"Had any lost their masts?" he asked sharply.
Conran shook his head. "I do no' ken. I did no' ask what kind o' damage. We were looking for a boat we'd thought had sunk."
Aulay cursed.
"We can ride out again and ask about ships with damage," Conran offered.
"Nay. Ye can't," he said abruptly. "I need ye here to sit with Geordie."
When Conran's eyebrows rose, Aulay frowned and considered the situation briefly. He hadn't yet had a chance to talk to the men who were on the wall when Katie took the arrow. By the time he got back to Buchanan, sent Uncle Acair back to the lodge with some men, and talked to Geordie, the men who had been on the wall had all finished their shift. But if they'd seen anything of import, they'd have told Acair, so he didn't expect to learn much from them anyway. And he had men out searching the woods, but wasn't holding out much hope there either. As far as he could tell, his only hope of catching Katie's attacker was if they tried again to kill her.
"To comfort Geordie, or protect Kate?" Conran asked finally, when Aulay remained lost in his thoughts.
Aulay considered explaining his thinking, but in the end, merely said, "Both."
"So ye do think Kate's attacker may try again," Conran said with a frown. "Does Geordie know?"
"Nay." Aulay saw no reason to worry Geordie with this added issue. He was concerned enough about the lass. "I do no' want him or anyone else to ken ye're guarding them. That way, should Geordie leave the room to visit the garderobe, Kate's attacker will think the way clear to make another attempt."
"How are we to manage me guarding them without Geordie knowing?" Conran asked with a frown.
"The passages," Aulay said. "Ye'll ride out on a supposed chore for me, and take the passages back in. Ye can watch the room from there."
"Ahhh," Conran said with sudden understanding. "That would be why ye had Katie moved to Saidh's old room when ye got back this morn. The guest chamber she was in could no' be reached by the tunnels."
"Aye."
"What if Katie dies ere another attempt is made?" Conran asked. "Rory has no' held out much hope o' her recovering. Whoever shot the arrow at her may just be waiting to see if she dies from her injuries from the first attempt."
Aulay scowled over that. There was a good possibility that might happen. And then once the lass died, another attempt would be unnecessary and they would never find out who had killed her. He didn't like that thought at all. Young Katie deserved justice.
"I'll have Rory suggest she's improving," Aulay said, thinking he'd have to have him say it in the Great Hall in front of a crowd of their people. He'd ask how the lass was, and Rory could say she was much stronger than expected and improving.
"That should work," Conran said with a nod. "Whoever shot her with the arrow is more likely to make a second attempt if they think she is getting better." Conran picked up his ale and took a long swallow. Setting his drink down then, he nodded again and said, "Verra well. I'll head out right away."
Aulay shook his head. "'Tis nearly the sup. Ye'd never set out on a journey this late in the day. Ye can set out in the morn."
Conran frowned and shook his head. "I do no' like the idea o' leaving Geordie and Katie unprotected all night. I'll say I'm retiring early to rest up for my trip tomorrow, and then slip into the passage from me room tonight. Then I'll ride out in the morn and slip back through the passages to continue watching the room."
Aulay shook his head at once. Conran couldn't watch all night and tomorrow too. "I'll watch the room tonight, so ye can rest up to watch tomorrow."
"Truly?" Conran asked with surprise.
Aulay arched his eyebrows. "Ye need no' sound so surprised. I do do things around here too."
"Well, aye, usually," he agreed. "But this will leave you missing out on rest, fer I ken ye'll no' be left to sleep the morn away tomorrow. Half the population o' Buchanan seems ready to pester you with complaints now ye're back after having been away this past month."
"Aye," Aulay said dryly. It was part of the reason it had taken him so long to get his uncle off on his way to the lodge and then to get up to see Geordie. He'd been constantly stopped by people with one problem or another he needed to sort out for them. In fact, Aulay was rather amazed he'd managed to have this conversation with Conran without interruption. As if he'd jinxed himself with the thought, the keep doors opened, and the stable master entered, looked around, spotted him at the table and hurried toward them.
"Do no' worry about me and sleep," Aulay said finally as he got to his feet. "I had four weeks o' little but sleep. I'll survive a night or two without."
