A Laird and a Gentleman (All the King's Men #4) - Gerri Russell Page 0,15

preparing for Lachlan’s trial, and with many of the staff here at Ravenscraig being sent to assist Lachlan and Elizabeth for their journey overseas, the late summer shearing of the sheep has been overlooked.”

Cameron frowned. “You want to shear the sheep?”

“Nay. I wouldn’t know a sheep’s head from its tail when shearing. But I am quite good with animals, so I thought perhaps I could round up the sheep and bring them to the pens in the outer bailey for shearing.”

“You are an excellent rider; I’ll give you that. And you are very good with animals—almost better with them than humans, I’d say.”

“Aye, then?”

After a long moment, he nodded. “Aye. In the morning, see that you are dressed appropriately for riding, then you and I will both round up the sheep. Agreed?”

“That hardly seems fair to make you help me when this is after all my punishment.”

“I will be there to make certain you do this task by yourself. Do you agree to my terms?”

She nodded, suddenly filled with a hint of excitement. He was correct in saying she was better with animals than people. Finally here was something that she had every confidence she could do, and do well. “Until tomorrow then.”

He nodded and headed out the door, closing it without sliding the bolt home to lock her in.

Tomorrow she would fulfill her punishment for Cameron but she would also prove she would not become like her father in seven days’ time. She could learn to control her emotions and in turn the reactions her emotions caused. She would have a life like any other female in Scotland—even though she had absolutely no idea what a woman’s life was truly like because she’d had little contact with women over the years since her own mother died.

Perhaps Mistress MacInnes—Nessie—would teach her, though Mariam doubted the older woman had had a normal upbringing either. A disfigured woman would be treated about as well as the daughter of a torturous murderer. The thought brought a wry smile. Was that why Nessie had befriended her? Because the two of them were more alike than perhaps either of them cared to admit?

It didn’t matter why. She had one friend, and maybe if all went well tomorrow, she might have another.

At the thought she suddenly went cold. What was she doing? She knew better than to encourage a connection between herself and anything or anyone else. Her only friends had ever been animals, and even then, her father had taken those from her.

“You think you deserve a friend? Why? You aren’t much of a daughter. You’ve done nothing right over the years, and you’ve amounted to even less. You are nothing . . . less than nothing . . . You deserve to be alone in this life, Mariam, with no one to care for you and definitely no one to love. For who could ever love you?”

He held up the rat she’d rescued from the cold. The animal had been her friend for over a week, but she’d yet to name him . . . because she’d known this moment would come.

When her father withdrew his pricker’s needle from the pouch at his belt, her breath caught. When he thrust the needle through her pet’s heart, her world shattered once again.

At the memory, a familiar ache settled in Mariam’s stomach. For years she’d allowed the childhood pain he’d inflicted upon her to keep her isolated and alone. But she didn’t want to be alone anymore. She’d lived in fear of being called back home at a moment’s notice for the past year. But she’d also discovered new freedoms she’d never expected.

And her father was nowhere near her. So why did she allow the past to haunt her so?

In defiance, she straightened. She wasn’t a hopeless excuse for a daughter, and she certainly wasn’t nothing as her father had always claimed. Had it not been her own skills that had brought a favorable outcome for Lachlan at his trial?

It was a small success, but it was something she could cling to until she had another success and another after that. If she only had seven days to prove she could be everything her father was not, then she would move heaven and earth to make certain that happened.

All the years of fighting her father before this were proof that she had what it took to succeed.

*

When Mariam was settled, Cameron went to find Alexander. He needed a favor. And while he gave no credence to