Page 48 of Love with a Scottish Outlaw
It was a long day until the men returned from hunting just before supper, and then there were hours of preparing the meat, some to eat soon, some preserved in salt brine for later. It wasn’t until the exhausted men had a brief meal, and settled around their fires to retell stories of their hunting adventures, that Catherine was able to take Duncan aside and then lead him outside for privacy.
“Now everyone thinks ye have nefarious plans for me.” Duncan folded his arms across his chest, while behind him, the sun had disappeared, leaving a golden halo on the mountains.
“No, if that were true, I would have taken you to the bedchamber.”
“In front of everyone? Nay, ye’re too shy for that.”
“Am I?” she countered.
They looked at each other, and the faint buzz of insects suddenly seemed too loud within the charged silence that stretched between them. His face was shadowed in the growing darkness, but his eyes gleamed.
She cleared her throat. “Your sister visited today.”
He took a deep breath. “Impressive change of subject.”
“I thought so.”
“What did she want?”
“To meet me.”
She thought he might have grimaced.
“Of course she did,” he said tiredly. “She’s incredibly curious.”
“A good trait.”
“Not necessarily.”
“In women?” she demanded with annoyance.
“In anyone. Curiosity can cause too much trouble, and Muriel has always gotten into her share.”
Catherine winced. “I’m glad you weren’t going to say that curious women are in the wrong. I find that women are treated very differently from men, and that is unfair.”
He arched a brow. “And ye remember examples of that?”
“Why . . . no, I guess not. It’s simply something I believe deep inside me. And of course, I don’t see any of the men helping the women cook,” she added with a pointed frown.
“And I don’t see any of the women riding on the hunt,” he responded dryly.
She put her hands on her hips and leaned toward him. “Did you ask any of them?”
As she suspected, there was nothing he could say.
“I imagine Carlyle women would be happy to help support the clan in any way they can. In fact, they’d probably accompany you when you . . .” She trailed off and gave him an expectant look.
Impassively, he said, “When I what?”
“Do whatever you do to support your people,” she said throwing her hands wide.
“My people farm and raise cattle.”
“No, what do you do to support them?”
“What do ye mean? My men and I protect them, and we hunt for them. Some of today’s meat will be distributed.”
She dramatically rolled her eyes. “Your sister said you support the Carlyle villages and keep them from starving, and I don’t think it’s by hunting alone. When she realized what she’d said, she couldn’t bid me good-bye quickly enough. And Maeve said I should talk to you about it.”
