Chapter 36

I was kneading bread in the kitchens when an array of satin, lace, and puffery pressed into my peripheral vision.

"Hullo!" said a brittle voice as a dainty, gloved hand thrust under my nose. It flapped there, impatient.

My eyes bulged as I looked up, taking in the sight before me. A small, blonde woman with sharp features and a haughty brow stood on the other side of the table. She wore a pink dress in a courtly, ornamental style more often seen on the Mainland. There was more yardage of lace and ribbon on her tiny frame than I had ever seen in my life. Her hair was rigid, styled in tight ringlets and set with a sticky-sweet pomade. She had brushed white powder over her face and added two circles of garish rouge in the centers of her cheeks. She looked like a cake come to life.

"Hello," I said, unsure of how such a conspicuous stranger made it past Angus' guards.

She blinked at me and widened her chilly smile, rocking back and forth on her feet. I watched her as she looked around, getting the sense that she was sniffing out the comings and goings of the kitchens.

"Can I help you?" I asked, pushing a strand of hair out of my face before resting my hands on my hips.

"Maybe I am confused," she said. Her expression morphed into one of legitimate concern, which softened her features and made her look doll-like. "I was told you were the lady of the house."

"That's me," I answered, perplexed. "And who are you?"

The woman curtsied, ringlets bouncing. It was strange, the way her wasp-sharp features and thin voice contrasted with the flamboyant softness of her appearance. With her most indulgent smile yet she introduced herself.

"I am Innis McClurkin." She seemed determined to give me no other information. Her name identified her as an Islander, even if her costume was Continental.

"And you're sure you're looking for me?" I asked.

She looked disappointed, and I watched as Innis' eyes trailed down from my face to my flour-coated hands, and finally to my pants. She smirked at them. "You are Lady MacLeod, no?"

"I am."

"I warned Innis that you could be standoffish, Eilean, but this is something else." Calum's voice rang through the kitchen as he stepped out from behind a corner. He smiled at me and waggled his finger as if I had been naughty.

"Calum!"

In an instant, he was before me and crushing me in a bone-tight hug. His cloak smelled of rain and dirt and travel.

"You didn't send word you were coming. What has it been? A half a year since I saw you last?"

"I like to catch you off guard from time to time. Seems like I succeeded."

Turning to Innis, I apologized. "There's no excuse for my bad manners. If you are a guest of Calum, you're more than welcome at Stormway."

Innis smiled. "I understand your trepidation." She leveled her stare at me, and the tenderness of her face turned back into a fierce and serious mask. "Calum thought it would be good for us to meet. After all, we want the same thing."

"Which is?"

"Amending the Island Charter so that estates can pass through the female line as easily as they do the male."

I looked at Calum and he gave me a slow, pleased grin. He nodded and raised his eyebrows.

"Did your family perish in the war, too?" I asked, something close to thrill swelling in my chest at meeting someone like me. "I'm sorry, that was —"

"Don't worry, I also forewarned her about your lack of tact." Calum laughed.

"No," Innis frowned, her forehead creasing. "My father and brothers returned. I just liked it, the power. And I'd like to keep it." Her eyes hardened and her shoulders pulled back in defiance. Another woman wronged by no fault of her own — aside from being born.

I smiled, liking her. "Well well, Innis McClurkin. Welcome to Stormway."

She beamed, and the smile cracked through her carefully manicured exterior, revealing a young, somewhat scared-looking woman.

"I'm busy, now," I gestured to the bread. "And I'm sure you had quite the voyage. I'll have a maid escort you to some rooms. You have luggage, I assume?" Casting a wary eye over her gown, I tried to imagine the number of trunks someone like her might travel with.

"In the carriage, yes," she said, blushing at my brusqueness. "I'd love a bath, if it is possible."

"Very well."

I called over a maid and gave the instructions, transitioning Innis into the servant's capable hands. Calum lingered, drawing swirls in the flour on the board.

"Poor thing, she was so nervous to meet you and you bit her head off!"

"I am genuinely sorry. Wait, why would anyone be nervous to meet me?"

Looking at Calum, I noted the way he watched Innis with an intense ferocity. His eyes tracked her every movement.

"I've been doing what you told me to do, bragging about you to the other Lairds. If a little exaggeration popped up here and there, you can't blame me for making your story more interesting." Calum answered but continued watching Innis as she stood stiffly, waiting as the maid collected some food from the larder. He seemed transfixed.

A wild thought struck me, "Calum... is that your wife?"

Ripping his gaze from Innis, he looked at me with an odd look and then burst into laughter. "Wife? God, no!"

I screwed up my face in annoyance as Calum threw his arm around my shoulders. "Oh, look at you! Jealousy makes you positively fetching, Laird MacLeod." He crooned this, squeezing me into his side.

"I'm not jealous," I huffed.

"Sure you're not, pet." Calum pressed a quick kiss to my cheek and laughed again. "Innis is my cousin, and a very close one, at that."

Gesturing to Calum's silk coat under his cloak — far too fancy for travel — I griped, "I see the family resemblance, now."

"Innis' family oversees a minor island in the North. The population of her home is less than a quarter of the people on Istimere. Minuscule by Ellesmure's standard. But like you, the war forced her into uncharted areas of leadership. The people on her island are in open revolt against her father, who was rather intolerant about things after his return from battle."

"Revolt?" My thoughts snagged on the word.

