Page 80 of Lady Scot

“Nothing?” he taunted, his expression dark. “I think we do.”

She swallowed, painfully aware that she now had another enemy, one who seemed more dangerous even than her uncle.

“Tell me, Miss Spalding, what you would give to have this trinket back?” He held her necklace out between them.

“I have my pin money,” she said. “It’s not much—” She cut off her words when he touched her cheek, trailing his finger down along her jaw. Sensation burned in its wake as he tilted her face to look up at him.

“And what would you give to keep your secrets hidden away? How many people know the full truth about your mother?”

No one. Not even her. But several people suspected things, her uncle knew a bit more, and she… Well, she was trapped between her mother’s past and her own fanciful dreams. And all of it was deadly to her in the wrong hands or if twisted the wrong way.

She couldn’t let this continue. It didn’t matter if he terrified her, she had to break his spell on her.

So she lifted her chin and faced down this rough man though it took everything in her not to tremble in fear. “You imagine things,” she said. “It’s nothing but a—”

“A witch’s talisman. A sorcerer’s amulet.A cursing stone.”

“It is no such thing!” she exploded, though she knew her uncle thought it to be just that. She tried to grab it from the blackguard’s hand, but he was too quick for her. He jerked it away while still holding it tantalizingly close between them.

“Some call it that.” His brows arched as he looked at her. “And some would call you a great deal worse for having it.”

“Keep it then,” she snapped. It had only caused her grief.

“I might,” he returned. “Indeed, I have a mind to study the thing further. But in the meantime, what could you pay me, Miss Spalding, to stop me from telling everyone in London about your mother’s witchcraft?”

What could she say? Even the whisper of such a thing could kill a woman. The Witchcraft Act had been repealed nearly a century ago, but men still hunted for them no matter what the crown declared. The information that her mother was not only a witch, but the most renowned witch in a hundred years would lead men to hunt Iseabail down. Death would be the smallest of horrors they would do to her.

“It’s not true,” she whispered. “She was just a woman.”

“The truth doesn’t matter,” he returned. “It never has.”

He was right about that. If her mother had possessed any magic at all, Iseabail’s father would still be alive. Her uncle would be in a grave somewhere, and Iseabail’s life would be vastly different than it was now.

“You cannot tell anyone about this. The rumors alone could get me killed.”

His thumb trailed across her lips, leaving a hot tingle in its wake. “Offer me something, Miss Spalding, but choose it well.”

“I don’t have anything,” she cried.

“That’s unfortunate because my silence is very, very expensive.”

“What do you want?” she whispered. She had no choice. No one could know. “I’ll give you anything.”

He chuckled and the sound made her body shiver. “Imagine that,” he drawled. “Anythingis exactly what I want.”