Page 89 of The Knight's Pledge
One by one, the doorways filled with figures. Iris, with her mahogany hair flying behind her, dashed from a chamber to embrace Lucan, while the others—two women and two men—emerged warily into the central chamber.
“Where’s Da?” Padraig she recognized at once, and he looked mostly the same, if somewhat thinner, with more worry crowding about his young eyes. “Is he well?”
“He’s here,” Effie replied. “They’ve taken him into the king’s custody, but he is well.”
The red-haired woman at Padraig’s side took in Effie’s costume with one obvious glance and a mischievous glint cameinto her eyes.
“Well,” she said slyly. “What have we here? A lass in trousers?” She looked to the long-haired man who emerged from the doorway before her. “I didna know that was an option for theking’s court.”
“It’s not,” Lucan interjected. “Hello, Finley. Thrown anyone from abridge lately?”
The red-haired woman gave a scrunch-nosed frown. “Nay.” She walked boldly toward Effie. “I reckon you’re Lachlan’s sister.”
Effie couldn’t help her unsure glance at Lucan.
He came to her rescue. “Let’s get this out of the way, shall we?” He touched Effie’s elbow so lightly and briefly that she shouldn’t have noticed it, but her skin tingled all the same. “Effie Annesley, allow me to present Finley Carson, her husband there, Lachlan. Tavish you’ve met; his wife, Lady Glenna. Roscraigis their home.”
A cool-looking blonde with a regal bearing nodded toward her. “How do you do?”
The largest man in their midst, the tawny haired Lachlan Blair, moved through the central chamber stealthily, his gaze pinning Effie as if he would read hervery thoughts.
“Effie,” he said.
She raised her chin. “Lachlan.”
“Braw George Thomas there tell us all that you live in a cave, and rob wealthy nobles.”
Effie blinked. “That’snot all I do.”
His mouth curved down and he nodded approvingly. He looked to James. “Lachlan Blair.”
“James Montrose.” He shook hands with the men in turn, and nodded deferentially to the ladies. “Ma’am.How do you do?”
George’s arms tightened suddenly around Effie’s neck. “Oh, Mama, I’m ever so glad we’ve come to London. It’s been the most wondrous of days.”
A beat of silence passed, and then laughter broke out in the central hall, startling Effie for a moment beforeshe joined in.
“Come,” Tavish Cameron said, sweeping his arm toward the table. “Let us become better acquainted as guests of Henry before we get down to the business of tomorrow.”
* * * *
Lucan took a seat at the table, and noticed that James at first sought to claim the spot between him and Effie, but Effie thwarted him by swinging George Thomas’s feet to the bench first and then sitting down next to her son, forcing James to sit on the opposite side of her. The shuffle was a relief to Lucan, who dreaded breaking the news to Thomas’s children—and his own sister—that the satchel containing the evidence against the Hargraves had been stolen.
“Drink?” Tavish called out over their heads, and everyone in the group answered to the affirmative, either with their voices or a raising of their hands. Iris assisted him in serving the group, while George Thomas apprised his mother of the many activities he’d been engaged in during her absence.
“I can tell my numbers to ahundred,” he said, leaning his face so close to hers that their noses brushed together as he still stood on the bench. “AndI can write my first names. Tutor won’t allow me to write my surname, as he says it’snot co-firmed.”
“It is confirmed,” Effie advised him with just the hint of a troubled frown. “Your surname is Annesley, just as is mine, and as is yourgrandfather’s.”
George gave an excited squeal and a wiggle. “Is he here? Can Imeet him, too?”
Lucan could see the shadow of sadness in Effie’s smile. “He is here, my love. And I do hope you willmeet him soon.”
“George Thomas has been taking his lessons with the king’s son,” Tavish advised as he stepped over the bench, a goblet in his hand. “He’s doing quite well.”
“Edward is my friend,” George assured Effie. “He’s only a tiny bit older than me, but ever so jolly. He wishes to be a soldier when he’s grown, and fight for his father, because he’s notwell, you see.”
“Is that so?” Effie remarked with a smile. “And have you been keeping your company elsewhere?”
