Jock joined him a quarter of an hour later. Unlike Fergus, Jock looked as fresh as a spring daffodil. He arched a thick, dark brow above a smug smile. “And how does the morning find you, laird?” he asked with much jocularity. “I expected you to be abed this morning.”

Arran smiled. “And risk a knife at my neck?”

Jock laughed.

“What does the day bring?” Arran asked.

“We’ve men training for unarmed conflict this morn,” Jock said, settling into a chair across from him.

Arran perked up at that. He had learned to fight at his father’s knee and now taught young men from his clan. His soldiers were widely regarded as some of the fiercest men in all of Britain. “I could use a good brawl just now,” he said, rubbing his eyes. There was nothing quite like throwing a punch or two when he was feeling at sixes and sevens, and he was certainly feeling that way this morning. Disappointment, anger, hope and carnal bliss were all mixing dangerously in him.

Why did women have to be so bloody treacherous?

“Did you question the Englishmen?” he asked.

Jock nodded. “Aye, that I did. But they were no’ forthcoming.”

“And the maid?”

“A cake-headed lass, that one,” Jock said with a flick of his wrist. “What do you make of it all?”

“I donna know,” Arran admitted. He sighed, removed the vellum from his pocket and tossed it onto the desk. “I caught her in the night at my chest of drawers with this almost in hand,” he said.

“Ah. Having a look about, was she?”

“I can think of only two reasons she’s come back. Either her father has put her out of the house...or he’s sent her here for a reason. A pampered woman does no’ undertake such a long journey by her own doing.”

“But what reason?” Jock asked. He looked at the letter Arran had tossed onto the desk, but he made no move to take it. He knew what it said—MacLeary had written to warn them about rumblings from England. It was well-known that some of the more influential Jacobite clansmen—Scots who were aligned with the son of the deposed king, James Stuart—were increasingly unhappy with the union and oppressive taxation. Rumors abounded that there were those who were plotting a second time to put James Stuart on the throne. Then again, wild rumors were commonplace since the Acts of Union were signed three years ago. This time was different, however, as MacLeary had written that Arran’s name had been included as one of the unhappy chieftains. It was the first time he had been mentioned as a Jacobite.