Ella held her bowl out tentatively, as if she did not expect him to give her the second helping. It was not his business, but it seemed to him that Lady Margaret had made a verra poor choice in the woman she’d left Ella with in the village. Besides being thin and dressed in rags, the bairn was too quiet.
He was surprised he did not mind the wee bairn’s company at all. In truth, she was a welcome distraction from Lady Margaret. The damned woman sparked his curiosity. He wondered if there was a hot, passionate woman beneath her calm exterior—and the devil in him was tempted to find out.
Sailing to the Highlands had another advantage—on an open ship, he’d never be alone with her.
“Time for us to find a boat sailing north,” he said once Ella had finished. “The sailors will all be in the tavern next to the harbor.”
He packed up their things and bridled the horse to lead it down. He was uneasy taking Margaret and Ella into a gathering place for rough, seafaring men who were mostly pirates, but, promise or no, he could not trust Margaret not to run off if he left them.
He glanced sideways at her as they started down the slope toward the harbor. Despite the servant’s clothing, she would stick out in the tavern like a rose growing in the midst of a pigsty. Besides her pearly-white skin and slender hands that had never scrubbed a pot, she carried herself with a quiet dignity that set her apart.
Worst of all, the lass was too damned beautiful. If she had half the effect on other men as she did on him, there could be trouble.
“Some of these men are unsavory,” Finn warned her. “You’ll be safe in the tavern and on the boat so long as the men think you belong to me.”
“Belongto you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ll tell them you’re my wife.” He ignored Margaret’s startled expression. “You’ll fit in better as a Maggie, so that’s what I’ll call ye.”
“All right,” she said without any hesitation.
“And you, wee one,” he said, picking up Ella, “will be our daughter.”
“You’ll be her father?” Margaret said. “Does this mean you’re going to be drunk and miserable?”
He laughed and put his arm around her. Now that they were in sight of the boats and the tavern, he may as well play the part. But he had no business enjoying it.
He’d misjudged the lass when he saw her at Holyrood Palace and thought she was cold andhumorless. Still, Lady Margaret did not seem the sort to engage in a brief and frivolous affair. He was beginning to think that was a shame.
A damned shame.
###
When they reached the tavern, Margaret took Ella from Finn and ducked under the low threshold behind him. Inside it was dark and noisy and had a foul stench that made her gag.
“Stay close to me,” Finn ordered and clamped a hand on her elbow. “I’ll make this as quick as I can.”
Margaret thought he was warning her not to attempt to escape—until her eyes adjusted to the gloom. Men at court made her uncomfortable with their suggestive remarks and attempts to lure her into dark corners, but these men with their hard expressions and scarred faces looked as if they would slash her throat to steal a ring without a twinge of regret.
“Finn, is that you?” a loud female voice called out.
A woman with wild, unbound red hair, laughing eyes, and a generous bosom that threatened to spill out of her ill-fitting bodice pushed men aside as she bounded toward them. She threw her arms around Finn and kissed him right on the mouth. And continued kissing him as if intent on sucking the life out of him.
The woman’s brazen sensuality made Margaret feel painfully prim and uncomfortable in her own skin. Unlike her, this young woman clearly enjoyed her appeal to men. She would be surprised to learn Margaret envied her that.
Of course, her envy had nothing to do with the particular man the woman had her lips locked on at the moment. After what seemed an unnecessarily long time, Finn removed the woman’s arms from around his neck. Then he nodded toward Margaret as he spoke to the woman.
The woman shot sour looks at Margaret while she and Finn continued their whispered conversation. Then she called a couple of men over, and they all talked some more.
“Found a ship sailing in the morning,” Finn said when he returned to Margaret’s side. He paused and peered more closely at her. “I’m sorry if that embarrassed ye. The lass meant no harm.”
“She appears to know ye rather well,” Margaret said. “Do ye come this way often?”
“I came here once, two or three years ago,” he said, and took Margaret’s arm.
“Must have been a memorable visit,” Margaret murmured beneath the noise of the tavern as he led her out.
“The lass helped me find someone to buy the horse as well,” Finn said as he untied his horse outside the tavern. “He makes his living hauling goods to and from the boats and lives just up the path here behind the tavern.”