Page 122 of Tempted
Angus eyed his favorite nephew and thought for the thousandth time what a pity he wouldn’t inherit the earldom. He would make ten times the regent young Archie would make. Angus sighed. “Ramsay, ye know the Scots would rather fight than eat. We are every last one of us cursed with pride of blood. If ye face it squarely, ye know war with England is inevitable. James Stewart will be on the front battle lines. He’s a soldier to his bones. He’ll be in the front vanguard. I cannot aid his survival, no more than I can guarantee victory for Scotland. My first duty and allegiance is not tae Scotland, nor tae the House o’ Stewart. My first duty is tae Clan Douglas. War has a way of plucking the flowers and leaving the nettles tae flourish. Henry Tudor’s sister already sits on the throne of Scotland. If Tudor wins the war, I want Douglas power at the helm of the ship of state”
Ramsay almost choked on his anger but thought long and hard on Angus’s words. He was not advocating any sort of betrayal. The whole clan would support the king and fight in the vanguard alongside James. The Bleeding Heart of Douglas would be represented by larger numbers than any other clan, but if Scotland went down in defeat, clan Douglas would be there to pick up the pieces as it had for centuries.
Valentina had seen next to nothing of Ram since the king called the council of war. She mixed very little with the women of the court. Occasionally she rode out with Janet Kennedy, and when she could not avoid an invitation from Queen Margaret and her ladies, she took supper with them. But just the sight of Henry Tudor’s sister sickened her. The family resemblance was too marked for Tina to be comfortable in her presence. She preferred the company of Ada They sewed new garments for Ramsay, embroidered shifts and nightrails for Tina, and both of them worked on a new wardrobe for Ada. Tina took as much pleasure in the clothes as Ada, and when Angus took her hawking a couple of times and insisted Ada come along, Tina teased her woman about the great conquest she had made.
November was half over before Ramsay and Valentina found themselves with time enough to share an evening together. They dined alone in their small chamber at Edinburgh Castle. There was no fireplace for them to sit before, and the chill, inhospitable chamber made them long for Douglas. It might be dubbed Castle Dangerous, but it was warm and inviting, even luxurious compared with this pile of cold gray stone The bed loomed large before them as Ram pushed away his plate and emptied the wine bottle into her goblet. “If this bottle could produce a genie who would grant me only one wish, it wouldn’t be for eternal life, nor the riches of Croesus.” He came behind her, put his hands upon her shoulders, and dipped his head to touch his lips to her ear.
Her hand lifted to caress his cheek, and she murmured seductively, “I know exactly what you would wish for—I desire the very same thing.”
They were in a playful mood, intent upon teasing each other. His hands slipped over her shoulders, down to her lovely breasts, as he whispered hoarsely, “Just the thought of what I want makes my mouth go dry with longing.”
“Mine too,” she said, threading her fingers through his midnight black hair. “I want it so badly, I can taste it,” she whispered outrageously.
Ram swung her into his arms. “I am a slave tae my sinful longings. I’ll tell ye what I want if ye’ll do the same.”
They looked solemnly into each other’s eyes and spoke in unison. “Mr. Burque’s chocolat truffles!” they said, unable to keep their laughter dammed up any longer. He swung her about the room until finally they fell laughing to the bed. Their faces became intense.
“I’m starved for ye, sweetheart,” he told her, undressing her with infinitely tender hands. When the last of their garments had been banished to the floor, she came up from the bed onto her knees. Ram did the same. They clung and pressed together until they touched from thigh to breastbone, their mouths fused together as if no power on earth could ever separate them again. Their thick eyelashes brushed together, and he held her as if she were part of his own flesh. It was more than an hour later that the fierce clinging and kissing slowed long enough for them to lie down together.
Ram knew the entire winter would consist of one separation after another while he scoured the country for recruits, but tonight belonged to them, and they would savor each other to the full, unhurried as it should be between lovers who had been made for each other.
They had no need for a fire; this bleak winter night, they made their own heat. He had hungered to be buried deep inside her for so long, his shaft probed between her lips of its own accord, and a violent shudder went through him when he found her swollen with need. When the entire hard length of him was within her scalding sheath, he held it still until they could feel each other pulsing, then slowly he raised his head and kissed her temples, brow, eyelids, and the corners of her mouth until his tongue could not be denied It too plunged within the scalding intimate haven and pulsed and throbbed as violently above as he did below. They savored each other for another hour this way, postponing the inevitable cataclysm that would separate them. When the convulsive climax came, however, it was deeply and completely satisfying to both of them as he filled her with his life.
She lay enfolded in his powerful arms for the rest of the night.
“I’ll take ye home tae Douglas if ye can bear the sight of the place again. I have tae go west and north, and I swear I’ll come tae ye for the night whenever I find myself within fifty miles.”
