Remembering her missed breakfast and her rumbling belly, Mairin sniffed appreciatively of the air and the wonderful smell emanating from Maddie’s kitchen.
“If ’tis not too much trouble. I did oversleep this morning,” Mairin said mournfully. Maddie smiled and gestured for Mairin to follow her into the small area that housed the hearth for cooking. “I heard Gertie was in quite a temper this morning.”
Mairin nodded. “ ’Tis the truth I feared for my life if I ventured in after missing the morning meal.”
Maddie pulled out a chair and ushered Mairin into it and then set about dishing up some of the stew into a bowl. She handed it to Mairin and then took her own seat across the table.
“Now, my lady, what is it you would like me to instruct you on?”
Before Mairin could open her mouth, a knock sounded at the front door. Maddie frowned but got up to see about the summons. A moment later she returned with Christina and Bertha, whose eyes rounded when they saw Mairin sitting at Maddie’s table.
“Oh, my lady,” Christina exclaimed. “We were just coming to see if Maddie knew of your whereabouts. Cormac has the entire keep in an uproar trying to find you.”
Mairin let out a sigh. “I persuaded him to fetch my shawl so I could seek Maddie’s advice about something. ’Tis a private matter, you see, and not appropriate for Cormac’s ears.”
Bertha grinned broadly. “Then we needn’t tell him where you are.”
Mairin nodded her appreciation and fully expected the two women to depart, but both sat down at Maddie’s table, and Bertha leaned forward in interest.
“What is it you wish instruction on, my lady? We’re all willing to help. You’re our mistress now.”
“Our lady said it was a private matter,” Maddie scolded.
Mairin nodded. “Aye. A delicate matter, indeed.”
Warmth traveled into her cheeks and she was sure her face was afire.
“Ah, a woman’s matter,” Bertha said knowingly. “You can tell us, lass. We’re very discreet.”
Maddie nodded her agreement while Christina looked on in puzzlement.
“Well,” Mairin began reluctantly. “Perhaps it would be better to gain more than one perspective on the matter. ’Tis the truth I’m a bit confused at the coflicting information. You see, Mother Serenity instructed me on the ways of loving.”
“Oh dear Lord,” Bertha muttered. “Lass, tell me you didn’t receive all your instructions from an aging abbess.”
Startled, Mairin stared back at the other woman. “Why aye, Mother Serenity is knowledgeable in all things. She wouldn’t lie to me. I think perhaps I may have confused some of her instructions. There were so many, you see.”
Maddie shook her head and made a tsking sound through her teeth.
“Tell us what you want to know, child. I can assure you that your Mother Serenity, while well intentioned, couldn’t possibly have told you the whole of it.”
“Well, she instructed me on kissing, and the laird—” She broke off, mortified at the idea of saying aloud what was in her thoughts.
“Go on.” This time Christina piped in and leaned forward, her eyes round with curiosity.
“Well, he used his tongue. Mother Serenity never said anything about the use of one’s tongue in kissing. She was quite explicit in the matter.”
Maddie and Bertha chuckled and exchanged knowing glances.
“Tell me, lass, did you enjoy the laird’s kisses?” Maddie asked.
Mairin nodded. “ ’Tis the truth I did, and I have to admit, I used my own. It was quite … breathless. I don’t understand it at all.”
“Kissing with tongues?” Christina’s eyes went wide.
Maddie frowned at Christina and then made a shooing motion with her hands. “Lass, you’re far too young for this conversation. Why don’t you go stand outside and keep watch for Cormac.”
Mairin noted Christina’s crestfallen look but she didn’t argue. Christina stood and left the room. Only when the sound of the front door closing reached them did Bertha and Maddie return their attention to Mairin.
“Is that all you were wanting to know?” Maddie asked.
Mairin shifted in her seat and wondered if she shouldn’t abandon the entire notion and return to the keep so Cormac could lecture her for her desertion.
“There now, lass,” Bertha said in a kindly voice. “Ask us what you want. We won’t be telling tales on you.”
Mairin cleared her throat. “Well, I might have told the laird that he was unskilled at loving.”
Both women looked so appalled that Mairin regretted blurting out that tidbit. Then they burst into laughter. They laughed so long and hard that they wiped tears streaming down their cheeks.
“And how did the laird take tis?” Maddie gasped out between wheezes.
“Not very well,” Mairin grumbled. “I did later tell him I was wrong.”
Bertha grinned. “Ah, you were, were you?”
Maddie nodded approvingly. “Proved you wrong, did he? You can’t hold your wedding day against him, lass. It was your first time. Not much he could have done would have helped in that regard. Better to get it done with and over, I say.”
“But he …”
“He what?” Bertha asked.
“It was indecent,” Mairin muttered.
Maddie stifled her laughter with a hand, but her eyes danced merrily. “But you liked it, aye?”
“Aye,” Mairin admitted. “He did things.…”
“What sort of things?”