"Until then, though," Kade added firmly, "I'd have ye stay close to me wife. She'll teach ye manners and other things a knight needs to ken, and ye can guard her for me as ye did today."
"With me life, me laird," the boy vowed, the shine in his eyes becoming tears of gratitude.
Kade shifted uncomfortably under the adoration beaming from the boy's eyes, then nodded sternly.
"Go on, then, keep an eye on me lady wife," he ordered, turning to open the door for him. The women in the room paused in their nattering to glance toward the door as Laddie rushed inside beaming, and Kade added, "Make sure she doesna leave this room without me say-so."
"Aye, me laird," Laddie said importantly, then ruined it by smiling so wide Kade feared he'd split his face.
"B-but, husband," Averill protested, rushing across the room.
The moment she stopped before him, Kade bent and gave her a kiss. It was quick, but thorough, and her eyes were closed, a little sigh slipping from her lips as he lifted his head.
"Aye?" he asked.
Her eyes blinked open, confusion in their depths for a moment, then she seemed to recall her protest and frowned. "I cannot stay here. I need to see to a room for Will as well."
Kade nodded slowly, but his mind was on the fact that her stammering had not continued after the kiss. It was not the first time he'd noted that a simple kiss from him seemed to make her forget to be self-conscious and stutter. It seemed he'd just have to kiss his wife a lot to distract her from herself. A terrible duty that, but he was man enough to tend to it, he thought with a grin.
"Husband?" she prodded, scowling now.
Forcing himself to the matter at hand, Kade cleared his throat, and said, "Fine." He glanced over her shoulder to Laddie. "She may travel betwixt this room and the one she's chosen for Lord Mortagne, but nowhere else without me permission."
Averill gave a gusty sigh of disgust, but Kade merely kissed her forehead, pulled the door closed, and headed for the stairs with Aidan.
Chapter Eleven
Averill scowled at the door her husband had just closed, then turned to survey Laddie and the women in the room. She'd just been getting acquainted with them when Kade had interrupted to let the boy in and give his ridiculous order. Aside from Bess, there was a thin young maid named Lily, with lank mousey blond hair and dull eyes. Morag, a middle-aged woman with dark hair and a face that looked as if it had not smiled in a very long time, and an old crone with wiry grey hair and the sweetest smile she'd ever seen. Her name was Annie.
Averill smiled wryly to herself. She'd sent Laddie for mead or cider, and he'd returned with the last three maids left in the keep to explain why there was none. It seemed Laird Stewart saw no need for mead or cider now that his daughter was gone. Ale and whiskey were all that were on offer in the castle. That was something she would need to see to quickly, Averill decided, but it would mean a trip to one of their neighbors, for she'd already been told there was very little in the village. Since their laird never bought any, no extra was made, and the remaining villagers at Stewart made enough only for their own consumption.
Sighing at all the problems quickly becoming apparent, Averill took a moment to feel sorry for herself. But then her usual positive spirit reasserted itself, telling her it was better to be Kade's wife with a heap of trouble to sort out, than Cyril's wife and with probably a whole different set of worries--ones that couldn't be fixed with a bit of time and elbow grease.
"Right!" She straightened her shoulders. "Let us set this room to rights and move on to my brother's so that the men can bring up our belongings."
The women nodded and burst into activity. With her, Bess, the three maids, and even little Laddie helping out, it went very quickly. Although it might have gone quicker still had Laddie not constantly tried to help her. Every time she picked up something or began to dust an item, he was there trying to aid her. In truth, while she found it sweet, it was a bit exasperating, too. The boy was constantly underfoot, staring up at her with adoring eyes, his chest puffed out from pride like a rooster's. His stammering had halted, however. It only occurred a time or two as they worked, and only when he addressed Morag. He seemed to find her intimidating.
"There," Averill said, as she and Bess finished making the bed in Will's room sometime later. "I think we are finished."
"Aye, 'twill do for now." Bess straightened and glanced around the room with satisfaction, but then scowled as her gaze moved down to the floor. She toed the rushes they stood on, and added, "Though I wish we could do something about these rushes."
