She surveyed her reflection in the mirrors, then turned to him for his reaction. His pewter eyes licked over her like candle flames. “Ye look exactly like a vixen.” He nodded his assent to the furrier and told him to have the two furs sent to Garrowhill.
At the dressmaker’s Ram left all the choices up to Tina. Her gowns, whether simple or ornate, always put other women in the shade. He knew she had impeccable taste and that she knew best what suited her vivid coloring. The modiste had two shop assistants who helped Tina remove her gown so that they could take her measurements. As she stood before them in white lace stockings and short embroidered white shift, the women oohed and ahed at her undergarments and asked where she had acquired such exquisite creations.
Tina’s cheeks flushed. “My woman designs and sews them for me. I am lucky to have her. I need a couple of gowns for court.”
The moment the women turned their backs, Ram slipped an arm about her and drew her close. “Ye are tempting as original sin,” he murmured huskily. Tina pulled away from him, cheeks flaming, as the dressmaker returned with a gown over each arm. “I don’t care for the red, but I’ll try on the black and silver.” The bodice was low-cut, with billowing, black velvet bishop sleeves and a pointed stomacher. The skirt was rustling silver taffeta. The ruff she chose to go with it was black rimmed with tiny silver beads.
The gown needed the waist taken in, and it also needed shortening. The dressmaker pinned it to fit, and her assistants helped Tina remove the gown. When they moved down the mirror-lined room, Ram again drew her close and caressed her bottom.
“Stop—they’ll see us,” she protested.
“Ye are the one who wants tae play mistress. I just want tae play.” His fingers slipped beneath the short shift and glided between her legs. She pulled away from him, horrified that he would do such an intimate thing when they were not private.
The modiste brought two more gowns. One was apricot silk, its bodice made up of a hundred tiny pleats, its billowing skirt quilted for fullness. The other gown was white. Its cut was simple but very daring, following the natural contour of the body. Tina loved them both, and the dressmaker said, “The white is deceptively simple to show off your jewels. There is a goldsmith next door, if—”
Ramsay cut in firmly, “I have my own goldsmith, madam.”
The white gown was removed and taken to the alterations room. Ram pulled Tina onto his lap. Furiously she said, “I didn’t come here to be molested!”
“Where do ye go?” he teased.
She knew the women could see them in the mirrors and that they were aware of his feeling and touching her body. She brought her open palm up and slapped him across the face. As she struggled into her own gown, she said angrily, not caring that the women overheard, “I have changed my mind. I have no desire whatsoever to be your mistress, Lord Douglas!”
He caught up with her as she emerged onto the street. “Slow down, Vixen. I was only trying tae teach ye a lesson. I have no desire for ye tae be my mistress, either. Ye know I want ye for wife.”
Tina burst into tears.
“Now what the hell have I done tae upset ye?” Tina was angry with him, angry with herself, and angry with the whole world at the moment. She was afraid she was breeding. She had had morning sickness again, and now she was bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. “Leave me alone, you lecherous swine!” she hissed, and turned her back upon him.
His mood had turned black. Women! There was no bloody pleasing them, even when you spent a fortune spoiling them rotten. He summoned a Douglas moss-trooper who had been patiently waiting with their horses. “Escort her ladyship back tae Garrowhill, and be warned—her tongue has the sting of a scorpion today.”
Tina kept her mouth shut about her suspicions, not daring to confide even in Ada yet. It was all very well in theory to bear Douglas his much-desired heir, then repudiate him for the sheer pleasure of ruining his happiness, but the cold reality of it was more than a little daunting. Now she realized she didn’t want her child to be a bastard. She also realized she’d have little success in keeping Black Ram Douglas separated from his child, especially if it was a son. He’d simply come and take him. A woman who stood between a man and his goal could be so easily, so effectively, so permanently eliminated!
To lift his mood, Ram went into one of his favorite haunts in Glasgow. Inside the tavern he recognized members of the King’s Guard and learned that James was inspecting his fleet and watching a new ship being built in the royal shipyard on the Clyde. Ram lost no time seeking out the king and found him with Admiral Arran, who had sailed to Glasgow on one of the ships he’d purchased from Ram in Ayr.
