Conal Bruce considered, and then he said, “There is naught I have that the royal Stewarts have given the Bruces of Cleit, and so there is nothing they could take from me. To rebel against the king, even a bad king, is dangerous, Alpin. And it is especially dangerous for a bonnet laird like me. I know of an English noblewoman who was stripped of both her lands and a title that she had been born to because her husband backed the wrong man in a dynastic battle.”
“This isn’t England,” Alpin said. “Besides, the king will die sooner than later. His heart, they say, broke with the death of good Queen Margaret. He’s like a beast gone to ground to die. He has holed himself up in those fine chambers that Cochrane built for him. He listens to his lute player, and reads copious treatises of scholarly import. And he counts his gold. But he cares little for his people. Plague has broken out in Edinburgh, but the king doesn’t give a damn.”
“I won’t support the king openly,” Conal Bruce said,
“but neither will I support a rebellion. The Homes don’t know me. If their fight comes to a bad end they will more than likely buy their way out of it. But bonnet lairds like me are always chosen to be punished, for an example must be made so that future rebels are warned against their own folly. Who sent you to me?”
“The Hepburn of Hailes. I serve him as a captain,”Alpin said. “We cannot all be lairds with our own keep, cousin.”
“An accident of birth,” Conal Bruce said. “You are the youngest son of a younger son. I am the eldest son of a laird of Cleit.”
Alpin Bruce grinned. “If Cleit is to have an heir you had best wed soon, Conal. You are past thirty. A wife, however, would not tolerate that pretty mistress of yours. If necessary I shall be glad to take her off your hands.”
“Perhaps I shall marry Adair, Alpin. You are right. It is past time I took a wife,” Conal Bruce answered easily.
Adair listened in the shadows of the hall to all of the conversation between the cousins. She had not gone to the kitchens, but rather taken a leaf out of Grizel’s book. Was he jesting with his cousin about taking a wife? Time would tell. That he was a cautious man where Cleit was concerned she found interesting. He was clever not to involve himself in rebellion, but neither to refuse to support Lord Home’s cause. And she was learning a good deal of gossip about the Scots king.
Having grown up in a royal court, Adair found the politics of Scotland fascinating. The conversation was now turning to less important things, and so Adair slipped down the stairs to the kitchens.
When Flora, Grizel, and Jack had gone to their attic quarters, and Elsbeth was already snoring in her bed space, Adair returned to the hall to make her final rounds of the night. As the laird’s housekeeper it was her duty to see that the fires were banked, the candles snuffed, and the door barred before retiring to join the laird. As there was a guest, she went to be certain the bed space had been properly furnished. To her surprise Alpin Bruce was not there. He had probably gone to pee. She smiled to herself. It was a good thing she had not yet set the bar across the door. She was relieved to see that Flora had made up the bed space nicely. And then she heard his voice behind her.
“Come to tuck me in, Mistress Adair?” He was standing so close to her that she could not move. “Or have you come to offer me the comfort of your fair body?”
She felt his big hand on the nape of her neck as he forced her forward. “Let me go at once,” she said in a hard voice. “Let me go, and I will not tell the laird of your misbehavior, Alpin Bruce.”
He laughed low. “And if I don’t, Adair? What will you do?” He loosened his garments, releasing his swollen manhood. Then, with the same hand, he yanked her skirts up and sought to find entry into her body.
For the briefest moment Adair was frozen with fright, but then the fear dissipated, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, struggling to break his grip on her neck as he held her pinioned down, preparing to do rape. She was at a great disadvantage, and then to Adair’s surprise his grip on her released, and he howled in pain. She struggled to a stand, whirling about as her skirts fell about her. The young wolfhound who had befriended her had come to her rescue, sinking his fangs into her attacker’s snowy white buttocks.
Adair wanted to laugh, but instead she stepped quickly from the bed space and said, “Beiste! Release!”
The dog instantly obeyed, stepping back and growling low to hold Alpin Bruce at bay.
“I will tell the laird of this incident,” Adair said softly.
“And I will tell him I fucked you because you begged me to do it,” Alpin Bruce replied.
“He won’t believe you,” Adair replied. “And how will you explain the dog bites in your bottom?”
“Aye, how will you, Alpin?” The laird was now with them.
“Your wench is hot-blooded, cousin,” Alpin Bruce began, leering at Adair.
“What happened?” The laird directed his question to Adair.
“I was making my final rounds of the evening, my lord. I did not see your cousin, and I came to make certain the bed space was ready. He came up from behind me and attempted to have his way, but the dog attacked him when I screamed,” Adair explained.
“She lies!” Alpin Bruce said.
“Nay, the one thing I can be certain of with Adair is that she does not lie,” the laird said. “You, however, do.
I told you that this lass was mine, and yet you could not keep your cock in your breeks. Turn around and bend over, so I may see what damage the dog has done to you.” And when his cousin had obeyed the laird looked at his cousin’s buttocks. They were now very bruised, but the dog had done only enough damage to free Adair. His teeth had just slightly pierced the skin, and the bleeding was negligible. “I’ll tend to your wounds myself, Alpin, so there will be no gossip about this incident. Adair, go and fetch what I will need from your apothecary.”
When she had gone the laird grabbed his cousin by his neck and shook him hard. “Listen to me, you bastard,” he growled. “If you ever come into my house again, and accost someone under my protection, I will kill you! Do you understand me, Alpin? I will kill you!”
Then he struck the man several hard blows. “Do you understand?”
“I understand!” his cousin whimpered, tasting the blood from a very loose tooth.
