"Alec's only five years old?" Gillian asked.
"But I'm gonna be seven."
"Your brother's seven," Iain reminded him.
"But I'm gonna be seven too."
Alec scooted off the stool and ran around the table to Gillian. Without asking permission, he climbed onto her lap, pulled her arms around him, and grinned at her.
"You and Alec have become close friends," Judith remarked, smiling.
"Iain, perhaps you could wait until Alec has gone to bed to hear the details," Brodick suggested.
"But I get to stay up late 'cause Papa said we have to celebrate," Alec blurted. "Didn't you say so, Papa?"
"Yes," his father agreed.
"You know what, Gillian?" Alec whispered loudly.
She leaned down. "No, what?"
"When I go to bed, Mama's gonna sit with me until I fall asleep, and my brother sleeps in the same room with me, so maybe I won't have bad dreams and I won't get scared."
"Perhaps you won't dream at all tonight."
"But you got to have someone to sleep with too, so you won't get scared 'cause I won't be there."
"I'll be just fine," she assured him.
Alec wasn't convinced. "But what if you do get scared? You got to have someone to wake you up. Maybe you could ask Brodick to sleep with you again like he did before."
She clapped her hand over his mouth to get him to hush and felt her face burn with mortification. She knew Brodick was watching her, but she didn't dare look at him.
Judith laughed. "Alec, sweetheart, you're embarrassing Gillian."
"Mama, you know what Gillian calls me?"
"No, what?"
Giggling, the little boy said, "Honey bear."
Iain's gaze went back and forth between Gillian and Brodick. "Father Laggan's back," he remarked. "And there's another, younger priest named Stevens with him."
"Why are you telling me this?" Brodick asked.
"I just wanted you to know there are two priests available," Iain explained with a meaningful glance at Gillian.
"I didn't sleep with Brodick," she blurted out. "I have no need for a priest."
"Yes, you did too."
"Alec, it isn't polite to contradict your elders."
"But, Mama…"
"Hush, sweetheart."
Gillian glared at Brodick. He could easily correct this horrid misunderstanding if he would only offer a quick explanation.
He wasn't inclined. He winked at her. "I didn't know a face could get that red," he remarked.
"Do explain," she demanded.
"Explain what?" he asked, feigning innocence.
She turned to Judith. "We were camping… and it isn't what it sounds like… I did sleep, and when I awakened… they were all there…"
"They? "Iain asked.
"His soldiers."
"You slept with his soldiers too?"
She didn't understand that Iain was teasing her. "No… that is to say, we… slept. That's all that happened, Laird."
"Stop tormenting her," Judith ordered. "Can you not see how distressing this is for her? Gillian doesn't understand the Highlanders' humor. What happened to your arm?" Judith asked then, thinking to turn the subject to a less delicate one. "I noticed the bandage, and I was curious—"
Alec interrupted his mother. Jumping off Gillian's lap, he cried out, "Papa, we got to take a walk."
"Now?"
"Yes, Papa, now."
"Alec, I want to talk to Brodick and Gillian. I'm anxious to hear how they found you."
"But, Papa, I got to tell you what I did, and then you're gonna be mad at me. We got to take a walk so I can think about it."
"Come here, son," his father ordered, concerned by the anxiety he saw in Alec's eyes.
The little boy dragged his feet and kept his head down as he went to his father. Iain laid his hands on his shoulders and leaned forward.
Alec promptly burst into tears. "I got real scared, Papa, and I cut Gillian's arm, and then it got all swollen, and Annie had to fix it, and it's all my fault 'cause I hurt a lady, and I'm not ever supposed to hurt ladies, but I got real scared. I didn't like England and I wanted to come home." Alec threw his arms around his father's neck and began to sob in earnest.
"Alec has been very worried that he would disappoint you, Laird," Gillian explained. "He didn't understand that I was trying to help him. He had climbed down with a rope into a gorge, but it was an old rope, and it began to unravel, and he…" She looked to Brodick for help. The task of explaining suddenly became overwhelming and she was so weary she didn't know where to start.
