Jasper Keane felt the blood flowing within his veins once again now that his safety had been insured. He almost laughed aloud as the earl’s hand worked itself, frustrated, upon the hilt of his sword.
“Tavis!”A sandy-haired young man in the red Murray plaid spoke warningly. “Dinna do it, laddie!”
Arabella rounded fiercely on her bridegroom, unbridled rage pounding in her veins. Her wedding was ruined!And Jasper!The man she was about to give her heart to did nothing except cower behind the priest’s robes. She glared furiously at him. “Surely you will not let this Scots savage insult and slander you, my lord? Accept his challenge, and let us have this matter over and done with, I beg you! I will not have Greyfaire and her people endangered by this man. We want no breach of peace with the Scots, especially on this, our wedding day.”
A small light of admiration lit the earl’s eyes for a brief moment. The girl was loyal, he’d give her that, though it was plain she knew little of the truth of Sir Jasper Keane. She knew her duty to her people, however, and put it above all else. Obviously she was a good chatelaine. He turned his gaze to Sir Jasper. “Well, coward?” he demanded mockingly. “Will ye do battle wi’ me or continue to hide behind yon cleric’s skirts?”
“And when I destroyed you, my lord,” Sir Jasper answered, bold in the security of the church’s protection, “your men would tear me apart. I should be a fool to accept such an offer. Nay, I refuse ye.”
“Ifyou can beat me fairly, sir, I gie ye my word that my clansmen will depart peacefully,” the earl replied.
“I do not believe you, my lord. Who would trust the word of a thieving Scot?” Sir Jasper said insultingly. Then he turned to Father Anselm. “Perform the marriage ceremony, Father. I have kept this lady waiting too long as it is, and would have her for my wife.”
The Earl of Dunmor stepped between the bride and groom with a suddenness that sent the color draining from Jasper Keane’s face, for he thought the Scotsman, ignoring the church, was about to do him a harm. Brief amusement lit the earl’s dark eyes, though his face was grim and his voice icy once more. “I think ye will nae wed wi’ this lass today, coward,” he said quietly. “Ye hae taken my betrothed wife from me, and so I will now take yers from ye!” He put a hard arm about Arabella’s waist and pulled the startled girl to his side. “The bride goes wi’ me, and when ye see fit to accept my challenge, coward,and if ye overcome me in fair battle,then, and only then, may ye hae her back!”
“Nooo!”Rowena cried in a gasping and terrified voice.
“Savage!” Arabella shrieked, and twisting from the earl’s grasp, she kicked him in the shins. “I will not go with you!” Whirling about, she grabbed up a sword from one of the startled clansmen and attacked Tavis Stewart with it.
Surprised, the earl nonetheless managed to defend himself long enough to disarm the girl, who kicked and screamed vigorously, all the while hurling pithy epithets at him. He tossed the short sword back at his embarrassed clansman and ordered the others, “Take this damned spitfire outside and put her on my horse.” He was suddenly overwhelmed by a great desire to laugh, for there certainly was humor in the situation. “Methinks the bride is far more of a man than yon cowering groom,” he mocked Jasper Keane. “Dinna fear, Englishman. I will keep yer hot-tempered little lass safe for ye—if yer brave enough to come after her. I will treat her wi’ far more kindness and respect than ye showed to poor Eufemia Hamilton.”
“My lord! My lord!” Rowena Grey fell to her knees before the earl. “Do not, I beg ye, take my child away! She is all I have left since my husband fell in battle after Berwick.”
Tavis Stewart gently raised Rowena to her feet, thinking that she was a very pretty woman, even with the tears running down her cheeks. “I must take her, madame, and ye well know it. Yer brave husband, may God assoil his soul, would understand that, and so, I suspect, do ye deep in yer heart. I will nae harm yer little lass. She is but my hostage, and will be returned to ye unscathed when honor has been satisfied.” The earl then kissed Lady Grey’s hand and turned to depart the church.
“Do you not want the gold candlesticks or the jeweled cross upon the altar, my lord?” Jasper Keane said insultingly, but Tavis Stewart never even paused in his stride as he passed from the church followed by his men.
