Page 25 of Wedded to the Devilish Highlander
He motioned for Mack to speak.
The man straightened his already perfect posture, and Archer tensed. He would normally have received this report before entering the room, but Eileen had been with him before the meeting, and he was unable to speak with Mack about the issue. Not knowing the details made him feel… odd.
Is there any end to the way that lass distracts me? It feels like she’s been in the castle for weeks and nae only a day or so.
“Aye, it was young Kenneth, one of the journeymen. The forge fire burned too quickly. Blacksmith said it smelled of oil, but others claim it was anaccidentand he was too close to the fire.” Mack made a gesture, suggesting that drinking may have been involved.
“An accident?” Calum growled. “Are we lettin’ drunk men handle steel, then?”
Archer almost smirked at the mention of drunkenness. Calum could drink with the best of them, and he would become something of a fool when he did, yet he always carried out his duties the next day with abject professionalism.
It hadn’t been long since he’d been in the tavern with Calum and Eileen, and Calum was still none the wiser that theladhe’d told to cheer up was their current guest.
What would ye think if ye kenned?
Archer still didn’t understand how Calum hadn’t seen it. It was her eyes. They were far too alluring and feminine to be mistaken for a man’s, and something about the way she had held herself caught Archer’s eyes that night. She’d done a good job in drawing his eye since then, especially when she threw the blankets off her earlier—though he wouldn’t let her see his weakness. He could look withoutlooking.
Mack offered a thin smile. “There was a scuffle. Words exchanged over hours and pay. Kenneth was… reportedly under the influence. Lost his footing.”
“How convenient,” Calum muttered. “Ye honestly expect us to believe that load of rubbish, Mack?”
“It’s what I could find out in such ashortamount of time.”
“Two days, Mack,” Calum scoffed loudly, and several others nodded in agreement. “A lack of knowledge isnae what we expect.”
Archer rubbed a hand over his jaw, the rasp of his stubble loud in the silence that followed Calum’s outburst. It sounded too tidy. Too rehearsed.
Red as Mack might be, Calum is right. It isunacceptable.
“One death in a keep that is already on edge? Perhaps. But two? Both precise? Timed? Intentional?” Archer muttered low enough for only Calum to hear.
His man-at-arms nodded in agreement.
A gnawing suspicion took root in his gut and refused to be quieted.
“We’ll need to dig into it again,” he declared. “Quietly. Get the names of all those present. Check the forge’s records. Deliveries. I want to ken about every single detail. Is that understood?”
Instead of looking at Mack or anyone else at the table, Archer looked at Calum, who nodded with grim satisfaction. “It will be done, Me Laird.”
Fergus shifted in his chair. “And what of last night? Was anything taken? Any sign of a thief or saboteur?”
“Nothin’ stolen. Nay sigils or signs. Just… carnage.”
Dugal leaned forward. “If the O’Gunns are makin’ their move, we should prepare for conflict.”
“Wecannaeafford it!” Henry protested again, his bird-like nose pointing downward at the ledger he clung dearly to.
“That is all very well, Henry,” Archer said calmly. “We arenae fools. We willnae rally anyone yet. The last thing I wish to do is send our lads marchin’ into blades over nothin’. We move carefully. We watch our own. Nothin’ discussed today leaves this room.”
He scanned the table again. Some nodded. A few remained stiff, uneasy.
The last thing I want is to send a lass into a blade over next to nothin’.
He thought about mentioning Reid Kilmartin, but if O’Gunn had taken him and there were spies in the castle, then he couldn’t risk tipping his hand until he knew more. He liked to think that no spies were sitting around the table, breaking bread with him, but he was not so foolish as to think that it wasn’t a possibility.
He wouldn’t risk Eileen.
Mack watched him in silence, his smile faint but steady as always, but otherwise unmoving.
