Page 37 of Laird of Smoke
“I was headed south anyway.”
“Good.We can probably make it to Dunnin’ ere nightfall,” he said, shouldering both of their bags.
“I can carry my…” she said, making a grab for her satchel.
“Don’t be barmy,” he chided in his best Irish accent.“Our da would wallop the piss out o’ me if I laded my wee sister like a mule.”
She giggled at that.It was a sweet sound.“Fine,brother.”
“So tell me about our kin,” he said as they set out toward Dunning.
Eve narrowed her eyes.If he thought he was going to unearth all her secrets, he was mistaken.The Bhallach history was completely fictional, and she’d invented it years ago.
“Our da, Tiarna Fursa, is a chieftain.We grew up near Kilkenny,” she told him.“When our ma died five years ago, he ne’er remarried.We have two younger sisters.”
“Whose names are?”
Hewasthorough.She wondered how he’d remember it all.It had taken her days to memorize Aillenn’s bloodlines.“Blinne and Caitilin.”A.B.C.She kept things alphabetical for easy recollection.
“Blinne and Caitilin, right, and our da is Tiarna Fursa.And why have the two of us come to Scotland?”
“Da tried to wed me to a withered old soldier, so I ran away.I won’t go back unless ’tis with a husband o’ my own choosin’.”
He nodded.“’Tis reasonable.”
It might be reasonable, but it was completely made up.She would be saying Hail Marys for weeks after this pack of lies.
“So I came to choose a suitable bridegroom for ye?”he said with the smugness of an older brother.
“Nay.Ye came to guard my honor.”
He gave her a look so sour it made her laugh.After a moment, he asked, “So now that Lady Aillenn is in Scotland, what kind o’ bridegroom is she lookin’ for?”
She knew he was baiting her.But two could play at that game.
She pretended to consider.“I prefer short men,” she decided.“Aye, short.And pale.Fair-haired.Soft around the edges.And agreeable.”
He gave her a disgruntled glare.“So womenly men.”
A snort of laughter came out of her.She supposed her descriptiondidsound like a woman.Nother,of course, but the kind of woman most men seemed to desire.
“What about ye,brother?”she asked.“What kind o’ wife do ye see for yourself?”
“Me?”
She didn’t realize she was holding her breath, waiting for his reply, until he finally spoke again.
“I haven’t thought much on it.But I think I may be developin’ a taste for women with mule-hair beards.”
That made her laugh again.It also sent a secret thrill through her, remembering his kiss.
But they wouldn’t be doing that again.Not if he was supposed to be her brother.
As they walked along, the path opened into a grassy glade between copses of trees.The green expanse was dotted with meadowsweet and buttercups.
Adam nudged her and nodded across the lea toward a coney nibbling on a daisy.They paused to watch until it scampered off into the woods.
“What’s our home like?”he asked as they passed through the glen and entered the forest again.
