Claimed by a Scottish Lord (23 page)

Friar Tucker gave her a colorless, edited version of the happenings of the last few weeks, and told her how he had been summoned to Jedburgh, just as Anaya Fortier had been, to confirm her identity. Jedburgh was between Alnwick and Stonehaven. But it was all for show, like a spectacle with dancing bears and colorful jugglers to awe the crowd.

Friar Tucker ended by changing the topic with news about Mrs. Simpson, Sister Nessa, and Jack. ―The boy misses you,‖ he said.

Her eyes lost their blankness and became brilliant again as she looked at him. ―I would very much like to see both of them again. Will I, do you think?‖

Approaching footsteps fell upon her ears. She turned her head toward the door. ―Rose,‖

Friar Tucker rushed to say. ―There is still much I have not said . ‖

The footsteps in the corridor were suddenly in front of the door. A tall man appeared in the doorway, not much younger than Ruark.

―The name is Bryce Colum, Lady Roselyn. I served with Ruark on the
Black Dragon
.‖

Then she realized he had been one of the guards who had helped kidnap her.

He greeted Friar Tucker with a subtle nod, his blond curls brushing the broad width of his shoulders. ― ‘Tis time.‖

H
ad he meant to make it sound like he was escorting her to the gallows? Rose thought some moments later after they had left her chambers.

The stone corridor was damp and cold beneath her thin leather soles. Though the sun slanted through tall arched windows at intervals. Rivulets of rain streaked down the dirty glass. Outside the cloud-laden sky was a dark gray. To Rose, it felt like night. She had been ensconced in a windowless room since yesterday, trapped by the thick stone walls. Yet, in spite of the cold, she felt hot and her temples throbbed. Earlier, she had blamed the tightness in her throat on the smoke from the brazier heating the room, but she knew now it was a lie.

―You are not Scots?‖ she asked Mr. Colum, concentrating on the scent of rain in the air, the sound of their steps on stone in the empty corridor.

―No, my lady. I am English. My family hails from York.‖

―You are a gentleman,‖ she said, noting his cultured voice.

He pressed a hand to his chest. ―My family would wholeheartedly disagree.‖

He suddenly stopped as they reached a fork in the hallway. She heard voices coming from a room at the end of the corridor.

―I am instructed to tell you that Lord Hereford has been directed not to approach you, and that you should only speak to the questions put to you. When it is done I am to take you back to your chambers. Then tomorrow morning, I am to take you from Jedburgh, where we will await instruction. Hereford has agreed to Ruark‘s terms to see you safely escorted from Scotland to a place of your choosing. You will be free, my lady.‖

Her hand went to her chest. Ruark had done that for her?

―You will not be in the room long,‖ he said.

Noting the sword hanging from a sling at his waist, she looked around the empty corridor.

―Is Lord Roxburghe afraid of my father‘s men or his own?‖

―He is watchful of all men, especially today.‖

Rose recognized the same ominous undertone she had heard in Friar Tucker‘s voice. ―Is Lord Roxburghe in danger from his own men?‖

―Pity the man who tests him, my lady. He is well able to take care of himself.‖ Turning slightly, he offered a hand down the three steps.

She saw now why he had stopped. Where was her mind that she had missed seeing the stairs? Her hands were trembling.

The noise in the hall rose as two pages pushed open the heavy oak doors in front of her and Rose stepped into a tall, cavernous hall with wooden beams that stretched across the ceiling. Shock stopped her cold on the threshold.

Three or four dozen battle-hardened men, bristling with weaponry, filled the hall. Sitting around the long table and standing against the walls, all turned as the doors swung wide.

Her escort motioned for her to proceed. ―My lady.‖

The heavy air reeked of wood smoke and unwashed bodies.

No friendly face looked back at her from among the sea of bearded faces. Somehow, more afraid of showing fear in front of this group than she was of what awaited her, she continued to move her feet forward.

Mr. Colum stopped, and the only noise that followed was the scrape of leather soles against stone as a path opened in front of her.

Then she saw the man sitting at the head of the room. Flanked by two of his own guard, he made a single abrupt movement of his hand as if silencing those around him, like an ax that severs the head from a body. And at that moment, her courage deserted her.

She could go no farther.

He wore a cut jacket with an embossed silver waistcoat, breeches tied just below his knees, the civilized refinement a stark contrast to his reputation. She could not tell the color of his hair beneath a powdered wig queued at the nape, but his brows were blond and flecked with gray.

There was no tenderness in his gray eyes as he sat back and perched his chin upon his steepled fingers with the casual indolence one might use when studying a problem that required too much thought and one wished only to be done with it.

Rose lifted her chin in a manner that told him she cared little if he found her lacking.

But it was a lie.

Perhaps something of him was buried deep inside her after all.

