Free Highland Hawk: Highland Brides #7 by Lois Greiman Page B

need.
    She swallowed the thought and calmed her nerves. All would be well. Grandmother had promised her, and Grandmother saw things that others did not.
    "Are women not shallow?" James asked, giving her a safe haven on which to anchor her wilding thoughts.
    "Aye." She nodded, first at the boy and then at Hawk. "I should have said, all people are shallow—at some times. Even Durril, I suppose."
    "Durril?" James asked.
    "He was the bravest man in all the world." She said it simply, as if he should have surely known.
    "Braver than me, Uncle Harry?" James turned an impudent expression on Hawk.
    She glanced once more at Hawk. It was foolish of her, for there was something about him that conjured up weakness in her. Perhaps it was his attitude, watchful and confident. Or perhaps it was his mere physical prowess. Even now the thought of last night made her shiver, for she had almost been caught. She had been prepared to search yet another room when he had apprehended her. Like a great bird of prey, he had swept down the hallway. It had been all she could do to escape up the stairs and onto the ramparts. Then, when there was nowhere else to flee, she had slipped over the side and hung by her fingers until he'd passed.
    It had been no mean feat. True, in the full light of day, when the stone was dry and her mind steady, it would not have been so difficult, for she had trained all her life for that sort of activity. But as it was, 'twas all she could do to hold on until he was past and she could sneak back down the stairs.
    "I do not know if he was braver than your uncle," Catriona said, pulling her gaze away. "You shall have to judge for yourself."
    "Tell me of him then," ordered James.
    She raised a brow. "I do not know if I like your tone, young Jock. I think mayhap your uncle has spared the rod and allowed you to forget your place."
    His brows lowered for a moment, but soon he spoke, making it clear he was not willing to give up the game, even for his considerable pride. "I beg you, Mistress Catherine," he said, his tone the very definition of contrition. "Tell me of this Durril."
    "Very well then," she said, and pulling her knees up under her chin, she began her story.
    "Long ago and far away a child was born. His parents were young and poor, but they were not destitute for they had gifts."
    "Gifts?"
    "Aye." She smiled, remembering the firelight on her grandmother's face as she had relayed the tale. "Aye, they had the magic." She whispered the word with reverence and slanted her hands, palms upward, toward the heavens. "Wonder in their fingertips. Wings on their feet."
    "They were entertainers," James deduced easily.
    She shook her head, but did not look directly at him. "Not merely entertainers. Woodsprites. Fairies. They were as free as the wind, as wild as the falcons. Everything they did was magic. Everything they said was music. And so they traveled throughout the country, performing and training their young son in their arts.
    "He was a bonny lad, was Durril. Quick as a whip, bright as a sunrise, and the joy of his parents' lives. But as the years passed, times became difficult. A plague tortured the land. Winter came on hard and cold. Yet they had little choice but to travel from village to village in an effort to earn their keep. But one day as they traveled, the wind rushed suddenly from the north. They could find no shelter. It began to snow, blowing with biting cold into their faces.
    "Their cart horse floundered in the drifts and Durril's father was forced to help the beast along.
    " 'Twas then that the wolves came."
    She paused. It seemed that she could see the scene in her mind, as if she had lived it herself, as if she had felt the fear in her own soul.
    "Since the plague, the wolves had become both bold and numerous. They surrounded the little cart, snarling and snapping, their fangs gleaming in the cold light of evening. Their attack was savage. Durril's father tried to fight them off but it was no use. There were