"You great fool!" she said, giving him a weak chuckle. "What am I to forgive ye for? Making me a woman two weeks before our wedding?" She took his face in her hands. "I love ye, hinny! Do ye hear me? I am mad for ye, my lord! I couldna bear not having all of ye, for I am a willful wench, Patrick!"
Glenkirk looked down into her face and suddenly smiled. "I'll beat ye if you ever defy me, brat! I love ye wi all my heart, but I'll be the master of my own house."
"As long as I'm yer only mistress, m'lord!" she shot back.
He laughed. "What a minx you are, madame!" And he tumbled her back amid the pillows. "Go to sleep, or come morning everyone in the castle will know what we've been about." She cocked an eyebrow at him. He chuckled. "No more tonight, my greedy little lass. Yer too newly opened. If ye would walk in the morning, once is enough for this night. But come other nights, I'll love ye wi'out stopping the whole night long. No man with any fire in him could ever get enough of you, my bride."
In the morning, Ellen saw the bloodstains on Cat's bedsheets. But she kept silent, for 'twas no one's business that the bride and groom had celebrated their wedding night before they celebrated their wedding. She had been worried that perhaps her young mistress was marrying a man she did not love. Now she knew all was well. Cat would not have surrendered herself to Glenkirk unless she loved him.
Unfortunately, Fiona knew, too… No one had confided in her, but with alleycat instinct, she knew. Three days before the wedding she found Catriona alone and, with deliberate intention, said, "So ye finally let him stick it in ye, cousin. And before the wedding too," she said wickedly. "My, but yer brave!"
Cat blushed at having her secret discovered. But she was unwilling to let Fiona get the upper hand. "Jealous, coz?"
Fiona laughed. "Listen, my wee Cat. I've been fucking since I was thirteen. There's never been a man I couldn't have if I wanted him, and that includes yer precious Glenkirk."
"Liar!" spat Catriona.
"Nay," smiled Fiona sweetly. "I've had both Patrick and Adam. I'll stick wi my Adam. However, so there's no mistake about it…" And Fiona proceeded to describe Patrick's bedroom in detail.
Cat left her cousin without a word. Going to her apartments, she put on a pair of warm doeskin riding breeches, a silk shirt, fur-lined boots, and a heavy fur-lined cloak. She had sent a confused Ellen ahead to the stables to have Bana saddled. "But where are ye going at this time o' day?" she protested.
"I dinna know," said Cat, mounting Bana. "But when the great Earl of Glenkirk returns from Forbes Manor, tell him that I'd sooner marry the devil himself!"
Yanking Bana's head about, she kicked the mare and cantered across the drawbridge into the darkening winter afternoon.
Chapter 5
ELLEN picked up her skirts and ran, stumbling, back into the castle to seek the Master of Greyhaven. Finding him, she gasped out, "She's gone, Lord Hay! Mistress Cat has gone!"
Greyhaven did not quickly comprehend, but his wife did. "What happened?" she demanded of Ellen.
"I dinna know, my lady. She's been so happy to be back at Glenkirk, and looking forward to her wedding."
"I wonder," said Heather thoughtfully, "if it has all been a pretense."
"Nay! Nay, my lady! She's in love wi the earl, 'tis plain. They've been-" Ellen stopped, horrorstruck, and clapped her hand over her mouth, but Heather understood.
"How long?"
"Oh, my lady!"
"How long, Ellen?"
"The first night we were back. I found the stains the next morning, but something had been going on at Christmastime. He dinna force her! Of that, I'm sure, my lady."
"Are ye saying that Glenkirk's been lying wi my lass?" said James Hay indignantly.
"Oh, Greyhaven," snapped Heather, "be quiet! It's nae important that they've been sleeping together. They're being married in three days' time. Ellen-what did Cat do this afternoon? Where did she go?"
"She slept for an hour after the meal as she always does. Then she went to the Family Hall wi her embroidery. The earl hasna been here all day, so they canna have had a fight."
Checking, they found several people who had talked to Catriona that afternoon. But Meg Leslie, her daughters, Ailis Hay, and two of the servants all remembered that she was happy and excited.
"What can have frightened her?" wondered Meg.
"She wasna frightened, my lady," corrected Ellen. "She was in a blazing temper."
There was a clatter of horses in the courtyard and the barking of dogs as the earl and his brothers returned from Forbes Manor. The four of them had just concluded the betrothal agreement for Isabella Forbes. Laughing and joking, they entered the Family Hall, then stopped at the scene that greeted them.
"What is it?" demanded the earl.
"It's Cat," spoke his mother unthinkingly.
Patrick went white.
"Nay, she's all right!" said Heather quickly.
"Then what is it?"
"She's gone off in a temper, nephew. Probably a fit of bridal nerves," replied Heather, intending to soothe.
"When?"
"About an hour ago. She spent the afternoon in here. Then suddenly she went to her room, put on her riding clothes, and rode off."
"Who spoke wi her? How do you know when she went?"
Heather told him, and then turned to Ellen to tell her story.
"She came storming into her bedroom, my lord. 'Ellie,' she shouts, 'go to the stable, and tell them to saddle Bana!' 'My lady,' I says to her,' 'tis late, and the sun is close to setting.' 'Do as ye are bid!' she says to me. Oh, my lord! I've raised her since she was a baby, and never has she spoken to me thus. She was in her old riding clothes when she mounted the horse. 'Ellie,' she says, 'tell the great Earl of Glenkirk that I'd as soon marry the devil himself!' Then she rode off. I came right to my lady Hay, and told her."
