Sighing, she peered over the food laid out on the furs. Apparently the cherry pastries hadn’t been all Niels had brought from the castle. The picnic he’d packed was an impressive layout. There was a whole roast chicken, cheese, bread, apples and more cherry pastries. Despite Niels’s suggestion she start eating, Edith hadn’t. She’d planned to wait for them to join her, but when her stomach growled hungrily, she decided an apple wouldn’t hurt while she waited.
Edith was nearly finished with her apple when a nearly ten-stone, soaking wet Laddie suddenly rushed her and crawled into her lap. Squealing, she fell back and then tried to push him off as the dog attempted to dry himself on her dress.
“Laddie,” Niels barked.
The dog froze at once and then rushed off back toward the water. Edith twisted her head slightly to look after him and gaped when she spotted Niels on his knees in naught but his shirt, folding pleats into his plaid by the water’s edge. Ronson was busy pulling on his braies, but Niels caught her looking again. When he winked at her, she snapped her mouth closed and sat up abruptly so that her back was to them again.
Edith then busied herself looking for the remains of her apple. It had landed beside the furs. She picked it up, wrinkled her nose at the grass and dirt on it, and then set it down next to the furs again with a little sigh.
Chapter 5
“Ye did no’ eat.”
Edith glanced around at that comment and managed a smile as Niels led Ronson and Laddie back to her.
“Nay. I thought to wait fer the two o’ ye,” Edith murmured as Ronson rushed ahead to join her on the fur.
Laddie tried to follow, but Niels barked, “No!” bringing the dog up short. “Sit,” he ordered, and Laddie sat down beside the furs where he’d been earlier.
“Good boy,” Niels praised, petting the dog as he walked past to claim a spot on the furs.
Edith shook her head slightly. Laddie was a good dog, but rarely obeyed anyone as quickly and well as he appeared to listen to Niels. She usually had to repeat an order at least once or twice before the dog obeyed her, and he hadn’t listened to her father and brothers at all. It was why he’d ended up her dog instead of one of the hunting dogs.
Niels picked up the bag he’d brought all the food in and dug out a large bone for Laddie. The dog stood up at once, immediately drooling.
“Sit,” Niels said firmly. Laddie sat, and Niels gave him the bone with another, “Good boy.”
The dog grabbed it and dropped to lie on the ground, holding it between his front paws as he began to gnaw on the end.
“So that’s how ye make him behave,” Edith murmured with amusement. “Ye bribe him with bones.”
“Nay. He’s a good dog,” Niels said, turning to survey the food between them. He reached for the chicken, broke off a leg and offered it to her. “There’s mead in the skin there. Help yerself.”
“Thank ye,” Edith murmured, accepting the leg.
The three of them ate in a companionable silence and Edith found herself imagining that they were a family, sharing a meal after a swim: mother, father and son. After they ate, they would ride back to the keep and—
She stopped herself there, because the keep would not be her home for much longer. And Niels wasn’t her husband or ever likely to be, and Ronson was not her son. Laddie was the only one of the three that belonged with her, and that might not be true for much longer. Not if she ended up at the Abbey.
“What’s making ye frown, lass?” Niels asked suddenly.
Edith quickly forced a smile to her lips. “I was just thinking, m’lord.”
“About what?” he asked.
“Nothing of import,” she lied with a shrug and then changed the subject. “So, Saidh is happy and huge with child. But neither ye nor yer brothers said much about Murine and Dougall. Is all well there?”
“Oh, aye,” he smiled faintly. “They seem very happy now that everything is settled. Although Dougall’s complaining about all the travel they have to do.”
“Travel?” she asked with surprise.
“Aside from Carmichael, they have her brother’s castle and people in England to oversee,” he said and explained, “She inherited Danvries when he died.”
Edith’s eyebrows rose. “So she went from fearing she’d have no home to two castles to run?”
“Aye,” he grinned. “But it means a lot o’ travel back and forth until they decide on what to do about Danvries.”
“What do ye think they’ll do?” she asked curiously.
Niels considered the question, and then said, “Probably get one o’ me brothers to run it fer them. At least until Dougall has a son old enough to take over.”
