“Are wonderful,” Hannah said, her smiling face popping back in. “I tried them on,” she whispered. “I have asked the tanner to make me a pair. I will send yours up to ye right now and a new tunic, because the other one is still being repaired.”

Ella watched her slip out, the door clicking into place. She picked up Boo, touching her tiny nose to her own. “I would guess that she knows all the ways in and out of Girnigoe.” If only Hannah could be turned away from her brother to help her escape. “No matter,” she whispered to the kitten. “I will get us out myself.”

…

“Ye think Ella will come this way?” Gideon asked Cain as they stood in the darkness, listening to the sea waves rolling the pebbles upon the shoreline. The sliver of moon hid behind the sparse clouds, giving only a dim glow to the ocean stretching out before them.

Cain looked behind him at the door that was nearly obscured by the tenacious trees, their roots clutching to the rocks at the base of Girnigoe. “I told Thomas to sit at the bottom of the steps. She likely heard me mention the key, and she is still angry as hell. Aye, I think she will.”

“And ye are just going to wait here?” his brother asked.

“She knows I will be moving into Da’s room very soon and that many of the guards have been drinking spirits all day. If she comes this way, it will likely be tonight,” Cain said, tossing a rock into the gentle waves coming with the tide. “I have a guard set at her horse and the night watch keeping an eye out for her if she gets past Thomas on the steps.” He looked up at the sky and the position of the moon. “But my guess is that she will be along soon.”

“What are ye going to do with her once ye catch her out here?”

“First, probably stop her from trying to kill me.” Cain felt a grin tug at his mouth. Ella Sutherland definitely had claws. How would they feel scratching down his bare back? “After that I hope she will take a ride with me to Loch Hempriggs,” Cain continued.

Gideon chuckled. “Ye are trying to woo her with kittens and stars?”

Cain frowned. He’d never had to worry about garnering the interest of a lass before. They’d been attracted to his build, strength, and position in the clan as soon as he’d started training with real swords. “Do ye have a better strategy for getting a woman who hates ye to agree to wed with ye?”

“Gowns, gold, horses?” Gideon asked.

But what did he know? He’d never wooed a woman, either.

“Passion?” Gideon added.