"My son isn't making much sense," Iain said. "He says he was in England?"
Gillian braced herself for the ordeal ahead and quietly said, "He speaks the truth. Alec was in England."
"I told you so, Papa."
Iain nodded but kept his attention on Gillian. "How did my son get to England?"
"Alec didn't go into the falls. He was taken from the festival and imprisoned in a castle in England. That is where I met him."
The expression on Iain's face changed. He put Alec in Judith's lap, and stood. For his son's sake, he tried to keep his voice mild when in fact he wanted to shout.
"Who took him?"
Gillian felt an instant of real fear as the laird towered over her, glowering as though he had already decided she was fully responsible for his son's jeopardy.
"It was a mistake," she began.
"Damned right it was," Iain roared.
Alec's eyes grew wide. "Are you angry, Papa?"
His father took a deep breath. "Yes," he snapped.
"He isn't angry with you, Alec," Gillian whispered.
"He knows that."
"Don't snap at Gillian." Brodick, who had remained silent up until now, sounded as angry as Iain when he gave the command. "She is as innocent as your son in this. Sit down, and I'll tell you what I have learned. I know you're anxious to hear it all, but you cannot raise your voice to Gillian. I will not allow it."
Gillian could see that Iain was ready to explode and hurried to explain before the two lairds got into a real fight. "When I said it was a mistake…"
"Yes?" Iain asked.
"The men who took Alec thought they were stealing Ramsey's brother, Michael. They kidnapped the wrong boy."
"For the love of…" Iain was so enraged he couldn't go on.
"Sit down, husband," Judith suggested. "Listen to what Gillian has to say."
He nearly overturned the chair when he ripped it out from the table and sat down. Leaning back, he stared hard at Gillian for several seconds.
"Start talking."
"It's a very long story, Laird, and Ramsey should be here any minute now, shouldn't he? If you could please wait…"
Iain's jaw was clenched and he shook his head.
"Papa, you know what?" The little boy smiled up at his father when he spoke, and Iain reached over to pat him.
"No, what, Alec?" he asked gruffly.
"We sneaked away twice, but the first time we got dragged back, and it was all my fault 'cause I didn't wait like I was supposed to."
Iain blinked as he tried to sort out his son'scontusing explanation. "What happened the first time you got away?"
"I climbed down into the gorge is what I did," he boasted. "But I didn't get a good rope."
"It was threadbare," Gillian interjected.
"My son climbed down into a gorge with a threadbare rope?" Iain lashed out. "And where were you while Alec was attempting this?"
"Papa, she told me to wait for her, but I didn't, and we weren't supposed to go into the canyon, but I thought it would be faster. Then I got good and stuck, didn't I, Gillian?"
"Yes, you did."
"I was supposed to wait in the stable."
"But you didn't," his mother said.
"No, and I thought Gillian was gonna puke 'cause her face turned green when she looked over the side and saw me. She told me she gets awful sick when she's got to look way down, and she sometimes gets dizzy too."
"You're afraid of—" Judith began.
Her husband interrupted with a question of his own. "But you climbed down to get Alec anyway?"
"I didn't have any other choice."
"She had to fetch me, Papa," Alec explained. "And she was just in time 'cause the rope broke right in half just after she grabbed me. She told me she was awful scared, but she didn't puke."
The child sounded a little disappointed over that fact. Neither one of his parents smiled, for they were both thinking about the near miss their son had had.
They were also realizing that Gillian had saved him.
"I will force myself to be patient a little longer and wait until Ramsey arrives to hear your accounting," Iain announced. "But at the very least, give me the names of the bastards who stole my child from me," he demanded. "By God, I want to know who they are and now, this minute."
"I've warned you not to take that tone with Gillian. Now I'm ordering you, Iain. I won't have her upset."
Judith Maitland couldn't make up her mind who was more surprised by Brodick's angry outburst. Iain looked flabbergasted, and Gillian appeared to be incredulous.
Iain quickly recovered. He leaned forward and in a furious hiss said, "You dare to order me?"
