She nodded. "Ye may, and yer brother, too, my lord."

Finding Jamie, he proffered the invitation, but his brother refused.

"I want to return to Brae Castle and bring back our piper for the wedding," Jamie explained.

"Also bring back two casks of my best wine and two sheep ready for roasting, Jamie-boy. Mistress Hay will not be embarrassed by the scantness of her hospitality tomorrow. If I am to have the responsibility of the lass and her sisters, a poor reception would reflect badly on the Gordons of Loch Brae. Go now, and come right back in the morning, for the bridegrooms are due early."

Angus Gordon joined the Hay sisters for supper. It was a simple meal of rabbit stew, bread, and cheese, but it was served upon a polished high board on pewter plates with silver spoons. Fiona, very well mannered to his surprise, had introduced him formally to the two brides-to-be, Elsbeth and Margery. Then she had presented him to her two younger sisters, Jean, who was ten, and Morag, who was seven. Like the twins, Jean was auburn haired and amber eyed. She had a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her elegant little nose.

"Are ye really going to make my sister yer mistress?" she asked him bluntly.

"Aye," he drawled, amused. Turning to Fiona, he inquired, "Are all the Hay women as brazen as ye, lassie?" To his great amazement he saw that Fiona had blushed at her sister's inquiry.

"Jeannie, mind yer tongue!" she scolded her sibling.

"Well, Margery says ye are," Jean replied. "Didn't ye think we ought to know such a thing, Fi?"

Fiona ignored the query and introduced the youngest of the sisters. "This is our wee Morag, my lord."

Morag Hay was but a younger version of her eldest sister. Her emerald-green eyes surveyed the laird of Loch Brae. Then, following Jeannie's example, she curtsied carefully. "How do ye do, my lord," she lisped prettily.