Page 90 of Bound to a Warrior
She was thrilled with the idea and let him know. “I would love to do that.”
And so they hurried off.
Cook was Etty, more round than tall and with a curt nature.
“You’re disturbing me,” she yelled at Duncan and Mercy took a step behind him.
Duncan cajoled her with a smile and sweet talk. “You make the best bread. I can’t resist it. And your meat pies?” He rubbed his stomach. “Mmm, delicious.”
“Go on with you.” She shooed at him.
“Not without some of your tasty treats.”
She capitulated, though Mercy hadn’t expected her to.
“I’ll give you a few,” she said waving a wooden spoon at him. “No more.”
“Whatever you give me I’ll appreciate,” Duncan assured her.
To Mercy’s amazement they left with a full basket.
“I didn’t think she would give you anything,” Mercy admitted once outside.
“You have to know how to handle Etty if you want to get food from her,” Duncan said. “The real problem is keeping it from others once you’ve got it. We need to find a place fast before Trey or Reeve gets a whiff of it.”
He placed a hand to the small of her back and hurried her forward while on the alert for his brothers.
“We can share—”
“Absolutely not,” Duncan said.
Mercy was surprised at his adamancy. “Why?”
“To the victor goes the spoils.”
“That doesn’t sound at all like you.”
“Listen, I was the only one who could cajole Etty into giving us food, and each time I did, my brothers wound up eating it all. If they get a whiff of this, there’ll be nothing left for us.”
“Duncan!”
“Damn,” Duncan muttered and looked to Mercy. “Don’t turn around and look at Reeve, just keep walking.”
Mercy laughed and did as she was told delighted by and envious of the brothers’ antics. How she wished she had siblings growing up.
“Wait up,” Reeve yelled. “I know what you’ve got in that basket and you have to share.”
Mercy laughed as she hurried her pace alongside Duncan.
“He doesn’t understand the meaning of the word share,” Duncan said.
Mercy continued to find the whole matter amusing. She could just imagine them as young lads running off with a basket of Etty’s food and fighting over the contents. They must have wonderful memories of earlier times together.
“I know you can hear me, Duncan, and you’re not sneaking off with that basket without me.”
“What basket?” Trey called out.
“Damn,” Duncan mumbled again.
