Page 43 of Tempted
Tina tended to agree with her younger brothers on the subject of marriage but refrained from teasing, knowing it would be her turn only too soon. On the ride they passed lonely peel towers, ideal places where reivers could dwell, but the law stated that lairds were to construct these towers for defense purposes every few miles. Tina caught her breath at the vistas. They passed a burn that had come down for thousands of years, slashing open a fearsome wooded ravine. The fiercely rushing waters had battered and gouged their way, forging pinnacles and jagged rock facings. The hills were covered by pine and larch and fir. They rode through glens, past fan-shaped waterfalls and quiet ponds, where the fish lurked beneath hazel bushes before they darted upstream to feed.
They scattered hen and cock chaffinches and blackbirds and small furry creatures that disappeared down their burrows before they could even be identified. A loch’s surface rippled like watered silk, and inside Tina a slow, delicious excitement stirred because she was engaged in an adventure that might afford her opportunities of disobedience and misbehavior.
The town of Stirling was on the River Forth with the purple ramparts of the Highlands just beyond the steeply winding, narrow streets. The sun was setting as they reached Stirling Castle, a hilltop citadel on various levels with towers, bartizans, and parapet walks. Grassy ledges and terraces with steps cut for access were utilized for gardens. Halfway down the northeastern flank was a plain consisting of a few acres where cows grazed peacefully.
They rode around the back of the fortress, past the bowling green and the quoiting pitch, to the barracks and stables. Valentina spoke to a royal groom explaining that her mare, Indigo, was valuable and must be kept safe from stud stallions. She laughed to herself later as she realized how shocked her mother would have been if she’d overheard.
The queen and her court were already in residence and planning festivities for every evening they would spend at the Highland castle, which was far more conducive to pleasure than the brooding castle at Edinburgh. There would be a couple of days for fun and games, then on the third day the marriage would be solemnized, and before everyone departed at week’s end, the queen had planned a lavish costume ball.
It was highly entertaining just watching the guests arrive. Tina was surprised that a wedding was such a potent draw She had never seen so many tartans, mottos, and badges displayed in her life. She knew the Scots were wickedly proud, but she began to wonder if Ada wasn’t right when she said that although they had a dour facade, they were romantics and sentimentalists to a man.
Before the rest of her family arrived, Tina had acquired some brown-gray Lazarus beads to conjure the Devil. The queen and her ladies thought it amusing and fashionable to practice magic. When her sister and her female Kennedy cousins arrived, Lady Valentina held her own court, which also included the bride and the many Campbell females who were quite countrified and thought Tina the height of fashion and sophistication. She was thoroughly enjoying herself among the vast company, showing off her rustling taffetas, pointed stomachers, and ruffs rimmed with pearls.
She got more than her share of electric glances from the lusty men. She adored the temptation to recklessness, but she had more good sense than to return their intimate glances of silent invitation. Yet she saw many a coy look from ambitious girls. She laughed with her cousins and said clever things about men: “He has neither rank nor virility, two necessary qualities in a man.” But when she saw Colin Douglas limp into the hall with Black Ram Douglas’s brothers at his side, her soft heart went out to him. On impulse, she crossed the large chamber and sketched him a curtsy. “Colin, welcome to our wedding.”
His eyes were friendly and amused. “It is my pleasure, Lady Kennedy.”
“I cannot call you Colin unless you call me Tina,” she pointed out.
Gavin and Cameron Douglas grinned cheekily and elbowed Colin aside. Gavin kissed her hand gallantly and murmured, “Ye are even more beautiful than last time we met, Tina.”
She arched her brows coolly at his use of her name. “Colin Douglas was kind to me in a trying situation, but that doesn’t mean I embrace any other Douglas!” She swept off with an aloof shrug of her shoulder.
“Yer no’ but dirt beneath her feet,” Cameron needled.
“Christ, I’d like tae be beneath her skirt,” Gavin said. “I’ll never know why Ram hates the sight o’ her—she has enough allure tae stiffen a corpse.”
Ramsay Douglas did not think he would be bothered to ride to Stirling to the Campbell-Kennedy wedding. After he made his full reports to the king, he thought it expedient to return to the borders since they were in sore need of patrolling. But when the king and Angus took it for granted he and his men would escort them to Stirling, he capitulated without demur.