“Douglas, these are damned fine ships ye’ve just sold my navy. Why in God’s name didn’t ye let us have all six?” the king demanded.
“Some English ships are top-heavy. They wouldn’t have been seaworthy in our fierce northern waters,” explained Ram.
Arran concurred. “He’s right, sire. The sea rocks of Scotland are treacherous.”
“I asked Angus tae let ye have the use of his ships, and we’ll need them all, I’m afraid,” said the king. “The English are raiding our cities to the far north. The magnificent cathedral at Elgin has been totally destroyed. Argyll’s Campbells are patrolling the north for me now. To add insult tae injury, England’s new admiral is none other than the Earl of Surrey’s son, Thomas. I packed Ambassador Howard off tae England, with a strongly worded warning for young Henry Tudor.”
“Good riddance,” said Ram. “He was privy tae all Scotland’s business and has kept the English leopard informed of our every move.”
“Margaret writes tae her brother every week, but unknown tae her, from now on I’ll intercept the letters,” James said grimly.
“The borders are being devastated, sire The border lords held a meeting at Bothwell’s Hermitage, and they sent me tae bring ye the facts. We have learned English soldiers are garrisoned at Berwick, and Lord Dacre commands the garrison at Carlisle. Henry Tudor has a naked ambition tae gain control of Scotland, and he’ll use any method to achieve his goal. The English chief warden of the marches has been given orders tae raid and devastate as far into Scotland as he can, and the south is wide open tae his savagery. Towns, villages, abbeys, whole lairdships are going up in flames, and terrible atrocities are being done to the people.”
“Dine with me while we discuss what’s tae be done I would tae God I had a dozen like the valiant Lord Vengeance.” James looked from Arran to Douglas, feeling in his bones that one of them knew the identity of the elusive figure. “Did ye know King Henry has offered a thousand pounds annual pension tae any who can take him prisoner?”
“By Christ, I’d turn him in myself fer that kind o’ reward,” laughed Douglas.
Ramsay outwaited Arran before he made further disclosures to James. Once Arran had departed along with the king’s chief adviser, Lord Elphinstone, Ram told James that Heath Kennedy had agreed to winter his Gypsies in England and scout information about troops.
“Thank ye. I too have spies out there. If it comes tae war, at least it is too late this year. The autumn gales have begun, and Henry won’t march an army through our winter snows. Untrained and untried as he is, I doubt even Henry Tudor will make his decision before spring.”
“Henry may be untried, sire, but the English Army and Navy are better equipped than any in the world, and their infantry and horsemen have one thing we Scots lack.”
“Discipline,” answered James regretfully. “Well, we still have the old alliance with France. If either country is attacked by the English, the other is bound by treaty to declare war against them.”
“Treaties can be ignored or broken if it’s expedient,” reminded Douglas.
“If I muster the clans, I believe I could amass an army of at least twenty thousand. I don’t think Henry Tudor has the slightest notion we can match him in numbers. Would ye be willing tae go tae London and apprise him of what twenty thousand wildmen could do tae his bloody
diciplined soldiers?”
James was asking him to put his neck in a noose. “I believe I’m more effective in the borders or aboard ship than acting as ambassador,” Ram said truthfully. “Will ye issue me letters of marque against the English, sire?”
James lowered heavy eyelids over his shrewd eyes and realization dawned. “Sooo, now I know. I’ll draw them up myself and bypass the admiral, but I warn ye, they won’t do ye a damn bit of good if yer captured. Henry Tudor will hang ye fer piracy!”
“England’s new admiral, Thomas Howard, is nothing but a bloody pirate, so it will take a pirate tae outmatch him.”
“I don’t mean now, but later, before I declare war— would you consider going to Whitehall?” asked James.
Ram placed his hands between the king’s and solemnly repledged his oath. “This man is yours. I’ll winter at Douglas—but what of the borders?”
“I’ve already sent reinforcements. The Kerrs of Cessford, the Hepburns, and Logan of Restalrig are on their way.”
