“There is no escape now that the king and queen will be here for our marriage,” he teased her. “I look forward to our wedding night.”
“As do I,” Cicely surprised him by saying.
“Indeed, madam?” He looked at her quizzically.
“Should I not enjoy our bedsport then?” she asked him. “You say you do not like me, my lord. That I am naught but breeding stock for Glengorm. I do not like you, but I will admit that night we spent together was wonderful. I will respect your position as laird of Glengorm, and you will respect mine as lady. It is enough, and we do not have to like each other to enjoy our bedsport together, do we?”
Never in his thirty-plus years had a woman ever spoken so candidly, so frankly to him. He had enjoyed their bedsport too, but it occurred to him that if he had and if she had, there had to be something more than just pleasure between them. And if there were, what was it? She was confusing him, Kier decided. “Respect and a mutual enjoyment of bedsport,” he said to her. “It is more than most couplesbegin with, madam.” Reaching out, he cupped her face with a hand, and to his surprise she did not pull away or scold him. Bending, he touched her lips with his, and to his surprise she willingly kissed him back. His arm went about her waist as the kiss deepened, continued, as their tongues entwined and stroked. He considered other uses for their tongues, and his cock hardened.
Cicely was enjoying the never-ending kiss. Her nipples had hardened, and she was already wet, tingling, ready to be taken. But no! She was going to make him wait, because while she enjoyed this sensual play, she would never allow Kier to think he was totally in charge of the passion they would share. She gently pushed him away.
He looked down at her, surprised, puzzled.
“Forgive me for teasing,” she said, as if she had entrapped him in some manner. “I know we are both experienced, but I should prefer to wait until our wedding night.” Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. “Good night, my lord.” And then, turning quickly, she slipped into her bedchamber with a last regretful smile at him.
Hearing the key turn in the door’s lock, he was suddenly furious. He would kick down the damned barrier between them and take her then and there. But then he remembered their royal guests. Would they hear the uproar from the comfort of their beautiful chamber behind the hall? Or would they hear nothing at all? He couldn’t take the chance of offending James Stewart, but then and there he decided that Cicely would pay for her flirtatious behavior. His cock and his balls ached with his need. Angry, he retired to his own chamber, undressed, and flung himself into a cold bed.
The next day the king delighted the Douglas clansmen and -women by visiting the village. He told them himself that he would leave on the morrow, but return in time for the wedding of their laird and Cicely. “But my queen shall remain behind, visiting with the beloved companion of her childhood and youth, your own lady. Guard her well, my good friends. Keep Glengorm safe for my return.” He drank a cup of whiskey with them, praised their past loyalty, and thenleft them. The next morning James Stewart rode out with his men for Ben Duff.
The laird of Glengorm accompanied the king, for Kier Douglas did not believe, to his annoyance, that he would be able to resist Cicely until their wedding day. If he forced the issue he knew he would be furious with himself for his weakness, and that Cicely would find a way to make him pay for coercing her, even though her own lust obviously burned as hot as his. His bride, he was learning, was a woman with whom to be reckoned.
Watching him go, the former servant Bethia walked from the village. No one paid her any particular attention, for she carried a small basket, and it was assumed she was gathering something. Walking about the loch, she trudged across the small meadow and up the wooded hillside, avoiding the line of sight from the sturdy stone redoubt as she came. The other side of the hill had been cleared almost completely of trees to avoid a surprise attack. Bethia hurried down the hillside using what trees remained to shield her flight. Several hours later she reached her destination, an isolated cottage on the edge of a wood. Walking up to the door of the cottage, she knocked, and the door was opened almost immediately. Bethia stepped into the dwelling’s single room.
“Sister, what brings you here?” The man beckoned her forward to join him on a rough-hewn settle by the fire.
“The queen is at Glengorm, Durwin,” Bethia said. “Gather your men, and plan your attack. Slay them all and the Douglases will never regain prominence.”
Durwin Grahame looked his sister in the eye. “Nay,” he told her. “It is not yet time, Bethia. Besides, we should be hunted down on both sides of the border if we attacked Glengorm when Queen Joan was in residence, and did her any harm. She is the English king’s kin, married to Scotland’s king, woman. Where is your good sense?”
“But what better time to destroy the Douglases, brother?” Bethia demanded.
“We have not yet the men to overcome Glengorm,” he answered her.
“But this new laird has gone off with the king,” she persisted. “Without him the Douglases would fall.”
“Is Frang no longer captain of the guard then?” Durwin asked.
“Frang is a good fighter, but he is no leader,” Bethia said.
“I understand your desire to take your revenge on the lady of Glengorm, but this is not the time, sister. Ian Douglas is dead and buried. Was not that enough for you?”
“I wantherto suffer as I have suffered,” Bethia snarled.
Durwin laughed. “Your man has been beating you regularly then, has he?”
“When you come to Glengorm,” his sister answered venomously, “I will slay him myself, and his old mother, then blame the deaths upon theEnglishraiders,” Bethia said. “And I will quit Glengorm, then, for the clanfolk have never really liked me. I will come home and keep house for you, brother.”
God forbid!Durwin Grahame thought to himself.I suppose I shall have to see you slain in that raid as well or live out my old age shackled to you. Nay! I intend bringing back some nubile young lass from Glengorm to warm my bed and keep my cottage. The little bitch might even give me a bairn or two. ’Tis past time I got myself a legitimate heir. Aye, I’ll not tolerate my sister any longer than I must.“The Scots king will go into the north eventually, Bethia. And all the good border lords will go with him and take the bulk of their own men, who defend their houses and keeps. By that time I will have rebuilt my own forces, and it is then, but not before then, that we shall attack Glengorm. You will have your revenge, sister. I told you not to wed with your Douglas, but you would not listen, Bethia. You thought he loved you, when all he sought was someone to care for his mam. You were fortunate to be able to insinuate yourself into the laird’s household, sister, else you would have been dead long since.”
“If I must wait, then I must wait,” Bethia said, irritated, but finallyresigned. “I’ll cook your supper and stay the night. I don’t have time to return.”
“Won’t your man miss you?” Durwin asked.
“I told him Mab needed extra help at the house because of the queen’s visit, and had called on me because of my experience,” Bethia said.
“He believed you?” Durwin laughed.
“All he could think of was the coin I would receive for my services,” she answered her brother scornfully.