For she did not understand the intensity of her emotions.

And as if reading the thought in her eyes, Richard Jerome Lancaster, the fourth earl of Hereford, the English warden and former captain in the Royal Navy smiled. It was contrary to her one memory of him those years ago when he had put her on her first pony and told her she would one day ride like the wind. For ‘twas not a kind smile. Yet one that asserted itself in his voice as he spoke.

―Come forward out of the shadows,‖ he said, with the cultured arrogance of one used to obedience. At least he did her the service to stand. ―Let me see you.‖

A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

Ruark stood behind her, his eyes hard on her father. Dressed as he was in leather breeches, white shirt beneath a leather jack clasped shut with a heavy buckle, Ruark looked far more disreputable than her father, and infinitely more dangerous in his boots and spurs and a sword belt fastened at his waist. She almost leaned against him, even dared to touch the fold of his sleeve before she stiffened herself to stand alone.

Rose had an image of the two men facing each other in much the same way across the bows of their ships. Whatever this meeting was today, it was personal between them.

―You will abide by our agreement, Hereford,‖ Ruark said. ―You have seen her as we agreed. Do you confirm her identity?‖

Her father stepped around the table only to be stopped as a guard dropped the end of a pike in his path.

He laughed though his eyes bristled with umbrage. ―Surely I am no threat, Roxburghe.‖

Obviously, for the benefit of those standing around them, he spread his arms. ―I am unarmed. As are my men.‖

―Aye.‖ Ruark‘s smile was all teeth. ―But not the three hundred you have awaiting your return outside the walls of this abbey. Or did you think you need such a force against forty men?‖

The comment stirred the men to laughter.

―For it will take a siege to retrieve what is left of you should you break your word, Hereford. Answer my question.‖

Her father‘s gray eyes lingered on her and, for a moment, something inside her responded. Then his gaze shuttered as his attention moved to the hand resting possessively on her upper arm then to the man standing behind her. ―You are more priceless than you know, Roselyn.‖

―Then you do not deny her?‖ Ruark asked impatiently.

―Nay, I do not.‖

Voices rose to a murmur around her.

Until this moment, she didn‘t know how much those simple words would affect her. No one had ever publicly acknowledged her existence.

She felt shaky, for as a part of her life had been returned to her, another part was now gone forever.

―Am I allowed to approach my daughter?‖ Hereford demanded. ―Or will your man run me through?‖

Ruark looked down at her, a question in his eyes. An infinitesimal nod signaled the guard to allow Hereford to pass.

Her father walked to where she stood but not so close that he could touch her or she him. Only slightly taller than she was, he was still a big man, remarkably fit for a man of fifty years. Remarkably ruthless, and she dared not forget it. She was not a fool to think he had ever cared anything about her. He wanted her ancestral home. He wanted her Kirkland Park. She had accepted long ago that it would be the price of her freedom. And now he would abide by his agreement and grant it.

―Do you remember your mother?‖ he quietly asked.

―Nay, I do not.‖

―You are more beautiful even than she was,‖ he said. ―Beauty is a curse to women and a bane to men. Is it not, Roxburghe?‖ There was something sinister in his tone as he voiced the query. ―Your mother was
also
a whore, Roselyn,‖ Hereford said. ―It appears her daughter is of the same ilk.‖

Ruark had gone stiff behind her. ―Apologize, Hereford.‖

―Or you will do what? Defend the honor of my Sassenach daughter?‖ He laughed, his eyes like daggers as they pierced Rose through the heart. ―Do you want to know the last words your mother ever said to me as I went off to serve my king and my country? She hoped God would have the foresight to send me to the bottom of the sea. I see a certain irony in the fact that it was she who was ultimately sent to die in the cold, black depths of hell. Irony and justice.‖

He looked past her. ―And you, Tucker . is this what you think I promised you when I let you keep her? A happy ending?‖

Friar Tucker stood in the doorway, his hands folded in front of him. ―Tucker!
Lover
to my beloved wife. Man of God. The man who swore on his life to the world that my daughter had boarded that ship with my wife. Does she know your own part played in this melodrama?‖

Friar Tucker did not defend himself. Rose met Tucker‘s gaze in confused accusation.

Her mother’s lover
?
His own part
?

―Enough!‖ Ruark said, handing Rose back to Colum, who stood behind them, and she stumbled on the uneven stone floor. ―Our agreement was that you would see her, and then let her go. You do not need her to get what you want. Tucker has agreed to our terms. This interview is over.‖

―This interview has only just begun,‖ Hereford shouted above the growing din. ―And what I have to say is best done in public for all to hear so there will be no mistaking what passed this day.‖

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 he
fuck
you, 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 to
consent
to 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 the
Black Dragon
for 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. ―Bloody
fooking
clever.‖

―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.‖