"No, what?"
Giggling, the little boy said, "Honey bear."
Iain's gaze went back and forth between Gillian and Brodick. "Father Laggan's back," he remarked. "And there's another, younger priest named Stevens with him."
"Why are you telling me this?" Brodick asked.
"I just wanted you to know there are two priests available," Iain explained with a meaningful glance at Gillian.
"I didn't sleep with Brodick," she blurted out. "I have no need for a priest."
"Yes, you did too."
"Alec, it isn't polite to contradict your elders."
"But, Mama…"
"Hush, sweetheart."
Gillian glared at Brodick. He could easily correct this horrid misunderstanding if he would only offer a quick explanation.
He wasn't inclined. He winked at her. "I didn't know a face could get that red," he remarked.
"Do explain," she demanded.
"Explain what?" he asked, feigning innocence.
She turned to Judith. "We were camping… and it isn't what it sounds like… I did sleep, and when I awakened… they were all there…"
"They? "Iain asked.
"His soldiers."
"You slept with his soldiers too?"
She didn't understand that Iain was teasing her. "No… that is to say, we… slept. That's all that happened, Laird."
"Stop tormenting her," Judith ordered. "Can you not see how distressing this is for her? Gillian doesn't understand the Highlanders' humor. What happened to your arm?" Judith asked then, thinking to turn the subject to a less delicate one. "I noticed the bandage, and I was curious-"
Alec interrupted his mother. Jumping off Gillian's lap, he cried out, "Papa, we got to take a walk."
"Now?"
"Yes, Papa, now."
"Alec, I want to talk to Brodick and Gillian. I'm anxious to hear how they found you."
"But, Papa, I got to tell you what I did, and then you're gonna be mad at me. We got to take a walk so I can think about it."
"Come here, son," his father ordered, concerned by the anxiety he saw in Alec's eyes.
The little boy dragged his feet and kept his head down as he went to his father. Iain laid his hands on his shoulders and leaned forward.
Alec promptly burst into tears. "I got real scared, Papa, and I cut Gillian's arm, and then it got all swollen, and Annie had to fix it, and it's all my fault 'cause I hurt a lady, and I'm not ever supposed to hurt ladies, but I got real scared. I didn't like England and I wanted to come home." Alec threw his arms around his father's neck and began to sob in earnest.
"Alec has been very worried that he would disappoint you, Laird," Gillian explained. "He didn't understand that I was trying to help him. He had climbed down with a rope into a gorge, but it was an old rope, and it began to unravel, and he…" She looked to Brodick for help. The task of explaining suddenly became overwhelming and she was so weary she didn't know where to start.
"My son isn't making much sense," Iain said. "He says he was in England?"
Gillian braced herself for the ordeal ahead and quietly said, "He speaks the truth. Alec was in England."
"I told you so, Papa."
Iain nodded but kept his attention on Gillian. "How did my son get to England?"
"Alec didn't go into the falls. He was taken from the festival and imprisoned in a castle in England. That is where I met him."
The expression on Iain's face changed. He put Alec in Judith's lap, and stood. For his son's sake, he tried to keep his voice mild when in fact he wanted to shout.
"Who took him?"
Gillian felt an instant of real fear as the laird towered over her, glowering as though he had already decided she was fully responsible for his son's jeopardy.
"It was a mistake," she began.
"Damned right it was," Iain roared.
Alec's eyes grew wide. "Are you angry, Papa?"
His father took a deep breath. "Yes," he snapped.
"He isn't angry with you, Alec," Gillian whispered.
"He knows that."
"Don't snap at Gillian." Brodick, who had remained silent up until now, sounded as angry as Iain when he gave the command. "She is as innocent as your son in this. Sit down, and I'll tell you what I have learned. I know you're anxious to hear it all, but you cannot raise your voice to Gillian. I will not allow it."
Gillian could see that Iain was ready to explode and hurried to explain before the two lairds got into a real fight. "When I said it was a mistake…"
"Yes?" Iain asked.
"The men who took Alec thought they were stealing Ramsey's brother, Michael. They kidnapped the wrong boy."
"For the love of…" Iain was so enraged he couldn't go on.
"Sit down, husband," Judith suggested. "Listen to what Gillian has to say."
He nearly overturned the chair when he ripped it out from the table and sat down. Leaning back, he stared hard at Gillian for several seconds.
"Start talking."
"It's a very long story, Laird, and Ramsey should be here any minute now, shouldn't he? If you could please wait…"
Iain's jaw was clenched and he shook his head.
"Papa, you know what?" The little boy smiled up at his father when he spoke, and Iain reached over to pat him.
"No, what, Alec?" he asked gruffly.
"We sneaked away twice, but the first time we got dragged back, and it was all my fault 'cause I didn't wait like I was supposed to."
Iain blinked as he tried to sort out his son'scontusing explanation. "What happened the first time you got away?"
"I climbed down into the gorge is what I did," he boasted. "But I didn't get a good rope."
"It was threadbare," Gillian interjected.
"My son climbed down into a gorge with a threadbare rope?" Iain lashed out. "And where were you while Alec was attempting this?"
"Papa, she told me to wait for her, but I didn't, and we weren't supposed to go into the canyon, but I thought it would be faster. Then I got good and stuck, didn't I, Gillian?"
"Yes, you did."
"I was supposed to wait in the stable."
"But you didn't," his mother said.
"No, and I thought Gillian was gonna puke 'cause her face turned green when she looked over the side and saw me. She told me she gets awful sick when she's got to look way down, and she sometimes gets dizzy too."
"You're afraid of-" Judith began.
Her husband interrupted with a question of his own. "But you climbed down to get Alec anyway?"
"I didn't have any other choice."
"She had to fetch me, Papa," Alec explained. "And she was just in time 'cause the rope broke right in half just after she grabbed me. She told me she was awful scared, but she didn't puke."
The child sounded a little disappointed over that fact. Neither one of his parents smiled, for they were both thinking about the near miss their son had had.
They were also realizing that Gillian had saved him.
"I will force myself to be patient a little longer and wait until Ramsey arrives to hear your accounting," Iain announced. "But at the very least, give me the names of the bastards who stole my child from me," he demanded. "By God, I want to know who they are and now, this minute."
"I've warned you not to take that tone with Gillian. Now I'm ordering you, Iain. I won't have her upset."
Judith Maitland couldn't make up her mind who was more surprised by Brodick's angry outburst. Iain looked flabbergasted, and Gillian appeared to be incredulous.
Iain quickly recovered. He leaned forward and in a furious hiss said, "You dare to order me?"
Brodick also leaned forward. "That's exactly what I-"
Gillian, hoping to avert the budding hostility, blurted out, "Shouting at me won't upset me."
"But it upsets me, Gillian."
Gillian wondered if Brodick realized he was nearly shouting at her now. She looked to Judith for help, but it was Alec who inadvertently turned his father's attention.