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“Quite.” If Kat detected the slur when her nationality was mentioned she chose to ignore it. “And you are?”
“Nell, my lady. Nell Rabb.”
“Ah, yes. Your husband has the forge. He does fine work. I wonder, perhaps, if you could introduce me to your companions?”
Cornered and outmanoeuvred, the reluctant Nell obliged. “Well, this ’ere is Winnie. Her man has two acres to the west o’ the castle. An’ these be ’er daughters, Peggy ’n’ Polly.”
There was more bemused bobbing and cursory handshakes. Undeterred by their chilly welcome, Kat did not pause until all the women had been introduced to her by name. One of them, a young woman named Ellen, was heavily pregnant. Kat asked when her baby was due, to be told that the birth was imminent.
“You must be so excited. Is this your first?”
“Aye, m’lady.”
“I shall ask Mistress Hollett to send a pot of stew down from the castle when the little one arrives. You will not wish to be cooking, not with a new baby to care for.”
The woman shuffled her feet. She looked to Nell for inspiration but found none. “Well, thank ye, but there’s me ma, an’…”
“I shall make sure Mistress Hollett sends enough for you all, then,” Kat replied cheerily. “Oh, and I brought this. From England. I thought you might like it.”
She opened the leather satchel she had brought with her and withdrew several lumps of soap. She handed them to Nell. “It is some I made myself, from oil and lime, with lavender scents. It is my favourite, and I hope you like it, too.”
Nell gaped at the gift, dumbfounded, but was spared the necessity of coming up with a suitably polite response by the new countess’s innate good manners.
Katherine beamed at the women. “Thank you so much for making me welcome. I know I have disturbed your labours and can only apologise for the bother.” She placed her hand on Robbie’s arm. “We must be going now, but I am so looking forward to getting to know all of you better, once we are back from abroad.”
Robbie whistled. Zeus, who had finished drinking and now grazed lazily on the plush grass beside the loch, pricked up his ears. He ambled back in the direction of his master, the reins trailing on the ground. Robbie helped Kat back into the saddle, then swung up behind her.
“Good mornin’ tae ye all,” he called out. “We shall no’ keep ye any longer.” He nudged the stallion in the ribs.
“My lady.” Nell Potts had stepped forward, still clutching the soaps.
Robbie tugged on the reins to bring Zeus to a stop again
The woman cleared her throat. “We’re here every Monday, m’lady. If ye should wish tae come down again, that is…”
“Why, thank you, Nell. I should love to.”
“That went well, I thought.” Kat waited until they were out of earshot of the group who watched their retreat in silence from the loch side, before offering an opinion.
Robbie could not disagree, through their reception had been somewhat surly to begin with. “Ye charmed them, lass. I kenned that ye would. The soap was a good idea.”
“It was Aggie who suggested it.”
“Still, it was generous of ye. Are ye quite convinced ye want tae visit Meg? That willnae be so easy.”
“I cannot avoid her forever. I prefer to break the ice sooner rather than later.”
He shrugged. She was determined little thing, this wife of his, when she got a notion in her head. He admired tenacity. And courage.
“Aye, well then…” He dug in his heels, and Zeus broke into a canter.
Thin wisps of smoke drifted from the thatch roof, but otherwise the Mulletts’ cottage appeared deserted. There were no signs of activity. No chatter from the kitchen. No sound of digging from the small plot at the rear. Not even a chicken scratching in the yard.
Robbie scowled. It was eerily quiet.
“Wait here.” He left Kat in the saddle while he approached the door and knocked.
There was no answer, no sound from within. He knocked again and called out. This time he was rewarded by the thin, high sound of a baby crying.
