Highland Hero

by Amanda Scott

  “You relieve my mind by saying it, sir,” James said with a direct look. “I may be gey young, but I have eyes and ears, and I use them. I ken fine that my brother Davy angers many powerful men, including our uncle. And he covets his old position as Governor of the Realm and means to steal it back from Davy. I ken, too, that when his grace dies, Davy will be King. And if Davy dies without issue before I die, I will be King. So I hope Davy lives for a hundred years or at least long enough for me to grow up and learn how to be a king.”

  Ivor said, “I hope so, too, lad,” and felt a shiver race up his spine.

  Shrugging it off, he saw Wolf coming toward them and stood to meet him.

  Without urging, James stood, too.

  Wolf’s grin flashed as usual when he drew near. He said to James, “Would you like to learn how one steers this ship, laddie?”

  “Aye, sure,” James said, his eyes alight with boyish pleasure.

  “Then go and tell Coll, my helmsman yonder, that I said he is to show you how he does it. But if he should tell you to come back here, you come at once and without questioning him or trying to cozen him into letting you stay.”

  James nodded, glanced at Ivor, and said, “I’ll do as ye say, sir.”

  “Good lad,” Jake said, clapping him on the shoulder.

  As James turned away, Ivor said to him, “After Wolf and I have talked, you may come back. I’ll show you how to play chess then… unless you already know.”

  “His grace, my father, has shown me how the pieces should move,” James replied. “But I do not know how to play well, and I would like to learn.”

  “Good enough,” Ivor said, touching his shoulder. “You may go aft now.”

  As they watched the boy hurry along the gangway, Jake said, “He already has his sea legs. The lad learns quickly.”

  “Aye, so quickly that one suspects sometimes that he is seventy rather than half past seven,” Ivor said.

  “He does display the regal manner. But he is not the one that concerns me, Hawk.” When Ivor raised his eyebrows, Jake shrugged. “I do think we should keep to Hawk and Wolf for now. I trust my men to keep mum about aught that I do but not enough to tell them who the lad is—or who you are, come to that.”

  “Aye, then,” Ivor said. “But if the lad does not concern you, who does?”

  “The lass, Marsi. I thought at first that she was from the Borders. But she slides in and out of most un-Borders-like accents. D’ye ken aught about her?”

  “I don’t. Is it important?”

  “I doubt it. I just wondered. Likely, she has served members of the royal court long enough to have picked up various manners of speech—even noble ones—and simply tries out a new one now and now. I did that myself as a lad. But I did wonder, because she looked taken aback when I spoke to her earlier.”

  “She thought you were mocking her manner of speech. I told her that when we met as lads, I could scarcely understand you when you spoke.”

  Jake grinned. “Sakes, that was the only thing that separated Highlanders from the rest of us at St. Andrews,” he said. “Even that wasn’t certain, since all of us quickly acquired both tongues. I spent my early life in Galloway but learned the Gaelic from the MacLennans. You spoke both languages well when we met.”

  “Aye, sure, because my father and grandfather did,” Ivor said. “Show me where that chessboard is now. I promised to keep James entertained whilst the lass looks after Mistress Henrietta.”

  “I don’t know how long Mistress Henrietta will let the lass hover over her. She was already muttering when I left. The wind is stronger, though, and the lads have stopped rowing. That should ease what ails her.”

  Ivor smiled. “I don’t like hovering nursemaids, either, when I’m sick. But I told the lass to stay in the cabin. I’d liefer that passersby see no women aboard.”

  Marsi was at her wits’ end. She had never so closely looked after anyone else before, let alone a seasick person. And she had not given a thought to that fact even when Jamie had declared that Hetty would be seasick. She realized now that she had stupidly assumed that Hetty would insist on looking after herself.

  But Hetty could not. She had been sick in the pail three more times, making Marsi wonder how much more could come up. The captain had rapped on the door once to give her a jug of water and to tell her where she would find a mug.

  “Make her drink some every now and now,” he had said.

  “Sakes, sir, she will only throw it up again.”

