Free Amanda Scott by Ladys Choice

conscientiously. “Sidony and I mean to find her, though, since no one else will, and you must help us, Bess. You simply must! It was you, after all, who told me that family counts more than anything else in this world.”
    “I did,” Bess agreed. “Because it does.”
    “Aye, and when my mother died, you said we had you and Father, and our sisters, plus the rest of our clansmen to look after us. But we lost you when Ranulf was injured. Then Mariota died and Cristina, Kate, andIsobel all married and moved away. Only Maura still lives nearby. I don’t want to lose another sister.”
    “Sakes, m’lady, I ken fine that ye must be worried about Lady Adela, but ye havena lost the others—only your mam and the lady Mariota, poor dearling.”
    “Aye, but you know what I mean, Bess, and I mean to find Adela. You will help us, won’t you?”
    “Just what d’ye think I can do? The very notion o’ three young lassies traveling about, thinking they can rescue another! That be plain daft.”
    “Three?”
    “Ye dinna think I’ll let the pair o’ ye go without ye take Una. Ye’ve better sense than that, Sorcha Macleod.”
    “But we cannot travel as three young maidens,” Sorcha said. “I do know that. And Una, as buxom as she is, could never fool anyone into thinking she is a man. I mean for just Sidony and me to go. We’ll dress as lads. And we’ll need a real one to travel with us if you know someone who would be suitable.”
    “And what do ye think ye’ll do if ye find her?” Bess demanded. “Ye can scarcely wield a sword or beat off her abductors wi’ your fists.”
    “I’ve thought about that,” Sorcha assured her. “We’ll just follow them to see where they take her. We’ve heard they are riding to Edinburgh, for they passed through Kinlocheil. I do not know where that is, but we’ll find it, and when we do, discovering where they went next will be easy enough. Adela is pretty enough for people to notice her, and there cannot be many parties of four men and one woman.”
    “There may be more than four men by now,” Sidony said thoughtfully.
    “Aye, Lady Gowrie said there were twenty. Still, there will only be one Adela,” Sorcha pointed out. “Unless you think they are riding about the Highlands, collecting brides.”
    “Faith, do you think they may be doing that?” Sidony demanded, blanching.
    “No, goose, I do not.” She turned to Bess. “Will you help us?”
    “I expect that if I refuse, ye’ll just go on your own,” Bess said. “But I dinna think ye should go as lads, mistress. Can ye no go as common women instead?”
    Before Sorcha could think how to reply, Una said, “Only look at them, Mam. Common or noble, they’d draw too much notice, dress them how ye would. Lady Sorcha be right. They’ll travel safer as lads. But what’ll ye do about your hair?”
    “When Isobel dressed as a lad, she just stuffed hers in a cap,” Sorcha said.
    “Isobel wore lad’s clothes only the one time,” Sidony said. “And only long enough to cross the Kyle from Glenelg to Skye.”
    “She did it more than once,” Sorcha said. “But you’re right, Sidony. To do it longer would prove more difficult. We’ll just have to cut our hair, that’s all.”
    “Cut it?” Sidony stared at her. “How short?”
    “Short enough to look like a lad’s, of course. You can just keep your head covered afterward until it grows out again,” she said. “You rarely let it hang loose, anyway, now that you are grown up.”
    “Not as often as you do, at all events,” Sidony said. “Very well, I’ll do it, but it is most improper, Sorcha.”
    “Abducting Adela was worse,” Sorcha said with more sharpness than usual. “So is Father’s refusal to go after her.”
    “You know,” Sidony said, “I think he may have said that because he was angry with you. I don’t think he will really abandon her.”
    “He already has,” Sorcha said. “Think, Siddy. In less than a sennight now, nearly every member of