Page 29 of A Laird and a Gentleman

“When Laird Sinclair took me on as his ward, King James ordered you to stay away. I suspect the king will be more annoyed you didn’t follow a direct order. So why did you come here?” She straightened to her full height as he came to stand before her trying, as he had when she was a child, to make her feel small. The girl she had been then was gone. She was all grown up now.

His eyes narrowed at her lack of a negative response. “I came not as your father, but as the witch pricker. It was brought to my attention that strange things were happening around Ravenscraig Castle as of late—strange occurrences involving you,” he said, his voice cold.

“Why did you buy the Isle of May?”

He startled for a heartbeat before his icy mask fell back into place. “Who told you about that?”

“So, it is true?”

“’Twas a worthless isle. What interest could you possibly have in an abandoned hunk of land?”

“It was my mother’s home, and that of her people. They’d lived there for centuries, but you forbade them to return. I want to know why.”

A predatory smile lifted his lips as he grabbed her hand, holding it up between the two of them. Her fingers quivered, despite her attempt to still them. “What’s this? Emotions, Mariam? More specifically, fear?” He shook his head. “You’ve grown soft in the past year. The lessons I taught you are fading.” He tightened his grip, pinching her flesh.

Doing something she never would have dared in the past, she wrenched her hand away. “Do not touch me.” She stepped back, out of his reach.

Again, he startled before he shuttered his features. “Such boldness in a female is undesirable. I taught you better.”

Mariam ignored his barb. “Why did you take away their home?”

Her father’s lips tightened. “Your mother’s home was with me. She needed nothing more. How many opportunities do you think a woman like her would have?”

“What do you mean ‘a woman like her’?”

“She was a challenge.” He turned away from her, heading for the slit of a window on the opposite side of the chamber.

“The greater the challenge, the more intrigued you are,” Mariam stated flatly. “And the crueler you become.”

He twisted around, glaring at her. “I do what I do to survive. This world is full of depravity. It is my duty to protect people like me against those who are dangerous to themselves and others.”

“Witches.”

He snorted derisively. “Ungodly demons.”

“People who are a little different,” she clarified. “Like Mother.”

“Exactly.”

“And people like me.”

His gaze narrowed. “Are the rumors I have heard about you true? Are you like your mother?”

“Who brought those rumors to you? A man named Kendric?” The pulse of a vein at her father’s temple told her she’d hit upon the truth.

“The lad wasn’t wrong to contact me.”

“Why did you destroy Mother’s home?”

He frowned. “Are we back to that again?”

“We’ll keep coming back to it until you answer me.”

“You want the truth? Are you certain you can handle it?” His voice lowered to silken softness. “You should know better than anyone else how intolerable I find . . . magic.” The last word was almost torn from his lips. “Your mother came ashore in a small boat one day when I was fishing off Milsey Bay on the North Berwick coast. The very air around her sparked of magic. I was as awed by her as I was terrified.”

Her father’s cheeks flushed red. “She wasn’t frightened of me even though I was the first person off the isle she had ever had contact with. We talked for hours. The more time I spent in her presence, the more I wanted whatever it was she had. I begged her to share her secrets with me, but she refused.”

“That surprised you?” Mariam’s tone was deliberately mocking.