized ye are right. I need to start concentratin’ on my family – and even the bluidy dog.”
“What about Caitlin?” she asked. “Are ye goin’ to be nice to her or continue to blame her for yer mathair’s departure?”
He groaned and released her, moving over to the bed where he started disrobing. “What would ye do in this situation?” he asked, surprising her to answer that way.
“I would take the girl under my wing and treat her like the sister she is if I were ye.”
“Really?” He pulled off his tunic and threw it next to his plaid and climbed into bed naked, pulling the covers to his chest. “If it wasna for my faither’s roamin’ eye, my mathair would still be here today.”
“Ye dinna ken that.”
He looked at her oddly. “Fia, ye are actin’ strangely. And why were ye lookin’ at the heart brooch when I walked in?”
Damn, he’d seen her actions, and now she was going to have to say something to satisfy his curiosity. She still didn’t know what to tell him about her conversation with his father. Perhaps as soon as Lorraine got there, or her cousins arrived on the morrow, she would talk to them and figure out her answer.
“I was thinkin’ about the woman who saved yer life on the battlefield,” she said, fingering her heart brooch for strength.
“What about her?”
“Do ye ever wonder who she was and why she was – wearin’ that pin?”
“Now that I think about it, she might have been a nun.”
“A nun?” That surprised her.
“Aye. After the battles, the nuns from the convent walk the fields lookin’ for wounded to help.”
“I dinna think a nun would have any jewelry of her own. They take the vow of poverty if I’m no’ mistaken.”
“Ye’re right,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Perhaps she stole the pin off a dead body on the battlefield and then felt guilty. That is why she gave it to me.”
“Alastair.” She put her hands on her hips. “Nuns dinna steal. Besides, it is a lady’s brooch. The dead on the field are all men. Tell me again, what she said to ye when she gave it to ye?”
Alastair’s eyes glanced up and to the side and he relived the memory from the past. “She said I should be kind to anyone I ever saw wearin’ a brooch like that. But I think she felt guilty about somethin’, and perhaps that is why she wanted to give it away.”
“Nay, I dinna believe that. There must be another explanation.”
“Mayhap there is, but tonight I dinna want to think about it.” He held out his arms. “Take off yer clothes and come here, Fia. I am feelin’ randy.”
Her body stiffened. She couldn’t intimately lie with him while she was harboring so many secrets. It wouldn’t feel right.
“Alastair, ye ken we decided ye wouldna take my virginity before we were married.”
“Losh me! We are marryin’ in the mornin’, Fia. How much longer must I wait?”
“At least until the morrow,” she said, walking to the door.
“Fia? Where are ye goin’?”
“I am worried about Caitlin. I am goin’ to spend the night in her chamber to comfort her since she just lost her faither and is all alone.”
“I just lost my faither as well.” The hurt in his eyes about broke her heart, but she couldn’t stay with him now. He was only going to make this harder. She needed to talk to Lorraine or her cousins and figure out what to do before she lost her head and did something crazy like making love to Alastair before they were married.
“Ye are a man, Alastair. Be strong. I will see ye in the mornin’.”
Fia made her way down to the great hall where she found Niven laughing and having a tankard of ale with Brohain and Rhodric.
