Page 134 of Highlanders for the Holidays
Slowly, he shook his head nay. “I asked who ye are.”
Clearing her throat in an attempt to dislodge the knot, she finally answered. “Onnleigh.”
A flicker of something flashed in those bright green eye of his. “Onnleigh, who?”
Another question she did not wish to answer. But because he was blocking the doorway, she saw no way around it. “OnnleighingenGrueber.”
There it ’twas, that flicker of recognition before he pulled his shoulders back. Her hands began to shake as she braced herself for the insults that were sure to follow before he began to search for signs that she’d stolen something.IngenGrueber was synonymous withthe thief’s daughter.‘Twould never change.
“I be sorry to have bothered ye, m’laird,” she told him. Still he did not move.
“Why are ye here?”
She hated lying above all things. But there was no choice in the matter—for her honesty would most assuredly get her stoned out of the keep—so she lied. “I came lookin’ fer work.”
“As what?”
“Scullery maid, but the nice woman in the kitchen said there was no work to be had, so I will be on me way now.” Once again, she tried handing Nola to him, but he made no attempt to take her.
“Did ye nae think to askmeif there was work?”
She shook her head, slightly confused with his question. “Nae, m’laird. The lady in the kitchen said to seek out the chief, but I be certain he be far too busy fer the likes o’ me.”
“I am never too busy to help one of our own who is in need,” he told her as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I thought William was chief?”
“Me father died six months ago. I am now chief.”
Her confusion was readily apparent.
“Ye dunnae ken?” he asked.
“Nay.” That much was true. Since none ever came to call on them—save for the lying, cheating Darwud—living so far away and with Grueber’s reputation as it was, they were not privy to much information. “I be sorry about ye losin’ yer da.”
“Why are ye here lookin’ fer work?” he asked.
She took note that the angry tone had faded. “Me da died this past spring so I thought to seek work here. Since ye have none, I shall be on me way.”
“Where do ye plan to go?” he asked.
In truth, she did not rightly know. “Mayhap another clan will take me in. Mayhap the Mackintoshes, if they still be our allies.”
“They are,” he told her, “but why do ye nae wish to stay here, amongst yer own people?”
Well now the answer to that would take an entire day to give ye.Not wishing to discuss the matter, she said, “I’ll be leavin’ now if ye don’t mind.” Once again, she tried to hand him the sleeping babe. Again, he refused to take her.
Another long moment of deafening silence passed between them.
“There may be no work in the kitchens, but I am in desperate need of someone to care fer me daughter,” he said with a nod toward the sleeping babe.
“Pardon?” she said, uncertain she had heard him correctly.
“I need someone to care for me daughter. Would you be interested?”
He wasn’t running for guards, wasn’t searching for suspected stolen items, wasn’t cursing her for being here, or for simply being Grueber’s daughter. Instead, he was offering her the opportunity to care for her own babe. For the longest moment, she didn’t know what to think or say.
“Well?” he asked. “Would ye be willin’ to do it?”
