Alex shook his head, turning partly away from her. "My brother"s loyalties are divided. Ridley is his brother-in-law, and though he doesn"t trust him, he will not jeopardize the peace or his marriage."
Fayth was silent, wondering why he told her these things. Did he want her to understand why he kept her prisoner? Perhaps his reason was a valid one, from a border perspective, but she couldn"t help him. She had to find Mona.
He turned back to her, giving her a narrow look. "Skelley told me who you were asking after. Sir Patrick. You"re his son, eh? My nephew... What is this fiction? What business have you with Patrick? Or is it your stepmother, the witch, you seek?"
The urge to gnaw her fingernails with worry was great, but she kept her fists balled at her side. Should she tell him? It was her first impulse-to trust him. And she heeded her first impulses far too often, mistaking them for some kind of silly intuition. But trusting him was folly. No, she must think this through.
"What is your business, la.s.sie? The same business you went to Annancreag for? The same business responsible for the death of Annan Maxwells?" When still she didn"t answer, he shrugged. "It matters not since you won"t be able to complete your business. Perhaps, in time, you"ll decide you want to share your purpose."
In time. She didn"t like the sound of that. A desperate, clawing urge to be away gripped her. She couldn"t stand being confined. Being kept. "What will you do with me?"
"You"ll travel with me to Gealach as my prisoner-my male prisoner, until Carlisle agrees to sell me the land."
Her lips curled in disgust. Just what she needed, another man deciding her fate. "What makes you think Carlisle wants me that badly?"
He grunted, but didn"t answer. He took her cap from the ground and dropped it back onto her head. "So? What shall I call you? Mickle? Wee lad? Fair Willie?"
He tried to tuck her hair beneath the cap but she slapped his hands away. "Hugh."
He stepped back, a look of mock surprise on his face. "Named for your father, eh? The great Hugh Graham... hmm, well, let us leave off the Graham, lest it cause bloodshed in my camp. And despite what you believe, I want you whole, laddie. What say, Hugh Bell?"
"Bell?" she spat. "I"m no Scot!"
"You"re a Graham, and therefore part Scot, by my calculations."
"I only claim the English half-the better half."
He laughed again, his eyes nearly dancing. He found her delightfully amusing-that much was clear. It made her itch to scratch his eyes from their sockets.
She looked away. "They think I"m your nephew... so I must be a Maxwell."
He burst out laughing. "Oh-I"d forgotten that!" He laughed so hard his eyes streamed. He bent over, clutching his side.
"It"s not that funny," she said, scowling at him.
"Oh, aye-it is. It really is."
"My sister is now a Maxwell. It"s not as if it couldn"t happen."
His laughter died and his gaze turned speculative. A sharp knock sounded on the outside of the shieling, then Laine poked his head in. "Sir? Is aught amiss?"
"No, no," Alex said, looking away from her finally and wiping his eyes. "Please, feed my nephew. He"s to be under constant guard, but extend him every courtesy due a Maxwell guest." He flashed her a wide, white smile. "I cannot have you question my hospitality."
He caught her arm before she reached the door. "If you try to run, I"ll break your leg."
Fayth jerked her arm away and he laughed again. She saw Laine"s guarded look and knew the boy had heard Alex"s threat.
Alex"s voice rang out over her head, loud enough for the entire camp to hear, though he was speaking to the boy. "He"s a fast one, see that he doesn"t get away."
Fayth followed Laine out, glad to be away from Alex"s infuriating presence. He was unbearable! How could he see any humor in this awful situation? But, of course, she was his prisoner, at his mercy. He could afford to laugh.
"If you"re really Sir Patrick"s son," Laine asked, "why"d you try to attack Alex? He"s your uncle!"
"I thought it was a trap. You and Skelley and especially Eliot were acting so odd... Besides," Fayth said, becoming more comfortable with the web of lies she was weaving, "I"ve never seen my uncle before. Red Alex doesn"t look like my father." That much was true, for she had caught a few glimpses of Sir Patrick before he was moved to the dungeons. Other than sharing Alex"s unusual height, the two brothers looked quite different.
"So... you"re really Sir Patrick"s son?" Laine asked when they were several paces away from Alex"s shieling. His expression was skeptical.
Fayth shrugged. "My mum says so." She grinned up at the boy. "Well, she says he"s one possibility."
Laine looked slightly horrified.
"What? You never met a b.a.s.t.a.r.d afore?"
His face reddened. "Of course I have. What do you think I am?"
Skelley appeared beside them. "That does sound like Sir Patrick. Only staying long enough to sow a few b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."
"Och, aye," Fayth said, warming to the game. "And I hope to be just like him. Why, I had me a wench just afore I met up with you. She"s probably breeding already."
Skelley just chuckled, but Laine"s skepticism returned. "You"re a liar and a thief. I suppose one begets the other."
Skelley threw an arm around Fayth"s shoulder, his hand dangling dangerously near her unbound breast. "Dinna mind Brother Laine. Had he a wench, he wouldn"t know what to do wi" her."
"That"s not so!" Laine protested, the red blotches on his face spreading. "I"ve had countless la.s.ses. I simply choose not to boast of it."
Fayth hunched her shoulders and dragged her feet. Skelley took the hint and removed his arm. She would have to bind her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as soon as possible.
Skelley pushed the side of Laine"s head playfully, messing up the graying ebony locks, and strode back the way they"d come, to Red Alex"s shelter. Laine"s grin seemed to have permanently fled. His mouth was a thin, mutinous line and Fayth regretted her stupid boasting. It was what her father and brothers often did, and Jack, as well.
"Why did he call you Brother Laine?"
"It"s not what you"re thinking. I told you, I"ve had lots of women."
He was a virgin. She felt like a coa.r.s.e half-wit for embarra.s.sing him. "Then what did he mean?" she asked, following him across the clearing.
He stopped in front of a pile of canvas sacks and turned to her, hands on his hips. "I was to be a monk. My father gave me to an abbey even though I begged him to let me be a knight." His mouth twisted bitterly. "He said every father in his family gave a son to the church and since I was the weakest sack of s.h.i.t he"d begot, I was the chosen one."
Fayth stared back at him solemnly, not knowing what to say to such a revelation. This was Diana Carlisle"s brother, the one Red Alex had saved. It had meant nothing to Fayth when Diana had told her the story, but now, faced with the young man, she felt strangely unbalanced, as if things were not quite as they seemed. She tried to recall what Diana had told her about Alex rescuing Laine, but could remember little. She glanced over her shoulder, catching Alex"s dark gaze on her and swiftly looked away.
"There"s food here." Laine gestured vaguely at the canvas sacks. When Fayth made no move toward them, he opened one and began rummaging through it.
"This is better to you than a life of contemplation? Crawling about the woods like an animal?" she asked, scanning the campsite for a means of escape. She was being watched closely. Eliot sat on a boulder, his thick leg propped on a log, staring at her. His eyes looked black again. He patted the latch hanging from his belt and smiled.
"We"re only in the woods right now to raid," Laine said. "Gealach is remote, not a good place from which to stage raids, but it"s where we reside, mostly." He gave her a hard look. "I owe Red Alex my life, as do most of these men." He went back to the bags. "There was very little for me to contemplate at Rees... except perhaps a quick death."
Fayth frowned at him. "That"s the coward"s way."
His mouth flattened but he didn"t raise his head.