Tempted (46 page)

She decided not to remount but stepped delicately between the dead, leading her horse behind her. Finally, even the horse revolted at the mounds of quivering horseflesh, crying in their death throes. It shook its head wildly, blew through its nostrils, and took off toward a dozen or more destriers who had survived the battle and were patiently awaiting their masters at the edge of a stream whose waters still ran red.

Tina knelt beside a fallen man with black hair, but when she managed to turn him over, she recoiled in alarm at the extent of his dismembering. From that moment on Heath insisted on going before her to examine the features of every man with black hair.

In her heart Tina now realized the task she had set herself was an impossible one. After searching for four straight hours, all the corpses started to look alike. After five hours she began to get cramps in her feet, and when she reached down to massage them, she saw that from the knee down she was soaked with filth and blood. Suddenly she began to fear for the child she carried. Under no circumstances must she harm the precious burden. Ram would never be dead while his child lived. The light was beginning to fade from the late afternoon sky when she decided to give up the search. She stumbled and Heath lifted her in his arms and knew she had no more strength. As he carried her through what had been the English camp, he heard the Boozer barking and yelping in a frenzy. He called the wolfhound to heel—then it penetrated his tired brain that perhaps the dog had found something. Tina too, had heard the commotion the Boozer was creating.
She struggled in Heath’s arms, and together they stumbled over dead English to get to him.

Ram’s body was half beneath that of Ruffian’s. The horse had had its belly ripped open and in death it looked ugly, almost obscene. Ram, in contrast lay at peace, his swarthy face pale and bloodless. A lance had gone through his middle and pinned him to the earth.

Heath gave a great shout and waved to the others. He had already removed the lance by the time Mr. Burque reached them.

“The yarrow,” Tina whispered, and though Mr. Burque knew it was pointless to sprinkle yarrow upon a corpse, he did exactly what Tina expected of him. When he had finished lacing the wound with the yellow powder, he bound him tightly. It was not until Angus’s men arrived that they could free the body from the weight of the fallen horse. They carried him to the edge of the field.

Tina laid a soft hand on Heath’s sleeve. Her face was at peace. “If you can fetch a Gypsy caravan, I’ll take him home.” The lump in Heath’s throat choked him so that he could not speak He caught a wandering horse and thundered off in the direction of Kelso.

The two Douglas men-at-arms laid down their burden and went to speak with Angus. They would soon need to set up the tents again but were loath to do so at this foul and accursed place.

Mr. Burque knelt down to Tina as she crouched beside the body of her husband. The light was now almost gone, and he thought for a moment his eyes were playing a trick on him He thought he saw Ram’s still body take a shallow breath.

“Mon dieu
, is it possible that he lives?”

“Of course, Mr. Burque. Did you doubt it for a moment?” she asked serenely.

When Heath returned with the caravan, he would not believe them when they told him that Ram was still alive. When they gently lifted him inside the painted wagon and
he saw for himself that Ram’s rib cage lifted slightly in an uneven rhythm, he wondered if Valentina had somehow resurrected him from the dead. As he watched them together, the poignancy was tangible. How bittersweet that Ram had lasted long enough to die in his wife’s arms!

Angus was totally undone, and Ada gave all her attention to the sobbing old earl who showed his vulnerability for the first time in his life. They traveled in slow stages, one day at a time, and it took them five days to reach the Castle at Douglas.

Ramsay had remained unconscious on the journey. Angus, Heath, Ada, and Mr. Burque knew this was a bad sign. Tina only thought how merciful it was that he could not feel the jarring of the caravan as it crawled along through the rough cut tracks of the borders. She knew she was taking him home to die.

Valentina was most grateful that they carried Ram upstairs and laid him gently in his own bed, but she washed his body with her own hands, and they left her alone with her husband. She had no idea what would happen to her, or to Castle Douglas, or even to Scotland now that they had been defeated by England, but she did know what would happen to Ram when he died.
She would assert her authority. She was Lady Douglas. She would not allow them to cut out his heart and place it in a casket, as Douglas tradition demanded. His heart belonged to her, and she would see that he was buried intact. She knew there was nothing more she could do for him Very gently she lay down beside him and took his hand.

