Page 94 of Tempted
The moment the women turned their backs, Ram slipped an arm about her and drew her close. “Ye are tempting as original sin,” he murmured huskily. Tina pulled away from him, cheeks flaming, as the dressmaker returned with a gown over each arm. “I don’t care for the red, but I’ll try on the black and silver.” The bodice was low-cut, with billowing, black velvet bishop sleeves and a pointed stomacher. The skirt was rustling silver taffeta. The ruff she chose to go with it was black rimmed with tiny silver beads.
The gown needed the waist taken in, and it also needed shortening. The dressmaker pinned it to fit, and her assistants helped Tina remove the gown. When they moved down the mirror-lined room, Ram again drew her close and caressed her bottom.
“Stop—they’ll see us,” she protested.
“Ye are the one who wants tae play mistress. I just want tae play.” His fingers slipped beneath the short shift and glided between her legs. She pulled away from him, horrified that he would do such an intimate thing when they were not private.
The modiste brought two more gowns. One was apricot silk, its bodice made up of a hundred tiny pleats, its billowing skirt quilted for fullness. The other gown was white. Its cut was simple but very daring, following the natural contour of the body. Tina loved them both, and the dressmaker said, “The white is deceptively simple to show off your jewels. There is a goldsmith next door, if—”
Ramsay cut in firmly, “I have my own goldsmith, madam.”
The white gown was removed and taken to the alterations room. Ram pulled Tina onto his lap. Furiously she said, “I didn’t come here to be molested!”
“Where do ye go?” he teased.
She knew the women could see them in the mirrors and that they were aware of his feeling and touching her body. She brought her open palm up and slapped him across the face. As she struggled into her own gown, she said angrily, not caring that the women overheard, “I have changed my mind. I have no desire whatsoever to be your mistress, Lord Douglas!”
He caught up with her as she emerged onto the street. “Slow down, Vixen. I was only trying tae teach ye a lesson. I have no desire for ye tae be my mistress, either. Ye know I want ye for wife.”
Tina burst into tears.
“Now what the hell have I done tae upset ye?” Tina was angry with him, angry with herself, and angry with the whole world at the moment. She was afraid she was breeding. She had had morning sickness again, and now she was bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. “Leave me alone, you lecherous swine!” she hissed, and turned her back upon him.
His mood had turned black. Women! There was no bloody pleasing them, even when you spent a fortune spoiling them rotten. He summoned a Douglas moss-trooper who had been patiently waiting with their horses. “Escort her ladyship back tae Garrowhill, and be warned—her tongue has the sting of a scorpion today.”
Tina kept her mouth shut about her suspicions, not daring to confide even in Ada yet. It was all very well in theory to bear Douglas his much-desired heir, then repudiate him for the sheer pleasure of ruining his happiness, but the cold reality of it was more than a little daunting. Now she realized she didn’t want her child to be a bastard. She also realized she’d have little success in keeping Black Ram Douglas separated from his child, especially if it was a son. He’d simply come and take him. A woman who stood between a man and his goal could be so easily, so effectively, so permanently eliminated!
To lift his mood, Ram went into one of his favorite haunts in Glasgow. Inside the tavern he recognized members of the King’s Guard and learned that James was inspecting his fleet and watching a new ship being built in the royal shipyard on the Clyde. Ram lost no time seeking out the king and found him with Admiral Arran, who had sailed to Glasgow on one of the ships he’d purchased from Ram in Ayr.
“Douglas, these are damned fine ships ye’ve just sold my navy. Why in God’s name didn’t ye let us have all six?” the king demanded.
“Some English ships are top-heavy. They wouldn’t have been seaworthy in our fierce northern waters,” explained Ram.
Arran concurred. “He’s right, sire. The sea rocks of Scotland are treacherous.”
“I asked Angus tae let ye have the use of his ships, and we’ll need them all, I’m afraid,” said the king. “The English are raiding our cities to the far north. The magnificent cathedral at Elgin has been totally destroyed. Argyll’s Campbells are patrolling the north for me now. To add insult tae injury, England’s new admiral is none other than the Earl of Surrey’s son, Thomas. I packed Ambassador Howard off tae England, with a strongly worded warning for young Henry Tudor.”
“Good riddance,” said Ram. “He was privy tae all Scotland’s business and has kept the English leopard informed of our every move.”
“Margaret writes tae her brother every week, but unknown tae her, from now on I’ll intercept the letters,” James said grimly.
“The borders are being devastated, sire The border lords held a meeting at Bothwell’s Hermitage, and they sent me tae bring ye the facts. We have learned English soldiers are garrisoned at Berwick, and Lord Dacre commands the garrison at Carlisle. Henry Tudor has a naked ambition tae gain control of Scotland, and he’ll use any method to achieve his goal. The English chief warden of the marches has been given orders tae raid and devastate as far into Scotland as he can, and the south is wide open tae his savagery. Towns, villages, abbeys, whole lairdships are going up in flames, and terrible atrocities are being done to the people.”
“Dine with me while we discuss what’s tae be done I would tae God I had a dozen like the valiant Lord Vengeance.” James looked from Arran to Douglas, feeling in his bones that one of them knew the identity of the elusive figure. “Did ye know King Henry has offered a thousand pounds annual pension tae any who can take him prisoner?”
“By Christ, I’d turn him in myself fer that kind o’ reward,” laughed Douglas.
Ramsay outwaited Arran before he made further disclosures to James. Once Arran had departed along with the king’s chief adviser, Lord Elphinstone, Ram told James that Heath Kennedy had agreed to winter his Gypsies in England and scout information about troops.
“Thank ye. I too have spies out there. If it comes tae war, at least it is too late this year. The autumn gales have begun, and Henry won’t march an army through our winter snows. Untrained and untried as he is, I doubt even Henry Tudor will make his decision before spring.”
“Henry may be untried, sire, but the English Army and Navy are better equipped than any in the world, and their infantry and horsemen have one thing we Scots lack.”
“Discipline,” answered James regretfully. “Well, we still have the old alliance with France. If either country is attacked by the English, the other is bound by treaty to declare war against them.”
“Treaties can be ignored or broken if it’s expedient,” reminded Douglas.
“If I muster the clans, I believe I could amass an army of at least twenty thousand. I don’t think Henry Tudor has the slightest notion we can match him in numbers. Would ye be willing tae go tae London and apprise him of what twenty thousand wildmen could do tae his bloody diciplined soldiers?”
