Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“There are only two more fishin’ boats that need be repaired,” Gavin reported as Cameron approached him.
“I havenae asked ye for yer report yet,” Cameron said, though he wasn’t upset with his man-at-arms for getting to the point so quickly.
“Aye, but ye were goin’ to,” Gavin replied easily. “The children are askin’ when ye’ll be back, ye ken?”
“They act as if I dinnae bring them to the castle a few days ago,” Cameron scoffed, his annoyance entirely put on. “I will see if I can arrange me schedule to come with ye tomorrow.”
“It will be like when we were boys,” Gavin joked, a mischievous light in his eyes.
“We arenae goin’ out to sea, Gavin,” Cameron said with a frown. “And neither of us have time to slack off.”
“We werenae slackin’ in the slightest,” Gavin said, smirking. “We worked the entire time we were there.”
It took all of Cameron’s strength to keep from smiling at the memories. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d allowed himself to dwell on the carefree moments of his youth. Even then, they’d been far and few between.
“Aye, but we drank more whisky than most of the men we were supposed to be assistin’,” Cameron replied, turning away from his friend. “We are lucky that we werenae thrown overboard.”
As Gavin laughed, Margo walked through the castle doors. She was grinning ear to ear, wearing an expression that was both enticing and foreboding. Before she even spoke, he knew that she would be testing his patience.
“Lady MacLeod,” he said, keeping his tone intentionally formal. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“I came to thank you for the basket,” she said, her hazel eyes turning golden in the sunlight.
I kent I shouldnae have told Mrs. Campbell me plans for that damned basket.
“What basket?” Cameron said, his jaw ticking when he closed his mouth.
Margo’s smile seemed to widen even further, twisting into something delighted and devious. “The basket in your study. The basket that all of our mischievous kittens keep disappearing to.”
Cameron stilled, the statement delivering two different blows. First, the wretched confirmation that she’d discovered the project he had spent hours working on in the privacy of his quarters. Then, that word. Ours. It was said so freely, so easily that his mind faltered.
He fell back on the only defense he had, when it came to her.
“What were ye doin’ in me study?” he demanded, attempting to redirect the conversation. With firmness that bordered on furious, he said, “I dinnae give either of ye permission to be there.”
“I was searching for Miss Crusoe,” Margo said, completely unaffected by his tone. “And Mrs. Campbell was working. We just happened to run into each other.”
“So, Mrs. Campbell allowed ye inside,” he said flatly, making a mental note to speak with the woman.
Behind him, Gavin laughed, causing Cameron’s frown to become more austere without his eyes ever leaving Margo. Even when his friend slapped a hand over his shoulder as he continued to laugh at the situation, his gaze remained steady.
Margo, though, was still unaffected by his harshness. Her grin never faltered, and she looked, for lack of a better term, like the cat that had gotten the cream. It was both disarming and infuriating in equal measure.
“If ye must ken,” he said when it became obvious that she wasn’t budging, “the castle needed one.”
Her eyes seemed to light up even further as though she had won some grand prize. Her voice was deceptively sweet when she asked, “For the kittens?”
“Aye,” he confirmed, keeping his tone as matter-of-fact as he could.
There was no winning with this woman, it seemed. The only thing he felt able to do under her unsettling excitement was agree and attempt to minimize his own actions. If he couldn’t come out on top, the best thing he could do was mitigate his losses.
I shouldnae be usin’ battlefield tactics with this woman.
“How fortunate,” she replied, smiling with her teeth now.
Cameron kept his expression completely serious, though it proved to be a challenge with the infectious energy rolling off her. “They’re very practical creatures.”
Margo’s eyes widened. She seemed frozen for a beat, almost as if she couldn’t tell if he meant what he said, or was teasing her back. Then, she laughed, the sound coming from deep in her belly.
The sound was so warm that it seemed to burrow beneath his skin. His chest ached with a fondness unlike anything he had experienced before. Looking at her became difficult; she was like the sun personified.
“I must thank you again,” she said when she recovered a bit of her composure. There was still a slight lilt to her voice, the dregs of her amusement sticking to her sides. “The basket is very nice. The kittens seem to be enjoying it.”