Though the hour was advanced when Ram returned to the townhouse, he immediately dispatched a message to his stronghold, Castle Douglas, telling Colin to return to Douglas and to fetch Mr. Burque with him. Tina would be disappointed that they wouldn’t be going to court, but her chef would certainly make life at Douglas more palatable. He hesitated to disturb her at this late hour, but the lure of her was irresistible. Inside his doublet lay the jewels he had purchased for her, and his fingers fairly itched to clasp the emeralds about her throat. His mouth went dry when he thought of lifting the silken mass of her hair from the nape of her neck to fasten the necklace. He turned the doorknob softly and cursed when he found that portal locked against him.
“Tina, unlock this door,” he commanded.
“Go away,” came her heartless reply.
“Tina, I’m warning you!” he growled.
The silence told him she heeded him not.
“I’ll count to three,” came an ominous ultimatum.
“You may count to three thousand, if your intelligence level enables you, but I shan’t open the door.”
Her challenge fanned the fires of his fury. “Little bitch! If ye think ye are safe behind a locked door, think again.” He strode to the top of the stairs, where an Italian sculpture stood upon a pedestal He snatched up the pedestal and proceeded to batter down the door.
Tina, now exceedingly apprehensive, cried, “If you break down the door, it will do you no good—so you’d better go and seek one of your other mistresses!”
The door caved in under Ram’s insistent battering, and his eyes were dangerously black. “Where the hell do ye think I’ve been fer the last eight hours?” he taunted.
She gasped. “Lecherous swine! You’ll have no more of me.”
His eyes swept over her neatly braided hair and pristine white nightgown. “You need a disheveling,” he said with relish. He fastened a strong, brown hand in the neckline of the gown and tore it to shreds. Her lovely full breasts rose and fell rapidly with her agitation. She reached up to rake his cheek with her nails, and he laughed at her. “Ye need a lesson in obedience, lady. Know this—I will have ye any time I please, any place I fancy, on the bed, on the floor, or on the bloody high street! Ye will yield tae me as many times as I desire ye. Never, ever deny me again!”
“You can beat me senseless!” she cried with bravado.
“I won’t just beat ye, I’ll ravish ye,” he said with quiet intent.
Her chin went up, and sparks of fiery hatred flashed from her golden eyes. “You wouldn’t dare!”
With deliberate hands he removed his belt and wrapped it about his knuckles. He sat on the bed and with an iron hand dragged her across his knee. He raised the belt with every intention of beating her.
“Douglas, no!” she cried, “I think I’m with child.”
He dropped the belt and cupped her shoulders in his massive hands. “Is this another of yer tricks, like losing yer memory?”
“Nay, I have morning sickness,” she said faintly.
Hope soared in his breast. “Ye little vixen, ye provoke me tae violence!” His arms enfolded her, “Honey love, did I hurt ye?”
“Yes! You hurt me this morning when you treated me like a strumpet, and you hurt me again when you stayed out carousing until midnight. Then you come home reeling drunk, smash down the door, and rape me.”
“Reeling drunk? I haven’t had a drop,” he swore.
“Then your behavior is inexcusable!” she cried angrily, taking full advantage now she had him on the defensive.
“Christ, Firebrand, I can’t win with ye!” She struggled from his arms and slipped on her bedgown. “Have you only just realized that, Douglas? When we get to court, I shall tell the king it is finished between you and me.”
“Aren’t ye forgetting the child?” he asked suspiciously
“Not for a moment. There’s no way I’ll carry a brat of yours I’ll dose myself with smut of rye!”
He towered above her, not daring to raise his hand, for he knew if he did, he might strike her dead. With a murderous rage almost choking him, he went to the door and bellowed, “Ada!”
It was like a battle cry, and within a minute her women came running. In a deceptively quiet voice he said, “We do not go to court. We go to Douglas. Guard her well. If she aborts the child she carries, I won’t be responsible for my actions”
Before he slammed the door, Nell lay in a swoon. “Tina, what in God’s name are you playing at?” Ada demanded.
