Page 128 of Tempted
Suddenly he saw her floating toward him with her beloved cat in her arms. She laughed up into his dark face. “I couldn’t go without Folly!”
Alexander’s heart soared. He took her hand and hoped they would be together throughout eternity.
Ram was naked, Tina wore a silken nightgown. They knelt upon the wide bed, molded together from lips to hips. “Tell me again that ye love me,” he demanded. “It took ye far too long tae admit it.”
“I love and adore you, you devil-eyed Douglas!” Tina hugged to herself the knowledge that she was again carrying his child. She would keep the secret awhile longer. She was dizzy with relief that he had insisted upon marrying her before she’d told him of the child. This way she was secure in the knowledge that he loved her and wanted her for his own and not just for the heir she would give him.
A low knock came upon the chamber door, and with an oath he flung it wide, indifferent to his naked state. A stableboy stood with Ada, his face beet red. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Ada said, “Indigo has gone into labor.”
“I’ll be right down,” Ram said to the stableboy.
“You mean we will be right down,” Tina asserted, slipping a fur cloak over her nightdress.
Ram threw on chausses, but didn’t bother with a shirt. They hurried out to the huge stables, the Boozer close upon their heels. The mare was extremely restless and voiced her apprehension with a plaintive whicker. Ram again ran his hands over the animal.
“Barbarys are very highly strung and nervous. The colt hasn’t shifted down much yet. I think we’re in for a long night, wife.”
Tina soothed the mare by talking to her quietly. Their presence seemed to have an immediate effect as the horse quieted. Ram made them a bed in the next stall with fragrant hay, and they lay close together with her fur over them to wait out the vigil. The Boozer lay at their feet with his nose upon his great silver paws.
“I never expected tae spend my wedding night playing midwife,” he said, enfolding one strong arm about her
“You are doing this for me because you know how much I care for her. I think that is very gallant and also very romantic.” Her fingers threaded through the thick curls on his chest, loving the feel of him and the smell of him. In the fragrant hay he was intoxicating! Ram’s lips brushed her temple “The truth is I’m no’ gallant at all tae wed ye just before I go tae war. I’m selfish!”
“But surely the threat of war is diminished now England is fighting France?”
He was silent for a few minutes, then murmured, “I know better. Jamie Stewart will fight.”
“I hear a note of regret in your voice,” she said softly.
“I think it’s ill advised. I’ve always believed in force. I believe in swift and terrible retaliation for any assault by an enemy, but I believe this time we should remain in Scotland and concentrate upon making our borders invincible. James has done right tae muster the clans and gather this great army, but I believe the show of power is all that’s necessary.”
“You think he’ll take the army into England?” she asked with disbelief.
He didn’t answer her question. Instead he said, “I could kick myself for wasting so much time wi’ you. There are so many places I want tae take ye, so many things I want tae show ye.”
She snuggled close. “Tell me, tell me about every one of them.”
“I’d like tae take ye north wi’ me when I go for the wild horses. It’s primeval in the forests of the Highlands, as if time began there. It has an otherworldly quality about it— silent, majestic, shrouded in mist. The animals are so wild and free, it breaks your heart tae separate them.
“We could spend a year traveling about Douglas strongholds. I want ye tae see Tantallon. It’s something special. It’s all pink sandstone spires on a cliff overlooking the sea. Even more spectacular than Tantallon is Dunbar Castle. The fortress is erected atop stacks of naked rock, rising in columns from the sea, all linked together by bridgelike covered corridors of masonry. ‘Tis the most curious thing ye’ve ever seen.”
“It sounds intimidating,” she ventured.
“Only tae an enemy,” he assured her. “I’d love tae take ye tae the Isle of May out in the Firth of Forth. ‘Tis fearsome in winter, but on a summer’s day the North Sea slaps against the sheer, serrated cliffs, and ye feel like a god at the top of the world. ‘Tis uninhabited by man, and thousands of puffins and kittiwakes swirl about yer head, totally unafraid. In the spring there’s hundreds of gray seal pups born there. The rock pools in the crevices can be an inch deep or twelve feet. The king often uses it as a retreat. You’d like it. It’s almost a mystical, spiritual experience.”
They came up from their bed of fragrant hay together as Indigo screamed. Tina went to her head. “Easy, easy, my beautiful girl,” she soothed. Ram felt the position of the foal. “It has moved right down. She’s presenting a leg.”
Tina could see his brows creased with worry. “Is that bad?”
“Just one hind leg isn’t good,” he said low, taking it firmly into his hands and pressing it back inside the mare. Indigo’s eyes rolled wildly, then she began to pant and a sheen of sweat covered her purple coat.
Tina took a warm Douglas plaid to cover her, while Ram filled a leather bucket so she could have a drink. Ram eased the mare’s pain by massaging her belly with long, firm strokes. He kept it up for most of, an hour, then finally Indigo went down in the straw, unable to stand on her quivering legs any longer.
“Ram, do something,” Tina begged. “If it’s too big to come, put her out of her misery.”
“Nay, Vixen, we won’t give up that quick.” He laid a length of rope across his knees, then gently eased a hand inside the swollen mare. After what seemed like hours, Ram finally gave a satisfied grunt and Tina saw his hand emerge holding two tiny hooves. With infinite patience he tried over and over to loop the rope about the small back legs and tighten it without doing irreparable damage. Tina marveled how such large, callused hands could perform the delicate maneuvers required to gain a firm hold on the elusive, slippery colt.