Ironically it was not the wound Ram sustained in the battle that had brought him to death’s door. At least not directly, for the lance that pierced clean through his flesh, pinning him to the earth, had destroyed no vital organ. It had chipped bone, torn muscle, and severed blood vessels. He was close to death because too much of his lifeblood had leaked away. He had lain for three days unable to move while his blood had dripped slowly from his body into Flodden Field. Miraculously, now that the flow of blood had been stanched, his body gradually began to gain strength.

Tina must have slept, even though she had been determined to keep vigil. It was still pitch dark when she opened her eyes in panic. Dear God, Ram must have slipped away into death while she slept. He had closed his fingers about hers, and they had stiffened in death to a grip she could not break.

A sob escaped from her throat, and as her eyes became accustomed to the dark, she fancied that he lay watching her. She caught her breath, not even daring to hope. Her throat closed as she struggled to speak. “Ram?” she managed to whisper at last. She did not see his lips move, but she knew he was alive and that he would recover because he answered her. Vixen! He had whispered the word
vixen
, and it was the loveliest sound she had ever heard.

As she pried his fingers from hers, her tears fell upon his face and mingled with his. She eased from the bed and ran to tell the world that Black Ram Douglas was still master of his own castle.

In an amazingly short time, Ram was on his feet. As
Tina entered their bedchamber, she cried out in alarm when she saw him struggling into his clothes.

“Dear God, what are you about? ‘Tis not three weeks since you lay on the battlefield near death.”

“The English couldn’t kill me, but by Christ, ye and Ada and Mr. Burque might accomplish what the enemy could not, if I lie here one more day!”

“Whatever do you mean?” demanded Tina, thoroughly offended after all the tender ministrations she had lavished upon him.

“If ye change my dressing one more time, I’ll strangle ye with the bandage, and if Mr. Burque fetches me one more bowl of broth, I’ll crack his bloody French skull wi’ it!”

“We’ve done our utmost to nurse you back to health. The servants have tiptoed about so they wouldn’t disturb you. I’ve kept visitors away so they wouldn’t upset you with their horror stories of the war. I’ve sat with you for hours playing chess so you wouldn’t be bored. I swear, men make the very worst invalids!”

“Invalid?” His pewter eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’m no’ an invalid, and I’m no’ a bairn. I’m a man, Tina. And while we’re on that subject, I don’t need a nurse, I need a bloody woman! Sometimes I could swear ye don’t want me at my full strength again because ye like giving the orders. Well, as of today, Lady Douglas, ye will start fulfilling the vows ye made when ye married me Ye pledged tae love, honor, and obey me. So now ye can start doing as yer told. Don’t shrug that saucy shoulder at me, Vixen!” he warned as he fastened his belt and pulled on his boots. “I heard Angus ride in, so I’m going down tae talk man tae man. Ye will occupy yerself moving yer things back tae this chamber.”

“I didn’t want to disturb you,” she protested quietly.

“Well, ye
do
disturb me, every time I hear yer voice, or smell yer fragrance, or see yer breasts when ye bend over me tae feed me that bloody broth!”

The corners of Tina’s mouth lifted for the first time since
her wedding. If his sex drive was asserting itself, he must indeed be almost recovered.

By the time Ram arrived in the hall, Angus and his men were on their third whisky. Angus came toward him and walked about him in a circle. “Yer lookin’ a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw ye, laddie.”

Ram stifled the urge to take Angus in his arms. Archibald had aged all of a sudden, and Ram could see his years were numbered. Any affection on his part, however, would be considered pity, so Ram decided the kindest thing he could do for Angus was insult him.

“I wish I could say the same fer ye, but ye look like hell, man. Are things that bad, Angus? Is doomsday upon us?”

Angus drained his whisky and poured himself another. The thought of downplaying the situation because of Ram’s health never occurred to the toughened earl, and Ram knew he’d get the bald truth from him.

