The girls exchanged another look instead of answering. But when he started to reach for the younger one, the older girl spoke up quickly.
“To Hume Castle,” she said. “To bring our laird home.”
Patrick leaned forward. “Wedderburn is not at Blackadder Castle?”
Both girls shook their heads.
“But your mother’s still there?”
They nodded. More good news.
“I answered your questions,” the older girl said. “Can we go home now?”
“Home?” He laughed again. They were such idiots.
But what should he do with them? He drummed his fingers. Killing them was the simplest solution to eliminating their inheritance claim. He could dump their bodies by the village, and the blame would never fall on him.
That, however, would not satisfy his need for vengeance against Wedderburn. He smiled at his puny captives as a plan formed in his head. For now, at least, they more valuable to him alive than dead.
CHAPTER 44
“I see you’re awake, Laird,” Gelis said, leaning in the doorway.
David watched Alison eye her and wondered how in the hell she knew who Gelis was. He’d heard that women could sense that sort of thing, but he had not even thought of touching Gelis since he returned.
“Now that you’re awake,” Gelis said, and sauntered over, swinging her hips, “a message came for ye earlier.”
She was doing her best to make Alison believe there was something still between them, judging by the suggestive look she was giving him. Ach, he did not need Gelis making trouble for him now. Not when he finally had Alison here.
He pulled Alison tight against his side and kissed her cheek.
“Gelis, this lovely lass is my wife, Lady Alison.” His voice thickened with emotion at the wordwife.“Ye can take the whiskey away. I’ve no need of it now.”
He heard the door shut, but he could not take his eyes off Alison. He could not imagine wanting anyone else.
He forgot about the message until Alison picked it from the table. He broke the seal and looked for the signature at the bottom.
“It’s from Patrick Blackadder,” he said. Patrick signed it as laird, so his father must be dead.
“I knew it,” Alison said, her hand going to her throat. “He has Beatrix and Margaret, doesn’t he?”
David took the letter to the window to read it in the fading light. There was nothing subtle about the message. He had let Patrick see his weakness, and his enemy was taking advantage of it.
Lady Alison swore to me that the Beast of Wedderburn truly cared for her daughters. Pretending affection toward her daughters to win the mother’s was a clever trick, but now you must make a choice. Will you keep all that you’ve gained and cause Alison to hate you? Or will you prove as foolish as your father and give up everything?
“What does he want?” Alison asked, leaning over his shoulder.
David scanned the rest of the letter. Patrick was demanding he give up everything he had fought for.
“I will relinquish one daughter,” David read aloud, “in exchange for possession of Blackadder Castle.”
“For only one of them?” Alison said.
“In exchange for the second daughter,” David continued, “you must submit yourself to my custody so that I may deliver you to Edinburgh to face charges of treason for murdering the Crown’s warden.”
Alison sat down hard. “Oh, David, what will we do?”
“We’ll meet his terms,” he said. “We’ve no choice. We can’t risk the girls’ lives.”