“It’s the safest way for ye to live in the castle, until ye figure out what to do after this,” Leith replied. “Nayone will question me authority, well, nae to me face anyway.”
“And Laird Robasdan,” Mary added, “he’ll just take us in again?”
“These things happen, lass,” Leith shrugged. “I cannae tell ye how many missions Tarrant and I were in that went awry, and we had to go back and re-plan how to approach the situation. Naythin’ is set in life, lass.”
“I have one,” Mary said dourly while guiding her horse to jump over a fallen log. “My ideas of a husband were dismissed the moment they were given. My parents scoffed at the idea of marrying for love but rather marrying for security. The man was three times my age and as big as a carriage.”
“God’s blood,” Leith swore, “I’d have run too.”
They were crossing from Ettrick Water’s lands into the Robasdan forests as Leith announced briefly but then went on, “If ye did marry, what kind of man would ye prefer?”
“There was only one kind of man back home that was suitable enough for me to marry,” Mary replied, “a man of means.”
“Just means?” Leith asked, while he looked over to her, “Naything else, tall, sturdy, dark-haired? Green-eyed? Short and blond? Lanky and redheaded? A man of education? A poet with many verses? A warrior with shield and sword? What?”
His words stirred something inside her but it was not a happy stirring. Instead, it was troubling. She had not been around men, so this line of questioning was deeply disturbing. What qualities did she want in her husband?
“I cannot tell you about his physical appearance,” she replied cautiously. “What I can tell you is how I want him to be. I need loyalty from him, yes educated, but not to the point where he will use it as a battering ram over those who are not as educated as he is.”
She pressed her lips together to think. “I want him to care for those around him. I suppose…what really matters to me is his heart.”
Leith was silent near her, guiding his horse with a single hand. His profile was striking with his chin lifted high, his angular jaw and eyes resting under a hooded brow. Curling around his ears and brushing the neck of his collar were strands of his thick brown hair that glinted mahogany in the light.
“The heart is what does matter, aye,” Leith finally spoke. “As is the body it comes in.”
“That will have to be decided,” Mary said. “Unless, you are planning to decide it for me.”
The last words were said in jest and the grin Leith shot over to her told her that he had picked up on it. “Nay, lass, I’d never do such a thing. Then ye’d blame me for fastening ye to a louse for the rest of yer life. Nay, lass, those matters of the heart are for ye and ye alone to decide.”
Why is my heart suddenly pounding this way?
Leith’s tone and his words had her heart beating an unsteady rhythm that she heard pounding in her ears. His head twisted toward her, and she found it hard to hold his gaze, so she ducked her head and pretended to guide her horse around a bush.
“That’s right,” Mary cringed at her words. Couldn’t I have spoken something more profound?
They broke through the cover of trees and she realized that they were back at the Robasdan Clan’s grounds. There still had a long way to go to the citadel, so she decided to turn the question back on Leith, “And you, what do you want in a lady…a wife?”
“Me?” His voice was heavy with shock. “Me wife…ach, lass, ye couldnae have asked me a harder question. I’ve changed me mind so many times, I feel like the tide of Loch Ness, ebbing and flowing. I do ken that she must be kind and loyal to me, lovely in spirit and in body, with a mind to serve me people when I do become the Laird. Other than that ...” he shrugged, “like ye said, that has to be decided. I have a few years to go before that, though.”
Pleased that she was able to get him to confide in her about who he wanted to be with, Mary nodded. I may not lose the chance to know him after all.
“Will you tell me when you do?” Mary asked. “I imagine I’d be away from you by that time.”
“Nay ye worry, lass,” Leith intoned, “I’ll find ye wherever ye are.”
They rode through the dense forest and up the hilly and rocky ridges in silence until they came down to the plains. They passed through the watchtowers with Leith holding up his hand as a salute to the sentries. This time, Leith directed them over a longer path until they got to the gates of the Robasdan stronghold.
Leith called out again, and after a few moments, the drawbridge began to lower. He had his horse near her and his head dipped to her. “I ken this isnae what ye wanted but this is the safest way for us.”
“I know,” Mary sighed, “but I have to trust you. They might be surprised to see us again?”
Leith’s laugh was loud and lively, “Nay, lass, nay. Ye’d be surprised if they dinnea have a room made up for ye already. I’m sure nay one will be surprised to see us, the sentries most likely sent a bird to alert them already. They won’t be surprised, hell, they were expecting me back anyway.”
His words slightly mollified her anxiety and she made her horse step away as the mighty bridge was lowered. When it was placed over the waters,
