Quinn looked at the faces seated around the table and was not surprised by the stunned expressions of all.

“You believe it would be in your brother’s best interest for you to go off alone? You believe you would earn more that way?” Fergus looked around as though assuring himself that he hadn’t heard wrong.

“Aye,” Quinn replied with a firm nod. “I’ve got to ride out, see how much it is he owes and find a way to aid him.”

“We could come with you,” Brice said. “We’ve never allowed for one of our group to struggle when there was something this important in the balance.”

“Aye,” Rodric agreed. “It hardly seems fair to send ye off on your own. What if the sum is beyond what you’re able to pull together?”

“There is no such thing as a sum I’m unable to earn,” Quinn replied, eyes moving over the three of them as if to dare them to deny it. “It may take a bit of time, aye, but I’ll do it. I am the only hope he has. Do ye think any friends Lennox may have will go out of their way to pay his debts? Do ye think he would even let them? No man would.”

“Why are you doing it, then?” Brice posed in a quiet, thoughtful voice.

“He doesn’t need to know I’m behind it,” Quinn explained. “I have no intention of making it known until the deed is done.”

When none of them offered further questions or argument, he continued, “I’ll be packing my things, then, and leaving in the morning.”

“I will speak to Sorcha and Padraig,” Rodric offered. “I know they’ll both wish to send ye off with bags full of food and anything else you may need.”

Quinn turned to the bed, where he’d already begun to lay out the new tunics a few of the Anderson women had made for him during his stay in the household. Tunics made from fabric he’d purchased with the silver from Earl Remington, the fee for delivering Alana safe and in one piece.

Granted, she had then run away from the man on their wedding day, and Quinn had helped spirit her away to Padraig’s home, where she and Brice were married. But the silver had remained in their possession.

He ran his fingers over the fine fabric, then looked down at the new shoes and trousers he’d purchased. He thought about the new saddle, so shining and fine, and how dearly it had cost him.

He could have used that toward Lennox’s debt. If he’d only known…

Brice cleared his throat behind Quinn’s back, how Quinn knew which of his friends wished to speak with him was a mystery, though likely the result of so many years spent together.

“Have you come to help me?” Quinn asked, still focused on what he’d spread out before him.

“Perhaps, though not in the way to which you refer.”

“What is it, then?” Quinn glanced over his shoulder. “Coming to say you’ll miss me? Sending me off with a warm glow in my heart?”

“What do ye truly intend to do? Truly.” Brice stepped into the room, closing the door so they might have privacy.

“I told ye. Murphy gave me the names of a few men in that area who employ themselves as he does. Listening, asking questions, knowing people. It’s as though he has ears all over Scotland.”

“And ye plan to visit these men, find out what needs to be done in the area, and collect a tidy sum each time you’ve completed your task.”

“You’ve described it perfectly.” Quinn looked up with a grin and saw that Brice was not smiling. In fact, his brows drew together until they formed a straight line over his eyes.

“Why don’t ye try being honest with me, lad? Ye know I see straight through ye. The others might not, and I have no intention of sharing your secret with them, but I do wish you’d at least let me know what it is I have to be fearful of.”

“Since when are ye fearful?” Quinn jested in a poor attempt at humor.

“Since learning that a man I think of as a brother intends to do something terribly foolish,” Brice murmured.

He’d already run his hands through his shaggy hair until it stood on end, Quinn noted, and the flames flickering in the hearth made it glow like a cloud of fire around his head.

There was no lying to a man whose head appeared to be on fire. Not when his eyes glowed with the same intensity.

Besides, it would be a comfort to know that at least one of the people who meant something to him knew the truth of what he was about to embark upon.

“Men do it all the time, men no better than ourselves,” Quinn whispered.

“Lying in wait along the side of the road, stealing from those who happen past?” Brice shook his head with a sorrowful sigh. “We have always been better than that. Haven’t we?”

“Not by much.”

“But we have,” Brice insisted. “We’ve never harmed anyone who did not place themselves in harm’s way by attacking first. We’ve always protected those who might fall prey to thieves; I would say that’s a large part of what we’d done, wouldn’t ye? Protection?”

“Aye.”

“Now, you’re going to go on and do the opposite.”

Quinn whirled on him. “What do you expect me to do? For him to be in debtors’ prison means he owes a great deal, much more than any of us could get together using the few paltry tasks Murphy currently has for us. And there is no guarantee that the four of us would fare much better if we rode out to Tor Castle together. So there is no sense in anyone but me going. This is my brother; this is my concern.”

“What if you’re killed, out there on your own?”

“That will not happen.”

“What if it does?”

“Then, I’ll die. It happens to all of us.” He shouldered his way past Brice to open the door. “I do not need ye to tell me how to conduct my business. If that is all ye came here to do, I would ask ye to kindly leave me, so I might finish preparing.”

“I do not wish to leave things this way,” Brice said, remaining in place. “In fact, I refuse to. I will not carry the memory of a fight between us, knowing it was the last time we ever spoke.”

“Do ye really have so little faith in me?” Quinn asked, the fight suddenly leaving him. Moments earlier, he would have liked to teach his old friend a lesson for doubting him so. His pride fell by the wayside when he recognized the concern in Brice’s face, in his voice.

“It isn’t a matter of having little faith in ye. It’s that I have little faith in those who travel the road, their eyes always sharp for thieves who might be lurking out of sight. We all hear the tales, do we not? Anyone traveling on horseback or in a carriage through days of open country is bound to be on their guard.”

Quinn offered half a nod.

He clapped his hands on Quinn’s shoulders. “It’s that I have little faith in men such as ourselves, when a stranger threatens that which they’ve been paid to protect. If any of us were to cross paths with a thief on the road, what would we do? Would we accept their apology and send them off with a warning?”

“You’ve made your point,” Quinn grumbled.

Brice nodded, sighing again. “I know ye feel this is what needs to be done, and perhaps it is. I only want ye to take care, to avoid taking chances, to size up those ye choose to accost in a careful manner prior to making your move.”

“I will.”

Brice’s hands tightened, and a ghost of a smile played over his mouth. “And for the love of all that’s holy, try not to get yourself killed over catching the eye of another man’s lass. It would be just like ye.”