Then, without giving him a chance to respond again, Margo turned around and walked back out of his study.
He watched as she practically bounced with every step.
As the foreign warmth worked its way through his body, he clenched his hands into fists, expelling it as though it were poison.
What he couldn’t get out of his system seemed to morph into frustration.
He was forced back to reality as soon as Gavin cleared his throat. He apparently stayed nearby for the sole purpose of getting on Cameron’s nerves afterwards.
“Should I commission matchin’ furniture for the cats next?” he asked, his tone cheeky and infuriating.
Cameron did not look at him, keeping his eyes on the doors that Margo had just disappeared through as he said, “Say another word and I will throw ye into the sea.”
“So, the wee things are disappearin’ into Laird MacLeod’s study?” Tilly asked as she set a bowl of milk in the center of the room.
All five kittens came running toward the dish, Miss Crusoe leading the insurgence.
They nearly toppled the ceramic; Eleanor’s quick reflexes were the only thing keeping their dinner from spilling all over the stone floor.
None of them seemed bothered, nor did they realize that their own excitement nearly ruined the very thing they were running to.
“Yes, it seems so,” Margo said, perching herself in an armchair by the hearth. “All of them were in a basket that Laird MacLeod wove himself.”
“I’ve heard that he could do more than tie knots,” Tilly said thoughtfully, taking a few steps back to keep herself away from the kittens’ splashing. “I’ve never been told which things he’s woven, though.”
“It is a beautiful piece,” Margo said, remembering the intricate pattern of the basket.
Not only was there skill required to construct the object, but it was clear that Cameron possessed an eye for the ornate and decorative.
“I did not believe Mrs. Campbell when she told me that he was the one who made it.”
“I think I will need to see it to believe it,” Eleanor muttered, shifting her fingers on the edge of the dish to accommodate the uncoordinated movements of the creatures.
“He did not seem very happy to know that I had been let in his study, let alone the fact that he had woven the basket,” Margo said with a small laugh.
The way he had frozen earlier, the brief look of panic that she had seen cross his features, was one of the most amusing things she had ever witnessed.
She had seen him look authoritative and terrifying, and she had seen him leading his people through crises.
She felt blessed in a way to be the reason he’d looked so unsteady.
“Of course, he wasnae!” Tilly said with a grin. “All men are so particular about their space. They will say it is us ladies who are fickle, but the second ye set a toe outside of where they believe ye should be walkin’, they’re irrationally upset.”
“It sounds as if you’re speaking from experience,” Eleanor said, laughing as she plucked Friday out from beneath Miss Crusoe.
“Aye, there are far more men workin’ on these grounds than there are women,” Tilly confirmed.
She walked over to the tray she’d brought with her, grabbing a flannel and the unnamed tabby kitten when she stepped back from the bowl.
As she cleaned the creature, she said, “And it’s quite amusin’ to get them worked up.
They act as if ye’ll perish if ye try to take over stokin’ the hearths. ”
“The more time I spend here, the more I am convinced that all men are confusing in their own infuriating ways,” Margo sighed, half-dramatic, half-serious.
“I feel the same way. Perhaps we owe Father a thanks for limiting the balls we could attend. At least we did not have to figure out the meaning behind mens’ cryptic behavior!
” Eleanor exclaimed, taking the bowl away when the kittens began to squabble with one another when there was no more milk left.
Margo huffed out a little laugh, the statement twisting strangely in her gut. It was good that Eleanor was able to make jokes about the time they had spent with the man, Margo reasoned. It meant that Margo had been able to shield her little sister from the worst of his mistreatment.
“It looks as if we may need to start feeding them more,” Margo said, carefully changing the subject back to the kittens.
They were licking drips of milk from the floor, Miss Crusoe appearing to have the biggest appetite out of all of them.
“Now that they’re bigger, they are using more energy and growing just as fast as they were when they were tiny things. ”
“I’ll go fetch a wee bit more!” Tilly said, setting the tabby down. “I believe she’s full, but I wouldnae want the others goin’ to bed hungry.”
