Page 85 of Tempted
Along with the raggle-taggle Gypsies-o.
The chamber was suddenly very cold after he had left, as if he had taken all the warmth with him. Tina climbed back into bed and huddled beneath the fur. The wind and rain made her shiver, although he was the one riding out into it. It would take more than inclement weather to stop Black Ram Douglas. Curse him! Curse him!
Was it possible that he loved her? Perhaps she could take her revenge sooner than she had thought. Nay, he hated her, and she him, yet somewhere at some point love and hate must meet, just as Heaven and Hell were but two sides of the same coin.
Her mind dashed about like quicksilver going over her alternatives. She would leave. She would go home to her father. The thought of her mother and Beth made her search elsewhere. Donal and Meggie were at Castle Kennedy, not much more than thirty miles off, on the coast. Then she thought better of it. She had seen Black Ram Douglas in a temper and didn’t envy the man who stood in his way. Poor Donal had been no match for him before.
Suddenly she stopped shivering. She knew exactly where she would go: the Haugh of Urr. She would do it with panache!
As Ram rode deep into the borders with his men, he ignored their curses and grumbling at being routed out of bed hours before dawn. He never noticed the sheep huddled together for comfort against the drenching rain. He was too deep in his own thoughts. Bloody females! To a woman, kindness meant weakness, and they despise you for it and put a knife in your back. A clout round the ear wouldn’t be amiss. Nay, an inner voice rose up. ‘Tis you who are at fault. Do ye ever bring her a bauble, a jewel? Do ye ever pay her a compliment, or thank her for the shirts she embroiders? Do ye ever praise her for the meals she has her Mr. Burque prepare special? Do ye ever play a game of chess or dice with her, or talk with her? Do ye ever share yer fears or yer victories with her? Do ye ever tell her how much she means tae ye, except in the throes of passion?
He treasured the memories of the afternoon they’d spent fishing. He wanted someone to share his life with, and he knew he had found her. He longed to share everything—the laughter, the tears, the wild moments, and the quiet ones. Blood of God, did she really fear him? Fear he’d poison her? It was untenable. The mere thought of aught happening to her knotted his gut.
He’d turn back now and beg her to wed him, not issue his orders. He sighed. He knew he was far too blood-proud ever to beg for anything in this world. He wanted her to be the mother of his children. What splendid sons and beautiful daughters they’d make together! A fear rose up. He’d never had a child. Other men scattered their bastards to the wind, but no lass had ever come to him in tears because she was in trouble He mastered the fear. Valentina would bear him children—he knew it as well as he knew the sun would rise and set.
Once they reached the sea, Ramsay was kept too busy for introspection. They took the horses aboard the Revenge, then slowly patrolled the coast of the counties of Kirkcudbright and Dumfries all the way up the Solway Firth to the point where Scotland joined England. They ate aboardship, then disembarked to patrol the borders of Roxburgh.
They found the lairdship of Armstrong burned out and most of them fled north. There was little they could do, so they pressed on, hoping to catch the English raiders red-handed. At Rowanburn they got their wish—only some of the animals had been rustled, and a dozen men, drunk with bloodlust, were raping women and girls upon the ground beside the bodies of their dead fathers and husbands. Not one of them escaped the wrath of Douglas!
The thing that infuriated Ram was the fact that they were soldiers in uniform. Once his men had dispatched the raiders, they wasted no time. Without hesitation Ram Douglas led the way across the border deep into Liddlesdale. When four men herding a large flock of sheep saw the Scots borderers in pursuit, they abandoned the animals and rode hell for leather over valley and dale The terrain was treacherous with rock and bog. English army horses were no match for the sturdy, sure-footed garrons.
The borderers herded the four men together as if they were sheep, totally surrounding them so there was no chance for escape. The look of sheer panic on their faces showed clearly they feared they would get their necks stretched, which was the penalty for rustling.
If they had known what was in store for them, they would have begged to be hanged. The dark eyes of the Scots sought those of their leader as every moss-trooper reached for his dirk. Lord Vengeance nodded imperceptibly, and they closed in on their prey, pulling them to the ground for what was known as a “prinking” It was an age-old Scots tradition for a detested enemy. Each borderer took his turn, stabbing with his dirk. Each wound was superficial though cruelly painful. However, by the time seventy such wounds had been inflicted upon every part of the body, the unfortunate victim had usually bled to death, screaming in agony and begging to be dispatched. The fourth and last man babbled everything Douglas wished to know before he received the merciful coup de grace. The information confirmed Ram’s suspicions: The English garrison was in Carlisle. The commanding officer Lord Dacre.
