Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
If you love erotica, one-click these hot Scorched titles… The Scandalous Diary of Lily Layton
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Nicola Davidson. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
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Scorched is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Lydia Sharp
Cover design by Bree Archer
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ISBN 978-1-68281-603-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition May 2020
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Chapter One
Stirling Castle, Scotland, July 1504
The knock at her chamber door sounded more battering ram than human. Powerful. Relentless. Deadly.
Even before the heavy oak swung open, Lady Janet Fraser knew who it was. There was only one man King James IV sent when he had reached the end of his tether with a recalcitrant courtier: Sir Lachlan Ross, his Highland Beast.
And she had been most recalcitrant, choosing to remain in the castle rather than leaving it, as the king’s other former mistresses and illegitimate children had been ordered to do when he wed the young English princess Margaret Tudor.
Now Janet’s day of reckoning had come. And if James had sent the Beast, he was most displeased.
“Lady,” Sir Lachlan growled. “The king will see you. Now.”
Janet swallowed hard as she got to her feet, forcing herself to meet the warrior’s frigid brown gaze. Everything about Sir Lachlan was terrifying. She was tall for a woman, as tall as most men, but he towered over her by a full head. His shoulders were massive, his chest broad, his arms thick with muscle after many years of expertly wielding a longsword in battle, and he always wore black from hat to hose, apart from a red doublet that many whispered was refreshed in the blood of his enemies. And while his pitch-black hair reached shoulder length, as was fashionable, he always wore it tied back with a length of leather. All the better to see the scar that dissected one slashing black brow and stretched to his ear.
Terrifying.
“Will he, indeed?” she retorted, pleased when her voice quavered only a little. Even after their affair had ended and the king married her off to one of his privy councillors, he had been kind to her. When her husband passed of a fever, he had been kinder still. Surely James would show her mercy today.
Sir Lachlan scowled, one huge paw of a hand curving around her elbow. “Now.”
The jolt that raced through her at his impersonal touch was so startling Janet stumbled. Saints alive! Had she lost her wits? Clearly she needed a new lover in her bed if her body responded to Lachlan Ross. Especially when it appeared he wanted to snap her like a twig. Or heave her over the ramparts. It certainly wasn’t lust darkening those fathomless eyes.
“One moment,” she said just to compose herself. “I need to…hook up the train of my gown.”
Surprisingly, Sir Lachlan released her and stepped back, granting permission with a curt nod. Yet even as she bent down to gather up an armful of dark-blue velvet, she could feel his eyes burning into her, and it made her usually dexterous fingers clumsy. When at last she had finally conquered that task, adjusted her gable hood so it sat straighter on her head, and smoothed the wide fur-lined cuffs at her wrists, she again met his gaze.
“There. You may escort me to see the king,” Janet announced crisply. “Is he receiving many this afternoon? They are not long arrived from Linlithgow; I thought he and the queen might have tarried there longer. I’m sure she prefers Linlithgow to Stirling Castle.”
“No.”
Janet hesitated, forcing a laugh. “No? To which point?”
Sir Lachlan’s lips tightened, and he took her elbow again, leading her across the comfortably furnished chamber and out into the torch-lit hallway. Even in summer the stone walls and floor held a cool dampness, and the row of torches sitting in their small wrought-iron cradles were a welcome source of light and warmth.
“Only you,” he said. “And Lady Marjorie Hepburn.”
Confusion furrowed her brow. She well knew what her own sins were, but it was hard to imagine Lady Marjorie’s—the king’s beautiful young ward had only recently been released from imprisonment in a remote convent. Allegedly for her comfort and protection, but as Lady Marjorie’s father, Lord Hepburn, had been involved in the death of the king’s father at Sauchieburn back in 1488, it was hard to see it as anything other than punishment.
“Oh.”
“Fret not, lady. No harm will befall you. I swear.”
Janet almost stumbled again. As soon as she returned to her chamber, she would throw those almond-paste comfits out the window. Bad enough the sweet treat had caused her to feel lust at the Highland Beast’s touch, but now she’d heard a faint note of tenderness in his tone?
Impossible.
Thoroughly unnerved, she remained silent for the rest of their walk across the inner close. While Stirling Castle had stood for centuries, a brooch that fastened the Highlands and Lowlands together, James had made several improvements. The two newest buildings were the King’s House, where he entertained privately and listened to petitions, and the jaw-droppingly magnificent Great Hall.
