Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Aye, it’s me, Hennie,” Dru said and joined her at one of the many tables and benches set up outside for market day.
“Why did you clean yourself up?” Hennie asked, raising the jug in front of her on the table and shaking it at a sour-faced woman. “If Birdie ever smiled, she’d crack her face, but I guess if I was wed to that miserable beast of a husband, I’d be sour-faced too.” She cackled. “Though more than likely he’d be long dead.”
Dru used the same excuse she gave Hugh, though she needed only to say, “Cramond Abbey.”
Hennie understood.
“Get off your feet for a bit,” Hennie said when Birdie brought a large jug and used it to refill the one on the table.
“Seth will beat me senseless if he catches me sitting,” Birdie said.
Dru felt bad Birdie was stuck with Seth, a brute of a husband and one who cheated on her with any woman willing to have him. She knew because she had spotted him coupling twice with different women, once in the woods and another time right behind his cottage.
“Seth’s not around and no one needs serving right now. So, sit and have a drink with us. I’m sure you’re eager to hear whatever news Dru has for us.”
Birdie glanced around and, not spotting her husband, sat.
“So, tell us the news, Dru,” Hennie urged.
Dru leaned closer across the table and kept her voice low as if revealing a secret. “Lord Torrance has hired a mercenary to find his half-sister Autumn and not just any mercenary. He’s hired a fierce one, he has. Knox, he’s called.”
Birdie gasped. “I heard men talk about him. He’s a big man and with such strength that he can kill a man with one hand.”
“He’ll never find her,” Hennie said.
Dru hurried to ask, “Why not?”
“Heard she was dead,” Hennie said.
Birdie shook her head. “I heard her mum sent her to the Lowlands before she died.”
“That’s a fate worth than death,” Hennie said, and Birdie agreed, nodding.
“But no one knows for sure, right?” Dru asked.
“I don’t know about that,” Hennie said. “I heard that a healer had befriended Autumn’s mum.” She shrugged. “Though it could be nothing more than a woman making it appear that she knows more than she does.”
“Well, be careful what your tongues wag about since Knox is not likely to fail Lord Torrance, which means he’ll do anything to get information,” Dru warned a bit dramatically.
Birdie gasped, her eyes spreading wide.
Dru turned to see what put fear in Birdie’s eyes, though she didn’t need to. It had to be Knox, and it was. He towered over everyone there and the breadth of his shoulders and chest warned people away. His stride held confidence and strength and sellers whose stalls he stopped at avoided looking at him, while others took a wide berth around him.
“He is one handsome man,” Hennie said, smiling.
“Don’t be foolish, Hennie,” Birdie cautioned.
“I’d give him a free one if he was inclined.” Her smile grew. “I bet a man his size could really please a woman.”
Dru had to ask, “What if he’s too big for you, Hennie?”
Hennie laughed.
“There’s no man too big for me,” Hennie boasted. “Besides a man well-experienced in coupling, a good lover, knows how to ease a woman to fit him. I’ve known a few and they spoil you for others.”
“I wish I had one,” Birdie said, regret in her voice.
“What do you wish you had and what are you doing sitting on your fat arse when there are people to serve?” Seth snarled as he approached the table.
“Leave her be, Seth. She needed a break,” Hennie said, defending Birdie.
“Mind your business, Hennie, or you’ll feel my hand and not in a pleasing way,” Seth said.
Hennie scrunched her face in disgust. “Like I’d ever want to.”
Seth smacked Hennie in the back of the head. Watch your tongue with me, woman. And you—” He turned to his wife and twisted her arm until she cried out. “I’ll break it if you don’t get back to work.”
Dru couldn’t hold her tongue. “That wouldn’t be wise, then she wouldn’t be able to work.”
“She’s got another hand, and it doesn’t concern you,” Seth threatened.
Dru was about to say more but Hennie shook her head, so Dru held her tongue, though barely.
“And what are you wishing for, Birdie?” Seth demanded. “You have no reason to complain or wish for anything. I am a generous husband. You should be grateful.”
Birdie paled and worry sparked in Hennie’s eyes.
It didn’t take much to realize that Birdie would suffer if her husband found out what they had been discussing.
“Tell me,” Seth demanded, clinching his hand as if getting ready to use it.
Dru couldn’t let that happen. “You heard her wrong, you fool. She was talking to me, saying, “‘You wish you had one.’”
Seth looked puzzled and scratched his head. “Had what?”