Page 47 of The Highlander's Alluring Spy
Eilidh laughed delightedly. “Aye, o’ course we can, me wee chook. Me an’ ye and yer nanny too if she likes.”
Magnolia looked up, startled. “Oh, I…yes, that would be lovely.”
“Grand! I’m so excited to be friends!” Eilidh said brightly. “Now, I’m sure me esteemed husband had a question for ye, Nathair.”
Nathair straightened up, still skillfully hiding his amusement at how the lady unrepentantly held command of the conversation, even if she let her husband believe otherwise. “Oh aye? What would tha’ be, Me Laird?”
Anthony flinched, looking almost started to be addressed at all. “Oh, er…why, I mean, so what brings you to our home, Laird MacFoihl? I assume this is far from just a social visit.”
“Aye, tha’ it is,” Nathair said gravely. “I appreciate how ye’re always straight to the point. I’ve come to ye for help.”
He heard Magnolia hastily turn a giggle into a cough and was extremely pleased to have been the one to amuse her.
“Help?” Anthony asked suspiciously.
“Me people are starvin’,” Nathair said, and the atmosphere in the room dropped a little. “Aye, they’re fine for now, but when the winter comes, I dinnae ken how we’re gonnae keep them fed.”
Anthony stared at him at a loss for words. It was clear to see his youth in the lost expression on his face as he said, “And you want my help?”
Eilidh was giving Nathair a shrewd look. “Why come to us? Why arenae ye appealin’ tae Laird MacCullen? He’s yer closest ally, physically an’ historically too.”
Nathair sighed. “Honest with ye, Eilidh, it’s a’ a bit o’ a mess. Laird MacCullen’s got it in his heid that I should be weddin’ and beddin’ his wee Agnes.”
“Agnes MacCullen?” Eilidh asked, raising her eyebrows. “She’s ages wi’ Anthony if I ken correct?”
Nathair nodded. “Nae that there’s anythin’ wrong wi’ such a marriage, o’ course.”
Eilidh hid her smirk, and Anthony nodded thoughtfully.
“But I dinnae find meself in a position where I can accept his generous offer,” Nathair continued. “An’ he’s taken quite a bit o’ offense. He’s closed the supply routes, and I dinnae ken how I’m supposed to get food to me people without any help.”
“Ye take issue with political marriages, Nathair?” Eilidh asked, raising an eyebrow. “That doesnae sound like ye. Apart from Cat, ye were always first an’ foremost about yer duty.”
Nathair smiled thinly. “Aye, well. People and reasons change. We cannae all have the grand love ye and Me Laird dae.”
Anthony preened at the compliment even as Eilidh rolled her eyes behind his back. “O’ course ye’d come to me for help,” Anthony said, his accent slipping back to its natural state in his excitement. “And o’ course I’ll help ye. O’ course, there’s the matter o’ debt to consider…”
But Nathair was hardly paying attention. He was watching the Lady Taylor and her narrowed, calculating eyes as she looked between him and Magnolia then back again.
Suddenly, Eilidh was on her feet. “Would ye gentlemen mind ever so kindly if I were to take wee Elaine an’ her nanny to see the new Westie pups? This doesnae sound like a grand conversation for women like us.”
Nathair was ready to think of some reason–any reason–to object, but before he could, Elaine was babbling excitedly. “Pups! Really! Oh, can we? Can we, Dadaidh? Please!”
Nathair sighed but smiled. “Aye, o’ course ye can, if Me Laird says it’s all right.”
Anthony gave his permission. As the three girls left, Eilidh turned back and winked at Nathair, and he watched them go with a strange feeling of foreboding settling in his stomach.
* * *
One of the West Highland Terriers had given birth to a litter only a month before, and it was with these excited pups that Elaine was playing now while Magnolia and Eilidh sat back and watched.
“I’ve rarely seen her so joyful,” Magnolia said, amused. She had a tiny pup on her own lap, a little snow-white fellow shyer than the rest. He didn’t want to play, but he seemed content to nap in Magnolia’s skirts while the rest of the litter frolicked.
“She’s a bright wee thing,” Eilidh said pleasantly. “She does ye credit.”
Magnolia blinked. “Oh, no, I’m simply her nanny. Her goodness is all down to her Father, I assure you.”
“Aye, is that right?” Eilidh asked. Magnolia turned to look at her at the ironic disbelief in the other woman’s voice. “So ye’re not on the way to bein’ her stepmother, then?”