Brodick also leaned forward. "That's exactly what I—"
Gillian, hoping to avert the budding hostility, blurted out, "Shouting at me won't upset me."
"But it upsets me, Gillian."
Gillian wondered if Brodick realized he was nearly shouting at her now. She looked to Judith for help, but it was Alec who inadvertently turned his father's attention.
"Papa, don't yell at Gillian," Alec cried out as he ran around the table to Gillian and climbed into her lap. "She never shouted at me, not even when the man beat her. She tricked him good, Papa."
"Someone beat her?" Iain asked.
Alec nodded. "She made him beat her so he wouldn't beat me."
The little boy suddenly remembered the ring Gillian had given him and pulled the ribbon over his head. "Gillian said she was gonna be my champion, just like Uncle Brodick, and she told me I could keep the ring until I got back home. She promised me she wasn't gonna let nobody hurt me and she didn't. I don't need the ring anymore to remind me I'm safe, but I still want to keep it."
"You can't, Alec," Gillian said softly.
He reluctantly handed the ring to her. "Uncle Brodick said I could keep his dagger forever."
She laughed. "I'm still not going to let you keep my grandmother's ring."
Judith placed her hand on top of her husband's. "You do realize that if it were not for this dear lady, our son would be dead."
"Of course, I realize—"
"Then I suggest, instead of shouting at her and treating her as though you hold her responsible for the actions of others, you thank her. I plan to get down on my knees and thank God for sending her to Alec. She was his guardian angel."
The emotional speech humbled Gillian, and she shook her head in protest. Judith dabbed at her eyes with a linen cloth and then stood.
"Gillian," Iain began, his voice hesitant. "I do thank you for protecting my son, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that I in any way hold you responsible. If I gave you that impression, I apologize. As difficult as it will be, I'll wait for Ramsey to join us to find out what happened."
Judith beamed with satisfaction. "I do believe that is the very first time I've ever heard you apologize. It's a momentous occasion. And since you are now in such an accommodating mood, may I suggest that you and Ramsey wait until after the celebration to hear what Gillian has to say. Tonight is Alec's homecoming and our friends and relatives will be here soon." Judith didn't wait for her husband's agreement. "Gillian will want to freshen up now."
"Gillian likes to take baths, Mama," Alec said. "She made me wash too. I didn't want to, but she made me."
Judith laughed. "She took good care of you, Alec," she said as she clasped hold of Gillian's arm. "How would you like a hot bath now?"
"I would like that very much."
"I'll find clean clothes for you and have these washed right away," she promised. "The Maitland plaid will keep you nice and warm," she added. "Though the days are warm, it gets quite chilly at night."
Hearing that Gillian would wear the Maitland plaid didn't sit well with Brodick. Without thinking how his words would be interpreted, he said, "She'll wear the Buchanan plaid for this celebration."
Iain folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Why do you want her to wear your colors? Are you claiming—"
Brodick cut him off. "My soldiers would be… upset. They would surely rebel if they saw her in your plaid, Iain. They've taken a liking to the lass and have become very possessive and protective of her. While she's in the Highlands, she'll wear our colors. I won't have the Buchanan soldiers insulted."
Iain grinned. "You're worried that your men will be upset? Is that what I heard you say? For God's sake, they're warriors, not…"
He was going to say "women," but quickly changed his mind when his wife gave him a sharp look. With a smile he substituted "children."
Judith laughed, for she knew her husband was trying to be diplomatic for her sake. She started toward the stairs then, but Gillian paused to turn back to Brodick.
"Brodick, you did promise your brother, Winslow, you would see his wife and children."
"I remember what I promised."
"Then you'll be here when I return?"
Exasperated that she still couldn't get up the courage to ask him a direct question, he said, "Yes."
She nodded before hurrying after Judith. She tried to hide her relief that Brodick would stay a bit longer, and then she became angry with herself for feeling the way she did. She was acting like a fool because she was letting herself become dependent on him, and she had no right to lean on the man. No, she couldn't ask anything more of him.
