Page 45 of Katie's Highlander (Highland Protector 3)
“Oh, I bet you could,” Katie observed. “Incoming, nine o’clock.”
“Beg pardon?” Both men said it in unison.
“Never mind,” Katie muttered as Gerta bounced up next to her son and wormed her way in to stand between him and Ramsay.
“Did ye no’ hear me callin’ t’ye, son?”
“All on this end of Scotland heard ye,Máthair, I can assure ye.”
“Dinna get that tone with me.” Gerta pinched Brant’s arm, smiling when he flinched. She released him and turned to cozy up to Ramsay who wisely sidestepped her advances and placed Katie between them.
Gerta’s disappointment couldn’t be missed. She gave Katie another lousy curtsy paired with a malicious smirk. “M’lady,” she said in a tone that left no doubt as to how she felt about Katie.
Katie almost reflexively responded with,bee-otch, all lowercase letters, of course. But she caught the word before it jumped out of her mouth.No. I’m the better one here. I got this.She’d employ a much subtler tactic.
“So, tell me, Gerta, where did you and my husband meet?”
“Come, Brant. Yer skills will ne’er improve if we dinna practice,” Ramsay said in a subtly panicked tone as he hooked the boy’s arm and hurried him out to the field.
Coward.Katie turned back to Gerta whose stance had changed considerably after the men left them. “Well?”
“What’s it t’ye?” Gerta sniffed as she shelved her bosoms atop her folded arms. “I gave him a son. ’Tis all that matters.”
“Not really.” Katie shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on Ramsay and Brant out in the middle of the field. “There’s four MacDara brothers—three of which are still in the future. Are you sure Ramsay’s the one?” She turned and faced Gerta. “He doesn’t seem to remember you.”
“All men lie,” Gerta said then turned and spit in the mud. “Ye think he’d admit to his high-born wife that he’d found comfort with the likes of me?”
Katie almost felt sorry for Gerta. Almost. She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me either way. That was long before he met me.” She gave Gerta her besteat shit and diesmile. “But now he has met me. Hiswife.Don’t forget it.”
The corner of Gerta’s right eye twitched as she backed away. “Be ye threatening me?” She held up her tattooed wrist and sneered, “I bear the mark. I’m protected.”
Katie blew out a very unladylike huffing snort. Nanny Fay would’ve been mortified, and her father would’ve been proud. She took a threatening step forward, pointing at Ramsay as she did. “When it comes to that man right there, your protection amounts to shit in my book and you’d do well to remember it.”
“I’m no’ afraid of the likes of ye,” Gerta said, her grubby hands fisting at her sides as she sidled back and forth like a puffed-up cat about to pounce on its adversary.
“Are you really that stupid?” Katie laughed out loud. If Gerta was ignorant enough to jump on the high chief’s wife in front of every person here, she’d seal her death sentence. Already, they’d drawn the attention of several nearby men and women and more were gathering.
Gerta glanced about, noting her precarious situation. She backed up a step, her chin still defiantly lifted. “I’ll have my day,” she said with a low growl. “I’ve waited over sixteen years—I’ll have my day.”
“You’re not having shit, bitch.” Katie flipped a dismissive hand in Gerta’s direction, turned her back to her, and leisurely strolled away. By medieval standards, in front of so many, she’d publicly shown that Gerta not only had no worth but also that she didn’t fear her.
Nanny Fay would be proud…well, except for the profanity.
Chapter 19
“So, what’s the plan?”
Relentless lass.Ramsay patted the hand that Katie had firmly latched in the crook of his elbow as they meandered through the tables of food and drink. Servants tended guests on the sprawling lawn to the west of the keep overlooking the churning sea. It was early evening and a cool settling breeze and the sound of waves crashing washed over the gathering. With so many clans gathered and the heat of the season, outdoor celebrations were the order of the evening and this was the perfect setting.
He gave her the same look that he used to give Esme when he’d caught her stealing cookies too close to supper. “That’s thrice. Ye asked twice during the meal.”
Her narrow-eyed look at his mock scolding made him laugh.
Aye, this is true contentment.We need t’stay here forever.
“D’ye no’ trust me?” he asked with another teasing pat to her hand.
“About as far as I can throw you,” Katie curtly replied. She nodded toward a gaggle of young women circling Brant as though they were about to eat him alive. “That poor kid is totally out of his element. Looks scared to death.”
