“Ye are a MacFingal,” the woman said in a surprisingly deep voice as she placed her big, work-worn hands on her ample hips. “Dinnae tell me which one,” she snapped when Sir Brian opened his mouth to tell her his name. “I am trying to learn who be who as ye seem to be coming round here more often.”
That did not sound good at all, Arianna thought. She had an image of Sir Brian wandering in and out of the inn with a long line of buxom, willing women. It was not something that should bother her. He was simply her protector and might yet become her lover, a man who was helping her get to her family and safety while showing her all about passion. But it did bother her. A lot. That was not good for it implied that she felt a lot more for him than gratitude or lust, saw him as far more than an honorable man and one of a clan that was helping to keep her and her boys alive until they could be safely placed under the protection of her family. She could not allow herself to become entangled with a man.
“Aha!” The woman slapped him on the shoulder. “Sir Brian.”
“Verra good, Molly.” Brian grinned. “’Tis nay so verra easy to tell us all apart.”
“Nay, true enough. There are a lot of ye lads and ye are all, to a mon, big, handsome devils. I am thinking your fither left a verra strong mark on all of ye, aye?”
“Aye, he surely did.”
“Just how many of ye are there? More than those rogues the Camerons?”
“A lot more. The old Cameron laird died after breeding a mere dozen or so but our fither is still verra much alive.” He winked at her.
Molly laughed, a loud, raucous sound, and slapped Sir Brian on the arm again. “Rogues. Naught but a lot of handsome rogues. Ye lot and those thrice-cursed Camerons. So, ye will be wanting my best room, aye?”
“Aye, I would and, Molly? If anyone comes looking for us, we are nay here and ye have ne’er set eyes on us.”
She nodded. “Helped yourself to someone’s daughter, have ye?”
Arianna was just opening her mouth to answer what she saw as a slur upon Sir Brian’s honor when he gripped her arm so tightly she feared there would be bruises left behind. She understood the silent warning. What she did not understand was why he would want the woman to think he was such a man, one who would spirit away someone’s daughter for a tryst at a lowly inn. Unless he was such a man, she thought, and scowled at him. He did not see her disapproval, however, for his gaze was fixed upon Molly. Since she had already decided a MacFingal could not be constant, the one thing she would insist upon if she ever became interested in marriage again, she was also being very contrary to take umbrage at Molly implying the same thing. Arianna inwardly shrugged, and scowled at him again.
“Any Frenchmen come here, Molly my beauty, and I want to ken about it.”
“If ye havenae already slipped away, eh? Weel, best ye pay me all I will be due right now. I am getting too old to be chasing young laddies down the road. The will is there but nay the strength.” She slapped her knee and laughed.
A look of confusion and then anger passed over Sir Brian’s face before he joined in with Molly’s laughter. Arianna recognized that look. She had seen it often enough on the faces of her kinsmen. Sir Brian had just heard something he had not understood, had thought it over, guessed what was meant, and was not at all pleased. Some of Sir Brian’s brothers were probably going to get a hard lesson when he next saw them. She ignored how relieved she was over the indication that Sir Brian was not some lecher who made regular visits to the inn with a different lady on his arm every time.
When the woman named her price, Arianna was prepared to call it nothing less than base thievery. But then Sir Brian laughed, flung his arm around the woman’s wide shoulders, and began to bargain with her with a skill that many of her kinswomen would have envied. It quickly became evident that this was exactly what the woman wanted and thoroughly enjoyed.
It also became quickly evident that Molly considered Arianna of as little interest as she did the packs Sir Brian carried. She did not know whether to be amused or insulted and decided she was a little bit of both. The MacFingal laddies obviously used this inn as a trysting site with some regularity even if Sir Brian did not. Molly had decided that Arianna was just another woman one of the MacFingals would enjoy for a little while and then blithely discard.
The room they were led to came as a pleasant surprise to Arianna. The inn looked worn on the outside, but Molly clearly took great pride in keeping the inside very clean and well appointed. There was a large, high bed with ample pillows and linen, plus two chairs and a table set before a small fireplace. A wooden privacy screen in the corner undoubtedly held what was needed to clean up, perhaps even the chamber pot.
“A maid will be up soon as I have requested a bath,” said Brian as he put his packs down on the bed.
“A real bath? Heated water and all?” Arianna wanted to push him down onto the bed and kiss him senseless.