“Sing the baby song!” she demanded in a loud whisper.
Tate frowned at her. “Hush,” he hissed sternly. “I will not sing anything if you do not lay still.”
Ailsa stuck her lip out but obediently lay back down. When all was still and quiet in the room and Ailsa stopped fidgeting, Tate’s pure baritone filled the stale air as gently as the brush of a butterfly’s wing.
To the sky, my sweet babe;
The night is alive, my sweet babe.
Your dreams are filled with raindrops from heaven;
Sleep, my sweet babe, and cry no more
The words faded and he began to hum the tune, his lips against Toby’s head and his arms tightly about her. He swore he felt her snuggle against him, sighing contentedly with slumber, and Ailsa wrapped a little hand around his enormous fingers as she drifted off to sleep. When he should have been seeing to his men and the threat of Mortimer’s assassins, he found himself content to daydream away the morning with Toby and her little sister.
It was a joy he had been denied once, those years ago when his wife and child perished in childbirth. He would not be denied it again.
CHAPTER SIX
The room wasdark with dusk as soft sounds from the bailey wafted in through the lancet window. The old door to the chamber creaked open and someone entered the room quietly. Tate wasn’t asleep; he’d heard the door open even though his back was to it. And he recognized Stephen’s footfalls by the hollow sound of the boot.
“What is it?” he asked softly, his mouth muffled against Toby’s head.
“Our sentries have seen movement about a half mile to the south,” Stephen whispered. “You are needed, my lord.”
Tate looked up over his shoulder, seeing Stephen’s face looming in the dim room. “Is the fortress locked down?”
“Wallace has it sealed up tightly.”
“Then I shall be down in a moment. You and Kenneth assemble in the solar and wait for me.”
There was something in Stephen’s lingering gaze that peaked Tate’s curiosity. It was no more than a flicker before he turned away to do his liege’s bidding, but in that flicker was something alien. Tate had known Stephen for years and wasn’t sure what he just saw in the man’s reflection. But he made a mental note to ask him about it later.
When the door to the chamber shut softly, Tate tried to very carefully disengage himself from Toby and Ailsa. But Toby had a grip on his arm and Ailsa still held his hand. He managed to get free of Ailsa but when it came to gently disengaging Toby’s grasp, he woke her before he could complete the task. When she rolled onto her back to look sleepily at him, he smiled.
“Go back to sleep,” he whispered, placing her arm beneath the blanket and tucking it in around her. “I will be back.”
She yawned. “Where are you going?”
“Not far. I promise I will return shortly.”
He gently touched her forehead and moved away from the bed. But she reached out to grab his hand before he could move away completely. There was a strange look of anxiety to her eyes and he kissed the hand that held onto him.
“I shall return, I promise,” he kissed her hand again and put it back under the blanket. “Go back to sleep.”
That seemed to satisfy her and she drifted off again. Quietly, Tate quit the chamber and went downstairs.
Kenneth, Stephen, Edward and Wallace were in the solar when he arrived. The room was lit by a bright fire, almost too hot in the small closeness of the room. Tate focused on Stephen.
“What is our status?” he asked.
“As I said, we have tracked movement about a half mile to the south,” Stephen responded. “I have sent out a small scout party. We should be receiving a report from them shortly.”
Tate nodded, raking his fingers through his dark hair and spying a pitcher and a few cups on a table near the door. He went to it, pouring himself a cup of strong ale.
“Then we wait,” he said as he lifted the cup to his lips. “I have no doubt who they are. The question is how long it will take Mortimer to raise a large enough army to lay siege to Harbottle.”
“Then we should leave,” Edward said firmly. “We must get out of here.”