The Hunter (Highland Guard #7)(49)

“I apologize,” Sutherland said with a smile. “You do. The resemblance is uncanny.”

He shot Ewen a look as if he should have warned him.

“They’re twins,” Ewen reminded him. What the hell did he expect?

“Actually, we didn’t look much alike the last time I saw my sister,” Janet said. Her expression clouded, as if the memory caused her pain.

Sutherland shook his head. “Well, you do now.”

The way his fellow Guardsman couldn’t seem to stop looking at her was beginning to irritate Ewen. “They don’t look that much alike. In the light you will see that Janet’s eyes are greener. Her hair is shorter and not quite as blond. Janet also has a freckle right above her lip that Mary doesn’t have. Mary’s face is rounder, and she’s not as slim as Janet.”

Ewen realized he’d said too much when all four faces turned toward him—Janet’s with a frown and his three friends’ with varying levels of surprise and speculation. He didn’t have a cowardly bone in his body, but he felt the sudden urge to crawl under a rock and hide.

Sutherland lifted a brow. “Is that so?” he drawled.

Ewen knew what he was thinking, but he was wrong. “It’s my job to notice details,” he reminded them.

None of the men believed him, but at least Janet didn’t appear to understand. She was looking at him, shaking her head. “You’d better not let my sister hear you say that. I don’t think she’d appreciate being called ‘round.’ ”

He frowned, perplexed. What was wrong with round?

Sutherland explained. “Women who’ve just had babies can be sensitive about their weight.”

“She didn’t just have a baby. William is seven months old already.”

There was a collective groan, the four of them giving him pitying looks, apparently having given up on explaining.

“Get changed,” MacKay said. “As soon as it’s dark, I want to get as far from here as possible.” The big Highlander scanned the trees with the same kind of wariness that Ewen felt. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

So it wasn’t just him. He’d wondered whether it was being with Janet that was putting him on edge. It was, but it was something else as well.

He nodded and turned to her. “You’ll need to change also. That white veil sticks out like a beacon.”

“Actually,” Sutherland interrupted, “your sister thought you might be more comfortable and draw less attention in these,” he held out a bundle of clothing, “at least until we reach the Highlands.”

She smiled as she took it. “That was very thoughtful of her, although I’m not surprised. Mary was always the one to think ahead.”

Sutherland gave her an apologetic look that Ewen didn’t understand right away. “The clothing belongs to my squire.”

What in Hades?

Janet looked as shocked as he at the suggestion that she dress like a lad.

“MacRuairi suggested it,” Sutherland said before he could object. “He said it helped when he brought his wife out of England.”

Lachlan MacRuairi had slipped Bella MacDuff through the English defenses twice.

“One of Christina’s kinsmen?” Janet asked.

“Her brother,” Ewen responded.

From her wide eyes, Ewen guessed that she’d met Viper before.

“There is also a gown in there for later,” Sutherland said. “Mary said you would not like to arrive at court dressed like a lad.”

Janet laughed. “My sister remembers me well.” Ewen suspected he was the only one who saw the trepidation mixed with the wistfulness that crossed her face. Why was she anxious about seeing her sister? With what she’d risked for Mary, he’d assumed they were close. But then he remembered her reaction to his barb. Was it guilt? Was that what was driving the lass?

“Is there somewhere I can change?” she asked.

“There’s an old fisherman’s bothy in the trees there beside the river,” MacLean said, pointing through the trees. “I will escort you.”

The hell he would! Ewen trusted his partner with his life, but he didn’t trust him to have any more self-control than Ewen had had in the same situation. “I’ll do it,” he said in a voice that brokered no argument. “I have to retrieve my armor anyway.”

He’d stashed his belongings in a wide gap between a couple of nearby rocks. It wasn’t large enough to serve as a cave, but it had been a perfect place to hide his valuable weapons and armor while he went to fetch her.

He walked away before anyone could argue, and relaxed only when he heard her footsteps behind him. Though it hurt like the devil, Ewen did not break his stride, putting his full weight on his right leg. He hadn’t realized he’d been favoring the left until she’d pointed it out.

The warmth of the blood on his thigh told him that the wound had opened again, but Helen would see to it when they returned. The last thing he wanted was Janet fussing over him—or, God forbid, touching him.

He smiled, thinking of the odd conversation he’d had with Janet about MacKay’s wife. Old, with warts and moles? Where had the lass come up with that?

He stopped when he reached the old fisherman’s bothy. It was a simple stone structure—the flat stones had been set together without lime mortar—that leaned a little to one side, but it appeared sturdy enough. Most of its original turf roof was gone. It wouldn’t protect her from the elements, but it would provide all the privacy she needed to change.