"They refuse to pay their taxes or do any work. They're shepherds, and now wool production is at an absolute standstill. Her father kicked everyone out of the Keep and has armed guards patrolling the towns to quash dissent."

"And you're taking her to the debates over the charter?"

Calum shook his head. "No, they're in recess for the season. Innis needed off the island. Quickly."

The anger in his tone made me go cold. "She was in danger?"

His arm tightened across my back and he ground his teeth. "Yes."

The fear and horror I felt reminded me I had seen very little of the world. That my personal experiences with cruelty had caused me to suffer, but that it very well could have been worse.

"Do you mind? Housing her for a while until tempers cool?"

"Not at all," I reassured Calum, wrapping my arm around his torso. "Innis is welcome to stay until she wishes to leave." Looking at him, I caught his eye, hoping to convince him. "And if she never wants to leave, that's fine too."

Calum beamed, "Thank you, you sweet, fair, perfect, kind-but-kind-of-mean-to-guests, charming, wonderful lady."

"If you keep adding superlatives, you're going to run out of breath before you do compliments, you know."

"A risk I'm willing to take."

At that moment, Alex came bounding down the wide stone steps. He was sweaty, his curls stuck to his forehead, and his cheeks were red from the sun. The sleeves of his shirt were pushed up over his elbows, revealing tanned, strong forearms.

"The Lord of the Manor arrives!" Calum said to me privately before booming his hellos to Alex. "What is this? I left you a gentleman and find you a farmhand!"

Alex grinned and slapped Calum on the shoulder. "What a surprise to see you!"

I slipped out from Calum's arm and allowed the two men to embrace. Sprinkling flour over the board, I began kneading bread again.

"Who is the Lady with twelve trunks out front?" Alex asked, picking up a nearby loaf of cooling bread and biting into it.

There was a small outrage from Cook, who smiled sweetly and pulled out a pot of raspberry jam when she saw her favorite had pilfered her loaves.

"Innis McClurkin, a relative of mine. Eilean is offering her shelter while her father... remembers his manners." Calum offered.

"Her family returned and was less than enthused with a woman assuming Lairdship," I filled in the blanks for Alex.

Alex huffed a laugh, considering that. His eyes became distant, and he shrugged. "I'm happy to hear that. Not happy that the lady is in a tight spot, but I thought my grandmother had made good on her threat to start 'sending me a menu of ladies in order to tempt my return to The Fist'. Apparently 'it's high time I start becoming a true Lord.'" He said this in an affected, high voice, trilling consonants and wobbling his head as if he were an outraged matron.

Calum snorted, I looked up from my work, startled.

"What?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Alex raised his eyebrows, laughing.

"No," I hedged.

Alex shook his head, "The Dowager Lady Leslie intends to lure me home."

"With women." I bristled at the idea. The expense, the indecency, the presumption. Not to mention risking the lives of women on a sea voyage just to see her grandson's return.

"Why, if I may ask?" Calum interjected, looking at me sideways. His lips curled into a knowing smile.

"Her Ladyship is of the opinion that I am throwing away my prime by aligning myself with an enemy family," Alex speared me with a conspiratorial look, "with no political or economic advantage because... well because Eilean is in charge."

It hurt, this blunt reminder that to many, Alex was still an enemy. A Mainlander on the wrong side of the ocean. And the reinforcement that I was a pretender Laird. I started kneading violently.

"Well, that is just... fantastic," I grumbled.

Calum stepped in, soothing feathers. "I don't think your grandmother is near concerned enough with the dark beauty who holds you captive in her tower."

I shook my head with a huff and groaned. When I looked up, I caught Alex staring at me with a wide smile and luminous eyes. "Not at all. It's always been shortsightedness on my grandmother's part."

Despite their reassurances, I felt snobbish and jealous. Emotions that were pressing and unrelenting careened in my chest.

Alex fixed me with a wry smile as Cook set down a tray of hot, buttered rolls fresh from the ovens. Alex tried to reach for one, but this time, she slapped his hand away.

Calum was again the peacemaker and patted my shoulder with mock condescension. "We all know Eilean has pledged herself to a life of abstinence and devotion to god."

Alex and I snorted. Me despite myself.

"Aye," Alex said, watching me. "I suppose since Eilean won't have me, I'll have to make one of my grandmother's options work." He reached across the table and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. Before he pulled his hand back, he brushed flour from my cheek with his thumb.

It momentarily rooted me to the spot, but I had my wits about me enough to retort, "You never asked."

"Ah, that's the delay." He chuckled. "Forgive me, I've been too busy with the planting." Alex leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose.

Calum stepped away, whistling.

The effect of Alex's public intimacy turned my insides into wobbly pudding. I gaped at him, open-mouthed and speechless.

"This conversation is now boring," Calum concluded with a disinterested flick of his hand. "Can we please include me, again? It's much more fun when we are a trio."

Smirking, Alex turned and walked toward the stairs. "Remind me to, later," he called over his shoulder.

He left the kitchens, and I stood dumbfounded.

A few of the cooks and kitchen maids watched us with hushed surveillance. They looked away when I turned my head and met their stares.

Calum swooped in and rested his head on my shoulder. "You know you have to tell me everything, you minx. See you at dinner." He pulled back and swaggered away, exiting the kitchens hot on Alex's heels.

Jittery, I punched the dough, kneading away my jangling emotions.