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Geordie immediately caught the lad and lifted him up onto Edith's lap, but held on to the shield and said, "I'll give it to ye once we reach the gate. It tended to get in the way a bit on the way down."
"Aye," Ronson agreed. "Was a most troublesome whoreson."
Shaking his head, Geordie turned and mounted with the shield and they were off. Niels let Cameron lead the way. Fearghas followed behind and Geordie remained at his side. They rode at speed until they neared the gate and then Cameron began to slow. He came to a full halt as they reached the gate. Reining in his own mount, Niels glanced to Geordie as he drew up next to them and then watched as his brother slid the heater shield across the horse's back sideways in front of Ronson and waited for him to get a good grip on it, before releasing it and easing his horse away.
"Ready?" Cameron asked.
Niels nodded. The shield was two feet high laying on its side the way it was. It left his head and part of his chest above it so he was able to see, yet completely hid Ronson, and covered all but the top of Edith's head. When Cameron started forward, Niels followed at once through the gate and into the bailey, glad the man picked a fast walk to cross to the keep stairs.
They were halfway across when Edith suddenly leaned to the side to peer around the shield. Frowning, he nudged her back. She went willingly and remained behind the shield for the rest of the distance to the keep stairs.
Aware that she was vulnerable from overhead now, Niels took the shield from Ronson and held it over his wife and the lad until Cameron dismounted and came to remove the boy. Once the lad was down, Niels tightened his grip around Edith and dismounted, taking her with him, then hustled her up the stairs to the keep doors. He didn't lower the shield until they were inside.
Handing the shield to Cameron then, he took Edith's arm and headed immediately for the stairs.
"Wait, where are we going?" Edith asked with surprise. "I was hoping ye'd unlock the buttery so that I might have a drink."
Niels paused at once, but then just stood there frowning. He'd intended to urge her upstairs and seduce her into consummating their marriage. He'd intended to do that on waking, only to find her gone, and now he was coming up against a new obstacle. What kind of churl would refuse his wife a drink when she was thirsty? Still . . . Aye, he thought and turned to ask politely, "What would ye like to drink, wife?"
"Cider," she murmured and then added, "But I can get it meself do ye but unlock the buttery."
"Nay. 'Tis fine. I shall get it," he assured her, and then turned to Cameron and Fearghas. "Escort yer lady above stairs to her room. I shall fetch the cider and follow directly."
Edith looked surprised at the request, but didn't protest when Cameron and Fearghas urged her away. Satisfied that he could still continue with his plan to bed his wife, Niels started across the great hall for the kitchens only to pause as his name was called. Glancing back, he saw Rory coming down the stairs even as Edith and her guards walked up them and briefly debated ignoring his brother, but then sighed and waited to see what he wanted. He would give him two minutes, Niels decided, but then he would fetch that drink and go upstairs to consummate his marriage . . . finally.
Chapter 13
"Are ye all right, m'lady? Ye seem to be moving a bit stiffly," Cameron pointed out about halfway up the stairs.
"Aye." Edith grimaced. "I am a bit stiff, but fine."
"'Tis no wonder what with yer walking about most o' the day today . . . and after riding all day and night yesterday. In the rain, no less," Fearghas said sympathetically.
"Mayhap a hot bath would help with that," Cameron suggested. "Yer da always swore a nice hot bath chased away his aches and pains."
"Aye, he did," Edith said with a soft smile. Her father had suffered terrible pain in his bones and joints the last few years of his life and swore the only thing that eased his discomfort was a steaming hot bath.
"Shall I order ye one then?" Cameron asked.
"Aye, please. Thank ye, Cameron," she murmured.
Nodding, the man stopped--she thought to go back down and order a bath for her--but he turned on the step he stood on and bellowed, "Fetch yer lady a bath! Lady Edith wants a bath!"
For one second, the shout was followed by a brief silence from everyone in the great hall except for her husband, who groaned. At least she thought it was Niels who groaned, and Rory's cheerful, "See, ye do have time after all!" seemed to back that up.
Wondering why he'd groaned, Edith glanced back as she stepped onto the upper landing. All she saw, though, was Rory leading Niels out of the keep. It seemed her drink would be delayed.
Moibeal was in the bedchamber when Edith entered. The maid was unpacking the chests she'd packed after Edith, Niels, Geordie and Alick had set out for Buchanan. When they'd both thought they would be living out their lives there.
