Read Online Amanda Scott - [Border Trilogy Two 02] by Border Lass - Free Book Online

knight—one of Isabel’s, I expect—was just inside, waiting for her.”
    “I see,” Buccleuch said, and Garth relaxed. Having no desire to stir his cousin’s notoriously uncertain temper, he was grateful when Wat went on to relay other, unrelated news about their family.
    Still, he would have to take care not to stir Wat’s curiosity by showing too much interest in the lady Amalie or Wat would demand to know his intentions toward her. To admit that he did not intend to marry for years yet would hardly be an acceptable response.
    The two men chatted about family and desultory matters until Garth, who had been keeping one eye on the Douglas table, saw that the people there were preparing to depart. Shortly thereafter, the man who had spoken to him on the hillside beckoned, and he excused himself to Buccleuch.
    From the table near the royal party where she had joined other attendants, Amalie watched Isabel, alert for the least sign that she needed anything.
    In the midst of her own family, Isabel was struggling to look cheerful. Despite her efforts, Amalie decided long before the royal family finished eating that its members had little if any liking for one another.
    She had never before seen so many of them together in one place. Anyone watching could see that Fife had nothing to say to any of the others.
    It was likewise plain that the King would rather have been anywhere else. He murmured occasionally to the Queen, who sat beside him, but otherwise he kept so still that Amalie wondered if he ate anything or was even aware of the boisterous crowd just a few yards away, celebrating his accession to the throne.
    He paid no heed to the clearing of a broad, grassy area in front of the royal table, or to the large fire laid in a rock ring there. Nor did any juggler, tumbler, bear-leader, or musician stir a blink of royal interest.
    The rest of the crowd, still happily gorging themselves, noisily cheered the entertainers’ antics and shouted suggestions to the musicians for tunes to play.
    Darkness was falling and men were lighting torches at the fire before Amalie finished her meal. With nothing to do for the princess, she watched the crowd in the increasing glow of firelight, seeking faces she recognized and one in particular.
    So intent was her search for that one person that, as the royal party readied itself to depart, Sir Iagan Murray approached unnoticed until he spoke her name.
    “Sir!” she exclaimed, getting quickly to her feet.
    “ ’Tis good to see ye, lass,” he said. “I trust I see ye well.”
    “Aye, sir,” she replied. “I am content in my service to Isabel. And tomorrow we return to Sweethope Hill. I vow, sir, we shall all be thankful to be home at last.”
    “But your home is at Elishaw,” he said, frowning. “And your lady mother and I have decided ye should return. In troth, she fears ye might resist the notion, but she’s that determined— That is to say,” he went on hastily, “I’ve missed ye sorely and hope ye’ll bide with us again till ye marry. Sithee, ye’ve been away now for nigh onto two years, daughter.”
    Amalie looked him in the eye. As a child, she had found his customary bluster frightening, but that was no longer the case. “Forgive me, sir, but in that two years’ time you’ve said not one word about missing me until today. I was at Scott’s Hall for nearly six months after Meg’s wedding before Isabel invited me to bide with her.”
    “ ’Twas not that we didna miss ye, lass,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “I just had more important matters to attend. After Douglas’s death, when Fife tried and failed to take Hermitage Castle, he was angry that he’d failed. Your brothers were angry, too, aye. So, although your mam wanted ye to come home then, I thought ye’d be safer at the Hall till everything settled down. But then . . .” He shrugged. “Time passes gey fast, Amalie.”
    His memory of events seemed distorted to one who had been at Hermitage with