Seonaid paused at the top of the stairs and stared around with surprise. Duncan had started the changes abovestairs before she'd left. He'd decided to add rooms when his father had pointed out that the family was growing and that should Iliana's mother visit, she would be expected to have one of the three rooms abovestairs. He had then added that neither he nor Seonaid were giving up theirs, so Duncan had best be prepared to give up the one he shared with his young bride. The idea of sleeping in the great hall with his sweet young wife had been more than Duncan could stand. He had been in a panic to build extra rooms abovestairs. It appeared the deed was done. Certainly the upstairs sported twice the rooms it used to.
Seonaid hesitated, then moved to the door to her own room, or at least the room she used to sleep in, and presumedly still did. However, when she opened the door, she found it already occupied. Seonaid came to a halt in the entrance. It took her a second to recognize Helen sound asleep on her bed. Unwilling to disturb her and then have to answer questions, Seonaid backed out of the room.
" 'Tis sorry I am, me lady. But I thought it best to put the sister in yer room," the maid, Janna, explained as she rushed up. "The new rooms are no yet all properly furnished."
Seonaid waved the explanation and apology away. " 'Tis fine. I'll take one o' the other rooms. Lord Rolfe and Sherwell can either share a room or fight over who sleeps below. I am too tired to be polite and would not disturb Hel--er, Sister Helen," she corrected herself quickly. "Mayhap ye can go below to sort out the men and where they're to sleep."
"Aye, m'lady."
Seonaid watched her hurry off to the stairs, which was the only reason she saw Blake appear as he took the last few steps to the landing. When he spotted her and started forward, Seonaid turned away and hurried to the door of the first of the new rooms.
"Seonaid!" Blake called, his voice grim.
Not in the mood to talk, Seonaid managed to slip inside and shut the door before he reached her. She had slammed the bar into place across it just before his fist landed on the other side.
"Seonaid!"
"Go away!" she yelled through the door, then turned to survey the room she'd chosen. A grimace immediately made its way across her face. It had a bed, but that was all. There was no other furniture in the room. Neither were there tapestries on the wall yet, nor even linens on the bare straw mattress of the bed. Seonaid shrugged. She'd slept in worse conditions. At least she had a bed.
"Seonaid, open the door!" Blake pounded on the wooden surface, but she ignored him. Removing her plaid, she wrapped it around herself like a blanket as she crossed the room, then collapsed on the bed to seek the oblivion of sleep.
Blake glared at the door with frustration and pounded on it again. "Seonaid! Come out here!"
"Here! What's all this racket? How's a body supposed to rest and regain his health with the likes o' you making all this noise?"
Blake turned slowly to find his intended father-in-law standing in the open doorway of the room across the hall from the one he had just pounded on. But it was the sight of his fine new braies on the man that made him scowl. The doublet was missing, but the bandage around the Scot's upper chest reminded Blake that the man had been shot in the shoulder by an arrow ... and no doubt while wearing the gold doublet too. The blasted thing was probably ruined.
"Aye. What's all the racket?" Duncan asked, drawing Blake's attention to the next door down, which had opened to reveal the younger male Dunbar in a similar state of undress, though he wore only a linen wrapped around his waist. A damp linen. The man had obviously just come from his bath.
"My apologies, gentlemen," Blake said dryly. "I was merely trying to have a word with Seonaid."
"Well, have it another time. 'Tis obvious she's no interested in talkin' to ye." Angus's gaze slid past him to the door, then back, and a grudging smile curved his lips. "Managed to get her out o' the abbey, I see. That's a surprise. She must favor ye more than I thought, else she woudna have come out."
Blake snorted. "She came out because the abbess had unbarred the door to let us in. She thought it was safer to leave. We just got lucky enough to catch her. Then catch her again, and again."
Duncan gave a bark of laughter and moved away from his door to draw nearer, dragging the linen behind him as he came. "She's makin' ye run after her, is she?"
"Aye. The only reason we managed to get here now is because the Camerons attacked, else she would have made another run for it," Blake admitted grimly.
"The Camerons?" Angus's eyebrows flew up, and his gaze shot to Duncan before he glanced back and asked, "Well, what did ye do to make them angry at ye, lad?"
"Me?" Blake said with surprise. "They were not after me. Seonaid, Aeldra, and Sister Helen were bathing when the men attacked them. Seonaid said they were enemies to the Dunbars and it was best to get back here before they went for help and came back with a larger party."
Father and son exchanged another glance.
"Why would she lie about that?" Duncan asked his father, but the older man merely shook his head in open bewilderment.
"Do you mean to say the Camerons are not enemies to the Dunbars?" Blake asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Nay. We've no fight with the Camerons," Duncan told him.
"But she said you did."
"She lied," Angus said easily, not at all upset that she had.
"But she made us ride day and night to reach here for fear they would attack again."
"She made ye hurry back here?" Duncan asked with surprise.
"Hmmm." Angus pursed his lips and scratched the gray stubble on his cheek thoughtfully. "That does seem odd." Then he asked, "Did you say Sister Helen? Ye brought a nun back with ye from St. Simmian's?"
Blake nodded. "Aye. Seonaid had promised to escort the sister to England to visit her family."
"She did, did she?" Angus was looking even more thoughtful at this news.
"Aye," Blake murmured, then glanced past Duncan to a dark-haired beauty standing in the doorway. Blake had never met Iliana of Wildwood before, but if this was she, Duncan was a lucky beggar.
"Husband? Is anything wrong?" the woman called softly.
Duncan whirled toward her voice and shook his head as he moved back to her. "Nay. Everything is fine. 'Tis just that fool countryman o' yers causing a racket as he tries to woo Seonaid. He ..." The rest of what he was saying to his wife was lost to Blake as the man urged her backward into their room, followed her, and closed the door without a by-your-leave to his father or Blake.
Angus was grinning with amusement when Blake turned back to him. No doubt his son's description of him as "that fool countryman of yours" had amused the man.
"Back to why Seonaid would lie about the Camerons ..." he said grimly, but the older man cut him off.
"We'll sort that out when she emerges," he said, waving the matter away as inconsequential; then he tipped his head and asked, "Would ye care for a bit of advice on wooin' me daughter?"
Blake stiffened at the very suggestion. He had never in his life needed advice on wooing. He'd been a born wooer, wooing the local girls before he'd left the cradle. "Nay. I do not need advice on wooing Seonaid," he said stiffly. "Especially from you."
"As ye like," the old man said with a shrug. "But mayhap I should point out that I am wooin' Lady Wildwood ... and verra well," he added with a grin. "While you appear to be makin' a mess o' it with me daughter." He allowed Blake to gnaw on that for a moment, then added, "Seonaid isna one of those weak-kneed, simpering idiots yer used to at court. Pretty words and fancy dress'll no impress her. It will take a strong man to move my girl."