Read Online Tamed by a Laird by Amanda Scott - Free Book Online

already
     laden and tied in place. Lucas was not there.
    When Hugh’s bay whickered softly, he moved to stroke the animal’s soft muzzle and murmur nonsense to it. Hearing a sound behind
     him, he turned to find the lady Mairi Dunwythie eyeing him uncertainly.
    “May I be of some aid to you, your ladyship?” he asked.
    “I’m thinking I may be of aid to you, sir,” she said. “I was coming to find you in any event when I met Sadie going in. She
     told me what she said to you.”
    “If you know something more that will help me find your cousin before she falls into a scrape, it is nobbut your duty to tell
     me.”
    “I ken my duty fine, but I do
not
want to betray Jenny if she is truly trying to get home again. She does not say much, but one can easily tell that she has
     not been happy here. And she does
not
—”
    Stopping abruptly, she looked rueful, as if she had said more than she had meant to say.
    “If you believe she does not want to marry my brother, you need not keep it to yourself, lass. I suspected as much myself
     when I saw them at their feast.”
    “I did think you looked like a sensible man.”
    “What possessed her to accept him?”
    “Phaeline, of course. I’d best tell you the rest now, sir. Sithee, Jenny took great interest in the minstrels. She wondered
     how they lived, and tried to imagine traveling about as they do. I told her I thought it must be a horrid way to live, but
     I don’t think she agreed. And now, Sadie tells me that Peg meant to walk just a short way with her brother. So I’m thinking…”
    “… that your unhappy cousin went with them,” Hugh said when Mairi paused. “If she did, one can only think that Peg and her
     ladyship have no notion what such a life is like, or into what sort of company they are likely to fall.”
    “I don’t know about that,” Mairi said. “But I am sure Peg did not mean to be gone long. And we must find her, sir, because
     before I came looking for you, I learned that some of our guests are missing valuable jewelry.”

    Following the trail through dense shrubbery, Jenny paused at an icy-looking rill. Still seeing no sign of the Joculator’s
     tent, she tried to collect her thoughts.
    The man clearly led the minstrels, and what she had seen of his juggling skill indicated a person worthy of respect. Although
     his extraordinary dexterity offered no clue to how astute he was, she knew she would be wise to tread lightly.
    The other tents all stood near the cook fires. That his stood at such a distance from them suggested he had a particular fondness
     for privacy.
    The woods were silent, the shrubbery muffling the murmur of conversation from people near the fires. The narrow rill chuckled
     low as it tumbled downhill to join the river Annan. A low-pitched voice, although speaking quietly from shrubbery on the other
     side of the water, was loud enough to startle her.
    “They do say the King may be at Threave to see us,” a man said.
    “I dinna want to talk about Castle Threave or the King o’ Scots,” a second, female voice retorted. “Not after being in such
     a fidget all through the night, me lad, wondering where ye might ha’ run off to this time. I expect ye were wi’ that—”
    “Now then, Cath—”
    Jenny cleared her throat loudly, hoping to prevent further such comments in what sounded like the beginning of a lovers’ spat,
     comments she knew would likely embarrass all three of them.
    The man stopped speaking at once. She had not heard any other sound of their approach, over that of the chuckling water, before
     he’d spoken. But clearly, they were nearly upon her, so catching up her skirts, she jumped across the rill.
    Despite her subtle warning, her appearance on the path clearly unsettled them, so she sought to put them at ease. Recognizing
     the gleewoman Cath, Jenny wished her a cheerful good morning. “ ’Tis a chilly one, though, is it not?” she added.
    Plump Cath smiled then and agreed that it was very