“They should not need too much more,” Margo said thoughtfully, watching as the kittens began to clean themselves. “But perhaps we should add fish to their meal. That should keep them full longer.”
“They’re more than ready,” Eleanor said as Tilly walked toward the door. “I saw one of them eating a beetle this morning.”
“Then I’ll bring them fish with their next meal,” Tilly said before slipping into the corridor.
For a few seconds, Margo and Eleanor sat quietly as they oversaw the kittens’ post-meal routine.
It surprised Margo just how quickly they had grown in the short time that they’d been caring for them.
Their eyes had barely opened when Margo had fed them for the first time.
Now, they were wreaking havoc throughout the castle.
“Have you and Tilly decided what we’ll be calling the black kitten and her tabby sister?” Margo asked, breaking the silence when the creatures began piling on top of each other near the hearth.
“I believe Tilly wants to name the black cat Spirit,” Eleanor said without looking away from the kittens. “And I think that Blossom fits the tabby well.”
“Those are beautiful names,” Margo said, resting her chin in her palm. “Miss Crusoe, Friday, Treasure, Spirit, and Blossom.”
Eleanor hummed, finally meeting her sister’s eyes again. Quietly, she said, “You didn’t ask Laird MacLeod to make the basket on my behalf, did you?”
“I did not,” Margo said immediately. “The man did that all on his own.” She paused, silently reflecting on the confrontation in his study.
“Though, I may have chastised him for letting Miss Crusoe get lost. I did not ask him anything. All I did was tell him how careless he was for believing a creature so small did not need a bit of guidance.”
“I think you are the reason he went looking for her,” Eleanor said, rising from the floor and crossing the room to sit in the chair across from Margo. “He listens to you.”
Margo laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the statement, but when she realized that Eleanor wasn’t joking, her brow furrowed.
Disbelieving, she said, “I do not think that’s true.
I already told you that he found Miss Crusoe in his bed hiding from the storm.
He probably found her there when he went to bed. ”
“But didn’t he come and find you near the cliffs after he found her?” Eleanor pressed.
“Yes, but that’s because he did not want anyone to be hurt or left out in the storm,” Margo replied, shifting uncomfortably.
She was not sure why, but she felt a bit exposed having Eleanor repeat the information she had told her. Her sister watched her curiously, seeming just as confused as Margo. Then, a smile spread across Eleanor’s face.
“Something happened when he came to find you!” she practically squealed, scooting to the front of her seat. She leaned forward, lowering her voice as she asked, “What was it? Did he kiss you again?”
Margo felt her face flush before she even had a chance to formulate a response.
All at once, the sensation of Cameron’s lips against hers came rushing back.
She recalled the way he’d pulled her forward, the intense heat of his body, each breath he’d taken and the way it fanned out against her cheeks.
“He did!” Eleanor faux-whispered in delight. “Tell me everything!”
“I do not know how much there is to tell,” Margo said, looking into the fire. “He simply… kissed me. There’s nothing more to say.”
“He kissed you in the rain!” Eleanor pointed out. There were stars in her eyes. “He came looking for you. Isn’t that romantic?”
Margo opened her mouth to object, but she was stopped short when she realized there was truth to her sister’s statement. Had Margo not been thinking about his actions relentlessly? Were her sister’s observations not the same as the ones that she’d been avoiding?
“I suppose it is,” Margo admitted finally. Her heart skipped a beat after the words left her mouth. “Though, I do not know if he intended it to be that way.”
“What other way could a kiss be meant?” Eleanor pressed on, her head tilting innocently to the side. “I cannot imagine that anyone would kiss another person and not mean it romantically.”
Margo hummed thoughtfully. “You may have a point. But I don’t think it is that simple with him. And I don’t know if my heart can take such confusion.”
Eleanor scooted her chair a bit closer to Margo’s. For a moment, the two sat in silence. After a while, she said, “I do not understand why adults must make things so needlessly complicated.”
“I do not either,” Margo sighed, staring at the flames as they licked up the sides of the fireplace. “And I do not know how to stop making things more confusing.”