Page 52 of Tempted
Her eyes widened. Did the swine mean she was reaching above herself? She bit down upon her tongue.
“How old are ye?” he demanded coldly.
“Seventeen, and I have all my teeth.” She could not prevent the words. “I see that in courtship, as in war, chivalry must yield to expediency,” she said with cutting sweetness.
“Courtship?” He laughed. “There will be no lack of candor. I am a blunt man. We are two totally incompatible personalities. Ye are bold and forward in temper. Ye are vain and spoiled and not much use tae a man. As well, all Kennedy women are rumored tae be honeypots.”
“Mon, yer blunt as a cudgel,” protested her father.
With a disarming smile she gave as good as she got. “The Douglases are renowned for their ambition, pride, greed, and treachery.”
“And valor,” he added with a wolfish grin.
“You have a monstrous conceit of yourself,” she accused.
“Aye, the Scots are like that,” he agreed.
“This is the strangest proposal of marriage I’ve ever heard,” she said, her eyes narrowing to golden slits.
He turned away from her and spoke directly to Rob Kennedy. “I’m not proposing marriage. Not for the present. A hand-fasting only. Both parties free tae withdraw if the union doesn’t suit.”
Valentina felt she had been struck by a thunderbolt.
Rob Kennedy’s face purpled as he opened his mouth to protest.
Ram Douglas forestalled him. “Naturally, I’ll sign a bond pledging tae wed her if she becomes pregnant wi’ my heir.”
The very air in the room crackled with outrage. “Let me speak with her alone,” Ram said to Kennedy. “We’ll let her decide.”
Rob had to be satisfied with this. Reluctantly, he left the room.
“Ye are a lass not distinguished for yer chastity. It takes a great deal of sugar on the pill when other men have licked it. Fortunately for ye, yer parents are prepared to pay me a great deal to take you off their hands.”
Hatred for this man almost blinded her. He thought her a whore! It was not possible that her parents were paying him! Through a violet mist of hate she saw the Douglas device upon his breast. She swore an oath in that moment that her heart would never bleed, but his assuredly would. He was the challenge of a lifetime. She sent up a prayer to aid her to bring just one Scot low. “A hand-fasting suits me far better than marriage. It was clever of you to think of it It satisfies the demands of the king and the earls, yet allows us to be free of each other in a few months’ time”
“Then it’s settled.” It was not a question. His next words, however, were. His eyes dropped to her breasts “Are they real?”
“What?”
“Yer tits. Is that ye, or is that padding?” In two long strides he was before her. He unfastened the pearl buttons and slipped his hand inside her bodice to cup the lovely round globe.
Her mouth opened in astonishment, and her heavy black lashes lifted to reveal the golden outrage blazing in her eyes.
Instantly the dull ache in his groin was replaced by the pleasurable feel of his shaft thickening and lengthening and hardening. He made no effort to conceal the enormous bulge.
Her eyes slid down deliberately “Is that you, or is that padding?” Her daring hand reached out to cup his swollen manhood.
Ram felt his gut melt. His dark eyes bored into hers, and she knew a need to tear his rakehell face to pieces. Then his mouth was on hers savagely in a strong, male desire to overpower her. His need for her was naked in his face. She knew her boldness had placed her in jeopardy. Lord God, why did she say and do such impulsive, outrageous things without a thought to the consequences? He was a man who took what he wanted, whenever and wherever he wanted it, and he made no secret of what he wanted this moment. She knew she must do something to disentangle herself with her innocence intact. As his mouth descended upon hers again, she sank her teeth into his lip. Ram cursed, and Tina fled to the door, quickly fastening her gown. She turned the knob, saying, “Father, I believe we have reached an understanding.”
The older man came back into the room feeling relief. Douglas departed without a backward glance. Suddenly she felt triumphant. Ada was right! She did have weapons. If she learned to wield them well, she would defeat him.
“Lass, are ye sure?” her father asked worriedly. “I’ll go tae the king, I’ll tell him it’s an impossible match.”
“No, no It suits me well, Father. Only think of the pitying glances I would have received once it was bruited abroad that I’d been jilted by Patrick Hamilton. I don’t pretend I won’t receive glances as Ramsay Douglas’s woman, but they won’t be pitying.” She shrugged her shoulder. “We are better acquainted than you realize. While you were at sea, I was a guest at his castle. There is unfinished business between us.”
Lord Kennedy was surprised, yet not surprised. He’d seen them together in Stirling and knew they were a combustible combination, like setting a flame to a keg of gunpowder. At the moment they seemed to have a loathing for each other that held them in thrall. If that loathing ever turned to passion, their obsession with each other would bring rapture or madness. “If he should ever give ye hurt, promise me ye’ll repudiate him and come home?”
She nodded, biting back a question about his paying the Douglas to wed her.
