“You do?” Christina turned to look at Keeley just as they stepped into the keep and were greeted by much warmer air. “Have you ever … kissed a man?” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she looked around to make certain they weren’t overheard. “I mean did you do the kissing?”

“Aye,” Keeley said softly. “I’ve kissed and I’ve been kissed. ’Tis not a shameful thing, Christina. If it doesn’t go too far. Cormac is a good man. He won’t take advantage, and if he does, you scream loudly and I’ll kick him betwixt the legs.”

Maddie dissolved into laughter while Christina looked so shocked that Keeley wondered if she and Maddie should have counseled the younger woman at all.

But then a speculative gleam appeared in her eyes and Christina’s expression grew thoughtful. As soon as they entered the hall, Mairin rose from her chair in front of the fire and hurried toward them.

“Thank goodness you’re here. I am driving myself daft with boredom. Ewan won’t allow me out of the keep but everyone else must still go about their duties.”

Then Mairin stopped and studied them curiously. “What is amiss? And Christina, why do you have such a peculiar look on your face?”

Maddie chuckled. “The lass is conspiring.”

Mairin’s brows shot up. “This, I must hear. Come, sit in front of the fire with me and tell me all. If there is mischief to be had, I want a part in it.”

“Oh sure, make the laird furious with us all for leading you astray,” Keeley grumbled.

Mairin grinned cheekily and settled back in her chair, her palm molding to her protruding belly. “Ewan won’t touch a hair on your head. At least not until our babe is safely delivered.”

“It’s afterward you need to worry,” Maddie teased.

Keeley sobered, for after she delivered Mairin’s babe, her future was indeed precarious. She had no idea if she even had a cottage to return to at this point. With her disappearance, naught would be known of her fate and her cottage would surely be taken over by someone in need of a sturdy shelter. She had no champion to back her claim, and in fact the cottage didn’t really belong to her. It was a McDonald holding.

“Did we say something wrong?” Mairin asked anxiously. “You look so … sad, Keeley.”

Keeley offered a valiant smile. “ ’Tis nothing. I was thinking of my fate after your babe is born.”

The other women looked shocked and a little appalled.

“Surely you don’t think you’d be turned out,” Maddie exclaimed.

Mairin shifted forward in her chair and clutched Keeley’s hand to hers. “Ewan would never allow such a thing to happen. You do know that, don’t you?”