Page 45 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
“Yes. The night sky has a thousand different things to look at.”
“I think Faither might have had a telescope,” Amy said thoughtfully.
“Really?”
“I think so. But I dinnae ken much about him.”
Lydia frowned, glancing down at Amy, whose shoulders were rounded, a stick in her hand that she used to poke the soil at intervals.
“What do you mean, you didn’t know your father?” Lydia asked, wondering if the girls would be as silent as Callum on the subject.
“Faither was always locked away in his study,” Eilis muttered. “Or fighting with Mother. She never had any time for us, so Amy and I would just play together. I am glad we are twins. I wouldnae like to be in the castle all by myself. Uncle Callum was Faither’s twin, too.”
“The kitchen maids play with us,” Amy said softly, and Lydia’s heart broke at the false enthusiasm in her voice.
Had anyone ever paid these girls the attention they deserved?
“Do you like living in the castle?” Lydia asked hopefully.
“It’s all right,” Eilis said, her gaze distracted by a butterfly as it fluttered out from a bush, and she set about chasing it.
Amy remained by Lydia’s side, staring up at her with an odd expression.
“I was lookin’ forward to Uncle Callum coming to stay with us. I thought he might be happy because we had nae seen him for years. But then he came, and he’s just like all the other grown-ups.”
“What are other grown-ups like?” Lydia asked.
“Well, he never wants to play with us,” Amy said on a heavy sigh. “But ye are nae like that,” she continued, beaming.
“Ye listen to us when we speak!” Eilis added, appearing by Lydia’s other side, and her heart swelled as the little girls simultaneously reached up their hands and took hold of Lydia’s on either side.
Why would anyone not wish to play with these little girls?
She looked up at the castle and the long, low windows on the ground level.
I hope I can find his study without the girls guiding me this time. Callum has some explaining to do.
CHAPTER 13
“I have commissioned moremen from the village to guard the main gates at night,” Alexander said, his finger moving over the castle plans.
“We are well protected in all the key areas, but vulnerable to the east. The trees make it harder to see an approaching force.”
Callum leaned over the desk, staring down at the plans and trying to concentrate on his defenses.
He was relieved to have something to occupy his mind, but the uneasy feeling that he had felt with Lydia and the girls prevailed, no matter how hard he tried to push it from his mind.
“And how dae I ken these new men are loyal to me,” he asked. “Me braither was Laird far longer than I have been. They could be in Moira’s pocket.”
Alexander leaned back and frowned at him.
“Dae ye really think I would bring men here who would betray ye?”
“I think people who ye have kenned yer whole life can betray ye with the right motivation.”
Alexander scowled. “I dinnae deny that, but these are men I’ve fought with. Men me wife kens from the village. They’ll serve their Laird.”
Callum grunted under his breath as Alexander sighed.