The King’s House had three principal rooms; on the ground floor there was a hall, where visitors and petitioners waited, and a great chamber for favored noblemen. However, up a turnpike staircase was his private chamber, where only his closest friends and advisers were permitted. This was their destination, and all those watching enviously knew it. Few had unfettered access to the king, but this day Janet would gladly decline the honor and return to her book of poetry.
How angry would James be at her disobedience? In what way would he punish her? Hopefully not banishment to a convent. Virginal Lady Marjorie might have survived years in one, but Scotland’s most notorious sinner wouldn’t last an hour.
At the foot of the stairs, two armed guards waited. One inclined his head. “Sir Lachlan. Lady Janet. The king awaits you.”
How she hated these stairs. Whether climbing or descending, the spiral made her dizzy, and the walls always seemed to press in on her. Oddly, with her escort behind her, she felt a trifle safer. Another armed guard opened the door at the top with a polite bow and ushered them into the lavishly furnished chamber.
“Lady Janet,” greeted the king, his cool formality unnerving her further.
“Your Grace,” she murmured, sinking into a deep curtsy.
James Stewart wasn’t a tall man or especially broad shouldered, but his fashionable, fiercely intelligent presence filled a room. Visitors were often lulled by his easy charm, humor, and gift for languages, but those shrewd brown eyes missed nothing. He’d won several decisive victories on the battlefield and lured back many Scottish nobles who had abandoned the court in disgust because the previous king had disastrously surrounded himself with advisers who were tailors and masons.
“False meekness from my fiery lass is unbecoming,” he continued sharply. “Look at me and explain why you disobeyed my order. Do you know the trouble you’ve caused me? The queen is in a lather.”
Janet bit her tongue, lest she comment on the tiresome lathers of a fourteen-year-old queen. The king had wed for duty, not love, and an unhappy wife could mean trouble with England. “Forgive me. I meant no disrespect to Her Grace.”
Her former lover sighed. “King Henry has at last sent Margaret’s second dowry installment. And money for her expenses. She and her retinue of English ladies are damned expensive…I cannot afford any unpleasantness. Our peace treaty is uneasy at best.”
“Your Grace—”
“You must leave, Jannie,” said James, his temper easing to familiar affection. “I’ve sent away all my mistresses. All my bairns. It claws my soul, but such is the burden of a king with an unsteady crown.”
Her shoulders slumped. To be forced to leave Stirling Castle, the only place that had ever truly felt like home, was a crushing blow. “When?”
James took her hands and squeezed them, smiling sadly even as his relief shone through at her acquiescence. “Tomorrow, beloved.”
So soon! Plainly, he would not be turned or teased in this matter. Rejection by the king, her former lover and dear friend, hurt more than words could express.
“Where must I go?”
“I am granting you land near St. Andrews. Fresh air, excellent hunting. I shall visit when I can. Sir Lachlan will escort you there and keep you safe henceforth.”
Janet froze.
What?
…
Sir Lachlan will escort you there. And keep you safe henceforth.
The king’s words had the impact of a boulder into a pond, so startling that Lachlan could scarcely comprehend them.
In one breath, he’d been granted his dearest wish—to be close to Lady Janet Fraser, the woman who dominated every lusty dream he’d ever had—but also forced to face his worst fear: sent from the king’s side, a position of favor he’d held for seventeen years.
His early childhood had been pleasant enough; his bold, strong, and affectionate mother was the cherished mistress of a laird. But one winter day, they’d been out walking, and a raiding party from a rival clan had knocked him unconscious and taken her. Days later, her body was recovered, and all light disappeared from his life. With his mother gone and his father inconsolable and turning on him, his half brothers took the opportunity to show him a disdain and resentment that became crueler as the years passed.
Until he grew and began to best them in fights, of course.
Then his father had taken notice and started training him with longsword, pike, mace, and dagger. At just thirteen summers, he’d fought his first battle—against that rival clan. His father had been killed, but they’d won a decisive victory, and important men had taken note of Lachlan’s size and skill. Mere weeks later he’d been brought to court to serve as a guard and companion to then Prince James. They had done everything together: fought battles the length and breadth of Scotland, bedded comely wenches, drank taverns dry. James had ensured Lachlan mastered French and Latin, and he in turn helped James with Gaelic so he might converse easier with those in the Highlands.
But now…his king—his close friend—was sending him away.
Lachlan squared his shoulders against the harsh and unexpected blow. Yet he couldn’t remain silent. Or stoic. Not in regard to this.
