Keeley shook her head. “Nay. There are a few herbs I must look for. ’Twill require digging into the snow but I know what trees to look under. Many will come down with a cough and aching chest as it grows colder. Especially the children. There is a paste I make that eases the ache and helps with the cough. ’Twill be useful to have this winter.”

Maddie frowned. “When will you collect these herbs?”

Keeley grinned ruefully. “Not until it stops snowing and the wind dies down. ’Tis too cold to go digging about in the snow right now.”

“Aye, you’re right. Be sure to bring a man or two to help you. ’Tis no easy task for a lass to take on herself.”

“Now you sound like the laird with all his dictates,” Keeley teased.

Maddie stopped and knocked at Christina’s door. “The laird is a wise man. ’Tis no insult to be compared to him.”

Keeley rolled her eyes. “I was offering no insult.”

Christina opened the door and her face brightened when she saw Maddie and Keeley standing there. When they told her Mairin would like her to come to the keep, she pounced on the opportunity.

“I love my mother dearly,” Christina said as they hurried toward the keep. “But ’tis God’s truth, the woman is driving me daft. I can’t take being sequestered in the cottage with her any longer.”

Maddie chuckled. “Complaining about the weather, I imagine.”

“When doesn’t she complain?” Christina asked in exasperation. “If it’s not the weather, it’s my father, or me, or some imagined ailment. I was near to screaming before you knocked on my door.”

Keeley smiled and squeezed the young woman’s hand. “I’m sure the opportunity to see Cormac again never entered your mind.”

Christina blushed and Maddie hooted with laughter. “She has you there, lass.”

“Do you think he’ll ever try to kiss me?” Christina asked wistfully.

Maddie pursed her lips. “It seems to me that if he hasn’t been trying to kiss you then maybe you should take the matter into your own hands and kiss him.”

Christina’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened with shock. “Oh I couldn’t! Why, that would be brazen. He’d think me … He’d think me …” she sputtered to a halt, clearly unable to voice the word floating through her mind.

“I wager he’d be too knocked off his feet to have such thoughts,” Maddie muttered. “Some men need a shove every now and again. A stolen kiss does not a harlot make. No matter what your mother might preach.”

“I agree with Maddie,” Keeley said.