I walked into the dining hall, and I was sure my eyes widened in surprise at seeing Hew sitting at the table alongside everyone else. Doing my best to hide my shock, I sat at my usual place at the table and turned to listen to Eoin, who was addressing the table.
“Are ye finished with yer meal, lads? If so, let us be on our way. I’m no so inclined to leave Bri’s side, but she was verra insistent that we make this trip.”
Bri nodded and waved him off, patting her stomach with her other hand. “Yes, I was. Be gone, all of you, and have a wonderful time. The baby seems content where it is. I’m certain it will be days until the birth.”
“Where are you going?” I’d obviously missed the front of this conversation, but regardless, I was not one willing to be left out of the loop.
Bri responded from across the table. “Since Christmas Eve is only days away, the men are leaving us for a few days to go on a hunt. Hew has agreed to stay with us until after the holiday. He’s going to help them on the hunt. Mary says he is a fine shot with an arrow.”
“Wonderful. Are you boys certain you trust us to have free run of the castle while you’re away?”
Eoin laughed as the other men rose from their places at the table. “Oh Adelle, ye all have free run as it is now, do ye no?”
I had nothing to say to that. He was right. We most certainly all did exactly as we wished. Headstrong women filled Conall Castle.
As they prepared to leave, Hew walked from around the table to stand at my side, carrying his puppy that had been hidden underneath the table at his feet.
“Will ye watch over him for me while I am away, lass?” He sat him next to my pup, and they instantly began gnawing at each other’s faces playfully. “They seem quite attached to one another.”
I grinned, nodding emphatically. I was so pleased and surprised to see that he’d decided to join the men on their hunt. “Of course. I’ll take excellent care of him.”
“Aye, I’m sure ye will, lass.”
He turned and left without bidding farewell to anyone else in the room, even Mary, and I could almost see the steam coming from her ears.
*
“What did ye do to him last night, Adelle? Ye are the hussy I always thought ye were, are ye no? Why, ye have gone and soiled me brother the first evening ye spend alone with him!”
Mary had waited all of five seconds after the men had left the dining hall to tear into me, and my mouth fell open in response to her attack. “What? Are you mad? Of course I didn’t! But even if I had, he wouldn’t have been ‘soiled.’ He was married once before, was he not? I didn’t do anything to him, save talk his ear off. He was very kind to put up with my presence.”
I watched as Mary’s face changed from one of anger to sheer surprise. “So ye swear to me then, ye dinna bed him?”
Whatever anger that had faded from Mary had moved into me. “Mary, if I weren’t afraid you would knock me flat onto my ass, I’d be half tempted to throttle you right now. It is absolutely none of your business what I did with your brother.”
“So ye did then?”
Bri and Blaire glanced nervously at one another, and I could tell they wondered if they must stand in between us to keep us from attempting to strangle one another. Both of us needed to calm down. “No, I did no such thing, Mary.”
“Oh.” Mary stood and walked around the room as if trying to accept my words as truth.
“Oh, is right. You should feel mighty ashamed of yourself for assuming such a thing.” I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms to show my frustration.
“Mom, in Mary’s defense, Hew is her brother, and it’s not as if what she accused you of would be completely unheard of with you.”
I shot Bri a look that must have been frightening for she sank down into her chair and didn’t say another word as we all waited for Mary to say something else.
Eventually, she exhaled exaggeratedly and moved to resume her seat at the table. “Well, if ye dinna bed him, me brother must fancy the oddest of women, because he’s mighty taken with ye.”
“Why do you say that?” My face warmed, and I reached up to fan myself. At least at this age, I could pass any sudden redness off to hormones.
“I all but begged him to join us as ye bid me to do yesterday, and he would no come. He spends one evening in yer company, and he shows up at the castle this morning without being asked. He’s always welcome o’course, but ’tis shocking behavior from him, Adelle. He even suggested the hunt. He went to Eoin early this morning and told him that he thought he’d found some great places for hunting on his way here.”
“Is that so?” I looked down at myself. Damn the lack of air conditioning in this century.
Bri smiled and pointed at my face. “Mom, you’re blushing. You like him, don’t you?”
She skated on thin ice this morning. “Yes, I do but I am not blushing. I’m far too old to blush. It’s just very warm in here is all. I think I’m having a hot flash.”