Page 16 of A Laird and a Gentleman

Her discomfort returned, stronger than before. “Not that I saw. I woke before anything horrible happened.” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“If you were not captured and if no one was hurt, then it couldn’t have been that terrible of a dream.” He edged his horse closer, and his voice deepened. “After all, it was only a dream.”

She tried to swallow, but she couldn’t. Her mouth was too dry. He didn’t believe her, but she was spared any further conversation as the soft bleating of sheep came from the distance. The flock hurried forward, running and jumping over each other in an effort to get closer.

Cameron stiffened. “What are they doing?”

“Coming to us.” She tried to keep her words light. “They obviously see us as friendly or they would have run away.”

“I’ve never seen such an occurrence before.”

Mariam shrugged, trying to hide her own discomfort over the animals’ unexpected behavior. “Perhaps they are hungry for more than grass and are expecting us to feed them.”

“Perhaps,” Cameron drawled skeptically. “The question is, will they follow us back to the castle or will you need to round them up as was your initial plan?”

She’d come here today with no real plan, and she didn’t know the first thing about rounding up sheep. She had anticipated the sheep would be favorable to her presence, but not quite this eager to be near her. “We won’t know until we head back.” Careful to avoid the sheep closest to her, she turned her horse around and retreated. As she suspected, the sheep followed. At least she had accomplished part of her task—to gather the sheep. Now if they could only bring them home without incident.

Cameron’s attention shifted from the animals trailing after them back to her many times, but he said nothing as his horse fell into step beside hers. Silence descended between them. It wasn’t until they were within sight of the castle that Mariam again felt a presence nearby. Who was there? Was it a deadly enemy or was someone stalking her? It could be any number of people her father had harmed, or their families, who had come to exact their revenge upon her.

And then she saw a lone figure in the distance astride a horse. She saw it was her own maid, Thea. She’d been the one following them, watching them all through the morning. No doubt she had seen the sheep and their reaction to Mariam’s presence. Now what, if anything, would she do with that information?

Mariam forced her gaze back to the path ahead, not wanting to alert Cameron to Thea’s presence. Mariam wanted to talk to the girl first and learn why the maid had followed them, and learn the truth about what she had been doing in Mariam’s chamber last night.

An image from her dream came back to her. In her mind’s eye she saw herself tied to a pyre with flames at her feet. If Thea wanted revenge against Mariam for all the bad things she had ever done to her, all she had to do was spread word about what she had seen this morning and someone would surely come after Mariam, calling her a witch.

Then she would be at her father’s mercy once more.

Cameron must have sensed Mariam’s distress. He scowled as his gaze ran over her. “What troubles you now?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We must talk about it if I am to see you are safe. But I can’t protect you if you do not tell me what or who I should be protecting you from.”

She looked back to where Thea had been. She was gone. The stiffness in Mariam’s shoulders eased. She would have to tell Cameron something or he would keep after her until he extracted the truth. “If you must know, I am still upset about the dreams I have been having.”

Relief showed on Cameron’s face. “You have nothing to worry about. They were only dreams, Mariam.” Cameron gave her a soft smile as they approached the drawbridge. “Besides, you are safe behind these castle walls.”

“I hope you are right.”

The clatter of hooves on the wooden planks fractured the morning silence as they made their way into the outer bailey. “I’m right, you’ll see.”

Chapter Five

Thea entered the White Horn Tavern in the village just beyond the castle. Seeing her brother at a table with two other young men across the dark and smoky chamber, Thea ducked her head and hurried toward them. She sat in the open chair next to her brother. The three men regarded her with curiosity. “What brings ye here, sis?” Kendric asked.

Thea straightened. “Ye told me tae report tae ye if somethin’ interestin’ happened.”

The red-haired man on her brother’s left raised a brow. “What happened?”

Thea shifted her gaze between the man who had spoken and the third younger man who offered her a friendly smile.

“’Tis all right, Thea.” Kendric nodded toward to the younger man. “This is Jimmy, and on the other side is Niall. They want revenge against that Mariam Swinton as much as we do. John Swinton nae only sent our ma tae the flames, but Jimmy’s as well, and Niall’s sister tae the noose. We’re all lookin’ fer a way tae destroy that man. If we can do that through his daughter, then that’s what we’ll do.”

When all eyes at the table were directed at her, Thea swallowed thickly. “Only one problem.”

“What’s that?” Kendric asked, his voice sharp.

Thea squirmed in her chair at the intensity of her brother’s gaze. “I . . . don’t think the girl is very important tae her da. I doubt he would even miss her if ye did somethin’ tae her.”