Her eyes rounded. “Really? Usually my family is telling me to stop talking.”
“I like yer voice. Tell me yer strengths.”
He wasn’t sure why it suddenly mattered so much to him, but it did. He liked Leanna Oliphant more than he should, considering her father might be guilty of murder at best, conspiracy against the crown at worst. But Kenneth’s cock wasn’t listening to logic or reasoning, and neither was his heart.
“I’m… I’m good at seeing different ways around a problem.” Her expression fell and she glanced away. “Och, ‘tis no’ a verra good way of explaining things. But when ye have five talented aulder sisters, and a father who’s mayhap a bit mad, and a mother who catches every ailment possible, even some of the impossible ones…” She shrugged. “I’ve gotten good at seeing all the possibilities in a situation.”
“And seeing which ones have the best chance at success?”
Her expression brightened, and she met his eyes once more. Saints preserve him, but he loved seeing the light of excitement in her eyes.
“Aye! ‘Tis that exactly!”
“Well, then, Leanna…” He squeezed her hands once more, trying to convey his seriousness. “I believe in ye. I believe ye can help me.”
The smile which bloomed across her face was full of so much joy, he had to smile in return.
“Oh, thank ye!” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “Thank ye, Kenneth! I’ll no’ let ye down! I can help ye find yer missing man—‘tis a man, aye? I can help find him! I ken the castle inside and out. Why, I dinnae even think Da kens the secret passages as well as I do!”
“Secret passages?” Senses long attuned to danger and clues heightened at this mention, and he remembered the way he’d joked with Brodie around their campfire. “Oliphant Castle has secret passages?”
“Aye, and if yer man was here in the castle, and kenned the passages, he would’ve been able to explore the whole place without anyone seeing him!”
Kenneth’s mind whirled. Was that why he’d found no trace of McIlvain? He’d asked so many people, but none remembered seeing a man matching the missing Hunter’s description or plaid.
“I think… I think ye’d better show me these passages, lass.”
In her excitement, Leanna was already tugging him around the side of the castle. “There’s an entrance this way, behind the kitchens. Are ye going to tell me anything about this man? ‘Tis a man, aye?”
So there was a way to access the passages without even having to be seen entering the castle? Interesting.
Distractedly, Kenneth hummed a negative. “I dinnae think ‘twould be wise.”
Leanna halted, a frown tugging at her expressive mouth. “Then how am I supposed to help ye find him?”
Carefully, he considered what he could share without giving away too much of his mission.
“The man’s name is McIlvain.” There, no need to tell her he was a laird, or that Kenneth himself was a laird. “He’s tall and broad-shouldered—”
“As tall and well-built as ye?”
She thought him well-built?
Well, a man would have to be half-dead before he didn’t respond to a compliment such as that. Kenneth felt himself preening a bit under her praise.
“Mayhap no’ quite as well,” he teased her. “His hair is a dark blond, and he carries a magnificent sword, even longer than mine.” He paused, trying to remember how else to identify the missing Hunter. “I believe he favors his left hand, although that isnae something ye might identify on sight. Och, and he is missing his right eye and wears a patch over it.”
Leanna’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Ye might’ve led with that!”
Frowning in confusion, he asked, “What?”
But she merely rolled her eyes and tugged him forward once more. “Never mind. Yer one-eyed, golden giant of a man with a mighty sword shouldnae be too hard to find. Come along.”
And Kenneth, saints bless him, was helpless to do aught besides follow.
He suspected no matter where Leanna Oliphant went, he would always follow, because the longer he spent in her company, the more certain he became she was holding onto his heart.