‘Rowenna, have a care,’ said Rufus. ‘This is Sir Henry Harclaw, Lord Warden of the West March.’
‘All the Marches, man, get it right,’ shouted the Warden, making them all flinch, but not the woman.
Good God, what was the Warden doing in Fallstairs? He was a powerful man, and her father would never be able to manage him.
‘And who are you?’ said Rowenna to the woman.
‘Never you mind,’ came the reply.
Sir Henry addressed his companion as if Rowenna was invisible. His words were cruel and meant to humiliate. ‘Like all Scots lasses, she has value only as a bedwarmer.’
‘Do you forget that I am a Scot,’ said the woman with a sweet smile, but there was venom in her eyes.
‘You are a notable exception, my dear, for you have many and varied uses, as you well know.’
He turned his attention back to Rowenna, put his face to her hair and sniffed. ‘I would wager you know all sorts of tricks to bring a man on, eh, a sinful little baggage like you.’
She had just come from Jasper’s bed. Could he smell it on her?
‘I can see why you would not tell me you had such a jewel under your roof, MacCreadie,’ continued Sir Henry.
‘Jewel! I think not,’ scoffed the woman, picking at a nail.
‘Rowenna is no longer under my roof,’ said her father. ‘She is recently married.’
‘Don’t tell me some filthy-handed peasant enjoys all this,’ said Sir Henry, his gaze roaming over her again. ‘I can see it now, some loutish Scot bending her over a table and rutting her like a dog.’
‘No. She is well set up. She is handfasted to Jasper Glendenning.’
The woman sat up straight and glared at Rufus. ‘Are you in earnest?’
‘Aye. But he was not my choice of husband.’
The man turned back to Rowenna, and for a moment, he looked like he might strike her. ‘Your father should not have kept this detail from me. No one should keep anything from me or play me for a fool.’ He gestured to the woman. ‘We are leaving. And as for you, Rufus MacCreadie, you will find my son because if you do not, your daughter will pay the price, whether she is Glendenning’s whore or not.’
‘Sir Henry, please, I had no choice. The arrangement was in payment of a debt that I owed.’
But her father’s words were lost on the man as he stalked out, followed by the woman. Rowenna ran to the window and made sure they had ridden off with their men before she rounded on her father.
‘How could you be in league with that English devil?’
‘No, Rowenna, you have it all wrong.’
‘Who was that awful woman?’
‘Other than a bitch, I don’t know. He did not furnish me with an introduction, the arrogant hound. Maybe she is Sir Henry’s mistress. He has several, or so I hear.’
‘Bran had an arrangement with them, didn’t he?’
‘Twas nought to do with me and nought to do with you either, so mind your business, lass.'
An awful thought occurred to Rowenna. ‘Bran was part of that raid on Dungarnon that angered Jasper so much, wasn’t he?’
‘Only to earn enough to pay his gambling debts.’
‘A vice you have indulged him in, time and again. Oh, father, is it not enough that you and Bran run this place into the ground and antagonise a man like Jasper Glendenning, but did you have to fall under the power of the Warden, too?’
‘Show some respect to your father,’ cried Rufus.
