Page 82 of Tempted
“Mmm, I’m galled by this steel armor against my body. Do ye suppose yer woman could help me take it off while I have a good soak?”
She beckoned Ada and whispered to Angus, “You’ll have to do your own persuading, my lord, but I wager she won’t be able to resist you.”
When Angus and his dozen attendants rode north, Castle Douglas heaved a collective sigh of relief. When Tina’s eyes met Ada’s, they sparkled with amusement. She couldn’t begin to imagine what Angus was like in bed.
“He has the constitution of an ox!” Ada said, her voice tinged with grudging admiration. “I think I injured a groin muscle—it wasn’t mine, however,” she said with a twinkle.
The Black Ram did not return to Castle Douglas that night, nor the next seven nights, as it turned out. Wherever they patrolled along the border, they heard tales of atrocities, of men hunted like deer, and they saw the evidence of sacked farmsteads and villages with their own eyes. They even had to put out fires where forests had been set ablaze. In one day they discovered the Elliots, Fergusons, and Lindsays had been burned out, and Hotspur had seen enough. He decided to take the law into his own hands, and as night fell, he led his men across the border into England.
They killed only when necessary, and Ram forbade the taking of women. Their main objective was to carry off as much loot as they could get their hands on. They lifted grain, fodder, sheep, cattle, horses, and household goods. They burned crops, barns, and hayricks. Ram knew flames were more terrifying in the dark hours past midnight.
Once back across the border, they began a systematic distribution of goods among the Scottish families who had lost everything. The Douglas men then seemingly disappeared In actuality they boarded the Revenge and raided along the English coast from Kingstown to Whitehaven. At the end of a week’s time, when they slipped back up the River Dee, Douglas had two more English vessels in tow.
Ram exercised a fierce control over his men when they patrolled and even when they raided, but once back at Castle Douglas, he knew they were in a mood for revelry and put no curb on them whatsoever. Every spit and cooking utensil was utilized to prepare a feast, and pandemonium reigned. The racket they made was enough to raise the rafters, and inside and out men wrestled, gambled, drank, and wenched.
Ram watched Tina’s reaction with tolerant amusement. She had been used to a household of men at Castle Doon, but Kennedy men were worlds apart from Douglas men, a law unto themselves Before dusk had completely fallen, the Gypsies arrived and the bailey rang with wild music and dancing.
Zara walked a direct path to Ram and laid a possessive hand upon his arm as they conversed As Valentina watched them she knew they had been intimate She shrugged a shoulder—his reputation with women was legendary. This was only one of his conquests—he’d probably lain with every female from the border to the capital who was over the age of fourteen. And yet something inside her wanted to assert her power over him She needed to know that he desired her above all other women
Ram had been aware of Tina’s presence since she had stepped outside. He left Zara with Jock and strolled around the courtyard until he stood beside her “Decent women retire to their chambers when the Gypsies come on the scene”
She gazed up at him The flare of the torches sent the light and shadow flickering in his dark face, emphasizing his saber-sharp cheekbones She tossed her glorious hair about her shoulders. “Not a chance!” she told him
“Don’t bother tae look for him—he isn’t here”
She didn’t ask who he meant She knew damned well who he meant. Jealousy flared in him as the corners of her mouth lifted in a secret smile “The Gypsies think they are a breed apart. Their men all horse thieves, their women all whores. And yet … and yet—I bet you and I could beat them hands down.”
His jealousy was now mixed with hot desire. “I know I’m a good horse thief, but what makes ye think ye’d make a whore?” he asked huskily.
“That’s exactly what I am—your whore”
He pulled her hard against him, and his mouth ravaged hers. She did not pull away but slid her body against his sensually as the wild beat of the music entered their blood, pulsing in wine-dark waves that were almost too intense to bear. He reached into his doublet and pulled out a handful of gold coins. “I expect my money’s worth,” he taunted.
Insolently she picked up one of the coins and bit down upon it to see if it was real gold, then tossed it to Zara as she walked past clinging to Jock. “Where do you want it? In the hay of the stables, or under a hedge?”
Ram was shocked He gave her a sharp slap across the bottom. “Seek yer room, Firebrand. I’ll join ye there in a few minutes”
Her hand slid playfully across his power bulge. “That’s to keep you primed,” she said outrageously. Tina did not seek her chamber immediately—she wanted a word with Old Meg.
The Gypsy had set up business in a corner of the hall, and there was a lineup of females waiting, ostensibly to have their fortunes read, but some were there for less legitimate reasons. Meg saw her immediately, but took perverse pleasure in making her wait a few minutes. Finally she gestured the other women away and beckoned Tina.
The old woman fixed her with a malevolent black stare. “So what I prophesied came to pass. You belong to the man on the throne with the symbolic ram’s heads who fulfills all your erotic needs.”
Tina willed herself not to blush. “I want to know about the poison,” she whispered.
Meg held up her fingers and made a cabalistic sign. “Speak not the word, think not the word. Do you not realize we can conjure these things for ourselves?” she demanded, her eyes blazing.
Tina opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. What was the use? The old witch would never implicate herself. Tina could feel the woman’s animosity toward her. She shrugged a careless shoulder and laughed aloud. Tina enjoyed flirting with her own danger—it made life exciting.
At the entrance to the hall a young Gypsy male had an array of dirks and knives set out on a brightly woven rug. Tina examined some and bought a small knife with a very sharp, pointed blade. Its sheath had leather thongs that could be tied about the leg.
She glanced up and saw that Ramsay had tired of waiting and had come to get her His face masked the emotions beneath the surface. Though annoyed, he was not yet smoldering with anger, so she did her best to inflame him “Ah, the Master of the Universe demands my presence!”
“Not so,” he denied. “The Master of the Universe awaits yer pleasure.” He grinned. Her eyes danced. “I once bathed naked in Black Loch at midnight and offered to sell myself to the Devil. I see you’ve come to claim me—but I think I’ve changed my mind,” she said stubbornly.
His eyes narrowed. “Ye are bought and paid for with gold, Vixen! I expect ye tae perform for me.”
She dug her hands into her hips and tossed her hair back over her shoulders. “As a matter of fact, you are the one who is bought and paid for with land and ships I expect you to perform for me!”