Leaving Conran at the table, he walked to meet the stable master and see what was wrong.
Chapter 7
Aulay was in a deep slumber when a soft knock at the door stirred him. Blinking sleepily, he glanced toward the window to see the weak early morning light seeping through. The sun wasn't even fully up, he noted with a frown and sat up in the bed, finding it odd to be in one after nearly five weeks on the pallet on the floor that he'd been calling bed since Jetta's arrival in his life. Actually, he recalled suddenly, he hadn't really slept in this one. At least, not for long. Conran had only relieved him from watching Geordie and Katie moments ago from what he could tell. By his guess, he'd got perhaps ten minutes of sleep.
Groaning at the thought, Aulay climbed from the bed and crossed the room in his bed shirt, thinking Jetta would probably tease him did she see him in it. He followed the thought with a shake of the head meant to remove thoughts of his wee counterfeit wife.
Aulay had been doing his best not to think of Jetta since leaving the lodge. But that was something he was finding ridiculously hard to do. From the moment he'd ridden away from the lodge, everything had seemed to remind him of her. His horse's tail, he'd noted, was the same jet black as her hair. The grass under the bright sunlight was the same sparkling green as her eyes. The fluffy white clouds filling the sky overhead after the storm had made him think of her porcelain skin . . . and that had just been during the first few minutes of his journey back. It had continued all the way here and still continued.
When he'd had Rory take him to see Katie on his arrival here, the dark-haired maid lying pale and still in the bed had reminded Aulay of Jetta when she'd still been unconscious. The maid was petite like her, and had the same dark hair as well. Knowing she probably didn't look all that much like Jetta, and that it was just his infatuated mind seeing Jetta everywhere, Aulay had then gone below to talk to his uncle and find out what they'd learned about the attack. Servants had immediately brought pastries for him to break his fast with and he'd thought that, as nice as Mavis's pastries had been, Cook's were better and he should take some back for Jetta when he returned.
Truly, he did not seem able to have a single thought enter his head without it somehow leading to thoughts of Jetta. That realization had led Aulay to acknowledging that he was never going to break this attraction he had for her. Knowing that, he'd also quite plainly seen his future. Jetta would somehow find out they were not married and leave him, and he would be a broken man. It was that simple. Aulay had thought he was broken after the injury he
took and Adaira's leaving him, but suspected that would be nothing next to his losing Jetta. This loss, he feared, was one he would not recover from.
Made irritable by the thought, he pulled his door open and scowled at the knocker. When Aulay realized it was Alick, his scowl merely deepened. "Where the devil ha'e you been?"
Eyes widening with surprise, his younger brother frowned. "Did Rory no' tell ye? I went to see Saidh and Greer."
"Aye, he told me," Aulay admitted. "But that was two weeks ago. What the devil took ye so long?"
"They were away when I arrived at MacDonnell," he explained. "Off visiting Niels and Edith on their way north. So I rested overnight at MacDonnell and then followed them to Drummond. But by the time I arrived, they'd left Drummond for Carmichael, to see Dougall and Murine. Well," he said with apparent exasperation. "O' course, Edith insisted I rest the night before continuing on and . . ."
Aulay listened absently to his brother's long, drawn-out explanation, or perhaps he didn't really listen at all. Mostly he was wondering to himself if Jetta would like Edith, Murine, Jo and Saidh. His sister was thick as thieves with her friends, which was a good thing since two of them were now married to two of his brothers. But he suspected Jetta would like them. She'd probably like their friend Jo, too, and fit in easily with the group of women. And they, of course, would love her, he decided. She was clever and sweet with a wonderful sense of humor. How could they help but love her?
They couldn't, Aulay decided firmly and returned his attention to his brother as he concluded, "We finally caught up with them as they returned home to MacDonnell, but the minute I finished explaining about Jetta, Saidh insisted on heading here. O' course, she first had to pack fresh clothes and Greer had to take care o' some business, so we did no' leave right away, but, finally, here we are," Alick finished.
"Here ye are," Aulay agreed dryly. "But why are ye knocking on me door so early in the morning?"