Chapter 7
The curtain draped across the alcove was pulled aside with a harsh rattle. Iona stood outside, unperturbed by the sunlight flooding into the cramped space. Ada could not help but give a little jump. Even though her clothes were back on, the laird’s grandson was helping tighten her stay laces.
“What’s going on here?” Iona’s voice shattered the cocoon of desire Ada had wrapped around herself since being alone with this man in private. “Why are ye paying such special attention to Ada? She’s no’ the poisoner, an’ we don’ even ken if there is a poisoner until I have inspected the body!”
He was completely at ease with the girl’s mother sticking her head into the enclosed space and then berating him with her hands on her hips: nothing could take away the happiness he felt. He knew now that Ada wanted him just as much as he wanted her, even if she did not yet know it.
“I am pleased ye are back, Healer Iona,” he said. “Ye must search every woman left at the dinner hall an’ make sure they hold no poison on their person. I have done the same with Ada here, although I hold no suspicion in me heart about her as she was no’ forewarned about me invitation.”
Iona had to accept this explanation but was no fool. She could see the heightened color in her daughter’s cheeks and the way her eyes sparkled when they looked at Lachlan MacNair. She noticed Lachlan’s keen-eyed observation about how she was taking the news and regarded him with one raised eyebrow.
“I’ll thank ye, sir, no’ to take me daughter aside again without me presence nearby. Also, at such a crucial juncture in this mysterious death, it would be best for ye no’ to single her out for special attention. She is but a young maiden. When all is said an’ done, no’ one o’ yer wealthy cousins…”
He understood what Iona was saying: Ada had it tough at the Castle already without him igniting jealous feelings in another woman’s breast.
“Me heartfelt apologies for no’ searchin’ Ada under yer aegis, Iona, but now the two o’ ye must busy yerselves with the women while I search the men. But ye can expect to see me darkenin’ yer doorstep in the near future.”
He was smitten. The sensation of the healer’s daughter’s soft thigh under his mouth inflamed him more than he had ever believed possible.
He would not stop until he possessed her body and soul.
Lachlan was champing at the bit to solve the mystery of the poisoner so he could pursue Ada with all of the considerable talents at his disposal.
Iona gave him another critical look, but there was the hint of a smile in her eyes.
“Aye, lad, of course I’ll be seein’ ye again. Ye are bound to carry me around for the next three years, remember?”
Lachlan watched mother and daughter head back to the hall. He hoped Ada would look back at him and give him another chance to see her beauty, but she did not. He tried to stop that from worrying him. They all had a lot on their plates to clear before love could be put in its rightful place.
After collecting his scattered thoughts, Lachlan strode into the hall and went up to his grandfather.
“Did ye enjoy yerself?” Laird Calvin said in an amused tone. “I hate to be the one to remind ye, Lachlan, but we have a poisoner on the loose.”
“Aye, aye,” he said, standing next to his grandfather so that he might observe everyone in the hall.
“But the need to clear any suspicion away from her was necessary. They think Ada did this. I invited her to dine at the high table; it’s the first time she has been granted access to yer table.
She holds a public grudge against me, an’ possibly ye as well, an’ the poor man who inscribed my order onto parchment dies a sudden death, which the physician claims is poison, but I am withholding me opinion on that until it has been confirmed by the apothecary an’ the healer herself. ”
Laird Calvin sighed. “It’s a pickle, I agree. I will have to compensate the scrivener’s family. He was a widower, but I believe there is still one child left at home. Let’s hope it’s a girl child so that we might provide her with a dowry when she comes of age an’ then marry her off.”
Lachlan grunted, still watching the people in the hall, his eyes raking over them as the men watched the women submit to being searched one by one.
“I will thank all ye gentlemen to divest yerselves o’ yer raiment on the outside o’ yer bodies,” Lachlan announced into the room.
Several of the ladies shrieked, and he pacified them.
“Yon gentlemen are only takin’ off their blouson an’ short coats, ladies.
Fear no’; they will keep their plaids wrapped around their bellies as tightly as they made them this mornin’! ”
He signaled to the sentries to open the doors. Iona and Ada began leading the women out.
“Use the alcove under the stairs as I did,” Lachlan said.
He had lost all interest on that side of the hall since seeing Ada standing in her sheer shift gown. The memory of the rosy peaks of her breasts pressing against the fine fabric of her shift had the power to make his stomach tighten with excitement.
As the men undressed on one side of the hall, the womenfolk were led out one by one and searched behind the alcove curtain.
There were few women staying at the Castle since Laird Calvin’s daughter, Meria, had left to marry twenty-five years ago, and no lady of true rank other than the ones who could claim close kinship with the laird had stepped up to take her place.
The laird kept a generous household, so the wives of the more important Calvin counselors were happy to forfeit staying at their homes in exchange for living at the Castle.
After fourteen women were searched by Iona and her daughter, they left to return to their living quarters.
“I’m amazed ye were able to restrain yerself from plantin’ a sachet o’ poison on me person, Ada Calvin!” Morag sniped as Ada told her she could dress as she waited for her mother to bring the next woman to the alcove. “Because I ken ye are makin’ sheeps’ eyes at Lachlan MacNair.”
When Iona approached the laird and his grandson after the women had been dismissed, he wanted to ask her opinion on the matter. Iona was so much more than a healer to the Calvin clan; she was widely recognized as a wise woman as well.
