“Me head hurts a bit,” he admitted. “And aye, I’m a might confused, but only about how a bandit could find out about the Maclean passages.”
“A bandit?” Fearghas asked aghast.
“Aye,” Conran said solemnly. “The bandit who injured Gavin and then escaped is the only person I’ve met since coming to Maclean who matches Tildy’s description.”
When the Maclean looked nonplussed at the words, and then frowned and shook his head, he added, “All of the bandits were a mangy crew, but the one who got away fit Tildy’s description perfectly. He was a match for Gavin, the same basic size and shape, and had long, matted and greasy hair as well as dark ratty clothes,” he explained, and then sucked in a sharp breath as Rory poked at the wound on his head. He scowled at his brother and then turned back to see that the Maclean was staring at him as if he’d gone daft.
“The bandit may have fit the description, lad,” Feaghas said dryly. “But I somehow don’t think a mangy bandit could find out about our passages.”
Conran nodded. That had been his thought too, but . . . “It’s possible he paid a servant to tell him about any points of entry to the keep.”
“Aye, but as I told ye,” Fearghas said as if weary of repeating himself, “only Evina, Gavin and meself ken about the passages.”
“That ye ken of,” Conran said softly, and added, “’Tis hard to keep secrets in a castle with so many eyes and ears, m’laird. A servant could have been listening at the door when ye told Gavin, or even when ye told Evina years ago. Or one of yer people may have stumbled on the entrance in that clearing ye told Donnan to take men and search. That is where the passage leading down comes out, isn’t it?”
“Aye,” the Maclean admitted reluctantly.
“Well, one of yer people may have found the entrance entirely by accident and followed it up to the passages in the walls, and then told someone about it, who told another and—Ow! Damn, Rory! Leave off!” he growled as his brother’s prodding sent sharp pain through his head.
“There is what looks like a splinter o’ stone in the gash,” Rory said grimly. “I’m going to have to get it out, or ‘twill infect.”
“It very well could be the bandit who escaped,” Aulay said mildly as Rory moved over to his medicinal bag and began to gather items. “However, the question is where he is now.” Raising an eyebrow, he asked Conran, “Is it possible he pushed ye down the stairs and got into the room Jetta and I are using ere Greer got there with Evina and the other women?”
Conran considered the possibility. The room was the last along the passage. He’d passed Evina to Greer, and then gone back through the room and along the passage. It was dark and slightly uneven while the hall was flat and well-lit, he was sure he’d moved much more slowly than Greer and the women would have traversed the hall the same distance. It didn’t seem likely that the attacker had pushed him down the stairs and then managed to get into that bedchamber and hide before Greer got there with the women. Well, at least, not unless—
“If Greer and the women were delayed for some reason in reaching the room, then perhaps he could have managed to punch me and flee back to the room ere they entered,” he admitted, and then glanced to Geordie in question. “Did they go straight to the room?”
“They started to,” Geordie said quietly. “But then Lady Evina asked to go back to her chamber. She was no’ comfortable in just the plaid, and wanted to go back for a gown. Greer said nay, her father had wanted everyone out. She insisted that didn’t include her, and they all started arguing about whether she was capable o’ fetching a gown on her own, or—Where are ye going?” Geordie broke off his explanation to ask as Conran spun on his heel and headed for the door.
“Next time, Geordie, just say, ‘Nay, they didn’t go straight there,’” Aulay suggested dryly as he started to follow Conran.
“Wait a damn minute, Conran. I need to tend yer head wound ere ye—” Rory’s words died as Conran opened the chamber door and they heard a muffled shriek and a crash from the next room.
“Nay!” Evina said with disbelief to Saidh’s words, her attention immediately reclaimed from watching Greer and Alick carry a chest across the room to set by the fireplace. Jetta and Saidh had held up a plaid to give her privacy while Tildy had tended her wound and then helped her dress in the borrowed clothes. But once that was done, Tildy had gone below to fetch beverages for everyone, and Jetta, Saidh and Evina had all taken up positions on the bed, sitting cross-legged in a triangle. It was Jetta who suggested the men make use of her chests and sit on them. The men were now moving them across the room to sit by the empty fireplace. She supposed it was an effort on their part to give them some privacy to talk.
“Aye,” Saidh assured her with amusement, drawing her back to the conversation.
“Ye had three bairns at once?” Evina asked with dismay. She’d never met anyone who’d had more than one child at a time. She’d heard tales of such things, but—
“Aye, three girls,” Saidh said with a grin. “They’re two and a half now, thank goodness.”
“Why thank goodness?” Evina asked with curiosity.
“Because I don’t think I could have handled a fourth child while the first three were still in nappies or teething. But the lassies are done with both. Well, for the most part anyway. There may be one or two teeth still to come, but that should be done by the time I have this one,” she said, placing a hand on her stomach.
“What if ye have triplets again?” Evina asked, eyeing her stomach with wonder.
Saidh shrugged. “Then I hope they are boys to balance things out.”
“Ye would no’ mind having three again?” she asked with surprise, her gaze sliding back to the men as they set down the first chest and returned for the second one at the foot of the bed.
“Whether I mind or no’ won’t make any difference to the number that shows up,” Saidh said with amusement. “So why fret over it? I just hope however many there are, they are healthy.”
“Healthy is good,” Evina agreed, glancing down to her own stomach and wishing the same for the baby she might be carrying.
“Triplets run in the family,” Saidh announced, and then amended, “Well, twins do.”
“Do they?” Evina asked with concern.
“Aye. Aulay and Ewan were twins,” Saidh told her. She glanced down at Evina’s stomach and teased, “So, perhaps you’ll have two or three bairns at once yerself when ye start having them.”
“Accck!” Evina shrieked, and then peered sharply toward the fireplace as Alick lost his grip while lowering the chest and it dropped with a heavy thud. Shaking her head with amusement when Alick made a face, she looked back to Saidh and said, “Do no’ even jest about something like—”
Evina broke off mid-sentence, turning wide eyes toward the door this time as it suddenly crashed open and Conran, his brothers and her father all charged in, swords at the ready.
Chapter 12
“Where is he?”