“You were exhausted last night. I am restoring you to your normal state of vigor. I’m going to feed you.”
He picked up the jug of syrup, stuck in his finger, then licked it. She slapped his hand, took the jug away from him, and poured a thick layer of it onto the steaming porridge. Then she drenched it with cream and lifted a spoonful to his mouth. “Open up!” she commanded.
Miraculously, he obeyed. They devoured the pears filled with red currant jelly, and the beefsteak was so tender, she was able to cut it with the edge of the fork.
“Jesu, that’s almost as good as sex,” Ram said.
“Better!” she teased, and he grabbed her with mock ferocity. A knock upon the chamber door sent her scrambling from the bed. She admitted the servants with the bathwater, and Ram lay back against the pillows, intending to enjoy watching her bathe. When they were again alone, she smiled at him and announced, “Now I’m going to bathe you.”
He hooted, thoroughly bemused by all the lavish attention she paid him. Then his eyes narrowed. What did she want? Some devious purpose lay behind this most pleasurable interlude. If he kept a wise silence, she would soon make her point.
Ram got out of bed and put the empty tray upon the table, then stepped into Tina’s pretty tub and sat down in the scented water. She laughed at the sight he made. She could sink down up to her chin, but he was so large, the water came only to his hips. She slipped to her knees beside the scallop shell and plunged her hand beneath the water for the sponge. “I will be your handmaiden, my lord.”
“Ye have a fantasy tae be a houri in a harem?” he teased.
“Ah, I will never reveal my fantasies—all my mystery would vanish.” She lathered his broad back and then the crisp black mat upon his wide chest. The hair in his armpits wasn’t wiry—it was like black silk and at least three inches long. “There are things about you I am only just discovering,” she murmured.
“I am a man of many parts, some of them more prominent than others,” he punned and her eyes flew to his groin. It reared its head above the water like a sea serpent and she studied its shape and contour with curious eyes. She reached out a finger and delicately ran it along the ridge beneath the head. He shuddered erotically.
“Why is it made so?” she asked.
Huskily he explained. “The purpose of the ridge is tae draw the delicate skin of yer sheath out and in tae create friction.”
Her throat went dry, and she hastily arose. He glimpsed her naked limbs when her bedgown parted, and his eyes followed her every movement as she gathered a towel and his shaving razor. His eyes went from her to the tawny lynx tapestry, and he saw the resemblance immediately. The golden eyes were almost identical, and all her movements were decidedly feline. She had a wild, elusive, and untamed quality that held him in thrall, and he knew he wanted her no other way.
She saw the smoldering intense look of desire and held up her hand to keep him in the water. “Your hair is caked with blood.” She brought the water jug. “You soap, I’ll rinse.”
He scrubbed his head impatiently, and she drenched him with the cold water. It had no effect on his raging desire, nor hers. She handed him the large, thirsty towel and purred, “Don’t shave until after you’ve made love to me.” She opened the bedrobe and let it slither to the rug.
He lifted her against him onto his engorged phallus. She wrapped her slim legs about him and he carried her before the polished silver mirror. “See—ye look exactly like a cat.” In the mirror’s depth she saw the reflection of the tapestry behind them, and indeed she felt like a wild little animal. She could already feel the sensuous lynx fur beneath her back. Her nails clawed his back, and she bit him on the neck. He growled, and she felt him lengthen. Her tight gloving lured him deeper, and unable to stand up a moment longer, they sprawled across the bed.
They both made fierce demands upon each other. Tina did not love him, but before God, she loved the things he did to her, loved the way he made her feel. She was aware of her whole body, from her tingling scalp to the soles of her feet, from her fingertips to the tips of her breasts. His beard was so masculine and abrasive, she felt a bone-softening passion. She asked herself how he could have this effect upon her, but she knew the answer. It was his danger, his violence that attracted her This thing between them was as dangerous and as hot as fire.
His long, rampant maleness was buried deeply within her. Her sheath possessed him convulsively. They were so hot, they scalded each other, and she imagined she could actually feel the ridge beneath the head of his shaft drawing the honey-drenched walls of her sheath in and out until it quivered with exquisite pulsations.
They exploded together, and he spilled his delicious, white-hot seed into her, making her writhe and shudder convulsively. She savored his heaviness upon her before he withdrew. He certainly had the right name—he was as masculine as a battering ram.
This morning he felt alive again. He was filled with vigorous energy, and he knew it was all due to this incredible woman Valentina had restored and replenished him. As he kissed the softening peaks of her breasts, his keen ears picked up the reverberation of hoofbeats. He stepped out upon the parapet walk, then came back in to fling on his clothes.
“Angus is already here—I’ve dallied overlong I’ll take all the men he’s brought” He cast her an apologetic look. “Sorry, ye’ll have tae entertain Archibald. I’ll have tae leave immediately.” He looked at her wistfully, realizing she hadn’t wanted anything from him after all. “I’ll come tonight if I can manage it, but it will be very late again.”
“Would you like me to wait up for you?” she asked.
He shook his head and murmured huskily, “No, I want ye lying down.”
