In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks

mother?”
    Anger descended with breathtaking speed. How could he? How could the laird do this to Crispen? It would break his heart if she denied it. The laird’s manipulation shocked her. She’d thought him more honorable than that. Arrogant, aye. Even determined and focused. But she hadn’t imagined him acting so deceitful and stirring the emotions of a young child.
    Furious, she rounded on Gannon. “Take me to the laird.”
    “But, my lady, he’s with the men. He’s never to be disturbed during training unless ’tis a matter of great urgency.”
    She advanced on him, thrusting her finger into his chest. She accentuated her words by poking him. He was forced to take a step backward, his gaze wary.
    “You will take me to him at once or I’ll turn this entire keep upside down to find him. Believe me when I say, this
is
a matter of life and death.
His
life and death!”
    When she saw the determined denial in Gannon’s eyes, she threw up her hands, let out a huge sigh of exasperation, and turned to head down the hill. She’d find the laird herself. If he was training with his men, it meant he was in the courtyard where such training took place.
    Remembering Crispen, and that she had no wish for him to hear what it was she had to say to the laird, she turned and pointed her finger sharply at Gannon.
    “You keep Crispen with you. Do you hear?”
    His mouth gaped open at her command, and he stared alternately at her and at Crispen as if unsure what to do. He finally bent down, said something to Crispen, then pushed him in the direction of the sheep herder.
    Mairin turned and stomped down the hill, angrier with each step. She nearly tripped over a rock and fell flat on her face, but Gannon caught her elbow.
    “Slow down, my lady. You’re going to injure yourself!”
    “Not myself,” she muttered. “Your laird, more likely.”
    “Pardon? I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”
    She bared her teeth and shrugged out of his grasp. She blazed around the corner of the keep and into the courtyard. The heavy clang of swords, mixed swear words, and the smell of sweat and blood rose sharp in her ears and nose. She surveyed the mass of training men until she finally found the source of her fury.
    Before Gannon could stop her, she waded into the fray, her gaze focused solely on the laird. Around her, shouts went up. She thought one man fell as she passed, but she couldn’t be sure because she didn’t pause in her quest.
    Halfway there, the laird stopped his activity andturned to stare. When he saw her, his brow creased and he scowled. Not just his usual show of displeasure. He was furious. Well, that was fine, because so was she.
    Only when she stopped barely a foot in front of the laird did Gannon catch up to her. He was out of breath and looking at the laird like he feared for his life.
    “Your pardon, Laird. I couldn’t stop her. She was determined—”
    The laird’s angry gaze found Gannon and he arched an eyebrow in blatant disbelief. “You couldn’t stop one slip of a lass from marching across a courtyard where any one of my men could have killed her?”
    Mairin snorted in disbelief but when she turned so she could survey the men who were now all standing in silence, she swallowed. Each carried a weapon, and if she’d stopped to think about it at the time, she’d have realized that going around the perimeter would have been a much better idea.
    They were all scowling at her, proving her theory that the laird demanded surliness and pigheadedness from his men.
    Determined to show no remorse for her mistake, she turned back to the laird and pinned him with the full force of her glare. He might be angry, but she was far more so.
    “I have not given you an answer, Laird,” she all but yelled. “How could you? How could you do something so … so … underhanded and dishonorable?”
    The scowl on his face morphed into an expression of complete astonishment. He gaped at her with such incredulity that she wondered