“‘Twould have worked too if ye hadn’t chosen to stand there,” Jo commented. “I didn’t notice it until some caught on yer skirt, and with the weather this hot Dougall and Murine weren’t likely to wish for a fire. There would be no other reason to come over here, really.”
“True,” Saidh murmured, looking around the room. “But where did he put his dirty clothes?”
“Does that matter?” Murine asked. “Ye’ve figured out how he managed to escape. He shaved his head, stole the clothes, changed into them and managed to blend in with the other men in the clearing the tunnel leads to because they were looking for someone with black matted hair and filthy clothes. They wouldn’t have looked twice at a bald man in clean clothes.”
Evina didn’t respond. She wasn’t quite sure that was true. Donnan had picked the men he took with him. If he’d seen her attacker, he would have recognized that he wasn’t one of the men he’d picked, matted hair or bald. Besides, everyone at Maclean knew everyone else. A stranger in the area would have been noticed. Although there were several big bald men at Maclean, and if Donnan had chosen one among the men he took with him, the man might have got away. As long as he wasn’t seen up close, or if he kept his face turned away, anyone who saw him might think he was the other fellow. He might have fooled them long enough to slip away, she thought, but it seemed a lot of ifs.
“The clothes can’t be in here,” Jetta said now. “The men searched the rooms.”
“That’s true,” Saidh agreed with disappointment.
Evina nodded, but moved to kneel in front of the hearth and reached up into the fireplace, to feel around.
“What are ye doing?” Saidh asked with interest.
“There’s a ledge built inside the fireplace in me room. A shelf of sorts,” she murmured, lowering her head as she felt around. “If there’s one here too, I thought mayhap—Aha!” Feeling cloth, she grabbed it and pulled and then backed up as she felt the material fall. They all stared at the filthy rags that tumbled out and lay in the empty hearth.
“His clothes,” Saidh said with certainty.
Nodding, Evina stood up and glanced to the others. “Do ye suppose once they see this and ken the man has truly made his escape, Conran will stop having yer brothers follow me around for protection?”
The women all glanced at each other and then burst out laughing as one.
“I’ll take that as a nay,” Evina said dryly.
“Ye’ll have to forgive us,” Jetta said gently. “We’re truly no’ laughing at you.”
“Oh, nay, we’re no’,” Murine said quickly, looking alarmed that she might think so.
“Nay,” Saidh added. “We’re laughing at the thought o’ one o’ me brothers no’ being overprotective.” Shaking her head, she added dryly, “’Tis what they do.”
“Aye,” Murine agreed, but she was smiling. Apparently pleased with that trait in the men. “Why, that is how Dougall and I ended up married. Me brother tried to sell me to Dougall and, when he refused, was going to offer me to our neighbor. Dougall, Conran, Geordie and Alick found me fleeing me brother on me bull and decided I needed their protection.”
Jetta nodded, and added, “And Aulay found me floating on a mast in the ocean, pulled me in and, when I apparently said someone was trying to kill me, decided I needed to be kept safe while I healed from my injuries.”
“And Jo’s Cam, and me Greer, are the same caliber o’ men,” Saidh said with a grimace, obviously less pleased with this protective streak.
“Aye,” Jo said. “Cam came across me struggling with a couple of bandits on my way to Scotland. He rescued me and got wounded doing it. Once he’d healed, he escorted me the rest of the way to me aunt and uncle’s home.”
“And Greer is forever fretting over me and trying to protect me,” Saidh said solemnly, and then gave her a sympathetic look. “I struggle with it all the time, Evi. And trust me, I ken it can be a bother, but they do it because they care, and there are few enough men out there who care enough to bother.”
The other women all nodded solemnly in agreement.
Sighing, Evina turned and headed for the door. It might not make a lick of difference when it came to her having guards, but she still had to tell the men. If for no other reason than that it would give her great pleasure to tell them she’d found something they’d missed. The thought made her grin as she opened the bedchamber door.
Chapter 15
“I can’t believe we missed it,” Conran muttered, staring at the bundle of filthy clothing lying on the hearth. The truth was though he couldn’t believe the women had thought to look in the fireplace. That hadn’t even occurred to him. But then they’d had the hair to make them look for the clothes. He’d never noticed it on the floor. He’d been looking for a man, not something that could be sprinkled among the rushes.
“Ye’re no’ wearing skirts that would have picked up the hair, which is what led them to look fer the clothes,” Dougall pointed out with amusement. “’Tis no’ like it’s easy to see.”
“Hmm.” Laird Maclean kicked some of the rushes aside, revealing more hair. “This is how he slipped away, then. His head shaved and wearing a stolen plaid and shirt.”
“‘Twould seem so,” Aulay muttered, but didn’t sound convinced.
Conran couldn’t blame him. He had his own doubts on the matter. The men in the clearing had been looking for someone who had attacked their mistress. Surely, they would have been hyperalert and would have noticed anyone in the area who didn’t belong? After all, the attacker might not have been working on his own.
“Well, I suppose I’d best tell the men on the gate to watch for anyone coming and going that they do no’ ken, but especially a bald man now,” the Maclean said, and turned to head for the door. “I’ll have Tildy send some women up to clear out the rushes in that corner and replace them too so ye needn’t worry about lice or fleas and such.”
Dougall grimaced at the words and Conran chuckled as he turned to follow his father-in-law.
“I think ye should continue to have a guard on Evina,” Aulay commented as they left the room.
“I intended to,” Conran assured him, and then added, “Although I plan to ask Donnan to supply a dozen trustworthy men to watch her in two shifts of six, rather than continue to depend on Geordie, Alick, Dougall and Rory.”
“Ye don’t trust us to keep her safe?” Dougall asked sharply.
“O’ course I do,” Conran said with irritation. “But ye did no’ come here to play guard. Ye came as guests to attend me wedding. I’ll no’ trouble ye by making ye play guard while here.”
“And that is yer problem,” Aulay said with amusement.
“What?” Conran asked with confusion, pausing and turning to meet his gaze.
“That ye’d no’ trouble us,” Aulay said. When Conran just shook his head with bewilderment, he added, “Have ye ne’er noticed ye’re forever helping out one of us, but ne’er ask fer help in return, Conny? And that’s the way it has always been. Ye helped Dougall with his horses, and Niels with his sheep, Rory with his healing, and me with running Buchanan, yet ne’er asked fer our help in return.”