“They aren’t scared of you. Or at least not scared enough. You should do something to change that before your monster gets them. They’re sweet boys.”
“I wouldn’t like to see them harmed,” he agreed. “But I’m not sure how I’m to frighten them when I can’t even frighten you.”
I failed to hold back a little snort of laughter, which made him laugh, too—a real laugh this time, one that escaped before he could crush the life out of it.
“You must try harder, sir.”
He bowed his head. “As you wish, madam.”
A giddy warmth that had no place in this discussion bubbled up from my belly. I felt like I had at The Wolf’s Head, forced to drink a glass of sherry.
As I watched Harker stoop to pick up another stone, something occurred to me.
“Do you suppose Goosevar is somehow bound to the estate? The victims were found just along the edges of it. And of course there are the wolf stories.”
He rubbed his thumb over the stone, considering. “It might explain why he hasn’t tried to attack you again in his recent visits. The cottages in Carbis are just beyond the boundary of the property, though of course the Tregarricks once owned all of the parish.”
“It might be that Mum’s cross has protected me.”
He looked up, holding my gaze, and my breath stopped. “I will forever be grateful to you for wearing it.”
His attention drifted back to the pool, and my chest filled again.
“I can’t help feeling it’s more than chance that you keep seeing him,” he said. “If we don’t count the shadow I saw before you were attacked, I haven’t seen him once in eighty years. It’s as ifsomething has been drawing him to you since the night you found Mr. Roscoe.”
His whole body turned toward me now, eyes pinning me to the spot. “Promise me, Mina, that you will never approach him.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’ll stay away from him. Except ...”
Harker’s jaw clenched, and he tossed the skipping stone aside.
Bait
“Hear what I have to say,” I quickly continued. “You said yourself that Goosevar comes to me, not to you. You can see for miles in every direction from the chapel, yet you’ve glimpsed no more than his shadow. I’m only wondering if—”
“I amNotgoing to use you as bait.”
His voice boomed like thunder in the stillness. Before I could compose myself enough to answer, another angry voice sounded.
“Devil take me, Mina!”
I jumped to my feet. It was a sign of just how badly I’d upset Harker that he hadn’t sensed Jack coming.
“Why did IknowI’d find you here?” he demanded. “What in God’s name do you think you’re doing?”
I could almost see smoke coming out of him, he was that hot. Harker, who was closer to Jack, stood with his back to me now. Yet I felt him tensing.His anger is the cold kind.
“Calm down, Jack,” I pleaded. “I only—”
“No more of your excuses!” he barked before I could spin out another lie. I had no new ones to tell him anyway. I had defied him, plain and simple.
I’m a grown woman, and I shouldn’t have to answer to him.
But that wasn’t how the world worked.
“Do I have to set a guard on you?” he continued. His eyes jerked to Harker, his tone threatening violence as he said, “I want you to keep away from my sister, you devil. You have no business with her, hear me?”
“I think—” Harker began, but nowIwas smoking.
