Page 14 of Laird Of Her Heart

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Nothing. That’s all I know.”

He did not believe her. She knew more. She knew something. He leaned forward and pinned her with an intense look. “What happened in this year of our Lord?”

“This year?”

“Aye. 1291.”

Her throat worked. “It’s 1291?”

He shot her a dark glance and she shrugged.

“I’ve…lost track of time.” A huffed and manic laugh. “Where does it go?”

“What happens?” A growl.

“Clan Chattan formed, of course.”

No. There was something more. Something she was keeping from him. But he did not have a chance to probe deeper because Declan returned with a platter of venison, which he dropped before her with a clang.

She studied it askance. “Is this a lead plate?”

Declan narrowed his eyes. “’Tis pewter.”

She sighed and picked up the meat between two fingers. “You really shouldn’t use pewter,” she said.

For someone who was starving, she nibbled at it rather gingerly.

He had to ask. Just had to. “Why should we no’ use pewter?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s made with lead. Lead is poisonous.”

He nearly laughed out loud. Cups and plates had been made from pewter for centuries. If lead were poisonous, they’d all be dead. Still, she ate the venison in tiny bites, meticulously avoiding the side that had touched the plate.

Declan watched, his hands on his hips, an expression of disgust on his face. “So,” he said. “What do we do with her?”

Keep her. The thought rang in Dominic’s head. Keep her. “We’ll take her back to Castle Dar.”

Declan’s head whipped around. He frowned. “But we’re no’ done hunting.”

“We have a good start.”

“Not nearly enough for the winter.” He glowered at Maggie, who shot him a cheerful grin as she licked her fingers. “We should stay a little longer.”

A trickle of concern dribbled through him. Surely it was not fear he might lose her if he did not secure her in his keep? She’d already escaped once. No doubt she would try again. But Declan was right. Winter was coming and they needed to prepare for the long, cold months ahead. “A few more days then. But we’ll be keeping you under guard.” This he said to Maggie. Just so she knew they would be watching.

He disliked the thought of keeping her tied up, but disliked the thought of her slipping away even more. He didn’t have the time or the inclination to explore the conundrum, because just then, Declan nodded and said, “We shall tie her to a tree for the night,” and every thought flew from his head.

He bounded to his feet as annoyance and fury and something more whipped through him. “We are no’ tying her to a tree.” There was no need to bellow, the tent was small after all, but the roar was out before he could stop it. Surely he hadn’t been entertaining the thought of keeping her here? With him? On his pallet? Wound together?

Surely he hadn’t been entertaining other thoughts as well, there in the dark and shadowy recesses of his mind.

Guilt slithered through his gut.

All right, perhaps he had been. A little.

Declan crossed his arms. “I doona have time to build a cage for her.”

Dominic gaped at him. His jaw dropped. “A cage?”