Page 49 of Wild Hearts

"Yes, ma'am, do you know him?" he asked, alarmed.

"Only by reputation." She smiled ruefully. She searched through the papers twice before she found the paper she sought. "I think this is it. Haddon House at Dufftown?" she asked. "Five hundred pounds?" There were two other papers with Gordon signatures upon them, and two more signed by Huntly. She made a mental note to go through them thoroughly once she was alone.

"Aye"— he nodded—"that's the one."

She handed him his deed and tore up his signed promissory note.

He protested gallantly. "Madam, I cannot allow you to do that."

"It is done, Mr. Gordon. Let it remain strictly between us two."

"But why are you being so generous to me, madam?" he asked, amazed.

"If you must know, I don't want it to fall into the wrong hands. Your father is Lord John Gordon, but did you know that my father is the Earl of Ormistan?"

Adam Gordon blanched visibly at the name of the hated enemy. He suddenly realized that paper could have been used against him to ensure the loss of the property at Dufftown. He was speechless in his gratitude.

"Come, take tea with us, Adam. Do not let our fathers' blood feuds prevent us from being friends."

"Thank you, ma'am, from the bottom of my heart."

She led him into the dining room where Alexandria was impatiently awaiting another glimpse of her Prince Charming. Adam took Alexandria's hand warmly. "I must thank you again for saving my horse, miss. I swear it was the bravest thing I ever saw a female do. You have all my admiration as well as my thanks."

Alexandria bloomed under his compliments. The attraction was instant and quite mutual. With amusement teasing the corners of her mouth, Tabrizia said, "Adam Gordon, allow me to introduce my cousin, Alexandria Cockburn."

The two young people went white as their identities were revealed to each other.

"Perhaps something stronger than tea is in order. It has been a most eventful day," noted Tabrizia, enjoying herself thoroughly.

Later in the evening, while Alexandria was packing her things and finding it a most difficult task because of all the new clothes that had been bought for her, Tabrizia carefully went through Abrahams's papers once more. She discovered that John Gordon had borrowed nine thousand on Macduff Castle, his brother Will Gordon had received another five thousand on property in Aberdeen, and the Earl of Huntly had taken out a ten-thousand-pound mortgage on Huntly Castle and its lands when his .wife, Henrietta Stewart; had to be equipped to accompany the Queen to the English Court.

Tabrizia realized that these papers, as well as providing money, provided her with power. The boy Adam she had just helped was of little or no consequence; she had no quarrel with him and wanted none, but she was a Cockburn, and these papers belonged to their blood enemies, the Gordons. She decided not to tell Magnus about them but to quickly get them back into the bank's vault for safekeeping.

As soon as Stephen Galbraith came, she would get him to make copies of these documents for her. She had a little casket with a key, an ideal place to store these copies. It would keep them from prying eyes but at the same time be close to her hand if ever she needed them. She was beginning to realize that power carried more weight than money. Tabrizia frowned. In a way she realized that as she gained knowledge, she lost the freedom of innocence, and she could not decide if this was good or bad. She sighed for her lost illusions and reluctantly admitted that strength was better than weakness A thousandfold better!

Magnus was returning to Tantallon for a couple of days and escorting Alexandria home at the same time. Try as he might, he could not persuade Tabrizia to accompany him. "I have dress fittings until two o'clock, then Stephen will be here until four. I promise to come to Tantallon very soon, only let me enjoy Edinburgh a little while longer. It's not as if I'll be alone, you know. I have Mrs. Hall and a house full of servants." So, reluctantly, he set out and left Tabrizia to her own devices.

Paris Cockburn had just come from McCabe's law office where he had had the deed for the mansion house in Midlothian transferred from David Lennox into Venetia's name. He was glad of his decision to stop before the long ride back to Cockburnspath, when he entered the back room of Ainslee's Tavern on High Street and found his best friend, the Black Douglas, wetting his whistle.

"By God, James, well met. I've not clapped eyes on ye in over a year!" Paris laughed. "Have ye been in the Highlands all this time?" James Douglas glared at his friend with black eyes, white teeth flashing in his black beard.

"Aye! Remember I went up on a flying visit to see to the lands I inherited from my wife? All the way to Inverness. When I got there, I found a bastard Highlander by the name of Cawdor had filched half my bloody lands. I had to send down to my castle in Douglas for fifty of my moss-troopers to teach the thieving swine a lesson. And I had to leave half of them up there to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Paris grinned. "And what the hell will King Jamie say when he hears Douglas is using his men in the Highlands instead of keeping peace on the borders?"

"Piss on Jamie." The Black Douglas grinned.

"I can hardly believe you'd part with that many of your men, James," Paris said seriously.

"Aye, well, I suppose it was guilt. I never looked after my wife's lands while she was living, poor woman, so now I feel I must make up for the neglect."

"It wasn't only the lands you neglected," accused Paris.

"Aye, well, that, too. Ye know yourself what a bad bargain marriage can turn out to be." He patted the barmaid's lovely round bottom as she filled their glasses for the third time, and she winked at him saucily.

The two friends sat with their heads together, drinking round after round and catching up on the year that had just passed. It was near midnight when Paris decided not to ride back to Cockburnspath, and invited James to spend the night at the town house.

The two men stabled and fed their own horses, then entered the town house through the rear entrance. Paris waved away the offer of a servant to serve them food. "Nay, off to bed with ye. I'll soon get a blaze going in the chamber I always use upstairs, and Magnus has some of the French brandy I smuggled across last time I was in France."

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