“I won’t deny we suffered a massive defeat at Flodden. The clans lost thousands James was a fool, but he’s dead and we won’t speak ill of him Even the English were impressed by his reckless valor, according to the chronicle I got my hands on. It said, “O what a noble and triumphant courage was this for a king to fight in a battle as a mean soldier.”

“So what happens now that Argyll, Lennox, Bothwell, and all the other earls are dead?” asked Ram.

“Believe it or not, we go on much as we did before. There is a new Earl of Argyll to lead the Campbells, a new Lennox to lead the Stewarts. Fortunately every earl had a son tae take his place. Ye underestimated Margaret Tudor, but I did not. She won’t allow her brother Henry tae swallow her kingdom, whether he won the battle or no’ She’ll see that her son rules Scotland, not her brother. We’ve a new king, James V, and until he’s old enough tae rule, there’ll be a regency council consisting of Margaret, Douglas, Arran, and Huntly.”

“So the loss of a husband meant less than nothing tae her,” Ram said with contempt.

“Weesucks, laddie, I never thought ye naive. She’s about tae wed my son Archie. Ye did know he lost his wife a few weeks back? The Hepburn lass never enjoyed good health.”

Ram’s pewter eyes studied Angus from beneath shrewd, lowered lids. How much he had orchestrated he’d never know—never wanted to know. He was even cynical enough to bet Angus was comforting a grieving Janet Kennedy.

“Will ye come tae the capital, Ramsay? Scotland is in need o’ strong leaders just now.”

Ram weighed Angus’s words carefully. He was offering him carte blanche. He raised his eyes as Valentina came into the hall, and in a heartbeat his decision was taken

“Thanks, Angus, but I’m a new bridegroom and have neglected my wife long enough. Within the month I’ll be back patrolling the borders so that James V remains secure on his throne. What I want is not in Edinburgh—it is at Douglas.”

Before the week was out Gavin and Cameron were home. Their cousins had been lost in a sea battle, but they knew they were more fortunate than other families to have three brothers survive.

Tina’s father rode over from Castle Doon to see how they fared. When he told them David had died at Flodden, but Donal and Duncan were expected to recover from their wounds, Tina felt truly blessed.

When at last all their visitors departed for home, Ram pulled Tina into his arms. “The weather is lovely today, but we won’t have many warm days left. Let’s go fishing.”

How could she resist? One of the happiest days they’d had together had been spent fishing.

Tina lay in Ram’s arms on the riverbank. They had devoured the delicious food Mr. Burque had packed for them, and now Ram was intent upon dessert. He unfastened
the laces of her gown. “Come for a swim,” he coaxed.

Tina was shy. She knew that if he lured her from her clothes, he would discover her secret. She traced her finger along the hard line of his jaw. “I once dreamed we swam together at a three-tiered waterfall. It was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. We stood on the ledge and dived together into the river below.”

“There is such a place in the borders, where Kirkcudbright joins Douglasdale. I dived it often when I was a lad. Do ye think ye’d have courage tae dive it wi’ me in real life?”

“Of course,” she said without hesitation, knowing full well she would do no such thing.

“Liar!” he teased. “Ye don’t even have the courage tae take off yer clothes and swim wi’ me.”

She pulled from his arms and stood looking down at him. “Do I not?” she said, tossing back her flaming hair and stepping from her gown. His eyes became intense as he watched her remove her delicate pink undergarments, then they widened as realization dawned upon him.

“Flaming Tina Douglas, you shameless honeypot, tae cavort naked in yer condition!” he crowed joyfully.

She laughed down at him. “What about your condition?”

He pulled her down to him, their swim now forgotten. He cradled her beneath him while they whispered between long, slow kisses. “We’ll call him Archibald,” he teased.

“You devil! There’ll be no Archibalds. I want beautiful names for my children like Neal or Robin if it’s a boy, Kathe or Rebecca if it’s a girl.”

“Nay,” he said tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue. “If it’s a lass, I’ll call her Vixen!”