Page 103 of Love with a Scottish Outlaw
“Oh, Finn,” Cat said, “ye’re alone? Ye know how dangerous the countryside can be.”
“I was careful.”
Cat pushed the hair out of the girl’s face. “Look how long your hair is growing.”
“The better to wear a queue,” Finn insisted, then grinned.
“Ye’re still wearing boys’ garments.” Cat clucked her tongue.
“Ye’ll be happy to know I’ve told Maeve about myself. I’ve been living with her.”
“I’m so glad. But I thought ye’d be with Laird Carlyle until he found ye a family.”
“He seems to have forgotten that, thank the Lord.”
“Nay, he’d never forget ye.”
“Aye, well, maybe.”
Together they walked slowly down the courtyard toward the great hall.
“So . . . how is Laird Carlyle?” Cat finally asked.
“Not good.”
Tension coiled around her. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“He won’t go live in his manor house.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t know. He’s stayin’ at the cave or up in the castle. It’s his ancestral home, he says. I know he’s started workin’ on it himself, clearin’ stone. He says he has more time now.”
Because he’s alone, Cat thought. “I don’t like to hear that he’s hiding away from his people.”
“Sometimes he’s with us. He is doin’ his duty by the entire clan. I want to be with him, but he says ’tis not ‘seemly.’ Another reason I don’t like bein’ a girl.” She hesitated, then glanced up at Cat. “Do ye miss him, my lady?”
It all came down to that, didn’t it? “Aye,” she answered, then with more firmness. “Aye, I do.”
Finn didn’t ask any more questions, but practically skipped along happily at Cat’s side.
After the midday meal, Cat waited until the servants had gone. Owen and Maggie were talking with their heads close together, chuckling, and she saw her brother put his hand on Maggie’s belly with a sweetness that made Cat ache.
“Can I talk to ye both?” Cat asked.
Finn was seated at a lower table, still eating a leg of mutton, but looked at them with interest, as if she were a spectator at a play.
Owen regarded Cat warily, but he nodded.
“I want ye to know I’ve tried to return to my old life,” Cat began slowly, “but . . . I haven’t been happy.”
“Well of course not,” Owen said a bit too heartily. “Ye need to be in Edinburgh or London, where all the eligible young people are. Ye need society and parties.”
Next to him, Maggie almost seemed to roll her eyes.
“I don’t need any of that,” Cat said with gentleness, knowing that her brother would take this hard. “I’ve experienced it all, and I’m grateful. But I want to be needed, Owen, and I felt needed with the Carlyles—with Duncan.”
He stiffened. “That outlaw.”
