Page 12 of Highland Steel

“We’ll leave for the Highlands in the morning, with or without an escort,” she told her siblings. “And we will do whatever it takes to save Lockie because that is what Ailsa and Mother would have wanted us to do.”

Chapter 4

“Lady Rhoswen, are ye sure ye dinna want to take yer faither’s body back to England?” asked Logan a short time later. He stayed in the tavern talking to Rhoswen and the other two, while Hawke, Caleb, and Ethan wrapped the dead man in a blanket and carried the body out back. Logan had built a quick wooden casket and it was ready for use outside the back of the tavern.

Old Callum could be heard all the way from the kitchen complaining about his bread table while Cuddy argued with him that he was the one who always had to clean up the messes. “I’ll no’ be wantin’ that blanket back now either,” said Callum. “I’ll no’ be givin’ my customers somethin’ that was wrapped around a dead Sassenach.”

Logan walked over to the kitchen and stuck his head inside the room. “Add the damned blanket to my bill,” he said, closing the door and walking back to Rhoswen.

“We’ll bury my father here,” said Rhoswen.

“Here?” Logan asked. “I’m no’ sure Auld Callum will like that. As a matter of fact, I can guarantee he willna. Yer faither’s a lord and needs to go back to yer castle.”

Rhoswen slammed down the spoon and stood while Newell and Blaine watched her with sullen looks upon their faces.

“We are not going back to England and I don’t want to hear you suggest it again.”

She stormed away from the table and out the door.

“Newell?” asked Logan, not sure why Rhoswen seemed so angry. “Ye’re Lord Asquith’s squire. Dinna ye think ye should see to buryin’ him?”

“I – I don’t know,” said the boy, seeming very shaken and unsure of what to do.

Blaine looked over at Newell with tears dripping down her cheeks. “I want to see him one last time, Newell. Go with me so we can pay him our last respects. It’s what Mother would have wanted.”

Mother? Thought Logan. That was an odd thing for the handmaid to say. Something was not right here and Logan started to think that these two were not who they pretended to be. “Ye two seem awfully close to Lord Asquith. I suppose I can see that his squire would care so much about him, but a lady’s handmaid?”

Blaine looked at Newell and burst into tears. She reached out and hugged him, hiding her face on his shoulder.

“Stop it,” Newell whispered to her. “He wouldn’t have liked you acting this way.”

“Why dinna ye two head on out back through the kitchen?” suggested Logan. “Ye can pay yer last respects. Meanwhile, I am goin’ to go find Lady Rhoswen.”

Rhoswen paced back and forth outside the tavern, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. She cursed her father for the things he had done and for dying and leaving her in this position. She also cursed herself for being so blind that she didn’t know what had been happening right under her nose.

“Lady Rhoswen?” asked Logan, following her out of the tavern.

“What is it?” she snapped.

He stopped in his tracks and looked at her from the corners of his eyes. “I think we need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk. I have a lot on my mind.”

“Now,” he said, taking her by the elbow and leading her to the stable that was used to shelter the horses of the travelers who stayed at the inn. Once inside, he lit a lantern. “I’d like to ken what is really goin’ on.”

“Whatever do you mean? We were attacked by bandits and now my father is dead. I’m sure you already know that so why do you ask?”

“I’m no’ talkin’ about that.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“Let’s start with Blaine and Newell.”

“What about them?

“Who are they really?” he questioned her.

She was about to stick to the plan and tell them what her father had wanted people to think, but then she realized it didn’t matter anymore. Plus, she was so angry with her father that she didn’t want him controlling her actions from the grave.