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must come difficult for you,” she
said.
    “I never trust a strange dog, an unknown horse, the deepest
part of a river, or a talkative woman.”
    “I feel sorry for you then. Yours must be a lonely
existence.”
    Anger flared in his eyes. She felt his body stiffen.
“Perhaps I prefer it that way.”
    “And perhaps you don’t.”
    “You are a troublesome lass,” he said.
     
    After riding for a while longer, Stephen drew rein and they
came to a stop. He remained astride his horse until Angus approached, then he
handed Juliette down to Angus and dismounted behind her.
    “We will take a short rest here,” he said.
    “How long is a short rest?” she asked, rubbing her posterior
and looking around for Edith.
    “You would be wise to spend the time walking, to ease the
discomfort of your legs, rather than exercising your tongue.”
    “I know I talk overmuch. It is a habit that has plagued me
since my mother died and I found myself caring for six younger sisters. It is
the one thing I found I excelled at. I talked enough for myself and my sisters,
too.” She smiled at him. “My father always said, ‘talk won’t cook porridge’.”
    Her words seemed to soften the hardness in Stephen’s eyes,
but his expression made her more uncomfortable than his hardness had done.
    “It is said a man is hid under his tongue,” he said.
    She broke into musical laughter. “I assure you that I am
hiding nothing.”
    She made the mistake of looking at him. He was watching her
with an intensity that frightened her. Her every instinct told her to run, to
reveal nothing more of herself to him, yet she knew she should remain steady.
“As much as I would like to continue our conversation, this is, as you said, a
short rest. I find I am in need of some privacy…” She looked around for a
hidden place. “That is, I would…I need…”
    Stephen chuckled and nodded toward a cluster of low shrubs.
“That should provide you sufficient cover to ease your distress, lass.”
    She eyed the low cluster. “Cover? A suckling pig couldn’t
hide behind that,” she said.
    “I ken it will cover the important parts,” he said. “You may
go that far and no farther. You decide.”
    She stomped off toward the bushes, complaining under her
breath. Thickwit…numskull…overbearing brute…dictatorial tyrant… The man must
have a bladder the size of the king’s coffers.
    She heard Edith puffing as she ran up behind her. “M’lady,
where are you going?”
    Juliette paused, waiting for Edith to gain her side. “To
relieve myself, Edith. Have you a need as well?”
    Edith looked properly horrified. “I could not do it here .”
    “You could if it were necessary,” Juliette said. “Go back,
then. I will only be a moment.”
    “I would sooner step into a den of hungry lions,” Edith
said. “Those men have lust in their eyes.”
    Judith smiled and glanced back at the clearing, where no one
seemed to be taking any notice of them. “What makes you think that?”
    “A woman can tell,” Edith said. “Old as I am, I am beginning
to fear for my virtue.”
    Juliette looked astonished. “You mean you still have it?”
    Edith seemed to swell with righteous indignation. “Of course
I do. And I’ll not be losing it on the likes of these rugged creatures. I don’t
mind telling you, m’lady, that being with these men does not sit right with
me.”
    Juliette was thinking that at Edith’s age, she should be
happy to lose her virtue anywhere she could. She didn’t say that, of course,
simply tried to soothe Edith, but it was difficult to remain serious. “I think
you worry overmuch, Edith. Why, Stephen told me himself that his men were most
honorable.”
    “Honorable? A Scot? Begging your pardon, m’lady, but I’d
sooner trust a starved wolf. I would die before I would give the likes of these
a second glance.”
    Juliette could not help smiling. Edith needed a diversion.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Angus. “Perhaps