“Not you?” Edith asked curiously. “Ye’re the next oldest are ye no’?”
“Aye, but I’ve plans o’ me own for the future,” Niels said solemnly. “At the moment, I’m helping Aulay at Buchanan. Well, no’ right this minute, obviously,” he added wryly. “But when matters are settled here I’ll go back to Buchanan and my position as his first.”
“It was good o’ him to let ye come check on me fer Saidh,” Edith said quietly. “I shall have to write and thank him.”
“There’s no need. He does no’ ken I’m here,” Niels said with amusement, and then explained, “We kenned when we were young that Aulay would inherit Buchanan and the rest o’ us would have to make our own way. But me parents did no’ leave us beggared. They left us each some land and some coin, and helped us decide what endeavor we wanted to pursue to earn more. For Dougall it was horses. He always loved the great beasts and he had an eye for ’em. He was always able to tell which would sire the best colts and which mare would birth the best and so on.”
“And what was yer endeavor?” Edith asked curiously.
“Dogs,” he answered with a smile. “I breed fine hunting dogs. Train them too.”
“Ah,” Edith murmured. That explained how good he was with Laddie.
“But there’s no money in that,” Niels added wryly. “I do breed and sell some to lairds in search o’ good hunting dogs, but I make the real money with sheep.”
Edith blinked. “Sheep?”
“Aye. Well, wool, really. I bought sheep with me money and have grown the herd o’er the years. Most o’ the wool they produce is exported to Flanders for profit, but I keep a portion and it is spun and made into what many consider the finest woven cloth in Scotland. Because we produce so little, I’m paid an exorbitant fee fer what is made. Between the wool and woven cloth I make a tidy sum.”
He paused briefly and then returned to the original subject. “And that’s where Auley thinks I am now, delivering a shipment o’ me woven cloth to the McKays. It was contracted before Dougall left and I took over as Auley’s first, and I had to honor the contract. Geordie and Alick were accompanying me, and we only stopped at MacDonnell to see Saidh and escort Rory safely there so that he could check on her. We were supposed to head straight to McKay from there.”
“And instead ye’re here,” Edith said and frowned. “Niels, I do no’ want to interfere with yer business. If ye have to deliver yer woven cloth—”
“Nay,” he assured her. “Greer had his men escort it north in exchange fer our coming here to check on ye on Saidh’s behalf.”
“Oh.” Edith smiled crookedly. “Good.”
“Aye.” He glanced down briefly and then looked to Ronson when the boy suddenly got up and moved over to wrestle with Laddie.
“The lads are getting restless,” Edith murmured, beginning to pack up the remains of their picnic. “I suppose we should head back before everyone starts to worry.”
“Aye,” Niels murmured and then reached in the large sack and retrieved a hairbrush.
“Oh,” Edith reached up self-consciously to her hair. “I suppose I look a fright.”
“Nay,” he assured her and then grinned and added, “But if I take ye back looking like that, they’ll think it was more than swimming we got up to.”
Edith’s eyes widened incredulously and she felt herself blush. She snatched the hairbrush from him and began to drag it quickly through her knotted hair, wincing as she did.
“Edith, lass,” Niels murmured, shifting to his knees to move around behind her. “Give me that ere ye brush yerself bald. Yer hair is too beautiful to abuse it so. ’Tis obvious ye’re use to yer maid doing this.”
Edith glanced around at him in surprise at the compliment and then turned forward again when he took the brush and began to run it gently through her hair. At first she merely sat silent, watching Ronson play with Laddie. The pair seemed caught up in a game of chase now, Ronson running after the dog and then whirling and running away as Laddie started to chase him. Edith smiled as she watched, but said to Niels, “Ye’ve done this before.”
He chuckled, his breath brushing her ear and sending a shiver down her back. “It shows, does it?”
“Aye, ye’re very gentle,” she said, and then asked, “Saidh?”
“With nine children and the keep to run, Mother often gave us chores to help out and I usually ended up brushing Saidh’s hair fer her in the mornings. I learned to be gentle quite quickly,” he added dryly. “Saidh was no’ above a swift kick to the nether regions on whoever was unfortunate enough to have the chore that day.”