Page 21 of Love Beyond Words
When all introductions were made, we sat down to enjoy our meal.
“Who did the cooking?”
Ludo answered with pride in his eyes, straight away.
“Tonight, ’twas I, but we share all duties equally. Tomorrow is Quinn’s turn so if ye are wise ye will fill yer belly tonight. Quinn is a rubbish cook.”
Quinn tried to protest but was quickly silenced by the chorus of voices who chimed in to agree with Ludo.
Once their teasing ended, Ludo spoke up once again.
“We doona have help here at the castle, so we must all do our part. ’Tis why it is time for Raudrich to return home. We’ve all been doing his share of the work for far too long. He has much to make up for. If ye doona mind me asking, how exactly is it that ye know him?”
I felt the light tap of Harry’s foot on top of my own. A slightly more gentle warning than he’d given Calder.
I winked at him to let him know I understood while I scrambled for a believable explanation.
Morna was a Conall and she’d claimed that Raudrich knew of her. Perhaps I could claim relation to them.
“I’m a distant cousin to the laird of Conall territory. As you know, Laird Allen is friends with the Conalls. We met while we were both staying at the castle many years ago–when we were children.”
Paton chimed in from the table’s end.
“And why do ye need to see him now? I’m surprised that ye knew he was here. To the people of this territory, Raudrich has another name. He’s had to keep his identity a secret to protect his familial clan.”
He might as well have been speaking gibberish. There was so much about this time, about their customs and the rules among clans that I didn’t know. I would have to tread carefully.
Marcus didn’t allow me the time to formulate an answer. “She’s in love with him.”
The blood drained from my face as I shrank in my chair in horror.
Every man around the table looked as shocked as I felt.
I could see that Harry was struggling to suppress his laughter. “In love with him, ye say? Promise us that ye will wait to tell him that until we are all around to see it.”
Meekly, I tried to respond with something reasonable. “I think that’s something best expressed in private.”
“Right ye are, lass.” Harry stood and the rest of the men followed suit. “I think it best we all retire early. Ye two must be tired after yer journey.”
Clearly the rest of them didn’t know about our night in their stables. Although, I couldn’t disagree with him. I was exhausted and I couldn’t wait to sleep on a seventeenth century bed. I had no idea what to expect.
“I can’t speak for Marcus, but I am rather tired. Thank you all so much for your hospitality.”
“’Tis our pleasure, lass. Mayhap tomorrow I can get ye to help me with something?”
“Of course. I’d be happy to help you all in any way I can.”
“Good.”
It was evident from the way every man stood around the table unmoving that they were waiting to disband until we made our leave. Glancing at Marcus to make sure he was on the same page, we stood and left the dining hall.
Baring my teeth, I whispered to him through my clenched jaw. “You are so dead.”
He barely made it out of the dining hall before he burst into laughter.
Chapter 12
I watched Paton’s every move carefully as he worked to light the fire in my bedchamber. I wanted to be able to do it myself if I ever needed to. He built the fire carefully, placing only two logs to burn so I’d have enough light and heat to get safely into bed, but not so much that it would keep burning well into the night.