"We can tend them tomorrow...or perhaps the next day," Averill murmured, thinking they could wait until after she got in some mead and cider.
"Will ye need us anymore, me lady?" Annie asked, moving toward the bed at a pained shuffle. The woman suffered terrible arthritis, but she hadn't let it slow her down. She'd worked just as hard as the rest of them.
"Nay, Annie. Thank you," Averill answered. "With just the three of you, I know there must be duties you are neglecting while here. Go on and tend them."
Nodding, the maid turned and led the other two women to the door. Averill watched them pensively, then glanced to Bess when the maid commented, "Annie seems a nice one, but the other two are a grim pair."
"Aye," she agreed. "Mayhap you could try to catch Annie away from Morag and Lily at some point in the next day or so and find out why."
"I can tell ye why," Laddie said eagerly.
Averill glanced to him, one eyebrow raised. "Can you?"
"Aye. Me ma and Annie used to fret over it." He paused, his expression turning serious as he tried to recall what he'd heard, then said, "Lily was to marry the blacksmith's son, ye ken. She loved him somethin' fierce. But then me d--Laird Brodie," he corrected himself. "He took a shine to her one night while in his cups and wouldna take no for an answer. When the blacksmith's son, Robbie, found out, he called off the wedding. She cried and begged, but he said as how she knew better than to be caught by the goat when he was drinkin' and--"
"The goat?" Averill interrupted uncertainly.
Laddie flushed, but admitted in a mutter, "That's what they call me d--Laird Brodie. The randy, red goat."
"I see," Averill murmured. "Pray, continue."
"Well." He frowned, trying to regather the threads of his story, then shrugged. "He just said as how she must ha'e wanted to be caught, and he'd no raise the goat's bastard."
"She's with child?" Bess asked, eyebrows rising.
"Nay." Laddie shook his head, but then added, "She was but lost the bairn ere it was grown in her. Lily ain't been right in the head since."
"I see," Averill murmured, and sighed unhappily. She was really beginning to dislike Brodie Stewart. "And why is Morag--?"
"Morag is Lily's ma," Laddie said, as if that explained it all, and Averill supposed it did.
Shaking her head, she straightened her shoulders. "Wel
l, thank you for telling me, Laddie. It explains a good deal, I shall--"
A sudden curse in the hall made her pause. Averill glanced toward the door the maids had left open just as a group of men were struggling past. Her eyes widened on the unconscious man they carried, then she rushed forward. "Husband!"
Her cry made the men pause at once, and without further ado they changed direction and carried him inside.
"One of the maids said yours was the room at the end of the hall," Will complained as they moved past her.
Averill didn't bother to explain that this was supposed to be his room. They were much alike anyway, and she was too desperate to find out what was wrong with Kade to wait while they carried him back out and to the next room.
"What happened?" she asked, moving up beside the bed to peer down at her husband as the men laid him down and shifted out of the way.
"One of the stones fell from the curtain wall and caught him unawares as we were surveying the bailey," Will answered grimly, moving up on the opposite side of the bed to peer down at Kade. "Fortunately, he had just turned and started to move away, and it merely sheered the side of his head and hit his shoulder. Had he not moved when he did..."
Will left the consequences unspoken and merely shook his head, but Averill didn't need him telling her what might have happened. The stones used to build the curtain wall and castle were huge and heavy; one hitting him square would have killed him. As it was, there was a nasty, long, bloody gash just behind his ear, she saw, turning his head for a better look, then removing his tunic to see what damage had been done.
"I need water and my medicinals," Averill murmured. She was vaguely aware of Bess moving to fetch her medicinals while one of the men moved out to the hall to bellow down the stairs for one of the maids to bring water, but most of her attention was on Kade as she brushed his hair out of the way the better to see his injury.
"How bad is it?" Will asked quietly.
Averill was silent as she bent to better examine the head wound. It was bleeding quite freely, but she didn't think the damage was as bad as she'd first feared. There was a large bump, and some skin and hair had been sheared away by the boulder, but it would not need stitching. However, while it didn't look bad, that didn't mean all would be well. Head wounds were infamously tricky to deal with.