began circling them. Though Ian recognized them as his clansmen, he did not lower his sword.
He glanced over his shoulder at Sileas to be sure she was all right. She was sitting up with his plaid pulled over her head and was peering out at them from a peephole she had made in it.
“Could this be our own young Ian, back from fighting on the border?” one of the horsemen said.
“Why, so it is! We hear you had great success fighting the English,” another said, as the three continued circling. “It must be that the English sleep verra late.”
“I hear they wait politely for ye to choose the time and place to fight,” said the third. “For how else could a man sleep so soundly he doesn’t hear horses before they ride through his camp?”
Ian gritted his teeth as the men continued enjoying themselves at his expense.
“The English fight like women, so what can ye expect?” the first one said, as three more riders crowded into their camp.
“Speaking of women, who is the brave wench who is no afraid to share a bed with our fierce warrior?” another man called out.
“Your mother will murder ye for bringing a whore home,” another said, causing a round of laughter.
“I want to be there when she finds out,” the first one said. “Come, Ian, let us have a look at her.”
“I’ve no woman with me,” Ian said, flipping back the plaid to reveal the girl. “It is only Sileas.”
Sileas yanked the plaid back over herself and glared at all of them.
The horsemen went quiet. Following their gazes, Ian looked over his shoulder. His father and his uncle, who was the chieftain of their clan, had drawn their horses up at the edge of the camp.
There was no sound now, except for the horses’ snorting, as his father’s eyes moved from Ian to Sileas, then back to Ian with a grim fury.
“Return home now, lads,” his uncle ordered the others. “We’ll follow shortly.”
His father dismounted but waited to speak until the other men were out of earshot.
“Explain yourself, Ian MacDonald,” his father said in a tone that used to signal that Ian was in for a rare beating.
“I don’t know how I could sleep through the approach of your horses, da. I—”
“Don’t play the fool with me,” his father shouted. “Ye know verra well I’m asking why ye are traveling alone with Sileas—and why we find ye sharing a bed with her.”
“But I am not, da. Well, I suppose I am traveling with her, though I didn’t intend to,” Ian fumbled. “But we are no sharing a bed!”
His father’s face went from red to purple. “Don’t tell me I’m no seeing what’s plain as day before my eyes. There can be but one explanation for this. You’d best tell me the two of ye have run off and married in secret.”
“Of course we’ve not married.”
All the way home, Ian had imagined how his father’s eyes would fill with pride when he heard of Ian’s exploits fighting the English on the border. Instead, his father was speaking to him as if he were a lad guilty of a dangerous prank.
“We were no sharing a bed in the sense ye are suggesting, da,” Ian said, trying and failing to stay calm. “That would be disgusting. How could ye think it?”
“So why is the lass here with ye?” his father asked.
“Sileas got it into her head that her step-da intends to wed her to one of the MacKinnons. I swear, she was going to run off alone if I didn’t bring her with me.”
His father squatted down next to Sileas. “Are ye all right, lass?”
“I am, thank ye.” She looked pathetic, her skin pale against her tousled red hair and huddling like a small bird under his plaid.
His father gently took her hand between his huge ones. “Can you tell me what happened, lass?”
This was too much. His father was speaking to Sileas as if she were the innocent in all of this.
“ ’Tis true that Ian didn’t want to help me. But I forced his hand because my step-da means to wed me to his son so they can claim Knock Castle.” She dropped her eyes and said in a shaky voice, “And it wasn’t just that, but I don’t wish to speak of the rest.”
Sileas was always one to exaggerate. If she didn’t have Ian’s father in her hands before, she surely did now.
“ ’Tis a lucky chance the lass learned of their plan and got away,” Ian’s uncle said. “We can’t let the MacKinnons steal Knock Castle out from under us.”
His father stood and rested his hand on Ian’s shoulder. “I know ye didn’t intend to, but you’ve compromised Sileas’s virtue.”
Ian’s stomach sank to his feet as he felt disaster coming. “But, da, that can’t be true. I’ve known Sileas all her life. And she is so young, no one will think anything of my spending the night in the woods with her.”
“The men who found ye already believe the worst,” his father said. “ ’Tis bound to become known to others.”
“But nothing happened,” Ian insisted. “I never even thought of it!”
“That doesn’t matter,” his father said.
