Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy by Amanda Scott Page A

shore?”
    “ ’Cause flocks o’ gannets fly forever round that great rock and leave a middeny mess,” the boy said, his nose wrinkling at the memory. “Me shoes stuck wherever we’d go. I’d wager Orkney hisself preferred the basket tae them gannets.”
    Alyson smiled. “I think you are right, Will. Orkney pays great heed to how he looks.
And
he likes silken shoes. Such shoes would
not
like gannets’ messes.”
    “Does he truly wear silk ones?” Will asked. “I ha’ seen him only in boots. Will they be safe, d’ye think, him and Jamie?” he added with a worried frown.
    Tempted though she was to assure him that they would, and hoping that Ciara was safe, too, Alyson said, “We must pray that all of our people are safe, Will. But their safety will depend on why the pirates took them.”
    Will’s face crumpled and he looked away.
    A strong gust ripped Alyson’s hood from her grasp, and she realized they had moved beyond the shelter of the ship. Looking back as she readjusted her hood, she gasped to see the
Maryenknyght
slowly, inexorably tilting nearer the sea. Abruptly, her railing and masts dipped beneath the surface and her keel turned upward.
    “Coo,” Will muttered beside her. “All them smelly hides and bales of wool be a-going tae the bottom o’ the sea. Them pirates got nowt o’ them.”
    The pirates had taken a much more valuable cargo, though, Alyson thought.
    Mist and rain closed off their view. Ahead, she could see only more rain-filled mist on endless gray sea. Hoping that Mace’s—and Will’s—trust in Jake was well deserved, she wondered if they were even heading the right way. And, if they were, she hoped the sea and the rain would not swamp them before they reached shore.
    So focused was she on concealing her fears that Will’s voice startled her when he said, “When did
ye
meet him, then—Cap’n Jake?”
    “It must have been just after you did,” she said. “Hewas with my cousin, Sir Ivor, and another man called Fin Cameron. Fin is married to Ivor’s sister, Catriona.”
    “Aye, I met Sir Ivor and Sir Fin, too,” Will said, pushing dripping hair from his eyes. “I were wi’ Sir Fin just a short time, though. I ken Sir Ivor better.”
    “Captain Jake came with Ivor and Fin when they visited us in St. John’s Town of Perth last year,” Alyson said. “My Highland cousins visit us at MacGillivray House at least once a year and whenever the lords of Parliament meet. Sithee, Parliament meets in Perth more often than elsewhere.”
    “I’d forgot ye was married till Cap’n Jake mentioned it,” Will said. “We saw little o’ your husband, ye ken. And now, them pirates…” He frowned.
    “What about them?” Alyson prompted when he did not continue.
    Clearly reluctant, the boy said, “They… they put some folks overboard when they didna move quick enough tae suit them. The captain o’ the
Maryenknyght
just stopped the ship when the cannon fired. I think he ought tae ha’ fought.”
    Gently, she said, “He had to think of Jamie’s safety, Will.”
    “Well, I dinna think he’ll be safe wi’ them pirates,” Will said gruffly.
    More gently yet, Alyson said, “I am exceedingly grateful that you stayed to rescue me. In troth, I believe Jamie must be glad of it, too. Our prince may be young, Will. But he has an old head on his shoulders, and he will not be thinking of himself alone. He will be very glad that
you
are safe.”
    Will’s frown eased, but his lips tightened before hesaid, “Ye’ve the right of it about Jamie, m’lady, ’cause he
told
me tae find ye. And I’m no going tae say that I wish I hadna done it, ’cause that isna so. But, in troth, I’m nigh tae grieving, too, that I canna be wi’ him the noo. I
should
be, ye ken.”
    “I do know what you mean, Will. I have had exactly those feelings—”
    Breaking off with a cry when the boat topped a giant wave and careened wildly down into the trough between it and the next one with a huge splash,