Page 86 of Tempted
Ada’s face was pale, but her lips were firm and her voice steady as she confronted him. “My Lord Douglas, it will avail you naught to browbeat me.”
“Browbeat ye? I’ll flay ye alive!” he growled, grabbing her shoulders most ungently.
“I told her how angered you would be, but it was like waving a red flag at a bull—it only made her more determined to leave.”
“Where is she? ‘Tis obvious she didna go home tae Doon, or she wouldha taken ye with her. Has she gone to Donal?”
“I don’t know where she is,” lied Ada.
Ram’s hands tightened painfully upon her.
“Lord Douglas, if you strike me dead upon the spot, it will not restore her to you.”
Her cool reasoning penetrated his fury. He flung her from him. “How long has she been gone?” he demanded.
“Two days,” she said quietly.
“Two days?” He cursed, his gut knotting. “The goddamned Frenchman will tell me where she is. I’ll truss him on one of his bloody spits and roast him alive!”
“If she wouldn’t tell me where she was going, you don’t really believe she’d confide in her chef, do you?” she reasoned.
“Why in the name of Christ didn’t Colin mount a search when she hadn’t returned by nightfall?”
“Likely because he has more intelligence than to interfere between you and one of your women,” she dared to reply.
“One of my women? Is that what ye think Tina is?” he asked incredulously. “I’ve dragged the bloody priest here from Kirkcudbright tae wed us!” he shouted.
“That’s why she left,” Ada explained.
The logic of it all eluded him. “I must be thick in the bloody head. I don’t get it.”
“She is Lady Valentina Kennedy Have you no notion of the enormity of the insult when you offered her only a hand-fasting rather than marriage? Added to that was the fact that Rob Kennedy had to pay you to take her A woman with her pride and spirit was bound to avenge such humiliation”
As her words hit home, he felt as if he’d received a blow to the crotch.
“This is her woman’s revenge,” Ada explained.
Ram Douglas was in turmoil. He was unused to explaining himself to a woman He knew he could extract Tina’s whereabouts from Ada, but at what cost? If he behaved brutally to her servant, it would not advance him in her eyes, nor his own.
He went back to his own chamber and slammed the door in frustration He picked up a decanter of whisky and lifted it to his mouth, taking a long pull on the fiery liquor. The burning sensation in his gut gave him perverse pleasure, and he raised the decanter again At least he was certain of one thing—she hadn’t gone running to Patrick Hamilton. He’d been at Bothwell’s Hermitage. A damned good thing too If she had hung a pair of horns on him, Hamilton would be a dead man Then he’d kill her! He’d choke the bloody life out of her!
He took another swallow, then heaved the decanter against the stone wall of the chamber Christ! He’d never, ever told a woman he loved her before Never even let his guard down in the presence of a female Bitches every last one! It was possible she had gone to Court, but somehow he doubted it There was only one place she could have gone and that was Castle Kennedy She’d gone so that he would go chasing after her. Well, he’d be in no hurry He’d get a good night’s sleep. He’d stop for her on his voyage to Ayr with the ships he was taking to sell
But he’d be damned if he’d marry her now. She was expecting him to run after her and beg her to wed him Well, she could whistle! He’d let the hand-fasting run its course before he’d humble himself again by baring his heart to her. If the little vixen liked playing vindictive games, he’d oblige her. He was very good at games.
Ram was so restless he prowled about the chamber like a caged animal. He absently ran his hand over the thick fur of the lynx pelt and fingered the finespun material of her nightgown. He lifted it to his face and absently rubbed it against his freshly shaven cheek. The fragrance that stole to him aroused him. He flung the thing from him and picked up the objects from the nighttable, carefully weighing them in his hand, then setting them down before he was tempted to pitch them across the room.
His eye fell upon a red paper flower, and he picked it up and began to crush the petals when he noticed the writing upon it: Haugh of Urr Suddenly he went ice cold. His heart froze within him. She had gone to the Gypsy. He knew a moment of madness—a blinding flash of fury that consumed him. In that instant his love turned to hate. With deliberate hands he removed his knife from its sheath, took a whetstone from the mantel, and honed its blade to a razor-sharp edge.
Heath and Valentina were fighting, something they had never done before. Their barbs flew hot and furious, deliberately wounding each other. “‘Tis sheer male arrogance! You have been wintering in England for as long as I can remember, but now that I demand you take me with you, suddenly you decide you’ll winter in Edinburgh instead.”
“Are you deaf as well as stupid?” he demanded. “England is unsafe! Why the hell have you suddenly got a maggot in your brain to go to England?”
“I never thought you, of all people, were a sniveling coward!” she taunted.
His eyes blazed. “Me a coward? ‘Tis you who are running away like a scared rabbit!”
She let go of her anger and tried another tack. “Oh Heath, don’t you see? If I’m in England, I’m safe from him. I’m even safe from the king who ordered this ridiculous blood-bond between Kennedy and Douglas.”