Well at least until Niels was ready to build that home for them he'd mentioned. Four years, he'd said. Edith hadn't bothered to mention then that her dower was quite generous and, depending on how much money he had gathered on top of what his father had left him, that he might be able to build it at once. There hadn't been the opportunity really, and she'd thought there was plenty of time for such things. Now, not only could he have her dower, but he had a home too. He was now Laird of Drummond.
Edith considered that more seriously. She hadn't really given that much thought. She was lady here now, and Niels was laird. She wondered if he'd considered that. And what he thought about it. She hoped he was happy. He hadn't married her expecting to get the castle and title, but had.
"I've started to unpack. But just before ye came in I started to wonder if I should be doing it here."
Edith glanced to Moibeal uncertainly at those words. "We'll no' be moving to Buchanan now."
"Nay." Moibeal hesitated, and then said, "But I was no' sure whether I should be doing it here or in . . . the big bedchamber."
In the big bedchamber, Edith thought and then realized it was Moibeal's way of avoiding saying the laird's chamber. Her father's room, Edith realized. Moibeal didn't want to make her think of her father and the loss of him.
Sighing, she shrugged. "I suppose we shall have to move there eventually. But Niels shall have to see it first. He may no' like it as it is. We may have to change things. He would no' sleep in Hamish's room after I gave it to him," she pointed out. "So I can only assume he did no' like that one."
Moibeal snorted at the suggestion. "'Tis more like he did no' like leaving you. He slept in the chair by yer bed, on the floor and even in the hall across yer doorstep every night even before ye married," she pointed out dryly. "'Twas no' that he did no' like Hamish's room. I do no' think he even ever saw it."
"Oh," Edith murmured, and then turned and headed for the door. "Well, we may as well go take a look at the laird's chamber and see what shape 'tis in then. 'Twill pass the time while we wait for my bath to come."
"Aye, I heard Cameron shout for a bath," Moibeal said with amusement, following her to the door.
Edith nodded. "I am a bit stiff and he suggested it to ease my aches."
Cameron and Fearghas straightened abruptly when Edith opened the door and stepped out.
"We are just taking a quick look at me father's room," Edith explained as she stepped into the hall. The two men nodded and fell into step behind her and Moibeal as they walked up the hall.
/> The laird's chamber was twice the size of the rest of the rooms, taking up the whole end of the hall. Edith opened the door, entered and then paused abruptly. She'd expected the room to feel empty. Not literally. But the few times she'd traveled for any length of time, she'd returned to find her room feeling cold and empty, and smelling stale. She'd always assumed it was because the fire had been unlit for so long and no one had lived in the room. But her father's room had been empty for near a month, yet smelled of smoke and . . . was that lavender?
"Why is the room warm?" Moibeal asked. "And what is that smell? Is it flowers?"
"Lavender, I think," Edith murmured, and then glanced to the floor to see bits of the dried flower strewn about.
"Yer father's room never smelled o' lavender ere this," Moibeal pointed out, even as Edith thought it.
Cameron and Fearghas had been standing at the door, but now moved into the room. Cameron went straight to the fireplace and grabbed the poker. Dropping to his haunches then, he poked around in the hearth.
"Someone has been sleeping in the bed," Moibeal said grimly, drawing her attention. The maid was peeking through the closed curtains around the bed, but now tugged them open to reveal the disordered linens and furs.
"Are ye sure they were no' just left like that after me father was removed?" Edith asked, moving to the bed.
"Nay. I stripped the bed meself while ye tended Hamish," Moibeal told her. "The bed was bare and the bed curtains open when I last saw this room."
"Someone has obviously been sleeping in here," Cameron said grimly. "And quite recently. These are no' ashes, they're embers, m'lady. Someone had a fire in here and 'tis just dying."
"The old laird's ghost," Fearghas said in a fearful whisper.
Seeing Cameron's eyes widen at the suggestion, Edith scowled at Fearghas. "Nay. Me father never liked lavender. He said it made him sad. Besides, Fearghas, there is no such thing as ghosts, and if there were, they'd hardly need a fire. The person sleeping in here is a living one. Probably Geordie or Niels moved in here fer some reason."
"If that were the case, the fire would no' be hot. They slept outside yer door this morn," Cameron reminded her.
"Well, Rory then," she said with exasperation and took one last look around before heading for the door. "Come along, me bath is probably on its way by now, if no' already waiting."
