Page 6 of Plaid Attitude
The bairn clapped and chortled something which sounded suspiciously like “Ann!”
As the pair disappeared under the bed, Nicola grinned sheepishly. “Dinnae be offended, Coira. In anticipation of seeing all of ye, I’ve been teaching him to sayaunt.”
“Ann!” came the delighted cry from under the bed.
“Nay, nay!” Bessetta sounded exasperated, with just her feet protruding. “Ye dinnae eat dustballs, bairn. There’s nae nutritional value in them! Why is this place so dusty?”
“Ann! Ann?”
“Good, ye found him. Nay, dinnae touch—” As Relic screeched, they heard the lass sigh. “Itoldye. He’s prickly and grumpy. Like yer aunt.”
“Ann?”
“Luckily…” Bessetta’s feet were pulled under the bed as she squirmed. “I happen to have some dried fruit here. Ye can give him—nay,no’ foryeto—Och, fine, ye can have that one. Enjoy it.I’llfeed Hagrid. Do ye want one, Hagrid? Nay, no’ye, wee Relic—och, fine, get yer nappy out of my face, aye? Here’s another. And a third for yer other hand.”
Nicola’s hand was over her eyes.
“Do ye…want to do something about that?” prompted Coira. “The dust-eating? The hedgehog-fondling?”
With a sigh, her sister dropped her hand, and Coira recognized for the first time the circles under Nicola’s eyes. “Coira, I just spent three dayscampingwith a one-year-auld. Do ye ken how much dirt a lad his age can eat?”
“Tarts!Dinnae tell me yemeasuredit as he ate it.”
Nicola shook her head ruefully. “Until he learns to shite in a hole like the rest of us, I’m far more likely to measure the dirt on theotherend, as I change his diaper. The lad tried to puteverythingin his mouth!”
On cue, Bessetta’s exasperated voice came from under the bed. “Nay, dinnae try to lick the hedge—och, Itoldye!”
The bairn began to wail. Nicola rolled her eyes and moved toward the bed as Bessetta wriggled her way out, the animal under one arm and pulling Relic by a foot—which meant she was crawling on her elbows.
Coira’s smile threatened to take off the top of her head.
“Am I interrupting something?”
The deep voice—so different from her sister, who’d asked the same damn question—had Coira spinning about so fast she stumbled.
The man standing outside the open door jerked as if to catch her, spilling some of the water from the bucket dangling from his hand. But when she righted herself, he aborted the movement, and she thanked the Virgin he hadn’t tried to rescue her.
“Doughall,” she blurted, feeling like an idiot for stating the obvious.Of course it’s Doughall. The man kens his own name.
Hedidin fact know his own name, judging from the little nod of acknowledgement as his eyes swept the room. She tore her gaze away from him, trying to forget that his daughter had said he’d been looking at her arse, just in time for Nicola to thrust a crying Relic into her arms.
“Hold him. I’m going to use yer water and cloth, aye?”
Coira always felt as if she had ten thumbs when it came to holding bairns. Or hedgehogs, for that matter. As Bessetta cooed at the prickly round ball of anger in her arms across the room, Coira tried to mimic the lass’s actions.
“Shh,” she whispered to her nephew, placing him against her shoulder and patting his arse. “Shh, lad.”
Her cheeks were heated, and she didn’t knowwhy. Was she embarrassed to have Doughall see her like this? Nay, she saw him every day; with the way she handled the clan’s business, it made sense for her to interact with the Oliphant commander, even on days she didn’t spar with the men.
Or are ye thinking of the fact he’s looked at—and apparently admired—yer arse? That’s it, is it no’?
Sometimes she wished she could tell her own brain to shut up. The blush threatened to burn her face.
That’s when she noticed him watching her.
“What?” she snapped, angry at her reaction to him. “What are ye looking at?”
But Doughall, who was the most laid-back person she’d ever met—if “laid-back” was a phrase which had been invented yet—merely shrugged. “Ye look verra fine with a bairn in yer arms, Coira Oliphant. Verra fine indeed.”
