Page 105 of A Highland Bride Disciplined

The chamber fell silent again, save Effie’s anxious fumbling as she clutched at her hair. “Saints preserve me, m’lady. I thought he was a ghost when I woke —”

“Effie,” Kian cut in, voice clipped. “Stay here. Daenae leave this room till I say otherwise. Make sure she is safe.”

The girl nodded, pale as linen.

Kian sheathed his dagger, then turned to Scarlett. His anger hadn’t abated, but beneath it she saw the fierce concern.

She met his eyes, heart still pounding. “Kian… if he kens somethin’ about Elise, we must find out. Nay matter how vile the man. Or how much ye daenae trust his intentions.”

His nostrils flared. “And if it’s naught but lies?”

“Then we’ll ken it for lies. But if it’s truth…” Scarlett’s throat tightened. “We cannae afford to ignore it.”

For a moment, only the crackle of the embers filled the room.

Then Kian gave a curt nod. “Fine. But I’ll hear it where steel is close, and walls are strong. Come.”

He offered his arm. Scarlett placed her hand on it, her fingers trembling despite herself. Together, they left the chamber and followed the shadow of their enemy down toward the Kian’s study.

Scarlett trailed after Kian into the study, her fingers twisted tightly in the skirts at her sides. The room felt darker than usual.

“Speak,” Kian said, coldly.

Roderick Hendry crossed the room with a swagger that did not belong to a man caught sneaking into a lady’s chamber.

He bowed, not too low, not enough to truly humble himself. “Laird Crawford. Lady Crawford.” His voice was silk stretched thin, smooth enough to glide, sharp enough to cut. “I’d beg pardon for the intrusion, but as I said before, curiosity drove my actions tonight.”

Kian shut the door behind them with a slam that made Scarlett jump. “Ye’ll explain yerself now, and ye’ll do it fast. Why were ye in me wife’s room?”

Roderick spread his hands. “It was to lay eyes on the bairn.”

Scarlett’s stomach lurched. Her throat went tight, words clogging there.I kent it. Of course he was.

Kian’s jaw set like iron. “Ye’ll mind yer tongue. That child is under me roof. Me protection. And ye’ve nay right to enter me wife’s chambers.”

“Oh, but Ido, Kian,” Roderick said smoothly, and a smile curved at the corners of his mouth, as easy as sin. “I believe the child is mine.”

The words struck like a fist. Scarlett staggered back a half-step, her hand finding the edge of Kian’s desk for balance.

Kian gave a low, dangerous laugh. “Ye’ll nae stand there, and spin lies to me.”

Roderick’s eyes gleamed. “Is it a lie, though? Nieve O’Brien — do ye recall the name? She was a maid at me father’s keep. A slip of a lass, aye, but with hair dark as midnight and eyes wide as a frightened doe. She was mine. For near a year, she came to my bed. I tired of her, as men do, but nae before…” His hand flicked as though brushing crumbs from a table. “She carried a consequence.”

A consequence?

Scarlett’s chest burned. She saw Nieve’s pale face in her mind, the way she had trembled when Scarlett first pulled her behind her skirts months ago. Elise’s laugh, Elise’s warm little body in her arms.

Kian’s eyes narrowed. “Ye expect me to believe this web of lies? Ye spin deceit as easy as a spider. Quite convenient, that now the maither is dead that the faither appears.”

Roderick’s grin did not falter, but the corner of his mouth twitched. “Dead, ye say?”

Scarlett’s heart lurched. She looked to Kian, who drew the folded parchment from his coat and tossed it onto the desk between them. “Aye. She left this.”

Roderick picked it up slowly, unfolding the paper. His eyes flickered over the words, his face unreadable. For one long moment he stood frozen, and then, like a snake shedding its skin, his expression smoothed.

He let the paper fall back to the desk.

“A tender hand, that lass had,” he murmured, as though he were reminiscing. “Too tender for this world.”