The prince did, and when he had finished the priest said, “It is a thin connection indeed, Your Highness, but it is my learned opinion that the lady, like all of her sex, needs to be protected from her own foolish and headstrong passions. Aye, she must have a guardian who will make a sensible decision for her. If she will not accept it for her own sake, surely her maternal feelings will make her do so for her child. Especially given the stain of bastardy that she herself carries.” He turned to the laird.
“And while you must certainly atone for your lusts, my lord of Cleit, I commend you for accepting the responsibility of your unborn child and the weak woman who is its mother. Do not hesitate to beat her regularly once you are wed. The Bible recommends it. It is for her own good, and she will be a better and more obedient wife to you for it. I will draw up the papers, Your Highness.
If you will come back in a few hours it shall be done.”
Outside in the street the prince burst into merry laughter. “I suspect if you ever beat her she would kill you the first chance she got.” He chuckled.
The laird nodded. “Aye, she probably would,” he agreed.
“I am always astounded that men of the cloth who have no association with women seem to know how they should be treated,” Duncan Armstrong said.
“Aye, they forget that they came into this world froma woman’s body,” the prince said. “Still, if Father Walter says the agreement he is drawing up is legal, then it is.”
The three men joined the Hepburn clansmen at the tavern, where they ate and drank until it was time to return to Father Walter. He had two documents spread out upon a table. The first gave the prince charge over his blood relation, Adair Radcliffe of Stanton, to do with her as he would. The line of descent between the two was carefully illustrated. It was signed by Father Walter, and then the prince, and sealed with the priest’s official ring. The second parchment was a marriage contract between Conal Bruce and Adair Radcliffe, as sanc-tioned by her guardian, Prince James.
Several days later the laird of Cleit returned home in the company of the prince, the Hepburn of Hailes, and his oldest brother. He was greeted by Murdoc.
“All has been quiet,” Murdoc told him. “And Adair is not angry with me. I much enjoyed her company,” he told his brother.
“She will continue to be angry with me,” Conal told his youngest brother. “Especially when she learns what I have done.” And then he explained to Murdoc how he had gotten around Adair’s resistance to marrying him.
Murdoc’s blue eyes grew troubled. “If you force her she will never forgive you.”
“What choice have I? Would you let my son be born a bastard?” the laird asked.
“Nay, but can you not wait a bit? Perhaps you can bring her around. All you need do is tell her the truth.
That you love her.”
“And do you believe she would accept my wordnow?” Conal Bruce replied.
Murdoc looked crestfallen. “I don’t want Adair to be angry with you anymore, Conal. It cannot be good for the child she carries.”
And then the subject of their conversation came intothe hall. The young prince thought that Adair was probably one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
He envied Conal Bruce, but the truth was, had she not been with child he might have considered making an attempt to steal her from the laird.I would not have hesitated to tell her that I loved her,James Stewart decided.
And eventually it might have even been the truth.He smiled winningly at her as she came forward to greet him.
“Welcome to Cleit, Your Highness,” she said, and she curtsied.
“Thank you, madam. I have brought you news of an interesting sort, which I hope may please you,” James Stewart said. He was going to tell her. He was not going to let Conal Bruce’s youngest brother talk the laird out of doing what he must do. The prince knew enough about women to know that Adair would be far angrier two months from now than she would be learning the truth today.
“The day has been gray, and your ride a chill one.
Come and sit by the fire. I will bring you wine myself,”
Adair replied. She made him comfortable and fetched a goblet of wine for the prince, noting that Conal stood by his side. “Will you have wine, my lord?” she asked him coldly and, not waiting for his answer, brought it to him.
Then she smiled at the prince and asked him, “What news do you bring?”
“I have learned, madam, that you and I are related by blood. We both descend from King Edward the Third through his three of his sons. That being so, I shall call you cousin.”
“I am honored that you do, Your Highness,” Adair answered him, smiling, but there was something more.
She sensed it.
“Your father and he you called father are both dead, cousin. You have no brothers living, or any other male relations in England. It would seem your only male relatives are here in Scotland now.”
