Highland Wolf (Highland Brides #10)(49)

“Wife!”

Glancing over, she saw that Conall was mounted and waiting impatiently. Claray urged Stubborn Bastard in his direction, patting at her hip as she did to gesture for Lovey to follow.



“Where did you come across Lovey?”

Conall heard the question from Lady MacKay, and found himself slowing his mount a bit in a bid to hear his wife’s answer. It was something he’d wondered himself, but with three hundred warriors, the MacKays and Roderick waiting, there hadn’t been time for him to ask everything he wanted to know.

“Oh, well, the villagers killed his pack when he was a pup. They were attacking livestock,” she explained sadly. “Anyway, the next day, I was out for a ride and heard him cryin’, or tryin’ to howl, I suppose. It was the sweetest thing. It turned out I was ridin’ right past their den. There were five of them altogether, and he was smaller than the rest, the runt of the litter, yet the only one still alive.”

“He was the runt?” Lady MacKay sounded shocked, and Conall couldn’t blame her. He’d never seen a wolf as big as Claray’s Lovey.

“Aye,” Claray said on a laugh. “Hard to believe now, is it no’? He’s grown quite a bit this last two years. I think ’tis all the good food he gets.”

“Hmm,” Lady MacKay murmured, and after a moment said, “So ye took him home and raised him?”

“Aye.”

“And yer da did no’ mind?” Kenna now asked, sounding curious as she joined the conversation.

“Nay. He’s used to it. I fear I’m always bringing stray or lame beasties home and nursing ’em back to health. They seem to find me wherever I go, and I’ve no’ the heart to leave them to be prey fer others.”

A moment of silence followed, and then Conall heard Kenna say, “Me mother used to work with animals in the stable at the convent she lived at before marrying Da.”

“Did ye?” Claray asked with interest.

“Aye,” his aunt answered. “Fortunately, I was able to take what I learned there and use it to help tend the injured and ailing animals and people at MacKay, so it worked out to my benefit.”

“Oh!” Kenna said with excitement. “Ye’ll probably be good at healin’ the people o’ MacDonald too, then, Claray!”

“She probably will,” his uncle said beside him, and Conall missed Claray’s response as he turned his attention to the man.

“Aye, but she probably has some trainin’ in mendin’ people as well,” Payton commented. “Most lasses learn things like that durin’ their trainin’, do they no’?”

Conall waited, curious to hear the answer. He had no idea what lasses learned when they were growing up. He’d always been out in the practice field training in battle before he’d earned his spurs, and then once he’d set out to hire out as a mercenary, the women he’d mostly encountered were camp followers and the occasional lady in passing as he met with lairds who wanted to hire him.

“Probably,” Ross MacKay agreed. “Yer mother taught yer sisters that, amongst other things.”

Conall wondered what those other things might be, but then decided it didn’t matter, since he doubted they would be very useful to Claray at MacDonald. At least, not at first. Deagh Fhortan wasn’t your usual castle where a new bride could swan in and begin ordering servants about and discussing menus with the cook, or whatever they normally did. There actually weren’t any servants yet, or even clans people other than his warriors. Although those with wives and families would surely want to bring them to MacDonald now. He also hoped once word spread that he was there, the other surviving members of his clan would return. If there were any. In the meantime, there would be a lot of work needed to even make it livable, let alone a home, and he began to worry now about what Claray was expecting and what he was taking her into. The last time he’d seen the castle, nature had already got a good foothold on it, and that had been twelve years ago. It could only be worse now.

“What are ye going to work on first at Deagh Fhortan?” Payton asked suddenly, as if reading his troubled thoughts.

Conall grimaced at the question as he realized it wasn’t something he’d really thought about. Mostly what had concerned him was getting together enough coin to repair it and return it to a working castle. Now he considered all the work that would no doubt need doing, and said slowly, “The castle wall and stables, I suppose.”

“Smart,” his uncle said with an approving nod. “The two most important matters. A wall for defense and the stables to keep yer horses safe and dry and healthy. A man is naught without his horse.”

Payton gave a snort of amusement. “I would no’ let Mother hear ye say that, Father. Or ye might find yerself sleeping in the MacKay stables when ye get home.”

Ross MacKay scowled at his son. “She’d agree with me. Without a horse, ye can no’ go hunting, or travel, or ride into battle.”

“And without a wife ye’ve no one to keep ye warm of a night and give ye bairns,” Payton pointed out. “I’m pretty sure keepin’ a wife warm and safe and healthy is important too.”

“Aye, o’ course it is. But Castle Deagh Fhortan still stands and merely needs some cleaning up and such,” Conall’s uncle said. “The stables, however, fell to wood rot long ago. The lasses can clean the castle while the men shore up the wall and rebuild the stables.”