Highland Courage (Highland Brides) by Ceci Giltenan Page B

settling in then, my lady?”
    “Aye, thank ye for asking.” Mairead, ye eejit, make conversation . “Uh…until today, I wasn’t aware of exactly how large Cnocreidh is.”
    “Aye, it is a grand keep, to be sure.”
    “Do ye reside in the keep?”
    “Nay, not since I was a young man at least. I live in a wee house in the village with my wife, Mae, and our daughter. Mae is a weaver. I believe ye have met our daughter, Gallia. She is the lass who fetched ye downstairs just now.”
    “Oh. Aye, she is lovely,” Mairead said sincerely.
    “David here has lived in the keep with his daughters ever since his wife passed. They work here as maids too.”
    The second of Tadhg’s captains, David, seemed quiet and serious. He looked to be just shy of two score and ten, with warm dark brown eyes and dark hair that was slightly grey at the temples.
    “Do they? I wonder if I have met them.”
    “My daughters are named Finola and Meriel.”
    She schooled her reaction. Meriel was the maid who had been somewhat rude to her that morning, but Mairead didn’t want to make her father feel uncomfortable. “Aye, I believe I met Meriel this morning as I toured Cnocreidh, but I don’t recall having met Finola yet.”
    “Finola and Meriel are both bonny lassies,” said Ian, the third and youngest of Tadhg’s captains. A tall man with thick blond hair and bright blue eyes like her brothers Cullen, Gannon, and Quinn, he looked to be perhaps a few years older than Hamish. He was outgoing and talkative. “My oldest son, Findlay, is rather smitten with both of them. He is ten and seven and is now training as a warrior. He was the laird’s squire before your brother. I keep telling him he needs to focus more on his training and less on the bonny lassies.” He laughed heartily.
    “Do ye live in the village with your family, then?”
    “Aye, that I do, but our middle son, Ronan, is Hamish’s squire, and he lives here in the keep. Ye may not have met my wife, Katy, yet but ye’ll have no trouble recognizing her when ye do. She is Elspet’s youngest sister and all the lasses in their family are cut from the same cloth. Sometimes it’s hard to tell one from the other.”
    Pol grinned mischievously. “Katy is one of the clan’s healers and an excellent midwife. Perhaps ye’ll be needing her services in the coming months.”
    Mairead blushed profusely and looked away, but Tadhg simply clasped her hand and smiled broadly. “God willing.”
    “Pol’s a rogue, ignore him,” said Ian with a twinkle in his eye.
    Regaining her composure, Mairead asked, “Is it just the two sons ye have, then?
    Tadhg smiled, and Pol laughed his deep booming laugh. Ian scowled but then chuckled too and explained, “Nay, my lady. We have one more son. Our Duff is ten, but he can find as much trouble as six lads. He’d have ye believe things seem to break spontaneously when he is near them.”
    Pol laughed even harder. “Aye, Oren breaks out in a cold sweat when he sees the lad enter the keep. Duff can be a right menace.”
    Ian chuckled too as he helped himself to more venison from the platter. “Speaking of Oren, it’s not like him to miss a meal. I wonder where he is today.”
    “That is odd,” agreed Tadhg. He explained to Mairead, “Oren is my steward, and I don’t know anyone who enjoys eating more than he does. By all rights, he should be huge but he is almost painfully thin. His family lives in the village, but he nearly always has his dinner here.”
    “If not his breakfast and supper as well,” added Hamish. “He knees were certainly under the table this morning.”
    Tadhg chuckled. “I was training with Laird Chisholm when my mother passed away, but for some reason my father gave the responsibility of planning meals to him.”
    Hamish, too, piled more food on his trencher. “There is no mystery there, Laird, Oren wanted the job, that’s why your father gave it to him.”
    “Well, I guess that explains it, sweetling, but now ye are