“Are the Scots as bloodthirsty as all this?” she asked after he’d left the supper table the second time.
He didn’t seem to understand what she was talking about. “I’m meeting someone here and he’s late. He should have been here by now.”
“One of your brothers—or is it a woman?”
“Neither,” he said quickly.
Elizabeth asked no more questions. As she crawled into her bed, wearing the same dress Miles had given her, she turned to her side to watch him on his cot. He tossed and turned every moment.
When a loud knock came on the door, Elizabeth sprang out of bed almost as quickly as Miles. Sir Guy entered, a little boy behind him.
“Kit!” Miles cried, grabbing the child, hugging him fit to crush him. The boy didn’t seem
to mind as he also clung to Miles.
“What took them so long?” Miles asked Sir Guy.
“They were caught in a rainstorm and lost three horses.”
“No men?”
“Everyone was saved but it took a while to replace the horses. Young master Kit held onto his saddle when two knights couldn’t,” Sir Guy said with pride.
“Is that true?” Miles asked, turning the boy around.
Elizabeth saw a small replica of Miles but with brown eyes instead of gray, a handsome boy, his face solemn.
“Yes, Papa,” Kit answered. “Uncle Gavin said that a knight always stays with his horse. Afterward, I helped the men pull the baggage from the water.”
“You’re a good boy.” Miles grinned, hugging Kit once again. “You may go, Guy, and see that the men are fed. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
Kit smiled goodbye to Sir Guy, then whispered loudly to his father. “Who is she?”
Miles stood Kit on the floor. “Lady Elizabeth,” he said formally, “may I present Christopher Gavin Montgomery.”
“How do you do?” she said, taking the child’s extended hand. “I am Lady Elizabeth Chatworth.”
“You are very pretty,” he said. “My papa likes pretty women.”
“Kit—” Miles began, but Elizabeth interrupted him.
“Do you like pretty women?” she asked.
“Oh yes. My nurse is very, very pretty.”
“I’m sure she is if your father hired her. Are you hungry? Tired?”
“I ate a whole sackful of sugared plums,” Kit said with pride. “Oh Papa! I have a message for you. It’s from someone named Simon.”
A frown crossed Miles’s face, but as he read the message he broke into a grin.
“Good news?” Elizabeth asked, not able to hide her curiosity.
Miles sobered himself as he tossed the note to his rumpled cot. “Yes and no. My cousin has been delivered of my daughter but my Uncle Simon is threatening my life.”
Elizabeth wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be disgusted. “You have a little sister, Kit,” she said at last.
“I have two brothers already. I don’t want a sister.”