"Hair like fire," Alec said dreamily, enjoying the warmth of the oil on his back. "And eyes like Colum's—grey, and fringed wi' black lashes—verra pretty, but the kind would go through ye like a bolt. A tall woman; even taller than you. And sae fair it would hurt the eyes to see her.
"I heard tell later as they'd met at the Gathering, taken one look and decided on the spot as there could be none other for either one o' them. So they laid their plans and they stole awa', under the noses of Colum MacKenzie and three hundred guests."
He laughed suddenly, remembering. "Dougal finally found them, living in a crofter's cottage on the edge of the Fraser lands. They'd decided the only way to manage was to hide until Ellen was wi' child, and big enough that there'd be no question whose it was. Then Colum would have to give his blessing to the marriage, like it or no—and he didn't."
Alec grinned. "Whiles ye were on the road, did ye chance to see a scar Dougal carries, running down his breast?"
I had; a thin white line that crossed his heart and ran from shoulder to ribs.
"Did Brian do that?" I asked.
"No, Ellen," he replied, grinning at my expression. "To stop him cutting Brian's throat, which he was about to do. I wouldna mention it to Dougal, if I were you."
"No, I don't suppose I will."
Luckily, the plan had worked, and Ellen was five months gone with child by the time that Dougal found them.
"There was the great to-do about it all, and a lot of verra nasty letters exchanged between Leoch and Beauly, but they settled it in the end, and Ellen and Brian took up house at Lallybroch the week before the child was born. They were married in the dooryard," he added, as an afterthought, "so he could carry her over the threshold for the first time as a wife. He said after as he nearly ruptured himself, lifting her."
"You talk as though you knew them well," I said. Finishing my ministrations, I wiped the slippery ointment off my hands with a towel.
"Oh, a bit," Alec said, drowsy with warmth. The lid drooped over his single eye, and the lines of his old face had relaxed from the expression of mild discomfort that normally made him look so fierce.
"I kent Ellen weel, of course. Then Brian I met years later, when he brought the lad to stay—we got on. A good man wi' a horse." His voice trailed off, and the lid fell shut.
I drew a blanket up over the old man's prostrate form, and tiptoed away, leaving him dreaming by the fire.
Leaving Alec asleep, I had gone up to our chamber, only to find Jamie in the same condition. There are a limited number of activities suitable for indoor amusement on a dark, rainy day, and assuming that I didn't wish either to rouse Jamie or to join him in oblivion, that seemed to leave reading or needlework. Given the worse-than-mediocre state of my abilities in the latter direction, I had decided to borrow a book from Colum's library.
In accordance with the peculiar architectural principles governing the construction of Leoch—based on a general abhorrence of straight lines—the stair leading to Colum's suite had two right-angle bends in it, each marked by a small landing. An attendant usually stood on the second landing, ready to run errands or lend assistance to the laird, but he wasn't at his station today. I could hear the rumble of voices from above; perhaps the attendant was with Colum. I paused outside the door, uncertain whether to interrupt.
"I've always known ye to be a fool, Dougal, but I didna think ye quite such an idiot." Accustomed to the company of tutors since youth, and unused to venturing out as his brother did among fighting men and common people, Colum's voice normally lacked the broad Scots that marked Dougal's speech. The cultured accent had slipped a bit now, though, and the two voices were nearly indistinguishable, both thickened by anger. "I might have expected such behavior from ye when ye were in your twenties, but for God's sake, man, you're five-and-forty!"
"Well, it isna a matter you'd know owermuch about, now, is it?" Dougal's voice held an ugly sneer.
"No." Colum's response came in a cutting tone. "And while I've seldom found cause to thank the Lord, perhaps He's done better by me than I've thought. I've heard it said often enough that a man's brain stops workin' when his cock's standin', and now I think maybe I believe it." There was a loud scrape as chair legs were pushed back across the stone flooring. "If the brothers MacKenzie have but one cock and one brain between the two of them, then I'm glad of my half of the bargain!"
I decided that a third participant in this particular conversation would be decidedly unwelcome, and stepped softly back from the door, turning to go down the stair.