They rode back into Scotland, and Ram called a meeting of all Scots border wardens. They met at the Earl of Both-well’s impregnable Hermitage Castle. Any other than a borderer would never have found it, let alone gained entrance across the hazardous bogs. The Hermitage was a massive pile of gray, forbidding stone, its great hall so large, it took two walk-in fireplaces to heat the place. As the Homes of Wedderburn rubbed shoulders with the Hamiltons, Bruces, Kerrs, and Elliots, Bothwell filled their trenchers with roast oxen and their leather horns with October ale.
The wardens of the east marches, Lindsay and Hay, told sickening tales of the English crossing the Tweed, not merely to loot and pillage but to destroy Scottish shipping and impress their crews and to commit atrocities against women and children. They had discovered a large garrison of soldiers at Berwick. They all knew formal protests had been made by the King of Scotland to the King of England, who had paid lip-service to the treaties by promising to suppress border banditry or restore the prizes taken by pirates. But now the border lords had proof that it was not bandits or pirates but Henry Tudor’s army and navy that harried their land and their people.
Bothwell spoke. “The fuckin’ whoreson is nobbut a greedy bairn, no’ yet twenty-one, but he’s set his voracious sights on Scotland an’ willna be satisfied until it’s all-out war.”
“The first thing James should do is send that bloody traitor Howard packing back tae England,” said Patrick Hamilton.
Ram swept him with a look of contempt but kept his peace. Ram could afford to be generous—Tina was his.
Home of Wedderburn, however, quipped, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”
Kerr, who knew naught of Patrick’s affair with the Howard girl, said, “Hamilton’s right, and while James is ridding himself of vermin like Howard, he should pack his whore of a queen back tae her brother.”
Before the meeting broke up, two things were decided. The English garrisons in Carlisle and Berwick would be raided to learn their strength and numbers, and one of them would have to inform the King in Edinburgh that the borders were already at war. They were unanimous in their choice: Douglas was the one who had James Stewart’s ear.
On the voyage home an English vessel made the mistake of firing on the Revenge Ramsay thought it a waste to sink the tall, unwieldy ship when he could easily outmaneuver and capture it. Why waste cannonballs when they could board her, claim the cargo, then sell the vessel? Some of the crew was still alive when Hotspur stood in command on the quarterdeck, and he leniently put them ashore at Silloth on condition they report that they owed their miserable hides to Lord Vengeance.
Ram was in high good humor when he sailed into the mouth of the Dee and stopped to pick up the priest from Kirkcudbright. He fancied taking his new wife to Edinburgh to show her off to the court. His mind was full of plans They could sail up to Ayr, where he could sell the six vessels he’d taken as prizes. He’d take Valentina home to Doon so she could tell her family of their marriage, then they could sail up the Clyde to Glasgow and ride to Edinburgh. It would be a honeymoon trip, far more romantic than a hard ride overland of more than a hundred miles.
He put the priest in the capable hands of his steward, then went straight to the bathhouse in the barracks, whistling his head off. The castle servants looked at him askance, keeping a wise silence. News of Tina’s departure two days since had swept Castle Douglas like banefire, and they dreaded the explosion they feared might be strong enough to blow them all to kingdom come.
Ram was starved for a glimpse of her and went upstairs to seek her out. He was disappointed to find the large, master bedchamber empty and went out upon the high parapet walk to see if he could see her below. He had become so accustomed to returning home to her, it felt like a part of himself was missing when her golden eyes and flaming hair were nowhere to be seen.
He was about to go in search of her when his eye fell upon a note upon his pillow. A cold finger touched him, for suddenly, without reading it, he knew she was not there. As he unfolded the letter, he thought she’d probably gone off for a visit to Castle Kennedy with her new sister-in-law Meggie, and a wave of disappointment swept over him When he began to read the letter, however, his feelings underwent a drastic change. He blinked in disbelief as his anger blurred the words upon the page, and he had to read it again to credit what she had written.
“Douglas, it’s over, I’ve gone. Please see that Ada and Mr. Burque have safe return to Doon.” She had signed the missive Flaming Tina Kennedy.
“The little bitch! Just like that—no explanation, no nothing.” A filthy word dropped from his lips. “It’s over,’” he quoted. “By Christ, it’s over when I say it’s over, and not before!” She had had the audacity to sign it Flaming Tina Kennedy. He’d drag her back by her flaming hair, then tan her arse till she couldn’t sit fer a week! If she set her will against his, he’d show her who was master. She would learn to obey him if he had to put her under lock and key!
The logs were neatly stacked by the fireplace, and he aimed a vicious kick at them with the toe of his boot. One hit the beautiful pink granite so sharply, a large chip flew off. Curse her! Curse her!
He flung open the chamber door, bellowing for Ada at the top of his lungs. He entered her room without knocking, and the little maid, Nell, screamed and hid herself in a wardrobe. Ram brandished the letter in Ada’s face. “Where is she? When did she leave? Ill kill her!” he ground out.
