Page 13 of The Highlander's Captured Bride
With the last girth on the underbelly of the second horse tightened, Ethan stood and tapped the steed’s shoulder, “We’re ready for ye.”
Grasping the reins, Violet led the horse outside. Ethan followed her closely and helped her up before mounting himself. “There’s a seldom-used path through the hills that takes us to the little settlement beyond our village. She might be there. But may I ask, when did ye first begin to dress as a lad?”
“To be fair, almost the same time I began to wear dresses,” she grinned over her shoulder. “Me faither… doesnae enforce such roles that others do. He made sure that I ken how to survive in any circumstances, in dresses or breeches.”
Ethan shot a look at her, unsure of how to respond to that. He knew Scotswomen were not the delicate sheltered flowers English women were, but he never really took it to mean some men were so broad-minded to allow their daughters to wear lad’s clothes. He could only utter a paltry, “Oh.”
They mounted a slope and entered a path in the middle of a steep, stony hill pass. Many thick hawthorn bushes were flush against the rocky hillsides and cool breezes fluttered over them as they rode.
“Ye dinnae sound as if ye approve,” Violet said.
“Nay, nay,” he rushed to apologize, “I dinnae mean it like that, I just wasnae aware that men would allow their daughters to be so…untraditional. I dinnae ken it would have worked for other women, but it suits ye just fine.”
“It’s nay as enjoyable as it looks, being one-of-a-kind,” Violet said, and her glum tone had him feeling curious about the emotion behind it. He chose, however, not to dig into it. Her voice picked up. “So, where are we going again?”
“To find the little settlements resting between here and Clan Hofte,” he clarified. “The three of them, Sellek, Turren, and Ackwell, were the point of contention between us and Clan Hofte, before Finley made peace with them. The closest, Sellek, is an hour away, the furthest, Ackwell, a full day and a half ride.”
She looked over, “Why were ye feuding?”
“It all sprawled out from a misunderstanding,” Ethan snorted. “For years there were many disagreements about where Clan Hofte’s land ended and ours began, But to add fuel to the fire, a mix up of goat kids grew to stealing flocks, that lead to a shepherd being killed, and then to a landowner having his shed of tools being burnt down. Soldiers were deployed on farmlands as high tension led to bickering, bickering let to fighting, and then the feud was in full force.”
“That’s horrible,” Violet surmised. “Did ye ever get the root cause sorted out?”
“Nay,” Ethan shook his head. “When me brother went to make peace, he said that it would rack up more tension if they went and dug into the past. He proposed that they just let bygones be bygones and leave it at that.”
“I’m sorry ye had to lose yer brother,” she said. “He sounds like a very wise man.”
“Aye, he was.” Ethan held back a sigh. “He would have been a wonderful leader.”
Both felt the unspoken words that, with his brother’s death, he— the younger brother—would be the one to take that slot. He was lightly worried that she would remark on it and felt thankful when she did not. That was an issue he had begun to struggle with, knowing that he was the only one in line to take up the helm when his father passed it on. He still did not feel ready to be the leader that his clan needed. He felt that he was a shadow of his brother in wisdom and actions.
“…I ken we should start with the local taverns and possibly the marketplace,” Violet threw out. “With such a unique description, someone must ken who this woman is.
“And what would be our story for finding this woman?” Ethan asked. “We need a reasonable excuse for searching for her, else others might get suspicious and warn her off. We might never find her then.”
* * *
Violet paused, worried that the reason she had come up with was going to be a massive gamble. She was not ready to share them yet as she needed to know more, “Before I answer that, I must ken, was Master MacFerson the sort of man to…er… use those women frequently?”
“Nay,” Ethan said, praying that she would not ask of him the same question. “As far I ken, he seldom used such services.”
Glad for his answer, Violet nodded. “It seems to me, from all ye’ve said about Master MacFerson, that he was someone who could read a person in a moment and know how to charm them, am I right?”
Ethan’s head snapped to her, his jaw-dropping for a second time that day. “Yer…Yer right on the mark.”
Now that Ethan had validated her suspicions, she was ready to give her answer, “As yer fellow soldiers had stated, she was new to the area. I ken yer brother would have taken some time to speak to her first, ye ken, to get some basics like her name or where she was from. If she was that desperate for the coin, she might have spilled out a part of her life’s story to him. T’would make him even more ready to help her.”
Ethan’s glance was startled. “How did ye ken that?”
“Because that’s what I would do if I were in that position,” Violet said. “Thankfully, I am nay.”
“I meant how did ye come to even ken that’s what she would do?” Ethan asked.
She licked her lips nervously, then replied, “Over the years, I realized that one of the tricks me faither would use to predict a villain’s actions is to put himself in the mindset of the man and then ken what he would do. I picked up on it and used it too. It’s a risky thing sometimes, to ken like an evildoer. If ye set yerself to stay in the darkness for too long, ye may forget about the light.”
Those last words were her father’s, after he had caught her using the trick. He explained that it would not do much help if they, while trying to catch a villain, would become evildoers themselves.
“Wise words,” Ethan said. “Yer faither’s I take it?”