Within moments the sounds of horses’ hooves rang out, but no one amongst the guests moved until all was finally silent. Then Rowena spoke.
“You will go after Arabella immediately, will you not, Jasper?”
“Why?” he demanded. “I do not need your daughter to have Greyfaire. The king wants it in a man’s hands. Besides, do you think I want the Scotsman’s leavings, my pet? He will have your daughter in his bed and squirming on his lance before the sun sets this day. Tavis Stewart is the finest soldier in Scotland, and although I am good, I could not possibly beat him. To accept his challenge is to seek my own demise. Do you think I am mad? I will not go willingly to my death for the sake of a mere wench.”
“But he promised not to harm her, Jasper! He said we might get her back unscathed,” Rowena sobbed. “She is my child! My only living child!”
As Rowena’s voice rose slightly in her distress, the assembled congregation behind her leaned forward almost to a man in an effort to hear what was going on between the weeping woman and SirJasper Keane. They were doomed to disappointment, for the distance was a little too far. Father Anselm, however, was privy to all, and his kindly visage darkened as Sir Jasper continued harshly on, unthinking of Rowena’s anguish.
“I will give you other children, my pet. If I am not mistaken, though ye strove to hide it from me, you are already ripening with my seed. Will you deny it?” he asked the white-faced woman. “I will not have my son born illegitimate now that I have the choice.”
“And what would you have done, Jasper, if Arabella had not been kidnapped by the Scots?” she demanded of him. “This child would have been born nameless, and you would have had no choice in the matter! Why should you suddenly care now that my daughter is gone?”
“If the babe was a male child, I would have legitimized it, though it could not have inherited Greyfaire if Arabella gave me sons. Now there is no question of that, Rowena, so you will marry me this day, that my claim to Greyfaire be even stronger.”
“I will not!” she cried furiously, surprising even herself in this show of spirit.
“You will,”he said ominously, and turned to the priest. “Father Anselm, you will marry me to this lady now. Waive the bans and perform the ceremony.”
“My son!”The priest was shocked, and felt that most un-Christian of emotions—anger—beginning to rise within his soul. “You cannot do this. It is immoral.”
Sir Jasper Keane smiled his most winning smile. “I must insist, Father Anselm, that you do your duty. The king would be certain that Greyfaire is in loyal hands and protected from the enemy. I can hardly wed with the Lady Arabella now, can I? I cannot retrieve her without mortal peril to my own life, and for what? The long-lost honor of a Scots whore named Eufemia Hamilton? There is not a man on either side of this border that did not know of Mistress Hamilton’s wildness, but the earl who was so puffed with pride in his own importance that he heard not the rumors. If I cannot wed Arabella Grey, then I must, of necessity, wed Rowena Grey in order that this keep remain safe and loyal to England’s king.”
“But what of the heiress of Greyfaire?” Father Anselm insisted, his love and loyalty to Arabella evident, to Jasper Keane’s annoyance, particularly as there was a low murmur of disapproval from the pews containing the Grey relations.
“Arabella Grey is lost to us,” Sir Jasper said in a firm, even voice, easily heard by all within the little church. “If, by chance, she should return, she will be a dishonored woman, and I will not accept her as my wife. We were not betrothed, Father, and you well know it. Our arrangement was made by the king for the safety of this keep, but never was it formalized. Now perform the ceremony between myself and Rowena Grey or I will send my captain, Seger, to find a priest who will. If you force me to such an act, I will banish you from Greyfaire forever! Think of the scandal, and think of the :ady Rowena, who will bear my child before year’s end, good father.”
“You leave me no choice, my lord,” the priest said bitterly. “It is obvious to me that you are not the man I believed you to be.”
Sir Jasper Keane laughed aloud, and it was an unpleasant sound. “I do not leave you a choice, do I?” he said, smirking. Then he turned to the assembled guests and told them, “You have come for a wedding, and by the rood, my friends, you shall have one! Begin the ceremony, Father,” and taking Rowena’s hand firmly in his, he half dragged her to the doubleprie-dieuand pushed her to her knees. “We are going to be very happy, my pet,” he told the softly weeping woman, and then he chuckled, but Rowena did not hear him.