Only when he had departed did she allow thoughts of Damaris to intrude. Old Meg’s word could never be trusted—she would say whatever suited her purpose at any given moment. But Heath had told her Ram had procured the poison, and Heath would never lie to her. Malcolm had hinted the same thing, and she wasn’t convinced of his madness—he seemed more drunk than mad. She did not doubt for a moment that Douglas was capable of killing a woman. Women had little enough value in a man’s world, and if one stood in Ram’s path, he would remove her without pity. With poison? she asked herself shuddering. Though she did not want to acknowledge it, she knew he would use any instrument that offered itself.
She decided to find out what Angus knew of the past. Of course, he was far too loyal to Ramsay to betray him, even if Ram were guilty as sin. She’d have to be subtle about it. If she learned nothing from Archibald, she would set to work on Colin.
Chapter 24
She stood in her bedrobe on the castle parapet to watch Black Ram Douglas and his clansmen depart. It was a thrilling spectacle of dark, powerful men. They were not mounted on stallions but rode sturdy garrons, strengthened by wintering in the harsh Highlands. Almost seventy men, bound by blood, laughed, shouted, and cursed as they turned their weatherbeaten faces into the wind and rode into the borders. She saw that not one man wore a badge or a plaid that identified him as a Douglas, and she knew it was deliberate. This somehow lent them a sinister air.
She chose a pretty gown for the Earl of Angus, in sky blue. It was ruffled at the wrist and about the hem, but its neckline was deceptively plain, allowing her breasts to swell above it. Ada rolled her eyes when Tina threaded a girlish ribbon through her fiery curls. “Have a care, or he’ll be dangling you from his knee,” she mocked.
Archibald’s face lit at the sight of her. She stretched out her hands to welcome him. “Has the steward been looking after you, Angus? I’m sorry to be so late abed.”
He leered at her. “Like a stag in ruttin’ season, is he? Let’s hope the laddie has planted his seed deep enough. Ye look a right fecund female tae me.”
She blushed at his frank coarseness but laughed prettily. “You Douglas men are the very devil. I haven’t had a chance to see aught of Castle Douglas yet save the bedchamber.”
“Come, lass—I’ll give
ye the grand tour,” he said, glad of the excuse to draw her to his side and place a proprietary arm about her. Of course, Tina already had an intimate knowledge of the kitchens and the outbuildings, but there was one place she hadn’t been. As Angus proudly led her into the chapel he pointed to the crypts that contained caskets bearing the hearts of all the Douglas forebears. The place was dimly lit and had a shadowed, eerie feel to it. As she watched Archibald, she wondered if that could possibly be a tear in his agate eye Softly, she asked, “Is Alexander’s heart buried here?”
He compressed his lips and shook his head. “Bloody priests wouldn’t allow it.” His look was so grim, Tina was sorry she had brought up the subject. “A suicide must be buried in unconsecrated ground—but I’m no’ so sure it was a suicide.”
“What do you mean?” she asked innocently.
“Come, lass—‘tis no fit place fer a bride, especially one who might be breeding.”
They emerged from the chapel, and Tina did not tell him she was not a bride and that she was not breeding. If it pleased Angus to think these things, she wasn’t about to contradict him. Angus thought the sun shone out of Ram’s arse, so who in the world did he suspect of murdering Alex?
They went into the dining hall and walked toward one of the great fireplaces. Tina bade a page, “Fetch my lord whisky, and I’ll have red wine.”
Angus was well pleased with a woman who didn’t pull her face over a man having a dram before the hour of noon. She pressed lightly, “I always wondered why the title went to Ram instead of Alexander’s brother, Colin.”
“Colin’s a by-blow,” he said without hesitation. “Ramsay was the legitimate heir.”
Tina realized she should have guessed the reason, and it struck her forcefully that Ram would have had a most compelling motivation for eliminating Alex fifteen years ago.
Angus said, “A damn good thing, as it turned out— Colin gettin’ himself crippled an’ all.”
Blood of God, had Angus and Ram conspired to make Hotspur the Lord of Douglas? Archibald’s reputation was such that there was no deed too foul for him to commit.
Colin came into the hall and limped toward them. Tina flushed uncontrollably, her heart going out to him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here tae greet ye, my lord earl, but I’ve been tendin’ wounds since the middle o’ the night.”
“Successfully, I hope,” Angus growled.
Colin hesitated. “Fer the most part. One man succumbed tae a fatal wound a short time ago.”
“Whoreson bastards!” spat Angus. “When I patrolled that border, my favorite pastime was hangin’ the English. The trees in upper Teviotdale and Hawick bore a grim crop o’ fruit. Jamie is too bloody lenient! Foul fall the House o’ Tudor! Do ye know when I was about tae put Jamie on the throne, that dirty little dog turd, Henry VII, offered me a fortune in gold tae kidnap the laddie? Me do anything so dishonorable tae the rightful King o’ Scots?”
Tina hung upon his every word, wondering why his righteousness didn’t choke him, for he was rumored to be the man who had assassinated the previous King of Scotland for being a homosexual.
Ada came into the hall, and Angus cleared his throat and lifted his head like a wolf scenting prey. Tina could read him like an open book. Her golden eyes filled with amusement. “Could I persuade you to stay for dinner, my lord earl? I think we are having stuffed pheasant.”
“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.