“Your Grace,” he began, taking a breath to slow his words, lest he humiliate himself in front of Lady Janet. The king knew of his longstanding and most wretched speech affliction—how he deliberately spoke in short, clipped sentences to manage it—and now waited patiently for his question. “You wish me…to stay at St. Andrews?”
James glanced over at Lady Janet. “Will you excuse us a moment, Jannie?”
The redheaded beauty stared back at him, her green eyes blazing with hurt, but she eventually curtsied and retreated to the sun-warmed window seat to give them some privacy.
“My fiery lass is unhappy with me,” said James with a rueful smile as he absently pulled his purple-velvet ermine-lined mantle tighter about his shoulders. “But she’ll soon see ’tis for the best.”
“I did not think,” replied Lachlan carefully, not wanting to offend the king, “that you would send me t-to protect Lady Janet in her new home. Have I d-displeased you?”
“No! The very opposite. I ask this boon because you are the only man in Scotland I dare trust with the task. Yet I confess, Jannie is but one half of it. She does not know it yet, but I am awarding her guardianship of Lady Marjorie Hepburn until I decide on a husband for the lass. So you see, I am placing not one but two precious jewels in your care. Because I know you will not mistreat or hold them captive for your own ends but protect them with your life.”
Lachlan nodded. Everyone knew of the king’s affection for Lady Janet, and his ward was quite a marriage prize, despite her unfortunate father. Men would commit devilish acts to command women far less valuable than these. But while he could see it pained the king to send the three of them away, James was a practical man. Queen Margaret did not appreciate beautiful unwed Highland ladies at court, and the king had a peace treaty with England to maintain.
“And Lady Janet?” Lachlan asked. “Is she to be m-married also?”
“I wager not. Jannie has expressed no desire to wed again, for she loved Master Fraser well. Besides. She is a woman of thirty-three summers, and barren. Men want a younger wife who can give them heirs,” said the king with a shrug almost cruel in its dismissiveness.
Lachlan barely suppressed a snort. Maybe noblemen or those with a crown did, but even after thirty summers, he felt no great urge for a family. A tall flame-haired wife with a saucy tongue and plentiful spirit…well, that was a different matter entirely. Not even on his deathbed would he confess the lewd, forbidden thoughts he had about Lady Janet most nights. Those slender, bejeweled fingers tangling in his hair as she pressed his face between her thighs. Her long legs straddling him as she rode him hard. Her pouty lips wrapped around his cock or whispering wicked demands in his ear.
Alas, the chance of having such a highborn, intelligent beauty in his bed was as likely as the sun rising in the west. Lady Janet had been the king’s mistress and then wed Fergus Fraser, a privy councillor and learned scholar who’d studied ancient manuscripts and even practiced alchemy. Who had written verse as fine as William Dunbar’s.
A worthy man.
Far better than a landless knight with little means and only his sword arm to offer. In truth, Lachlan was still unused to hearing Sir before his name. He had climbed high for a bastard son, and there were those who hated him for it. None had dared to challenge him as yet, but he remained ever watchful, ever ready to slay an enemy. He was the king’s Highland Beast, after all.
James smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll go with my blessing and friendship. And a bag of gold. Do not think for a moment I am ungrateful for your service and loyalty. No one has been a better companion, and as I said, I would trust no other with this task. Have you met the Lady Marjorie?”
“I have not.”
But I am curious about this young woman—imprisoned most of her life—whom I must protect. Is she plotting revenge? Broken of soul? Excessively pious? Something else entirely?
“Virgin still,” James explained, “but a buxom little beauty made for long nights in bed. If Margaret were not here…”
Lachlan almost smiled as James sighed irritably and leaned against a cloth-covered oak table. The king’s gifts were not limited to matters of state. He could charm the birds from the trees, and many a fair maiden had happily surrendered her virtue to him. James loved women. All women. If his young English queen expected fidelity, she would be sorely disappointed, but at this time she had thwarted his romantic plans.
“Have you told Lady Marjorie of her fate?” Lachlan asked.
“Not yet. But soon…ah, here she is now,” said James, as the heavy chamber door swung open.
Lachlan turned. And almost forgot to breathe.
For there stood a beautiful young woman, brown haired and petite, wearing a modest linen gown that in no way disguised what must be the plumpest, most luscious curves in Scotland. About as different from tall, slender, flame-haired Lady Janet as possible and yet equally as alluring.
Scandalous Passions (Highland Menage) Page 1
