Tamed by a Laird Read Online Free PDF Page B

promise ye’ll
     tell nae one else.”
    “Why should her name be a secret?” he demanded, frowning.
    “Because I will it so,” Jenny said quietly but with a mischievous smile. “If you cannot agree that whilst I stay with you,
     I am your cousin Jenny, then Peg must tell you no more.”
    Bryan looked at his sister, then back at Jenny.
    “I dinna ken who ye be, mistress, but I ken fine that ye be nae kin o’ mine.”
    “Will you not accept me so, just for a short time?”
    “Dinna be mean, Bryan,” Peg begged. “Let her come.”
    He shook his head. “These be my friends, lass. I canna tell them lies.”
    “I shan’t ask you to
tell
them anything but only to accept what I tell them myself,” Jenny said. “Many of my own people call me Jenny, and if we tell
     the minstrels who I really am, I fear they may not let me go with you. But, indeed,” she added earnestly, “I mean them no
     harm.”
    “Who are ye then?” Bryan asked. “I warrant I should call ye ‘me lady.’ ”
    Meeting Peg’s anxious gaze, Jenny nodded.
    “She’s me lady Janet,” Peg said. “She just wants to ken more about the minstrels and them that she saw tonight, and mayhap
     enjoy a wee adventure.”
    Bryan stared at Jenny, his eyes wide with astonishment.
    “Sakes, my lady, was it no
your
betrothal feast where we performed?”
    “Aye, sadly,” Jenny said. “ ’Tis why I yearn for adventure now. Sithee, I’ll have no time for it when I’m married, and that
     will happen in three weeks’ time!”
    “But what o’ your betrothed man? What will
he
say about this?”
    “He can say naught,” Jenny said firmly. “He is not yet my husband.”
    Bryan hesitated, clearly reluctant.
    Peg said, “What harm can it do? We want only to walk wi’ ye for a bit.”
    Jenny kept silent, fixing Bryan with a somber but hopeful look.
    He sighed. “Come along then,” he said. “But mind, ye’ll both ha’ to turn back afore we reach Castle Moss.”
    “Castle Moss?” Jenny said. “ ’Tis an odd name, surely.”
    He chuckled. “ ’Tis named for the Water o’ Moss on which it sits. They say the castle’s walls be fourteen feet thick, but
     I dinna ken if that be right, ’cause we camp in the laird’s woods. But tomorrow night, at Lochmaben, they’ll let us sleep
     inside
their
wall. I warrant they dinna trust us in their woods, minstrels or no, nobbut what their castle be surrounded mostly by water.”
    “Lochmaben!” Jenny exclaimed. “But the English hold Lochmaben Castle. They have held it all my life. Do they not still occupy
     it?”
    “Aye, sure, for all the good it does them,” Bryan said with a shrug. “The Annandale folk keep them pent up inside and sell
     them their food and supplies. So they welcome us to entertain them every year when we come by.”
    Peg nodded. “ ’Tis true, me lady. Minstrels, fools, and players can go almost anywhere, even places other folks cannot.”
    “But you said only that this company was going to Dumfries, Peg,” Jenny reminded her. “You never mentioned Lochmaben.”
    Peg shrugged. “I didna ken they’d go there, but it be nae great surprise. Even Englishmen like to laugh and hear music now
     and now.”
    “Faith, but I’d like to see that castle,” Jenny said wistfully. “Lochmaben was the Bruce’s own seat, was it not?”
    “Aye,” Bryan said, his attention clearly wandering back to his friends.
    Peg eyed Jenny with mistrust visible even in the dim light provided by the high crescent moon and the stableyard torches.
     “Ye’re no thinking we should—”
    “Not another word, Peg,” Jenny said with a laugh. “I think the others are ready to go now. Are they not, Bryan?”
    “Aye, mistress, although them guards do still be a-searching yon carts.”
    “Cousin Jenny,” she reminded him gently.
    “Aye, cousin,” he said with a resigned smile.
    He made no further objection and apparently saw no need to discuss his two companions with any of the others, most of whom