they’d chosen to follow across and over the hills. A stone circle sitting in a field bordering the lane had caught their interest, but they hadn’t dallied. Breckenridge’s map was reasonably detailed; they’d felt confident enough of finding their way, but had wanted to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Dumfries before seeking shelter for the night.
The lane would take them through a series of passes between various peaks. With luck, they would reach the main pass tomorrow, and might even reach the Vale, but for tonight they had to find some resting place.
Which had led them to Gribton. As they’d walked further inland, the landscape had changed from flat near the firth to rolling pastures, with denser hedgerows and taller trees. They’d spotted the roofs of Gribton as the sun had started to dip beneath the horizon. Rather than risk continuing on to the next village along the country lane, they’d turned off it down a track that had led to the five cottages clustered around a country crossroads.
Breckenridge halted in the middle of the track, in the middle of the cottages. “Which one?”
Her hand still in his, Heather surveyed their choices. “Let’s try the middle one.” Neat, whitewashed, with a sound slate roof, the cottage nestled between two trees just off the track. It appeared the most prosperous of the five abodes.
With her beside him, Breckenridge halted on the stoop and knocked on the green painted door.
The woman who opened it wore a harassed expression, instantly explained by the bevy of children who came racing up to crowd behind her. Ineffectually pushing them back, she looked at Breckenridge, then at Heather. “Yes?”
Breckenridge nodded politely. “We were wondering, ma’am, if you could put us up for the night. We’re on our way up into the hills. We’d be happy to pay for a room if you have one.”
The woman looked torn, but then glanced at the brood clustering behind her and sighed. “I can’t. But”— looking back at them, she waved further down the track—“if you ask at the last cottage, the old couple who lives there, the Cartwrights, could most likely put you up. Their son and his wife moved up to Glasgow a couple of months back, so they’ve the room and could use the coin, too.”
Breckenridge smiled; Heather did, too. “Thank you.”
With nods all around, they retreated, leaving the woman to shoo the children back and shut the door.
Returning to the track, they headed for the last roof they could see, that of a cottage sunk within a small plot of garden. Before they reached its boundary, Breckenridge halted.
When Heather stopped, too, he drew her to face him. “We can’t expect to get more than one room, and to get that room, they’ll need to believe that we’re man and wife.”
Even if he could get another room at one of the other cottages, there was no way he could leave her alone in a separate building, not with the mysterious laird possibly following them.
Somewhat to his relief, she merely shrugged. “So we’ll let them believe we’re married, and if they ask outright, we lie.”
Releasing her, he tugged the signet ring off his little finger, then reached for her hand. “And you wear this”—he slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand—“so with any luck they won’t even think to ask.”
She held up the hand as if admiring the ring, then swung the seal around so only the band showed and nodded. “All right.”
It wasn’t quite the way he’d imagined putting a ring on her finger, but. .
Retaking her hand, he led her on to the gate in the low hedge before the cottage, and through it to the front door.
This time an old man, long and lanky once, but stooped now, answered his knock. When Breckenridge inquired about a room, the old man turned and called, “Emma?”
The old woman who bustled to the door was as short and round as the old man was tall and thin. When she heard of their request, she smiled sweetly. “Yes, of course. Come you in.”
The old man stood back and waved them inside. Breckenridge ushered Heather in, then followed, stepping into a neat parlor.
“This way.” The old woman beckoned. “I’m Mrs. Cartwright, and that”—she waved back at the old man—“is Mr. Cartwright, of course.”
Heather was grateful Breckenridge had thought of giving her his ring. It felt warm and strangely heavy on her finger. They followed Mrs. Cartwright through the tiny kitchen to a door in the rear wall.
Opening the door, Mrs. Cartwright set it swinging and stepped back to let them past her. “We added this room on when our son married. I’ll just get a candle so you can see to set down your bags.”
Heather stepped into the small, spare room. There was only one window, in the end wall, but it was heavily curtained. Most of the floor space was claimed by the bed, one wide enough for two, pushed into the far corner. A tiny cabinet stood in the nearer corner, leaving only a narrow walk space at the foot of the bed and along one side.
“Here.” Mrs. Cartwright returned, shielding a candle flame.
Heather took the candlestick. “Thank you.” She moved to set it on the corner cabinet.
Breckenridge, who’d halted at the foot of the bed, shrugged off the two satchels he carried and set them down, then removed his cloak.
Setting down her satchel beside the cabinet, Heather unwound her shawl, then slipped off her cloak. She turned as Mrs. Cartwright said, “You’ll find the sheets aired, and there’s two blankets on. I always keep the room ready in case our son and his wife come for a visit.”
“Thank you — I’m sure we’ll be very comfortable.” Much more comfortable than in a hayloft. Heather smiled. “We’ve been traveling for a few days. We’re grateful you could put us up.”
“Oh, nonsense. We’re glad to be able to. Now.” Mrs. Cartwright fixed her surprisingly bright blue eyes on Breckenridge. “Have you eaten? Mr. Cartwright and I have already had our tea, but there’s some soup and bread, if you’d like it?”
“Thank you,” Breckenridge said. “That would be very welcome. We had lunch in Dumfries, but that was a while ago.”
“Oh, I know how you lads eat, never fear.” Mrs. Cartwright patted Breckenridge’s arm, then bustled out. “I’ll just set the soup pot back on the fire.”
Heather pressed her lips tight, holding back a laugh as she bent to blow out the candle. Breckenridge looked faintly stunned at being called a “lad.” But he followed Mrs. Cartwright back into the kitchen, stepping in to relieve her of the heavy soup pot and lift it onto the hook over the kitchen fire.
Without being asked, he crouched and tended the blaze.
Mrs. Cartwright smiled down at him approvingly, then looked at Heather. “Come along, dear, and I’ll show you the necessaries.”
The “necessaries” proved to be a small bathing chamber-cum-washhouse giving off a tiny back porch, and an outhouse beyond. The main chamber contained a pump, which Mrs. Cartwright said came off the outside well.
“Plenty of water, bracing cold though it may be.” Mrs. Cartwright pulled a clean towel from a shelf. “I’ll just leave this towel here for you, dear.” Setting the towel on the washstand, she glanced around. “My son built this for us when he and his wife were living here.”
“You must miss them,” Heather said.
Mrs. Cartwright sighed. “Aye, we do, but you can’t keep young people from living their lives, now, can you? Wouldn’t be right.”
She led the way back into the kitchen. Heather followed her in, then excused herself to return and make use of the “necessaries.” After washing her face and hands, she felt considerably more presentable. A tiny mirror hanging above the basin allowed her to neaten her thoroughly disarranged coiffure. If her London maid could see her, she’d faint.
Feeling considerably more the thing, she rejoined Breckenridge and Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright in the kitchen. Breckenridge and Mr. Cartwright had settled to discussing the land around about and local farming.
Mrs. Cartwright ladled out two steaming bowls of soup and set half a loaf of bread and two pats of butter on the table, then directed Breckenridge and Heather to “eat up.”
They sat and did, while Mr. Cartwright produced a pipe and quietly puffed, and Mrs. Cartwright filled their ears with a catalogue of little things — like the harvest she hoped to get this year from her prize damsons, and speculation that their son and his wife would return for a few days at Easter.
It was a curiously soothing half hour, a reminder that, despite their flight and the potential threat posed by
