Highland Wolf (Highland Brides #10)(56)
Rather than be reassured, Claray moaned at the reminder of what had distressed her and pulled back to eye him with dismay as she asked, “How?”
When he blinked at her in surprise, she pointed out, “I have no servants to help whip this place into shape, no clothes to wear but what I have on, no food to feed you, our guests or anyone else, no medicinals if anyone gets hurt, and I highly doubt there is a single stick o’ usable furniture in the keep. We’ve no linens, no—”
“Breathe,” Conall interrupted, and she just caught a glimpse of his alarm at her outburst before he pressed her back to his chest and thumped her back like he was burping a baby. Voice gruff, he assured her again, “’Twill be fine. Yer father was arranging fer yer clothes, medicinals and other things to be packed and sent on a wagon after us with an escort. He expected they’d arrive a week behind us at the latest. And I did bring ye a couple o’ spare gowns fer the meantime.”
“Ye did?” she asked, pulling back to eye him with surprise.
“Aye. When yer father went to fetch the priest I went into the keep, found a maid and asked her to pack a couple o’ yer gowns in a bag and bring ’em down fer me. She did and I took it out and hung it from me horse right away so I would no’ forget them in the morning,” he explained quietly, and then added, “Ye were in the kitchens with yer cousin Alick at the time, else I’d have suggested ye do it yerself. But I heard the two o’ ye in there talking with yer cook about food fer everyone, so just had the maid do it.”
“Oh,” Claray breathed with wonder at the thoughtfulness.
“In the meantime, me aunt and Kenna have offered to loan ye anything ye need that I did no’ think o’.” He scowled slightly before admitting, “I asked what I might ha’e forgot, but they just said ‘women’s things,’ so I’ve no idea what they’re on about, but they’re happy to supply it, and MacKay is only half a day’s ride away, so if ye need something, say so and we’ll make the trip.”
Claray managed a tremulous smile at the offer.
“As fer linens and such,” he said now, “yer da said that fer years ere her death, yer mother had been preparing chests o’ goods fer ye to take when ye eventually married me and moved to MacDonald. He had no idea what she’d put in them other than linens and such, but she’d known that things would be hard at first, and had wanted to help as much as she could so he suspects ’twill be useful whatever ’tis.”
“Oh,” Claray breathed, and felt tears fill her eyes. Her mother was still making her life better, even now she was gone.
Conall brushed a thumb under her eye, to wipe away a tear that had escaped, and added, “He also said he would be sending on yer bed, and the other furniture from yer room and a few other things fer us. So, there will be that at least within the week.” He smiled crookedly. “But in the meantime, I decided that with three hundred men and all the wood here, I should set a couple dozen o’ the handier soldiers to making trestle tables, and benches and such, so the great hall will no’ be empty and we’ll all have a place to eat together.”
Claray smiled as she felt some more of the panic she’d been experiencing earlier falling away, and then he knocked another problem off the list she’d given him by saying, “As for food, that is what we men are for. I’ll take out a hunting party every day if I have to, to fetch back meat enough to feed all. But I doubt daily hunts’ll be necessary. These forests have no’ been hunted for nearly twenty years except by the occasional passing traveler. They’re probably teeming with animals. I suspect we’ll only have to hunt every third or fourth day.”
Claray managed a smile at that, but was thinking she’d have to raid the garden to find her own meals, or perhaps forage in the forest, and then Conall was suddenly standing and pulling her to her feet.
“Come,” he said quietly. “I’ve something to show ye.”
Curious, Claray let him lead her toward the back of the orchards, but then paused and glanced around with a frown. “Where did Lovey and Stubborn Bastard go?”
While the wolf had stuck close to her as she’d toured the gardens and orchards with Lady MacKay and Kenna, Stubborn Bastard had wandered away a bit to eat grass and leaves. Both were gone now though, as were the two MacKay ladies, she realized.
“Me aunt and cousin took them back to the bailey so we could talk,” Conall answered, and gave her hand a tug. “Come. Ye’ll like me surprise.”
Eyebrows rising, Claray started moving again, following him out of the orchard onto an overgrown area around a huge pond that had to be more than two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. It ran the entire length of the back curtain wall around the castle.
“A pond?” she asked, walking to the edge. Unlike the moat, the water here was surprisingly clear.
“A fish pond,” Conall announced. “Me mother preferred fish to meat like you, and we had a natural spring here that would supply fresh water, so me da had this built and filled with tench, pickerel, bream and carp.” He stared over the water briefly and then added, “O’ course, while he did it partially fer Mother, it came in handy in the winter when food was scarce. Our people never went hungry.”
“Do ye think there are still fish living in there?” Claray had barely finished the question when the sound of something slapping the water caught her ear. Glancing toward the sound, she saw a spreading circle on the surface of the pond from where a fish had jumped.