“It troubles me that yer grandson invited me daughter to the dinner, Laird, I’ll no’ mince me words. There’s not one person in this hall who doesnae ken that Ada could concoct a deadly poison in a few moments, even if she were left alone in an empty room with naught but her wits to help her.”
This was true, and Laird Calvin acknowledged it.
“As I’m sure Ada has told ye, Mistress Healer, she was arguing with me grandson at the time o’ the death, but we believe there was no time for her to wreak her vengeance on anyone! The conjecture is absurd.”
Iona knew the ways of the world in this regard far better than the two men standing in front of her did.
Lachlan saw the healer’s old face wrinkle with sorrow as she said, “This is what brought me an’ me husband here all those years ago, Laird.
A healer can be mistaken for so many things by ignorant folks.
An’ when suspicion is added to bewitchin’ beauty, it makes me daughter more vulnerable than the rest.”
Laird Calvin sought to reassure his healer. “In hindsight, I do wish I had handled yer request meself, Mistress Iona, an’ no’ passed it over to me grandson to debate, but he will be laird here one day an’ must learn from his mistake.”
Lachlan saw his grandfather dart him a sideways look under his bushy brows, but it did not have the power to chastise him. He was still too impassioned by the memory of the way Ada’s soft skin had felt under his fingers…
“Guards have been placed in the kitchen, Mistress Iona,” Laird Calvin said. “Belike the toxin will be found in there. I cannae think this was a deliberate action.”
Iona looked at them shrewdly. “Since me daughter is the only person on record with a grudge against ye, Laird, I can only hope that what ye say is true.”
The men who had been in the dining hall had submitted to being searched, as had the servants who brought the heavy platters of food to the table. There was some debate over the kitchen staff, but Lachlan said he would take responsibility to search them.
Once the women had left the room, an atmosphere of nervous hilarity overtook the men.
“Hoots, Lachlan, ye’ll be the first man I’ve ever lifted the hem o’ me plaid for, so help me!” one elderly man remarked as the laird’s grandson walked down the line of men against one wall of the hall. Much laughter erupted over this.
“An’ ye’ll be the first man I’ve had to look at so closely, Gordon!” Lachlan chuckled. “Why d’ye no’ wear a pouch under yer kilt, ye auld cockerel? Yer wife can hardly want to see that plucked chicken’s neck staring at her each time the wind blows!”
More laughter rang out in the hall.
“I never wear a pouch when I’m no’ ridin’ me horse,” the elderly man bragged.
One man at the back of the line shouted out, “So that’s why we see ye walkin’ everywhere, Gordon!”
Lachlan was pleased the men had lightened the mood in the hall. It would make his inspection easier. For even though he joined in the laughter with careless ease, he was watching everyone like a hawk. When the men were allowed to march out of the hall, he turned to his grandfather.
“If there’s a murderer amidst them, then he should join a troupe of actors because I could discern no deception in any of them.”
Laird Calvin thought a bit. “Take the healer an’ her daughter down to the body.
I want Iona’s opinion.” But before Lachlan could turn to go, Laird Calvin waylaid him.
“And Lachlan…leave the healer’s daughter alone for now.
Ye’re no’ the first man to fall for her charms, but ye’re the first man to elevate her to the more influential members of the clan’s notice. ”
He nodded to show he had heard his grandfather, but the caution came too late for him; he was besotted with the young maiden with the fiery hair and green eyes.
He spoke to one of the page boys standing outside the hall, waiting for the latest news about the death.
He could not blame the small boys. People living at the Castle did not drop dead every month, after all.
“Lad, come here. Run to the healers’ quarters and ask them to come down to the prison cell room in the cellars. I must consult with them about the substance used to slay our poor scrivener.”
The pages whispered amongst themselves, and when he cocked his eyebrow at them, they were quick to share their gossip.
“Fetch the healer’s daughter, sir? Why? She knows who did it, an’ she does nae have to look at the corpse to do so!”
Lachlan always had time for children and knew that the best way to reassure them and stop the rumors from spreading was with kindness. He tousled the boy’s hair.
“Och lad, ye’re too canny to believe the nonsense others are spoutin’ out their mouths. I have somethin’ to ask all o’ ye.” All the young boys crowded around, eager to hear what the laird’s grandson had to say. Lachlan gave them all a conspiratorial wink. “D’ye think I’m the poisoner?”
All page boys and errand boys shook their heads hard.
“Nay sir, nay! We would never think such a silly thing!”
Lachlan bent down to whisper, “Well then, why would ye think Ada did it? Because I’ll tell ye a secret…she was sittin’ on me knee when the poor scrivener ate his last meal, an’ he was seated four chairs over from us, so I ken for a fact she did nae do it!”
This was the kind of gossip that would take the focus away from Ada.
“Ooh sir,” one of the little boys crowed, pointing a chubby finger at Lachlan, “is the healer’s daughter yer betrothed?”
Lachlan said nothing, but he gave another wink and smiled.
The boys scattered to go and tell their peers and family what the laird’s grandson had just told them.
Lachlan gave a satisfied smile as he watched them disappear.
Now the only thing the clan would be thinking about was the news that Ada and Lachlan were to be wed—which, in his opinion, was nothing less than the truth.