Emilie blinked at the woman as she fired questions at her, unsure of which to answer first.
“Things are all right, I suppose,” she answered honestly. “Aurora dinnae seem to like me at first. But she seems to be warmin’ up to me now.”
“Ah,” Paisly responded, nodding her head as if she expected nothing less. “The lass is protective, especially of her brother. Smart as can be, though.”
“I think she might be the smartest one in this castle, if I’m honest.”
Paisly laughed, a rich throaty sound that made Emilie like her even more.
A smile spread across Emilie’s face. It was nice to talk to someone her age who wasn’t Archer. It was nice to have an actual conversation where she wasn’t catering to children, or to Catherine, who seemed to only want to talk about the castle or the clan.
“Ye’ll be hard pressed to find anyone in here that disagrees with ye,” Paisly answered, giving Emilie another warm, affectionate smile.
The two women stood for a moment in companionable silence, each one chewing their bread. And, for the first time since arriving at Castle McGregor, Emilie began to feel as if she might have just found a friend.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“She was so kind.”
The sound of Paisly’s voice floated to Archer from around the corner, and he stopped in his tracks.
He had been on his way to find Marcus, assuming that he was likely in the small room he’d converted to a workroom for his man-at-arms years before. But Archer had not expected Marcus’ wife to be in there as well.
“She’s seemed that way any time I’ve been around her,” Marcus’ voice chimed, a soft tenor in it that was often only reserved for when he was addressing his wife.
Curiosity bubbled within Archer, wanting to know who they were talking about.
“Smart as a whip, too,” Paisly continued to babble as if Marcus had never spoken. “She was tellin’ me all about how she got hertomatoes to grow at the abbey when I told her we were havin’ trouble. I’m excited to try out her suggestions.”
The abbey? Surely, they cannae be talkin’ about me wife. Nae if she’s sayin’ she’s smart when it comes to plants.
“What else did she tell ye about?” Marcus prompted his wife.
“Said we needed to mix the grounds from our tea into the soil,” Paisly chimed excitedly. “Accordin’ to Emilie, that’ll make nearly any plant perk right up.”
They are talkin’ about me wife. But that cannae be right.
Archer’s mind flicked back to when they had been walking the day before, and she’d blathered on about planting dahlias. Granted, shortly after he’d begun to catch on that she was putting on an act.
But he hadn’t been entirely certain how deep the act would go. All he knew was that there was something to her tip about putting used tea leaves in the soil.
It was something his own mother used to do, back when she had been lively enough and still cared to do things like garden. She’d had a way with plants and had been able to coax the most beautiful blooms from even the most neglected of stalks.
“She told ye about usin’ tea?” Archer mumbled, walking around the corner in one quick stride.
He hadn’t been able to stop himself; his curiosity about everything that they were talking about was getting the better of him.
Paisly whirled. When Archer had entered, her back had been to the door. But now she was staring at him with wide open eyes, one hand pressing into her chest and the other hovering protectively over her stomach.
She let out a scream of surprise, which had Marcus chuckling and Archer immediately apologizing.
“I dinnae mean to scare ye,” Archer muttered, stepping into the small workspace beyond.
Marcus had moved in a bit of furniture over the years. There were shelves for his weapons to be displayed along the walls, a small bookcase, and a writing desk in the center of the room.
It was at the writing desk that Marcus was sitting, with Paisly standing right before it. He crossed the small space in a few quick strides, coming to stand beside Paisly.
By the time their shoulders were aligned, she seemed to have settled quite a bit.