‘I think so.’
‘Good, then you can learn to be useful. Come on.’
Ravenna set off briskly, and Giselle followed along with the troublesome Ross. When she turned to look at the boy, he poked his tongue out at her, but then smiled. For an instant, she saw his uncle Lyall’s insolence on his face.
***
A few hours later, when the summer sun had burnt the dew off the grass, Giselle found herself in an outhouse, twisting the handle of a butter churn until she thought her arm would drop off. At Ravensworth, such tasks were done by servants, but Ravenna seemed to oversee virtually everything to do with the running of Beharra and did not seem to mind getting her hands dirty. She didn’t say much as they worked, but Giselle sensed a kindness in Ravenna, and the companionship of another woman eased her a little. Ravenna seemed to understand how she was feeling, and she remembered Lyall’s words about her and Cormac being unwilling to wed. Ravenna had once been alone, unwanted and friendless with strangers, and had survived it. Perhaps she could do the same.
Morna strode in all fresh-faced, and gave Giselle a hesitant smile. ‘Where are Cormac and Lyall, I’ve been looking everywhere for them?’ she asked.
‘They both left, before first light,’ replied Ravenna.
Giselle’s heart sank. She hadn’t dared ask before, and now, to hear that Lyall had gone, made her heart sink to her toes.
‘Where have they gone? When are they coming back?’ demanded Morna.
‘Days, or weeks, maybe. Cormac has to visit some of the other clans hereabouts on some business or other, and I suggested Lyall go with him.’ Ravenna glanced sideways in Giselle’s direction.
‘Well that is vexing,’ said Morna.
‘Ramsay is here to look out for us, Morna,’ replied Ravenna.
Morna rolled her eyes. ‘I would have thought Lyall would have stayed to stop Giselle running away, back to England.’
‘Giselle won’t run, for she could never find her way back south through miles and miles of mountains passes and moorland. She would get lost, or fall prey to any cutthroat she happened to meet on the way. No, she will stay here with us, until her ransom is paid and we can send her back safe to her father. Is that not so, Giselle?’
Her face grew hot. It was as if Ravenna had read her mind, and she was right, how would she ever find her way south on her own? It was not as if there was much to go back to anyway.
Morna intruded into her thought. ‘So, I can’t even amuse myself watching Lyall mooning around over you, Giselle.’ The girl smiled at her. ‘He does, you know, all the time. Are you sure he’ll give you back once the ransom is paid?’
‘He has to,’ she replied.
‘Does he? He’s as stubborn as a mule, and clearly smitten with you.’
Giselle turned her back on them both and concentrated on the task in hand, turning the handle of the churn viciously. Morna’s chatter went over her head, for she was raw with misery. Lyall had gone without so much as a goodbye and Morna was wrong. He was not smitten, he was fed up with the burden of her, and repelled by her lack of restraint.
Morna sidled up to her. ‘You will overdo it, Giselle, and it will turn to cheese!’
‘Oh, I had not realised.’
‘You have lovely hair, you know,’ said Morna. ‘It glows red, like a sunset.’
‘I have always hated it.’
‘Why?’
‘It catches the eye and makes people stare.’
‘Nothing wrong with that, or perhaps you don’t want Lyall to stare. He looks at you often, the fool. Perhaps you have claimed a wee place in his heart.’
‘I don’t think I have his heart, Morna.’
‘Aye, well, my brother does not follow his heart, he follows something else entirely. Best beware English, in case he breaks yours. Listen, Ravenna has gone to take rest, and I need to speak to you, in secret, about that man you met on the road, Will O’Neill.’
‘I don’t think I should speak of him, they will not like it.’
‘Ravenna will not know, for I shall not tell her. Please Giselle, how did he look, what was your impression of him?’