“I think I’m having a baby,” said Tina.
“And you don’t want it? Tina, I’m ashamed of you! No wonder Lord Douglas is furious.”
“I told him I’d dose myself with smut of rye, but it was just to hurt him.”
“Damn it all, you have a love of havoc! I think it’s time you grew up. If you’d take a look about you, you’d see he keeps you in the lap of luxury.”
Tina saw the silk-covered walls, saw the painted ceiling, and saw the boxes in the corner of the room that held new gowns and furs. “You have no idea what he’s like!” cried Tina. “He rules with an iron fist. He’s not satisfied with anything less than total domination!”
“Don’t you realize he has to take a firm hand with you? You are so willful, you would ride roughshod over a man who was soft with you.”
Tina was stricken that for once Ada was not her champion. She bit her lip and said quietly, “Let’s get Nell on the bed, poor little mouse.”
Chapter 28
Ram set such a careful pace on the ride to Douglas, it took five hours before Castle Dangerous came into view. Tina knew he could have made it in under two hours on a hard gallop. He had insisted she wear the sable cloak to keep out the chill autumn winds, and before they were halfway there, she was most thankful for the fur’s warmth.
She had glanced at him only once and saw that his face had that dark, closed, forbidding look that told her a black devil rode upon his shoulder.
The spirit of Damaris hovering at a high window was elated to see Valentina ride in safe and sound. She had not ventured from her chamber in days, but now she glided down to the entrance hall, making sure she left Folly in the room because she could already hear the excited commotion the Boozer was making now Ramsay had returned. Tina was the first one through the door, and the Boozer stood with his paws on her shoulders to lick her face.
“Down!” The grim command that fell from Ram’s lips immediately told Damaris things were not going well between this man and this woman. Damaris stiffened as she sensed Alexander at her shoulder. “Lovers’ quarrel,” he whispered into her ear. Why were men so insensitive? She glided away from him, pretending he wasn’t there. Alexander took absolutely no notice of the snub. He followed her and pulled a tress of golden hair. Damaris snatched it from his fingers and turned her back upon him. “I dinna ken why ye are so worried for Valentina—she can certainly hold her own against Ram,” he said.
“Even he won’t resort to rape here in the hall. It’s
what he’ll do in the privacy of their bedchamber that I’m waiting to see,” she hissed.
“Voyeur,” Alex teased. “Perhaps I’ll watch also. Might give me a few ideas.”
“You need no lewd lessons from Ram Douglas, you devil!”
“Ah, ye do remember, then?” He grinned.
“Why did I ever begin talking to you again?” she asked with exasperation.
“Because ye enjoy the intercourse!” he chortled.
Damaris departed.
Tina said to Ada, “Have the servants take my luggage to Damaris’s chamber.”
Ramsay did not countermand her words He told the steward he had brought sixty Douglas men with him, then went into the dining hall to see which of his Douglas cousins was in residence.
Ada and Tina dined upstairs, then Tina’s bath was prepared for her As she stepped into the tub, she smoothed her hands down her belly. “The child doesn’t show yet— perhaps I am mistaken.”
“How long since your woman’s time?” asked Ada.
Tina hesitated to put it into words, then she lifted a careless shoulder. “To tell you true, I haven’t bled since the hand-fasting.”
“Three months!” Ada counted.
Damaris couldn’t contain her delight. “Oh how marvelous—you must be overjoyed!”
Tina said, “I’m certainly not overjoyed about this child, Ada. I wish to God I hadn’t conceived so quickly.”
Damaris was stunned. “Tina, how can you possibly feel this way? My tragedy wasn’t just that I died, but that I died before I had time to have a child. If I had left behind a son or a daughter who I could watch grow up, my demise wouldn’t even matter. The longing and yearning for a child that you know can never be almost devours your soul. For over fifteen years I’ve hungered, and now you will have the child I could not have.”
Tina looked up and blinked back tears. “The damndest part is, I already love it.”
Damaris closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.
Ada held out the towel she had warmed at the fire. “Of course you do, and one day you’ll be damned thankful his father is so much man.”
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