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‘Aye, well, I told you he was impossible to live up to,’ said Conall, rolling his eyes. ‘Look, would you like to go out , Kenna? I have been a terrible host, neglecting you these past few days, and it will do you good to get out. The countryside around here is magnificent.’
‘Host, is that what you are to me? Goodness, how formal you’ve become, Conall.’
‘Sorry, it has been strange coming home after what we went through. I am not entirely sure I am happy to be here?’
She frowned, confusion and a little hurt in her lovely blue eyes.
‘It’s not your fault Kenna. ‘It’s mine, and I have stayed away from you because…oh, I can’t explain it. Come riding with me, please. We can go now. There’s plenty of daylight left.’
‘Alright, Conall, I would like that very much.’
Back in the hall, Rory turned to Duncan. ‘Well, what do you think?’
‘She is honest. I’m sure she’s telling the truth, though she was a bit guarded about her father.’
‘And the curse, what did you make of that?’
‘Bad luck and superstition, though it is said if a family has bad blood running through it….’
‘Then we Campbells should be cursed too.’
‘Aye, well, best leave the past in the past where it belongs, Rory.’ Duncan stared down into his whisky glass for a moment. ‘Conall is fond of her.’
‘Aye, well, she’s female, and she’s bonny.’
‘Too bonny for my liking, and Rory, it’s more than that. He is respectful around her, you said, and the way he looked at her just now. My son was on edge, protective. What do I make of that?’
‘I think Conall has met his match, Duncan, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.’
Chapter Seventeen
They had been riding full pelt through open fields and beautiful woodland for some time. The land was beautiful, with all the trees just budding into life in the sunshine, but Kenna was getting frustrated. Conall didn’t seem to want to stop and talk much, though he was polite and attentive when he had spoken. It was as if he wasn’t really with her at all, and yet he had been insistent she come out with him. What was it he couldn’t say? Finally, Kenna had enough. He may be right about the lands around Dunslair, the mountains and forests were magnificent, but she hadn’t come out to see the scenery.
‘Conall,’ she shouted, ‘can we walk the horses a while? I am tired.’
‘Very well, just for a bit.’
‘You ride well, and that is a beautiful horse.’ Indeed Conall’s mount was a fine stallion, light grey with darker spots dappling its rump, a big beast but light on its feet.
‘Erebus was my father’s gift to me many years ago. We have grown up together, the two of us.’
‘Why Erebus?
‘What?’
‘Why did you name your horse after the god of darkness, Conall?’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Why wouldn’t I know that? Do you think me ignorant and uneducated?’
‘No, it’s just I can’t imagine your father worrying too much about educating a girl, that’s all. From what you’ve said, he seemed to have a dim view of women generally.’
‘You are right, but we have a library at Sgathach Dun and, when my father was in a rage, I would run off and hide there and read the books, not very well to start with, but over the years, I would ask people to help me, and I read fairly well now. And these last few days, Father Boyle has taken it upon himself to improve my mind. He has been teaching me the classics, and he says I am a good learner with a quick mind. He has taken a special interest in me, he says.’
‘Aye, I am sure he has, randy old goat.’
‘I don’t think he has designs on me, and anyway, he is a priest.’
