Page 24 of Highlander’s Mercenary Lass

7

Andrew paced about the lengths of the blacksmith's cottage. This in itself was not very easy. Obstacles were strewn everywhere. All over were tools of the trade as well as what looked like work in progress—a copper kettle, a pair of tongs, and various components of what looked like armor.

Briefly, Andrew wondered why he had brought them home with him but then looked to see the old blacksmith staring dead at him.

Realizing it was time to talk, Andrew cleared his throat.

"So then, young lad, I asked ye a question. What really brings ye tae this estate, an' why are ye hanging about my daughter?”

The old man's brown eyes focused straight at him, and Andrew knew that he was frightened of something. Trying to calm him, Andrew smiled.

"It's nothing tae fash about, sir," he said smoothly. "I've just been sent by the laird tae find a young lass who left the Duncan castle twenty years ago as a newborn bairn."

The man looked visibly taken aback but tried to brush it off. "And?" he said truculently.

"Well, now I've been tasked tae find this lass. An' the man who gave her away, he told me tae start from the Ferguson estate, as it was where she was last seen." Andrew scrutinized the blacksmith's face, but he had turned away. It was quite clear he was hiding something.

"Nay," he said cagily. "I mean, I dinnae ken anyone who it might be..."

Andrew narrowed his eyes. He looked for a crack in the man's face and met his gaze.

"Are ye sure, sir? I mean, someone like ye I would have thought would see all the comings an' goings in a small place such as this," he smiled. "An' someone like ye has been here long enough tae remember that far back."

The aged blacksmith shuffled forward, and Andrew noticed once again just how infirm he was. The age gap between him and Grace was notable. And although that was nothing in itself, he couldn't help noticing how unalike they were.

But now, Andrew could sense that his feathers had been ruffled. The old man was regarding him strangely.

"Are ye calling me old?" he asked, his expression indecipherable.

"Och, I, um," began Andrew, flustered. The force of the man's beam was focused on him. Andrew wasn't quite sure what to say.

Briefly, the man's expression softened. "Well, I am," he said, with a brief grin. "But I am afraid I cannae help ye. I dinnae ken any young lasses called Annie."

"Aggie," corrected Andrew, and watched the man's face change. Once again, he had turned almost pale.

"Aggie? I dinnae ken nay Aggies. Nay, lad," said the man, but Andrew noticed that he would not meet him in the eye.

"Are ye sure?" said Andrew, pressing him. He had seen a glint in the old man's eyes at the mention of the name. But now, the old blacksmith was squirming.

"Quite sure," he said, looking anything but.

"That's strange because the man who brought her here recalls a blacksmith..." Andrew let the words hang into the room, watching the old man intensely. He blinked at Andrew unsurely. There was no doubt that he was very afraid of something.

"D-Did he?" said the blacksmith.

Andrew nodded. But it was a lie. Paton had said no such thing, but Andrew had a hunch and hoped his bluff would pay off. There was something this man knew and was not telling.

"Aye. He told him tae bring the bairn up as his own, an' it seems he did a braw job," Andrew added slyly.

Grace's father blushed. Andrew knew he had him.

"Alright," said the blacksmith, after a moment's hesitation. "Aye, a man from the Duncan clan, he approached me. Twenty years ago..."

Cagily, the old man looked to the door, making sure that Grace was not around. She was nowhere to be seen. Emboldened, he carried on.

"An', like ye said, he had wi' him a bairn. A bonnie wee lassie. She was so bonnie then. Still is." The old man smiled, and Andrew saw the obvious pride he had in his daughter.

"The man, he told me tae take the bairn an' bring her up as my own." He paused. "An'...he told me that she was in danger at the Duncan clan. Didnae say why, but that she should nae return there...which is why, young lad, I am asking ye why ye want tae take her there."