Page 10 of Scot of Deception
“What?” he grumbled, cheeks bulging with a large piece of bannock.
“I ken!” said Kathleen, her eyes lighting up suddenly. “Let us play a game!”
Blaine eyed her warily for a moment. He didn’t like where this was going at all, but before he could protest and tell Kathleen to stop being childish, she spoke again.
“I’ll say somethin’ I’ve never done an’ then ye’ll tell me if ye’ve done it or nae,” she said. “An’ then, when it’s yer turn, ye’ll say somethin’ ye’ve never done.”
“How is this a game?” Blaine asked with a confused frown.
“How is it nae?”
“Who wins?”
“Nae every game needs a winner,” said Kathleen sagely.
“I’m quite certain the very purpose o’ a game is tae have a winner at the end,” Blaine pointed out.
“Nay!” Kathleen insisted. “This is only fer … fer entertainment. Only tae pass the time.”
“So why are ye callin’ it a game at all?” Blaine asked.
Throwing her hands up in frustration—though Blaine still couldn’t understand what it was that had annoyed her so—Kathleen said, “Fine! Every time one o’ us hasnae done the thing the other says, we must… drink. The one who’s least drunk by the end o’ it is the winner.”
Still frowning, Blaine surrendered to his fate. He didn’t like the sound of this at all, since he couldn’t think of an idea worse than drinking themselves into a stupor. Perhaps for Kathleen, it was fine, but he had to remain alert; if there was a threat, he would have to be the one to eliminate it. He had the snaking suspicion, though, that no matter how much he insisted he didn’t want to play, Kathleen would find a way to rope him into it. Noble girls were cunning like that; they couldn’t get what they wanted by force, so they used deceit.
Taking his silence as agreement, Kathleen cleared her throat and sat a little straighter on the bed, her auburn hair falling in waves over her shoulders.
“I have never… left the Highlands,” she said.
Blaine didn’t drink. He had traveled far and wide, and had seen much of the land. He couldn’t imagine a life like Kathleen’s—so sheltered, so restricted, a life experienced within the confines of the lands of her people and of her allies. Blaine had seen danger, much of it, but he had also seen adventure and new places and people. And Kathleen, no matter how much she had rebelled by leaving her home the way she did, would ever experience any of it.
Silence stretched between them as Blaine forgot it was his turn to say something. Kathleen looked at him expectantly, but he only stared back at her blankly, not knowing what to say.
“Well?” she demanded. “Will ye say somethin’?”
Ach, right… it’s me turn.
“Uh… I have never… been on a boat,” Blaine said, settling on something dull and safe. Across from him, Kathleen took a sip of ale, shaking her head.
“Neither have I,” she said. “Faither says it’s too dangerous but I wish tae go somewhere on a boat one day. I like the sea… I dinnae think it’s that dangerous. Many people go on boats every day an’ they’re fine!”
“Well, it’s nae without dangers,” Blaine pointed out. “More accidents happen at sea than on land.”
“Ye sound like me faither,” Kathleen grumbled, and Blaine had had chest injuries that had hurt less.
“Dae ye think me that old?” he asked, suddenly reminded of the several years between the two of them. Though he wasn’t nearly as old as her father, he may have seemed so to Kathleen, since she was so young.
But at his protest, her eyes widened and she waved her hands frantically in an attempt to appease him. “Nay!” she said. “Nay! I didnae mean that at all! Truly, ye’re nae that old, Blaine, an’ if I thought ye were, I certainly wouldnae say it tae yer face like that an’—”
At Blaine’s amused chuckle, Kathleen snapped her mouth shut, crossing her arms over her chest. “I dinnae appreciate it when ye jest at me expense. It isnae very nice.”
“I’m nae!” Blaine assured her. “I wasnae tryin’ tae dae such a thing, at least. Fergive me… I only found it amusin’ that ye claim ye wouldnae tell me even if ye thought I was old. Which only tells me ye think I’m old.”
With a sigh, Kathleen pushed her hair away from her face, looking up at him through lowered lashes. “I truly dinnae,” she said. “Trust me, if there is one thing I wouldnae say about ye, it’s that ye’re old.”
“What would ye say about me, then?” Blaine asked.
Kathleen fell silent, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth to bite at it. For a moment, she busied herself with her bowl, scraping the bottom of it with her spoon but never bringing any of the stew to her lips.
