His eyes narrowed on her. “I would have you answer one question, daughter. I shall even phrase it for your comprehension. Did Roxburghe have carnal knowledge of you while you were in his care?”
With her color rising, she shook her head. She didn’t understand what was happening. Her gaze sought Ruark’s.
“Answer the question, Rose,” Ruark said. “ ’Tis not your head he wants served to him this day. ’Tis mine. The consequences are mine to bear.”
Even if those consequences entailed an accusation from her father of rape? Such a public indictment coming from the lips of the English warden himself was a dangerous charge, even for a Scottish peer. “Nay, they are not yours, Ruark.”
She faced her sire. “You are mad if you think to provoke a fight this day over honor. I am your daughter ... I have no honor in which to defend. Lord Roxburghe treated me with more kindness and respect than ever shown by you.”
“Did hefuckyou, Roselyn?”
She gasped at the man’s crudity. “How dare you!”
Beside her, Colum’s hand went to his sword. Ruark stopped him with a hand on his. “Answer the question, Rose,” Ruark said.
“These things are easily discerned by an examination,” Hereford said. “You can answer the truth now or bear it out an hour from now. I have a physician with me ...”
Rose’s gaze flung to the short, stubby man standing behind her father. He wore a priest’s robe, but she would wager her soul he was no priest. Her thoughts swerved dizzily through her options. What options? her mind screamed.
“You ... you would not dare have a man touch me in that way!”
“I bear the consequences of my actions, Hereford.” Ruark said. “Now let her go.”
Rose stepped in front of Ruark. “He did nothing without my consent,” she said. “Nothing!”
Hereford laughed. “Consent? You foolish girl. The law does not give you the right toconsentto anything.”
Her father raised both brows and confronted Ruark darkly. “Aye, you will bear the consequences, Roxburghe. You will marry her, and take a Sassenach bride home to your precious clan, and if you want to see your brother alive, you will give me every damn thing I ask for. Including Kirkland Park and theBlack Dragonfor your debt to me that remains unpaid.”
The room erupted. All around them, the shouting escalated.
Rose whirled and clutched her hands in Ruark’s shirt, standing as if she was a wall between him and her father. “Nay!” She gave him a shake. “You must refuse. I beg of you. Refuse. If he wants Kirkland Park, he will take the trade. Ruark ... I will go with him. Please,” she whispered in desperation. “I will not let you do this.”
“Cunning, Hereford,” Ruark said. “Bloodyfookingclever.”
“Ruark ... please,” she whispered, holding herself against him.
He studied her upturned face. “Go back to your chambers, Rose.”
Then he nodded to someone behind her, and a hand came to her elbow. Colum stood beside her. “Come, my lady.”
“Nay.” Furious, she turned to her father. She had no idea what would happen should she not agree to this foolishness,she certainly knew what might if she did. “You will free Lord Roxburghe’s brother or I swear I will throw myself off the tower in this place and dash myself on the cobbles. If I die before the age of twenty-one, everything I have goes to the church. Including Kirkland Park. You will get nothing!”
Clap. Clap Clap. Hereford brought his hands together. “Capital show, my dear. Do you hear that, Roxburghe? She would rather die than wed you. Aye, she has my blood in her veins.”
The hiss of Sheffield steel against metal silenced the room as Rose drew Colum’s sword from its sheath and with one violent move closed the distance between the blade tip and her father’s throat.
He fell backward against the table, momentarily blinded by shock and an overconfidence that failed to allow him to perceive the danger to him. Rose tightened her grip on the hilt, her palms sweaty as she held the weight of the sword. “Do not tempt me,Father. I care very little about you. Even less than what might happen to me should I run you through.”
A hint of color shaded his ruddy face to a darker hue and his eyes narrowed to slits. “I swear you will pay for this, Roselyn.”
“Pay? With what? Something has to matter to me first. You have seen well and good to strip me of all that was ever important.”
“Tell me the life of every man in this room does not matter to you then? For if anything happens to me ...”
The sword began to grow heavy in her hand. She had lost the momentum of an attack that came with surprise, and she knew if he fought her, he could escape before she did too much damage. Still, even a little blood would make a terrible mess of his fine clothes.
Ruark laid his palm against the blade. “Not this way, Rose. He is here under a flag of truce.”