  “Aye, perhaps,” he said. “But it will become more painful for her if she has nowt to bring up.”

  So Marsi had tried, but Hetty did not want to drink. Nor did she want a pillow or anything else that Marsi suggested for her comfort.

  At least, the breeze coming through one porthole and passing through to the other kept the noxious odors at bay. Also, the ship had steadied its motion, and Hetty was lying down on the lower bed with a damp cloth on her forehead.

  Marsi had done what she could to tidy the cabin and had washed her own face. She felt better after that. But when she took the cloth from Hetty’s forehead to dampen it again, Hetty said, “I’ll rest now, my lady. Ye’ve done enough.”

  “But you need someone with you. You are too weak—”

  “Ye’re doing nowt but fretting me,” Hetty murmured.

  “Sakes, I’m sorry! But I don’t know what to do. If you would tell me—”

  “I did tell ye. Go away and let me be.”

  “What if you get sick again?”

  “The boat has steadied. I dinna feel the sea so much anymore.”

  “But what if—”

  “Good lack, my lady! Ye’ve put the pail on the floor by this bed, so I’ll do well enough. By my troth, I’ll do better without ye.”

  “Well, I like that!” Marsi pressed her lips together, instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, Hetty,” she said. “I know you are sick, and I’ve no right to be losing my temper. But truly… art sure you don’t want—”

  “Nay, now, just leave me in peace. If the good Lord be kind, I’ll sleep till we make landfall. Try to keep Jamie from annoying the men, and dinna flirt with anyone. I’d wager that was what put Hawk at outs with ye afore.”

  “I was not flirting.”

  “Sakes, dearling, ye flirt as easy as ye breathe when ye speak to any man. Ye be too quick with your smiles. Now, keep to yourself and let me sleep.”

  Marsi nearly reminded her that Hawk had said she was not to go on deck. But she felt confined, and when Hetty slept, it would be worse. Moreover, she was as sure as she could be that none of the men would take liberties.

  Not under their captain’s gimlet eye, they wouldn’t.

  Accordingly, having looked to be sure that all was in order, or as orderly as it could be under the circumstances, she went outside and shut the door.

  The sail was up, the oars shipped, and the oarsmen were resting. The door to the forecastle cabin was shut. Neither Hawk nor Jamie sat before it.

  “What d’ye need, lass?” Captain Wolf asked, startling her into whirling about. He leaned against the high stern beside his helmsman.

  “Mistress Hetty wants tae sleep, sir, and she said I were a-fidgeting her,” Marsi said. “But Hawk bade me stay inside. I think he fears that one o’ your men—”

  “Nae one will trouble ye.” Then, with a twinkle, he added, “Hawk did say he’d liefer we not reveal that we have women aboard. Mayhap it would be better if ye join him and the lad in the forecastle cabin. Hawk is teaching him to play chess.”

  Tempted to ask if Jamie was teaching Hawk or Hawk teaching Jamie, Marsi restrained herself, recalling his shrewd looks earlier.

  She decided she would do better to say as little to Captain Wolf as possible. Accordingly, she nodded submissively and said, “I’ll go tae them, then, sir.”

  “Good lass,” he said, nodding.

  Without further comment, Marsi headed for the gangway.

  Chapter 4

  Do those men ken who I am
?” James asked as Ivor moved a pawn forward.

  “The captain does; the others do not.”

  “Would an ordinary lad ask one o’ them tae let him sit beside him as he rows, tae see how he does it?”

  “He might ask, but I’d wager that the man he asked would tell him that he’d be in the way,” Ivor said. “You may ask the captain about that, though. Just mind how you speak and don’t be giving him or his men any orders.”

  “I speak as I speak,” James said, moving a pawn and then pulling it back.

  “Aye, well, I’ve often regretted my speech but never my silence,” Ivor said.

  James eyed him thoughtfully. “That is Publius Syrus,” he said.

  Although Ivor was rapidly growing accustomed to the boy’s adultlike conversation, the comment astonished him. “How do you know that?”

