His second palm joined his first, urging her to stay put. “Wait,” he mouthed in reply.

Once the sound of shod horses faded, he hastened toward her. “Why the devil were you out here?”

It wasn’t exactly the greeting she’d hoped to receive. She’d scarcely seen the man in the last fortnight. Straightening, she raised the bucket. “I was drawing water for Cook.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have been out in the open.” He took the pail and placed a hand on the small of her back, leading her inside.

Cook greeted them with her fists on her hips. “At last, I thought you’d gone all the way to the river to fetch my water.”

Kennan set the bucket on the table. “Henceforth, Divana will not be fetching water.”

“I beg your pardon?” Divana nearly tripped as he took ahold of her hand and pulled her into the servants’ dining hall. Thank heavens it was empty, or else he’d have caused a spectacle. “Did ye hear Mr. Corbyn? He wants to arrest ye—and me as well.”

“He’ll have no luck at Achnacarry. I kent he was fishing when he held us.”

“And now he kens about Dundee.”

His feet planted wide, Kennan pounded a fist onto the table. “Dundee was not of my doing.”

“Aye, but he could make things very unpleasant for you until the matter is settled.” Divana paced, her mind racing—Saint Columba, Corbyn even wanted to arrest her. “’Tis dangerous for us to dally here.”

“Nay, it is the safest place we can be at the moment.”

She gripped the back of a chair, about to crack it over his head. “I wish we had never left Hyskeir.” There they had been equals. There they were free to speak and laugh and tell stories about their lives.

Kennan’s stance immediately softened as he stepped toward her. “Are my kin being unkind?”

She clutched her fingers tightly around the bent wood. How could she tell him of the agonizing love in her heart? “Nay.”

“Are you in want of something?” He stroked a hand down his chin as his gaze roved from her head to her hem. “Och, your shoes. How daft you must think me. Come, we’ll visit the cobbler anon.”

He took her hand and pulled her back outside, of all places. He was too strong for her not to follow, but she made a good show of tugging against him, not quite trying to wrench away. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to be seen out of doors.”

“You must be careful. And no dawdling in the courtyard.”

“What about ye? The soldiers were here naught but five minutes ago, and here we are taking a wee stroll.”

“Wheesht. I can take care of myself.”

“Ye make no sense at all.”

He gave her a sidewise grin. Why did he have to go off and do that? And how did he always manage to turn her heart into a puddle with a glance? He looked like a devil, and a pirate, and too tempting not to embrace. Instead she gripped his hand tighter. “Ye oughtn’t look at me like that.”