Page 121 of Tempted
Even greater than his fury had been his towering pride. It seemed like he had been waging a losing battle with his pride ever since he’d laid eyes on Lady Valentina Kennedy. As he stood on the quarterdeck issuing exact orders to his skeleton crew, a part of his mind relived the night he had stormed Castle Doon. He’d found her in the arms of his clan rival, Patrick Hamilton, and thereafter had set about to humble her pride, which rivaled even his own
She’d had a reputation as a honeypot, and he remembered his feelings exactly when he suspected her of lying with James Stewart and God knew how many of his nobles. Why had he allowed the hand-fasting to be forced upon him?
He knew the answer, of course: She attracted him like no other woman ever had. She was a magnificent flame-haired vixen who wrought havoc with his senses. He remembered acutely the feeling of mauled pride he felt at the ceremony when she fainted and he’d suspected Hamilton had fathered a brat upon her.
When he discovered she was still a virgin, he had completely lost his heart and tumbled head over heels in love with her. But blood on the sheets wasn’t proof positive of virginity. Nor was technical virginity a sign of innocence. She could have been sexually active for years and still cleverly maintained her hymen.
As Ram stood behind the ship’s wheel with only the wind and the sea for company, the ugly black mists of suspicion fell away from him. He wasn’t naive enough to think Henry Tudor would do a kindness for a beautiful female without demanding sexual favors, and he knew Tina was not that naive, either. But it was possible that she had tried to play a game of cat and mouse, promising much and giving little. He knew he would give her the benefit of the doubt. His stiff pride almost choked him, but his heart ruled when Valentina was involved, not his head.
When Tina opened the adjoining door and saw Ada safe and sound with all their baggage stacked against the wall, she burst into tears. The tension of the last few days had been too much for her nerves. The floodgates opened, and Ada was wise enough to know her tears would wash away her tension and soothe her jagged nerves.
Ada helped her out of the torn white gown and poured water so she could bathe her hands and face. “How did you get here?” Tina said. “Were you too trussed like a Christmas goose and carried off?”
“Nay,” Ada said, taking a nightrail from one of the bags and shaking out its folds. “One of the Gypsies took me to a caravan where Heath was waiting. He told me he knew he would be followed from the moment the king dismissed him. He soon gave his watchdog the slip, but later in the day he realized we too were being watched, so he had a Gypsy keep a very close eye on you with instructions to abduct you if you fell into danger. ‘Twas Heath who discovered where the Revenge was anchored. He left a message for Ram and brought me and the two Douglas servants to the ship.”
“I’ve been tied up in that cabin for hours,” Tina said, massaging her wrists.
“I had no idea you were there. I was worried sick for you. When Ram finally arrived a short time ago and you were not with him, I almost had an apoplexy.”
“Thank God we are all safe!”
“We are still in jeopardy. Ram only has Heath and the two Douglas servants for crew,” Ada warned.
Valentina slipped her warm sable cloak over her nightrail and went up on deck. Ram stood at the ship’s wheel with his black hair whipping in the wind. He looked at her with an intensity that almost unnerved her. She faced him squarely, hiding her trepidation, and said, “I want to be with you.”
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, he nodded his permission, and she moved to his side shyly. There were things they wanted to say to each other but could not put into words. How could he possibly convey to her how crushed and heartbroken he’d been when he thought she had betrayed him for the sake of revenge? How could he put into words the bone-softening anxiety he’d felt for her when she came to the tower? His fear had been mixed with the exhilarating joy of knowing she cared so deeply about his safety that she had risked all to rescue him. How could he explain that the mere thought of her giving herself to Henry Tudor had nearly driven him berserk?
Valentina drew the furs he’d given her close about her body. How could she possibly convey to him how devastated she’d been when her own brother had betrayed him? How could she put into words that it had been all her fault for wanting revenge? How could she tell him that she couldn’t endure living while he thought she had deliberately betrayed him? How could she make him understand that she would make any sacrifice to assure his safety and count it as nothing?
She watched him and knew his restless, savage spirit was as wild and free as the sea. She saw his pride, his loneliness, his courage. She saw his soul. She wanted to become part of him without reservation.
