Jasper’s heart thrummed with anger. ‘Whoever did this meant to wound me, and deeply. I sense a vengeful hand behind this evil. Well, two can play at vengeance.’
‘Should we go back to Fallstairs and dangle Rufus MacCreadie from the rooftops to see what truths fall from his pockets?’
‘No. Rufus MacCreadie and his runt of a son are but puppets. Some other enemy pulls their strings,’ said Jasper. ‘I need to find out who moves against me, and once I do, I will have Bran MacCreadie’s head if he has conspired against me, bonnie sisters or not.’
As he rode from Fallstairs, seething with anger, Jasper’s thoughts rushed to the past again and his ruinous infatuation with a woman who did not want him. Brenna Curwen had run from her wedding day to be with his rival and erstwhile friend, Seaton Bannerman. And Seaton had broken his betrothal to Isobel Marlowe to have Brenna.
He should have strangled the two of them with his bare hands, but because he had loved Brenna, or as near as he would ever come to love, Jasper had let her go, Seaton too. He could not harm the man he hated most in the world without tearing Brenna’s heart out, and that, he could not do. So he had hauled his pride out of the dirt and sought a wedding of convenience, and who better to stand beside him but Isobel Marlowe, who still quivered with resentment at Seaton’s abandonment. Two spurned and wretched creatures had come together in a cold, hard bargain.
It had been folly to be such a fool over a woman, and he would not be a fool again just because a lass with bonnie hair and a passing resemblance to Brenna had crossed his path.
***
As soon as Jasper Glendenning had taken his leave, Cecily rounded on her father.
‘What are you doing, throwing me at that brute?
‘You know full well what I am doing. Jasper Glendenning needs a wife since his last one recently passed. He was struck by you, and he has a bairn to care for.’
‘It is indecent to seek another union when his wife is barely cold in her grave,’ said Rowenna
‘There was no love between them, only land and advantage. It was the ideal arrangement until she let him down,’ said Rufus.
‘How?’
‘By dying in childbirth, of course. By birthing a useless girl when Glendenning has long craved a son and heir.’
In the stunned silence that followed, Rowenna felt a stab of contempt for her father so great, she wanted to run him through. She had always suspected he loved Bran more than his daughters, and now he had said it aloud with no shame whatsoever. She and Cecily were nothing but pawns. How easily women were dismissed - as livestock, labouring like the oxen who worked the fields, slaves to cook and clean until they were broken, whores to lie beneath a man until his desire was spent, having no chance to fulfil their own passions. They were not expected to have any.
‘That Jasper Glendenning has a terrible reputation,’ squeaked Morag.
‘Quiet woman, and know your place,’ snarled Rufus. ‘Glendenning is rich and holds sway in the West March, and there is a debt to be settled. Since Wymon ails, Cecily, you can take Glendenning instead. You will encourage him at my command. And we cannot waste time, for the other lairds will be throwing their daughters at his head.’
‘I will do no such thing,’ said Cecily.
‘You will do as your father commands!’ roared Rufus. ‘Our land and Bran’s life might depend on it, and mark me, I will banish you from Fallstairs if you refuse, send you into servitude with another family. How would you like that?’
Their father walked away, leaving a horrified silence.
‘Father means to sell me to an animal, Rowenna,’ wailed Cecily.
Dread pulsed in Rowenna’s chest. ‘Perhaps our situation is worse than we thought, but it might be wise to consider it.’
‘No. Never.’
‘At least Jasper Glendenning is young and rich. He is a much better prospect than Wymon Carruthers, and you will escape Fallstairs.’
‘But he is so coarse. Did you not see that scar? And there is no kindness in him. And the way he looked at me, with such contempt, anger almost.’
‘I thought him rather sad. Maybe he mourns his wife more than people think.’
‘Aye, and he dotes on the child, or so I hear,’ said Morag. ‘Cannot do enough for it, apparently. Utterly besotted. More than he ever will be over a woman, that’s for sure. A hard-hearted bastard is Jasper Glendenning, but he loves that child, and so he seeks a mother for it and a bed warmer for himself.’
‘And I’ll not squeeze out another of his brats and end up like his wife, dead in childbed, all for the sake of a man I cannot love and who cares nought for me,’ cried Cecily.
‘You have met the man but once, Cecily. And he is not altogether unattractive,’ said Rowenna.
The two women stared at her as if she had said something profane.