  James shrugged. “His grace, my father, told me. They do educate me, ye ken. I have learned most of the Roman maxims. As ye, yourself, have said, I may be King one day. I wouldna want anyone tae think they had a dafty on the throne.”

  “I don’t believe that anyone will think that about you,” Ivor said dryly.

  “I dinna think it either. But I dinna like pretending that I’m no m’self.”

  “I don’t recall offering you a choice about that,” Ivor said. “Your royal sire put me in command of this venture. That means you must do as I bid you.”

  Pushing his lady forward to meet Ivor’s pawn, James said without looking up, “I ken that fine. And I ken fine what ye said ye’d do if I fail tae do as ye say. But I think ye ought tae address me as ‘sir’ when we’re privy with each other.”

  Exerting patience, Ivor said, “I disagree. We should behave in private as we do when others are about, because as Publius Syrus also said, ‘Practice is the best of all instructors.’ In other words, you, Mistress Henrietta, and Marsi will play your roles better if you continually practice them.”

  “Aye, perhaps.”

  “Your king is in peril, lad.”

  James examined the board. “Ye’re going tae win!”

  “I think so, aye.”

  “But my father always lets me win. He warns me of my peril, but he also leaves me a way out if I can find it. I dinna think ye’ve done that.”

  “Nay, lad, and I won’t do that. ’Tis better for you to learn to win on your own. This has been a fast game, so we can replay it, and I will teach you some tactics and strategy to avoid the trap I set. That way, you will learn. Sithee, winning will mean more to you if you do it on your own than if people let you win because you are a child or, later, because you are powerful and they want to win favor.”

  “Well, I dinna want tae play anymore now.” Scowling, James stood up.

  “Sit down, control your temper, and finish the game,” Ivor said. “In any event, you must not leave here looking like that. You will draw too much attention.”

  “This game is over,” James said, catching the near edge of the board and tilting it to dump the pieces onto the table. Some rolled to the floor.

  As Ivor stood up and reached for him, the door opened and the lass entered.

  Seeing them, she exclaimed, “Don’t you dare put your hands on him!”

  Marsi’s gaze caught Jamie’s. Noting his consternation and evident remorse, she knew that she had made a serious error.

  Hawk still gripped Jamie by an arm and looked furious.

  But he was not looking at Jamie. He was looking at her.

  Hastily, she said, “I… I beg your pardon, sir. I do recall that ye said—”

  “Be silent,” he retorted. “What the devil do you mean by walking in here without warning as you just did? I told you to stay—”

  She opened her mouth, remembered about interrupting, and shut it again.

  “You do show some wisdom, at least,” he said, clearly having followed her thinking. “What are you doing out of that cabin?”

  “Hetty told me to leave, and Captain Wolf said to come here. He said ye’d told him that ye’d liefer other ships not see females aboard this one. So I came.”

  “Dinna be wroth with Marsi, sir,” Jamie said quietly and as calmly as if Hawk were not still gripping his upper arm. “I’m the one who was in the wrong, and I do apologize tae ye. I hope ye’ll no wreak your vexation wi’ me on Marsi.”

  Marsi held her breath as Hawk looked down into Jamie’s sober face and said, “I accept your apology, James. But this is the last time I will warn you. If I see any more of that behavior, you will not sit comfortably afterward. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Completely, sir, aye,” Jamie said.

  “Then you may go and ask the captain your question about rowing. After,” Hawk added sternly, “you have put away the chessmen and the board.”

  Nodding, the boy hastily collected the pieces, including those that had fallen to the floor. After setting them in a wall pocket with the board, he looked quizzically at Marsi, but Hawk said, “She will stay here. I want to talk to her.”

  Grimacing sympathetically, Jamie went out and shut the door behind him.

  Marsi realized that she was holding her breath again and that she had likely given herself away by leaping to Jamie’s defense. She could not recall what, exactly, she had said or how she had said it.

  “Why did Mistress Henrietta tell you to leave?” Hawk asked.

  “She said I was fidgeting her. When I told her I didna ken what to do to make her more comfortable, she said she’d be more comfortable if I’d just go away. I—” She did not want to tell him any more. She could see that her words were having no effect on the state of his temper.

