Page 25 of Tempted
“Step inside, man,” invited Douglas.
“Ye scurvy, uncouth bastard, how dare ye act like an uncivilized savage afore a lady?” Hamilton demanded, drawing his rapier. “This is a godly household!”
“Man, yer so self-righteous, I wonder it doesna choke ye!” spat Ramsay. Both men stepped into the hall to give them more room for their quarrel. “Join yer fearsome partners in crime. They fair had me quaking in my boots,” invited Douglas.
Hamilton gazed about the room in disbelief. “Where are yer men?” he demanded.
“I came alone,” the Black Ram said insolently.
“Yer vaunty boasting makes me spew!” roared Hamilton.
“Ye need guts before ye can spew!” taunted Douglas.
“It will give me pleasure tae rid the world o’ one more maggot-blown Douglas,” snarled Hamilton.
“Ye crawling louse—I ha’ better things than ye crawling in ma body hair!” spat Douglas.
Valentina had followed the two men inside. She ran to Donal with her heart in her throat, thinking him dead. When she saw he was unconscious, she was angry and assumed he’d drunken himself into oblivion just when Doon needed defending.
Duncan, covered with blood, was still trying to stanch the flow of the severed artery in his tongue. Tina ran to David’s side. He too was bleeding from a gash on the head. “Let me help you, Davie!” she cried.
“Get the hell away from me!” he snarled, shamed that she treated him like a puling bairn.
She stared about the hall at the servants and the Kennedy clansmen and wondered wildly why they did naught, save watch and listen to Patrick Hamilton and Ramsay Douglas circle each other exchanging insults. Her pulses raced, her heartbeats quickened. Suddenly she felt no fear, only a mounting excitement that she was witness to the confrontation of two deadly enemies. As they circled each other warily, she saw how proud Patrick Hamilton looked garbed in elegant black with the white linen ruffle at his throat. He was tall and slim and moved with the grace of a black panther His deadly rapier blade glinted in the torchlight, and she knew his reach was longer than that of Douglas.
Then her eyes were drawn to the Black Ram. She had never seen a naked man before. His plaid did little to cover his nakedness. Instead it revealed and emphasized his magnificent torso. He was not as tall as Patrick, but his shoulders were broader by far, with the powerful, sleek strength of a swordsman.
Her mind flashed about like quicksilver. Part of her felt guilty because she was enjoying the spectacle. Then she saw with disbelief that the two men were smiling, and she realized with a shock that they were relishing it more than she. She caught her breath on a half sob as the two enemies lunged at each other, but instead of the blood she expected she saw the double-edged Douglas sword snatch the deadly rapier from Hamilton’s grip. It flipped into the air, and Douglas neatly caught it in his left hand
Hamilton, unarmed, tore off his doublet and challenged Douglas. “Throw aside yer weapons and fight me wi’ yer fists!”
Douglas was guilty of many things, but stupidity was not one of them. Unarmed he would have been jumped by a score of Kennedys. He slammed his broadsword into its scabbard and advanced upon Hamilton with the man’s own rapier. Patrick had the good sense to back away.
“Bad enough ye raided my cattle, but tae aid an’ abet the Kennedys tae do likewise, lured on by yon red-haired bitch in heat, is unconscionable, Patrick man.”
His foul accusation was totally unfounded, but when Tina tried to defend Patrick, both men totally ignored her. Douglas backed his prey clean across the hall, then with a swift downward slash he slit the white linen shirt and carved a crude letter D on Hamilton’s breast.
“You swine!” screamed Tina. “You’re doing this because I bested you. How did you learn my name?”
“‘Twas a simple thing tae sniff out—yer reputation as a wanton stinks to high heaven.”
Patrick Hamilton tried to control her, but she’d heed no man at this moment. “Before I’m done, I’ll see you in hellfire!” she screamed.
“Most likely,” Ram acknowledged with a courteous bow. Then he dismissed her and swept Hamilton and the Kennedy men with a look of blackest contempt “Yer no’ fit tae clean the shit off ma boots.” He strode from the hall looking to neither right nor left. Turning his back on all that company showed he was fearless.
Valentina looked down at her white gown and saw it spattered with Patrick’s blood and smeared with David’s. In that moment she knew a need to see Douglas blood spilled. She cried out to the men in the room, but they were already screaming abuse at one another and exchanging brutal blows. Heedlessly, she ran outside after Black Ram Douglas His hand was about to untether his devil-horse. “Coward! Whoreson coward!” she cried.
He turned to face her, his eyes raking her from breast to hip. “Ye mistake, mistress. ‘Tis all Kennedy men who are cowards, just as all Kennedy women are whores!”
She flew at him and struck him full in the face. Her breasts heaved wildly with her agitation as she screamed, “You don’t have the guts to strike me back! You don’t have the guts to defend yourself against a woman. You don’t have the guts to lay a finger on me!”
A muscular bare leg shot out and knocked her to the ground. Then Lady Valentina Kennedy found herself in a shameful position she’d never experienced before in her life. Ram Douglas was on top of her, imprisoning her body between his muscular thighs. As she struggled wildly, her hands came in contact with his massive hirsute chest, and her eyes saw clearly his shameful male parts. As he straddled her they were shamelessly displayed only inches from her face. She was acutely aware of the heady, disgraceful, masculine scent of him.
He clenched his fist on a handful of turf and was sorely tempted to grind the dirt into her beautiful face. He mastered the impulse as beneath his dignity He did not need to use his brawn on the little wanton. His contempt would show his superiority. “How many men have ye rolled in the grass?” Ram Douglas got to his feet. He was secretly impressed that she had shown more courage than the Kennedy men. He hid his response to her passion and fire behind a contemptuous look of scorn to show he despised her He drew away from her as if contact would contaminate him. He gave her one last insolent look that almost scorched her skin, then vaulted onto the back of his black devil-horse.
Tina struggled to her feet, impotence feeding the fires of her anger and hatred. She cried out into the night, “I swear that someday the positions will be reversed! I shall be armed, and you will be weaponless, but I vow to you that I shall use my weapon!”
When Tina went back inside, she saw Patrick and the clansman who had attended him exchanging blows Ada looked on helplessly. She’d spent a most rewarding evening with the Hamilton moss-trooper in the privacy of her cozy chamber and wondered why men always ended up shouting and brawling by midnight.
