Page 53 of Tempted
“Do ye need more time? Saturday will be upon us before ye can turn round.”
“Saturday is as good as any other day. The die is cast. Think of the relief you will all feel when I’m raising merry hell at Douglas rather than Doon.”
By Friday night, everything was in readiness. Her clothes alone filled ten trunks—then, of course, there were her linens, her silver, and her heirlooms collected over the years from her mother’s family as well as the Kennedys.
Mr. Burque’s kitchen equipment, utensils, and supplies filled two wagons. Tina had decided she would take as hers the bedchamber that had belonged to Damaris. She would not need to take her own bed, but her personal bedhangings had been cleaned and folded lovingly with woodruff. The damask woven in the east was a shimmering aqua with silver dolphins. Her silken carpet was patterned in dark gold and burnt amber. Her bathtub was handpainted with exquisite seashells and was fashioned in the shape of a great scallop shell.
She was taking her sorrel mare as well as her Barbary, Indigo. To spite Ram Douglas, she had almost decided not to take Indigo to be part of his stable, but then she realized that every time he saw her ride the mare he coveted, it would be a thorn in his flesh. She had said her good-byes to her mother, who had taken to her bed with yet another feigned illness so she would not have to travel to Douglas for the celebration.
Beth had tried to thank her for saving her from a fate worse than death, but Tina had brushed it off lightly and advised her to set about capturing Lord Andrew Kennedy before a mate was chosen for her. Now, however, as she sat pensively before the fire with Ada, all her mercurial energy had been sapped.
At last she heaved a great sigh and admitted, “Ada, I behaved outrageously when Douglas came with his insulting offer.”
“Tina, a hand-fasting is not an insult. It is a time-honored Scottish custom. For all intents and purposes it is a marriage. You have a year in which to decide if the union will be permanent. After a year it becomes a legal and binding marriage for life. In your case he has pledged marriage earlier if there is a child. You will be accorded the place of honor in all his castles. You will be husband and wife. You will be Lady Douglas.”
“I’ll not take his damned name! I hate Ram Douglas! He is a swaggering bastard. I want to bring him low—nay, more than that, I want to break him.”
“There is only one way to gain power over him, Tina.”
“Yes, I know. I’m going to try to make him fall in love with me. If I ever bring him to the point where he cannot live without me, I shall laugh in his face and end it,” she said with intensity.
“Well, you’ll never bring Hotspur Douglas to that point unless you can seduce him and make him a slave to your sexuality.”
“I know he feels desire for me.” She blushed. “He couldn’t keep his hands off me. He undid my gown and fondled my breasts on the pretext of seeing if I was padded.”
Ada’s eyebrows rose. “With your father just outside the door? What did you do?”
“I—I touched his sex and demanded to know if he was padded.”
“Omigod, Tina, you are the limit! Now I know what you mean when you say you behaved outrageously!”
“I have a slight problem. He assumes I have had a lot of sexual experience.”
“I wonder why?” Ada asked dryly.
“In actuality I am abysmally ignorant about sexual matters. How on earth am I to make him a slave to my sexuality?”
“Darling, Ram Douglas will soon teach you all you’ll ever need to know. Learn what he likes, cater to his needs. His reputation as a lover is legendary. Surely you realize the name Hotspur carries a wealth of sexual connotation?”
“No, I didn’t realize…. Ada, I’m afraid. He’s enormous, like a stallion. I’ve seen how mares scream when they are mounted for the first time.”
“Oh love, you have to get beyond that first time. There will be pain and blood, but don’t become repressed by it, as so many women do. Allow him to give you pleasure. There is nothing on earth to compare with total fulfillment. It starts with a spark of desire and builds to an unbearable pitch, and if you can simply abandon your body to his at that moment, you will experience bliss, rapture, paradise”
“It sounds mystical.”
“It is! And the more he sees you enjoy it, the more he will enjoy it, and he will strive to bring you more pleasure with each encounter. Don’t think only a man can experience lust. It is a fallacy that while men do it for pleasure, women only do it for love. You must switch that about and enjoy it purely for the pleasure. Men think of sex as conquest until they realize the power they feel when they learn how much pleasure they can give a woman. Indulge your own lust. Bind him to you with his lust. Soon he will be bound forever with chains of lust and love.”
“Ada, he really intimidates me, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let him see it.”
Ada put her arms about Tina. “Get some sleep. I have every confidence in you. You are passionate about everything in life—you cannot fail to be passionate in bed.”
Chapter 17
Lady Valentina rode between her father and Archibald Kennedy, Earl of Cassillis. Her brothers Duncan and David with a score of Kennedy clansmen rode at the head of the cavalcade, and the baggage wagons brought up the rear. In addition to Ada and Mr. Burque, her father insisted she take her own groom, and her mother had provided her with one of the Kennedy maids by the name of Nell.
Every male wore the green and red Kennedy tartan, and even Tina wore a plaid sash draped across one shoulder of her fashionable green riding habit. She sat her horse with the pride of a queen, with Ada’s words ringing in her head. Because Ada was English, she saw Scotland and its people more clearly than they saw themselves. “Scotland is a savage, brutal land, rugged and uncompromising. Its men reflect this perfectly, Tina. They are strong, arrogant, and only half civilized. Only by pledging total loyalty to a clan are they able to survive.
“Scotland has the bloodiest history of any land. Gaelic blood makes the Scot wilder and prouder than other nationalities. You and Ram Douglas are much alike. You are both ruled by passion and fury. Your short tempers and your recklessness have fostered a personal feud where you enjoy fighting each other. If you intend to gain the upper hand, you will never do it by force, for he is stronger than you. You can only win by guile. Put on a velvet glove when you spar with him, keep the guard on the end of your rapier. Tease him, make him laugh with you, and make him love you, then when he is most vulnerable, you must disarm him, thrust home, and pierce him to the heart.”