James Stewart and Archibald Douglas each waited for the other to bring up the subject of marriage to Ramsay. When Angus realized the king expected him to do the dirty work, he put it off until he had enjoyed the festivities at Stirling. He was damned if he was going to light the fuse of Hotspur’s explosive temper quite yet.
The day was bright with sunshine, a rarity for the Highlands, which so often had a somber, brooding quality. Everyone young and not-so-young was outdoors crowding around the archery butts, quoiting pitch, bowling green, or the menagerie of bears. But all the youngest guests who were daring enough were gathered atop the northeastern flank, where a long, grassy slope led down to the plain. A raucous game of hurly-hackit was in full spate, a grass-sledging activity on the skulls of oxen, using the upcurled horns to steer.
Naturally Tina was the first female to challenge the hill. She raced both of her brothers, easily beating Duncan because her light weight made her sledge fly over the grass. Davie was too sly and cunning, however. He deliberately cut in front of her, causing her to swerve off and lose the race. This only spurred her on, of course, and by stooping to his tactics, she beat him at his own game. She thought she’d never laughed so much in her entire life.
Gavin Douglas joined in the fun, giving the other men a run for their money. There was a streak of recklessness in Douglas men. Gavin shot down the slope so heedlessly that he came a cropper before he reached the bottom. His great body flew over the oxen horns, and he lay sprawled directly in Tina’s path. She screamed as her skull collided with Gavin’s and she was flung directly on top of him. They stared into each other’s faces for one horrified moment, then went off into peals of laughter at the undignified spectacle they were creating with their arms and legs entangled.
Ramsay Douglas had been watching the silly game for some time through jaded eyes that were drawn again and again to the streaming copper tresses of the Kennedy wench. She was truly a wanton, heedless of her grass-stained skirts flying in the air, making herself the center of attention. His jaw tightened as he watched her collide into Gavin, the pair of them laughing like lunatics.
As Tina and Gavin helped each other to their feet, she caught sight of his oxen skull and went off on another trill of laughter. “You ugly brute! Your great weight has crushed your damned skull!”
He felt his head in mock alarm, and Tina laughed up at him. “I suspect your brains are in a much lower place.”
He grinned and rubbed his buttocks. Suddenly they sobered as they looked into the dark face of Black Ram Douglas, who was in no way amused. They were able to keep straight faces for a count of perhaps five or six seconds, then they both went off again into paroxysms of laughter, far too giddy to maintain a semblance of decorum.
“Ye’ve not the smallest shred of sobriety.” His hard voice relegated her to the ranks of foolish, shallow women who cannot be held responsible for their stupidity. He was so tall and broad-shouldered, he blocked most of the sun.
“You are so old and dried up, you’ve forgotten what innocent fun is. Have a care your face doesn’t freeze with pious disapproval.”
Violent, angry energy flamed between them like sheet lightning. In that instant it was apparent why he was called Hotspur and she Firebrand.
Chapter 14
Even though the chapel royal at Stirling was massive by church standards, there certainly was not enough room for all the members of all the clans who had gathered. Bishop Kennedy had come down from St. Andrews to officiate at this wedding, and the front of the church overflowed with the red-haired clan.
Archibald Cassillis, the Kennedy earl, looked about the church at all his people. He knew it would not be long before Rob Kennedy’s lasses exchanged their vows. Ram Douglas and Arran’s heir were spectacular matches for his nieces, yet he hadn’t broached the subject to Rob because instinctively he knew Elizabeth would object to allowing her baby to go to Douglas. He agreed the poisoning years ago had been a bad business, but the damned woman must learn to forgive and forget. He’d had his orders from the king, and the Kennedys of Doon would have their orders from him, but he’d wait until they were back home before he issued them.
A pale Meggan Campbell walked down the aisle overshadowed by her powerful father, trying to swallow the lump in her throat as she wished her mother, long dead, could have been with her, or at least her elder sister Elizabeth She shuddered. That was impossible, of course, for Elizabeth was wed to the traitor Lachlan MacLean and she would likely never see her again. Meggan’s eyes caught sight of the back of Donal Kennedy standing so stiffly by the altar, and suddenly she was no longer afraid. Unlike the savagely cruel MacLean, Donal really loved her. In a world where women never got to choose their own fate, Meggie Campbell felt truly blessed.