  “Tell me something, lass. How long have you served as the nursery maid?”

  Faith, what demon was stirring him now?

  Touching her ring, she said, “Why d’ye ask that, sir?”

  “Never mind why. Just answer me.”

  “N-not long,” she said, fearing that he would ask more pointed questions about her duties. For all she knew, he could list them better than she could.

  “I thought as much,” he said. “Any maid who had served long in a nursery would know how to look after someone in such straits as Mistress Henrietta’s. Moreover, any experienced nursery maid would know better than to tell the captain of a ship to take a pail to a sick passenger. So, how did you come to serve in the royal nursery? I should think that his grace, not to mention Mistress Henrietta and James, would want someone more competent.”

  Irritation stirred within her that anyone, but especially Hawk, might think she was incompetent. But she tamped it down, knowing that the most foolhardy thing she could do would be to let him stir her temper again.

  “I… I expect that I must seem incompetent tae ye, sir. But, in troth, I do learn gey quick, and Mistress Henrietta does ken that fine.”

  Her brain was working at its normal pace now, and she remembered that she had decided to tell the truth when she could. “See you, sir, I did serve the Queen afore she died and we three did all come from Perthshire. ’Tis why I call Mistress Henrietta “Hetty,” because her grace did. But I ken that I should not. Nor call Jamie that, either. He did say I should, after ye told us that we must act as ordinary folks do, but…”

  She fell silent, aware that she might have already said too much.

  “I see,” he said, still regarding her in that uncomfortable, measuring way.

  She felt then as if she ought to say more. But she did not know what to say.

  In any event, she was finding it harder to speak with any semblance of a dialect to Hawk. She found lying to him almost physically painful, even by omission. Also, she still wanted to challenge him, to tell him that he had no right, royal commission or none, to lay hands on any member of the royal family.

  “How long did you serve the Queen?” he asked abruptly.

  That question, too, caught her off her guard, and an unexpected surge of grief threw her off balance even more before she said, “Un-until she died.”

  “As I recall, she was s
ick for several months beforehand. And she died at Scone Abbey. Surely, you did not attend her there.”

  “But I did, aye,” she said. “T-to my s-sorrow, I did.”

  Her grief threatened to overcome her. Tears welled in her eyes, but she fought them back, forcing herself to meet his gaze.

  “I thought that all of her ladies were noblewomen,” he said.

  She could hear Hetty’s voice in the back of her mind, shrieking at her to tell him the truth. But logic said that if she did, he would send her back to Turnberry.

  She knew they had traveled up the Firth of Clyde, and there was no other way out of the firth. The ship would be turning back from wherever it put them ashore.

  Captain Wolf would therefore surely agree to take her back with him and would hand her over to whoever met them at the cavern jetty. The next thing she knew, Albany would have her in his clutches and she would find herself married in a blink to the ancient and odious Lord Redmyre.

  Desperately, she said, “Queen Annabella liked me, sir. She said I made her laugh, and so I did. I did other things for her and for her ladies, too. So they took me with them when she went to Perth last summer to see her son, Davy, whilst he was staying there. Then she fell ill, and they moved her to Scone Abbey so the monks could care for her. We stayed there until…” The rest of what she had meant to say caught in her throat. She could not go on.

  Oblivious to her emotions, he said, “Tell me then why you did not just sit quietly whilst Mistress Henrietta rested. Surely, you might have managed to do that, as you must have done if you sat with the Queen whilst she was sick.”

  “I told you, just my being there fidgeted Hetty, and she told me to go away. And when I went outside, I told Captain Wolf what you had said about doing so. He said that I should come here and should fear no danger from any man on his ship.”

  “Did he say that, in troth?” he said softly.

  A prickle of alarm shot up her spine at the look in his eyes. But she met it boldly and said, “Aye, he did.”

  “He was wrong, and if you ever speak to me again as you did when you first came in here, I will show you just how wrong he was. You are in my charge, lass. If you do not want to suffer the same consequences that James will face if he speaks so to me, you would do better never to spit words at me as you did then.”