Free Amanda Scott by Highland Treasure

to rest a bit. No one can see us here from below.”
    The children plopped down at once, and despite the sunlight, she saw Pinkie pull the little shawl closer around her. Chuff took a bun from the little duffel he carried and broke it into pieces, giving the first to his sister and the next to Mary.
    She accepted if with thanks. “You are truly amazing, Chuff. I did not even think about food, I’m afraid.”
    “Well, I’ve no got anything else o’ that sort,” he said, “but I did just take the bun from the kitchen, because I knew Pinkie would get hungersome.”
    “You take good care of her, I think.”
    “I canna always take care o’ her. That’s why I decided tae leave.”
    “We need to talk about that,” Mary said. “I think perhaps there are folks who would say that I have done wrong to let you come with me, but I did not feel that it was wrong at the time, and I generally follow my instincts. Perhaps you would not mind telling me just a little more about yourselves, though, so that I can decide what will be best for me to do with you.”
    “Canna we just stay with ye, mistress?”
    “Aye,” Pinkie said solemnly, “that would be good.”
    “I do not have the right to make that decision,” Mary said. “I live with some of my kinsmen, you see, so my house is not my own. I am sure my Aunt Anne would want to help you, but she is not presently at home, so we cannot ask her. You can stay with me through the winter, I expect, since she and my cousin Sir Neil Maclean intend to remain in Perthshire, but I cannot promise more than that until I have laid the matter before them.”
    “You can tell them we work hard,” Chuff said.
    “I will, but there is also the likelihood that the laird will object, and there may be others who hold authority over you. Tell me more about Flaming Janet. Does she perhaps have red hair?”
    “Aye, but there is nay more tae tell,” Chuff said, dismissing his foster mother with a gesture. “She is just Flaming Janet. She does not count for much with us.”
    “But she cared for you most of your lives after your mother died.”
    “Because our daddy gave her money tae look after us and a wee good-luck charm he said he would take back when he came home. But after a time Flaming Janet grew a fierce temper on her, because she said there is no way tae mak’ siller out o’ air, charm or no charm. And so, when the laird did come home again—”
    “Just a moment,” Mary said as an unpleasant thought struck her. “Do you mean to tell me that the laird is your father?”
    “Nay, then, he’s not,” Chuff said, grimacing expressively. “I’d no want him for my daddy, either.”
    “Nor me,” his small echo said. “He isna kind, the laird.”
    “I see. Well, go on. What happened last year when the laird came home?”
    Grimacing again, Chuff said, “She went tae him the day she heard he was at the castle, and she tellt him he should look after us. At first he wouldna do it—said we was nobbut handfast brats—but she kept at ’im till he said he would tak’ me.”
    “Not Pinkie?”
    “Nay, not till a fortnight since when Flaming Janet just left I the wee lass at the gate wi’ nobbut that dress and her wee shawl tae keep her warm. The laird couldna find her after that—”
    “Flaming Janet, you mean?”
    “Aye, she just up and left, and there was no females at Shian, only our Pinkie, and the men tease her and dinna treat her well. The cook give her a clout on the lug once that near laid the lass oot. But then the laird said he was for marrying, so we waited till he brought ye home, only then …” He spread his hands, adding, “When ye said ye was for running, I decided we should both of us come away, too.”
    Mary’s throat ached, and she felt a prickling of tears in her eyes. Though she knew the notion was nonsensical, she felt as if by fleeing she had unwittingly betrayed the children. At all events, she did not want to hear more.
    Chuff said, “Pinkie’s getting