“Home to me is wherever you are. If you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you. I’d follow you to the ends of the earth.” Both knew their love was such that the angels might envy.
Ram set an easy pace on the ride from Edinburgh, so consequently the journey of forty miles took up most of the day. It wasn’t long enough for Ram and Tina, however. They enjoyed every minute of the cold ride through the majestic southern uplands. The colors of the season were vastly different than at any other time of year. The sere branches of winter reached hauntingly against the loden-colored hills and pewter sky.
They glimpsed red deer through the bare trees and watched hawks and other raptors circling the skies in search of prey. When they stopped to water their horses on the banks of the Clyde, they walked off alone from their attendants so they could embrace and enjoy a few stolen kisses where the air was as heady as sweet wine. Though they had ridden stirrup to stirrup all the way, it was no longer close enough to satisfy them. When they resumed their journey, Ram took her up before him in the saddle.
The warm fragrance of her skin and hair mixed with the scent of horse and leather acted as a potent aphrodisiac, so that by the time they reached the castle at Douglas, Ram was incapable of doing anything save carry her to his bed.
Damaris and Alexander stood at the top of the staircase hand in hand. It had been so long that Valentina and Ram had spent the night under the same roof with them, they had despaired of their ever returning.
After sixteen long years Alexander had managed to make Damaris listen to his story of what had happened on that fateful night that culminated in tragedy. Damaris believed him with all her heart and soul. She had never really stopped loving him—she had only been so deeply hurt at the thought that he could poison her, that she had built a carapace about herself that none could penetrate. Now they were as close in death as they had ever been in life.
Alexander had shown her the evil shadow that still lurked at Castle Dangerous, and they had committed themselves to preserving the lives of Ramsay and Valentina, to give their very tenuous love a chance to grow and flourish. They both felt that their deaths would not be in vain if Ram and Tina loved, married, and produced the children that they had been cruelly denied. Together, their power for good would overcome the power of evil that festered at the core of Castle Dangerous.
The spirits were not the only ones overjoyed to see the safe return of Black Ram Douglas. His own moss-troopers as well as Angus’s men-at-arms had known of his arrest and had gathered at Douglas hoping he would be able to escape his enemies and return, though none of them had actually believed he could accomplish such a feat.
Ram’s wolfhound, the Boozer, rolled in a paroxysm of happiness in the center of the great bed, forcing Ram to cool his ardor until he and his lady had patted and stroked and allowed him to wash their faces with his great rough tongue. So while the lovers lay abed whispering and touching and mating, plans were laid for a great feast. Mr. Burque planned the food, while Colin arranged for the pipers and issued an invitation to every household in the town of Douglas
It was as if Christmas had come early this year. The spirit lovers were euphoric that Ram and Tina were so wrapped up in each other. No longer were they like two scorpions, circling, waiting for the opportunity to sting. Alex and Damaris had a surprise of their own and plotted and planned a way for Valentina to find Mad Malcolm’s lap desk, which contained the history of Clan Douglas with all its ugly secrets. It was the key to revealing the truth about their own tragedy and preventing another.
Ram and Tina arose very late the next morning. When they came downstairs, they saw how everything had been hung with holly, ivy, and mistletoe. In front of everyone Ram put the mistletoe to good use, and Tina blushed at the hoots and whistles of the moss-troopers. He cocked a black brow and warned, “Don’t even think of trying this with my woman.”
It was one of the happiest days of their lives. When they visited the stables, they saw that the lovely Barbary mare, Indigo, was visibly swollen with a colt. They indulged in a mock argument over who would own it and what its name would be. They even argued over the gestation period for a horse. Tina thought it was over a year, but Ram informed her it was eleven months.
In the afternoon it began to snow, and the company was so merry, they rushed outside like children to frolic and scoop it up by the handful to taste and toss at each other. Tina worried that if Ram and his men rode out at dawn as they planned, they would freeze or be caught in a terrible snowstorm. But Ram only hugged her to him and laughed. “How can I ever be cold again with ye tae warm my heart?”
The meal was perfect. Mr. Burque had even allowed the other cooks to prepare the traditional haggis. What went into it was a fiercely kept secret, and Mr. Burque held his fastidious nose as they carried the obscenity to Ramsay for his approval.
The villagers were all crowded into the hall, jostling one another for a glimpse of their lord and his lady and the magnificent haggis. All went well until Mr. Burque became alarmed that Tina was actually going to consume some of it. He shook his head desperately and went as far as to snatch the pronged fork from her fingers. He rolled his eyes and warned, “‘Tis all ears and arseholes!” Those who heard him fell down howling, and Tina laughed so hard the tears ran down her cheeks.
Ram said, “Man, yer a rare treasure. Not only do ye cook better than any chef in Scotland, ye provide the entertainment while we dine”
