‘How could you?’
‘Easily, it seems. Aye, your father always prided himself on having a nose for treachery, but he didn’t smell that rat, did he? There was also the small matter of the fire you set in my loins, lass. What a prize you were, and how I laughed inside when he let me have you at last, a reward for all my loyalty when I was the opposite of loyal. I smiled into your father’s eyes as I slid a knife into his back and my cock into your virginity.’
‘Have you killed him?’ she gasped.
There was the longest pause while Maren held her breath. Drayton’s eyes hardened. ‘Not yet. All those years ago, I had an instinct that he would end me, but the blow never came. I was puzzled by that.’ Drayton smiled, and on any other man, it would have been charming, and attractive, but Maren knew that at his core, he was a slimy, rank thing, dead inside – a heartless husk of a man, a monster. He twirled a strand of her hair in his fingers and sniffed at it. ‘Do you know, I have a fancy that your father let me have you to put me off the scent of his plotting my downfall. Now you have to own that is cold, even for him.’
‘No, you are lying,’ she cried.
‘Am I? I reckon that cold bastard threw his daughter into the bed of a known enemy as a distraction, and what a distraction you were and still are.’ He frowned. ‘I like this clean, sweet Maren with the primped hair and fine clothes, though you would look better without them, wriggling underneath me.’
Drayton Carver was always arrogant and loved to talk about his superiority. Maren slipped her shaking hand inside her pocket as she tried to distract him.
‘So you ran away. You managed to deceive everyone,’ she said.
‘I took myself off before your father could open my throat, aye. There’s rich pickings south, along the borders - softer folk, easier to fleece. And your father had been driven out by the gentry hereabouts and scurried back to Durness. I could not venture there to take vengeance, for I am no fool. But lately, there has been a rumour that the Baron had returned to plague these glens again. So here I am.’
‘Intent on vengeance.’
‘Aye, and more than that. Once I see the light die in the Baron’s eyes, I will take his place, along with all that he has, men, land, and money. And when I do, I want my lovely wife at my side.’
‘No. I will never be your wife again, Drayton and I never wanted to be.’
‘You are, and will always be, my wife, lass, like it or not. We were wed afore a priest, so that makes you an adulteress for lying abed with that soft laird’s son, doesn’t it?’
How could Drayton know about Bryce?
‘A husband so wronged is within his rights to beat you within an inch of your life and call out the fellow who has cuckolded him,’ he continued. ‘How would you like that, eh? I will aim a pistol at Bryce Cullan’s head and watch it crack open. You can watch the light die from his eyes. And what matter if you were a willing bride, Maren? I could tell from the start that you were not, but that is part of the appeal for me. Wild horses are more exciting to break, stubborn women, even better.’
‘Why don’t you just get on with your foul business and leave me out of it. I want no part in any feud between you and my father. I am done with you both and with that life.’
‘Are you now? Tell me. What are you to this Bryce Cullan – his whore, his servant, his little spy? Rumour has it that the redcoats at Fort George have their eye on him. ‘Tis said he is a Jacobite sympathiser.’
‘I am none of those things. I am Bryce’s wife.’
Drayton laughed bitterly and cruelly. ‘You, a wife to a laird. I think not. You are nought but a greasy slut. And you are no one’s wife but mine, not while the breath is left in my body.’
‘Then I pray you breathe your last as soon as may be, Drayton.’ Her fingers curled around the musket butt.
Drayton tightened his hold on her throat. ‘Do not test my patience.’ Suddenly he smirked. ‘That fine gentleman will feel my knife in his kidneys this very day unless you show me some respect, woman.’ He shook Maren like a terrier shaking a rat. ‘Or maybe I should just tell him you are a bigamist - a grave sin in the eyes of the church and the law.’ Drayton squeezed harder, and her eyes began to pop. Maren kicked and scratched at his hand as her lungs screamed for air.
‘And then there is the matter of a certain sea captain who plies his trade between Scotland and France. Maybe I should end you now and find another,’ he hissed. ‘Such arrogance in you. Just like your father, thinking you are better than the rest of us.’
The clatter of steps on cobbles heralded the approach of some women further up the alley. It made Drayton release his hold and step back.
‘One word, lass, one cry for help, and I will stick them with my knife,’ he snarled.
When they came past, Drayton smiled and nodded, and they smiled back. Maren stayed silent lest they lose their lives on her account, for she was sure he would carry out his threat. How could he be so charming and monstrous by turns? And how could he know so much about her?
Maren’s grip tightened on the pistol. ‘What do you want? You didn’t seek me out because of some old affection?’ she said as boldly as possible.
Drayton picked at a nail and took his time replying. ‘I want you to spy on those fine folk you mix with. Get amongst them and find out where they keep their coin, their riches. I want to know what cargo they send south and when. I want to know how many head of cattle and sheep they have, where they graze, how well-guarded they are, and above all, I want their secrets – where they shit and where they whore. Men will spill their guts for a bonnie face. You know my business, lass. ‘Tis the same as your father’s, so you will know what is useful and what is not.’
‘No. I cannot.’
Drayton stroked her hair over and over as one would pet a dog. ‘Lass, why open your legs for Cullan and not get anything out of it?’ he said in a wheedling voice. ‘You think you have him on the hook, whoring yourself, but he is sure to tire of you soon, and then you will be back to starving on the streets.’ Drayton put his face in hers. ‘Get me the information. Find the boy, and he will find me. He bides there at the turn in the alley, in a coal hole down by the barrels. Remember that so that you can find it again.’
Maren peered down the slimy-walled alley, and she could just make out a lean-to in the shadows.