He saw her vulnerability, her generosity, her warmth. He wanted all of it and more, he wanted her love. He opened his arm to her; without a word, she stepped close and he enfolded her against his side. Her eyes filled with tears as they again caught sight of the raw scar on his neck, but she blinked them back quickly before they fell. He would consider pity an insult.
They clung to each other for over an hour. His arm had found its way beneath her fur, where he gently cupped her breast. Her arm was about his waist, her fingers tucked up inside his warm leather jack. At last he murmured against her hair, “If ye want tae make me happy, go and rest until dawn. When daylight comes there will be danger from the English fleet, and no one else aboard can take the wheel. I’ll need ye then—we all will.”
Tina raised her eyes to the rigging and saw the lithe figure of Heath, who was both lookout and line untangler. He gave the couple beneath him a salute. He thought them so well matched, it was uncanny.
Tina slept until a bloodred dawn broke across the pewter seas, then she and Ada spent the entire day cooking food and boiling water for hot drinks. The men came below one at a time to warm up and dry their soaked clothing at the galley stove, but Black Ram Douglas stayed behind the wheel of what once had been the Valentina for twenty-two hours, until it was safely in Leith.
Chapter 36
Winter had already arrived in Scotland. Fortunately it did not take them long to cover the four miles from Leith to Edinburgh Castle where Ram and Heath closeted themselves with James Stewart to make a full report of all they had learned in England. It had been a stroke of genius to use Heath Kennedy to gather information because the Gypsy people were allowed to travel freely from town to town, and men and women confided in them and told Gypsies things they wouldn’t even divulge to their neighbors.
James Stewart called all his advisers and border chiefs to Edinburgh. He had the winter months to make decisions about Scotland and whether to declare war on England The harsh Scottish winter would curtail the raids deep into the country, limiting the skirmishes to a few border forays. Each laird was free to say his piece and offer his advice, but in the end it would be the king who made the final decision.
The Scottish Bishops, led by Elphinstone and Beaton, advised against war. They strongly advocated keeping the peace, thinking that England’s might in all-out war would easily subdue Scotland. Some of the clan chiefs urged James to declare war immediately; others agreed to fight England, but cautioned that they wait until spring. The majority of voices urged that James play a waiting game. If England made war on France, it would take the pressure off Scotland. Let the vainglorious Henry Tudor spend the fortune his father had amassed on war with France, trying to conquer Guienne Let him expend his manpower, weapons, and ships fighting with the French—then his country would be unable to mount a full-scale war against Scotland
James Stewart was incensed He reminded his chiefs that Scotland had signed an alliance with France promising Scotland would march into England if she made war on France. In the end, of course, King James had his way. He decided to use the winter months to recruit an army greater than Scotland had ever had before. He decided to call a justice Ayre in the Highlands of the North and attend himself, urging a call to arms from fourteen earldoms Argyll, Atoll, Bothwell, Caithness, Cassillis, Crawford, Douglas, Erroll, Glencairn, Huntly, Lennox, Montrose, Morton, and Rothes He told them, “I rule Scotland, not Henry Tudor, and I shall write it in letters of fire and blood across his borders if I have to!”
Bothwell fiercely supported him “I’ll burn Carlisle!” he offered boldly
Douglas urged the king to be practical It made sense to use the winter months to recruit and make Scotland a power with which to be reckoned, but a massive show of strength along their borders would be an effective deterrent. Douglas was totally against honoring the alliance with France.
Ram closeted himself with Angus. Heath had told Ram exactly what the queen had written in her letter to her brother Henry, and Ram decided to confront Archibald Douglas with the information rather than divulge it to King James
Angus waved a dismissive hand “I dinna ken what yer on about, laddie”
“Angus, ye crafty old swine, ye know exactly what I’m on about. Margaret hinted the Tudors might soon be related to Douglas. A nod’s as good as a wink tae a blind horse, man! When ye read between the lines it means there will be a war between England and Scotland, and if James Stewart is killed as a result, Margaret will wed yer son and be Regent of Scotland.”