Patrick Leslie's mouth was tight, and white around the lips. His eyes narrowed. "Someone must have upset her."
"Upset whom?" asked Fiona, coming into the hall. "What on earth is going on?"
Patrick kept his voice level. "Did ye see Cat this afternoon?"
"Aye. She was embroidering here."
The earl looked to his brother. Adam took his wife-to-be firmly by the arm and escorted her into the library. Frightened, Fiona faced the two brothers.
"What did ye say to Cat, dear cousin?" His voice was icy.
"Nothing, Patrick. I said nothing! I swear it! We talked of girlish things."
Reaching out, Adam caught his betrothed and, flinging her across a chair, laid his riding crop across her back. She screamed in pain and tried to escape him, but Patrick held her down by her slender white neck.
"Now, cousin," he said through gritted teeth, "love ye or not, Adam will, on my order, beat you to death if necessary. What did ye say to Catriona?"
"I told her that ye slept wi me." Fiona sobbed out the entire conversation.
"You bitch!" swore Patrick. "It took me weeks to win Cat's confidence, and ye hae destroyed it in three minutes!" He slammed out of the room.
Adam looked down at Fiona. "I warned ye, my love, that if ye caused trouble I would punish you." His arm rose, and she heard the whistle of the crop a second before it touched her back again.
"No, Adam." She cried out, but he was merciless. He beat her until she fainted a few moments later.
Glenkirk was organizing as quickly as he could. His favorite stallion was winded, so he ordered his second favorite, Dearg, to be saddled. He would allow only Ellen's brother, Conall More-Leslie, to accompany him. Before he left he spoke with his mother, his Aunt Heather, and Adam.
"God knows where she's gone. It may even take me weeks to trace her. She knows the countryside as well as any man. It's too late to stop the wedding, so Adam, ye and Fiona are to wed in our place." He looked closely at his brother. "Do ye still want the bitch?"
"Aye, brother. She's a naughty puss, but I think she'll behave now."
"Good! Tell the guests that the bride caught the measles and
gave them to the groom. That should stop a scandal."
"Patrick, my son! Be gentle wi Catriona," begged Meg. "She's young and innocent, and Fiona has hurt her terribly wi her wicked lies."
"Madame," said Patrick coldly, "Catriona has been sharing my bed for almost two weeks now. I have treated her wi gentleness, and never forced her. She wouldna even face me wi her accusations, but assumed me guilty, and fled. I will nae forgie her lack of trust. I shall find her and bring her back, and wed wi her as planned. But before I do that I shall take a leaf from Adam's book, and beat her bottom so she may not sit for a week!"
Several minutes later he galloped across the drawbridge with More-Leslie. It was a cold night, but the moon lit their way. They rode first to Greyhaven, for Patrick suspected that Cat had fled home. She was not there. They turned their horses to Sithean, but there, too, they met with disappointment. They stayed the night, and the following morning began to comb the district.
But Cat had apparently vanished from the earth. No one had seen her.
St. Valentine's Day came, and Adam Leslie wed his widowed cousin, Lady Stewart. The guests chuckled when they heard the earl and his bride-to-be were suffering from the measles. Wasn't it lucky, they laughed, that the Leslies had another betrothed couple ready and waiting so the festivities would not go to waste.
It was a wonderful party, but the new Lady Leslie looked tired and subdued. Fiona, looking out at her guests from the head table, wondered what they would think if she told them the reason for her pallor. For the last three nights she had been tied to a chair and forced to watch Adam making love to a very pretty and obviously insatiable peasant wench. She had tried closing her eyes, but the sounds from the bed were too tantalizing. She watched fascinated, as Adam's enormous cock plunged in and out of the writhing girl. As her own desire grew, she suffered severe pain of both a mental and physical nature, and by last night she thought she would go mad.
This morning, however, he had told her that her punishment was over. Fiona swore never to cause her cousin hurt again, and promised that when Cat was found she would apologize and tell her the truth. Adam smiled, satisfied. He knew how to handle his wench.
But Cat couldn't be found. February gave way to March and March to April before word came. Ellen, home in Crannog to see her parents, discovered her mistress living with them! Cat, fleeing Glenkirk, had gone directly to Ruth and Hugh More-Leslie. Ruth, now in her sixties, had immediately agreed to hide the girl. Hugh, retired and in his seventies, hadn't been sure. But Ruth convinced him that her long dead mistress would have approved. Ellen was amazed.
"Surely the neighbors are suspicious," she said.
"Why should they be?" said Ruth. "They never see her. She rides her Bana an hour each night for exercise, but other than that she never leaves the house."
"She canna stay here forever, mother. Did she tell ye why she ran away?"
"Aye! That wicked Fiona! I knew when she was a child she would grow up bad."
"She did, mother. Very bad. So bad that she sent Mistress Cat off in this rage. What Fiona said, however, was a lie, and Mistress Cat was wrong to run off before asking my lord of Glenkirk to defend himself. He is hurt that she thought so little of him. Yet he loves her, and still wants to make her his wife."
"Well," said Ruth, with the wisdom of her late mistress, "then we must arrange for him to find her. But not here."
"There's A-Cuil, mother. Her grandmother, Jean Gordon, had it as part of her dowry, and now it belongs to Mistress Cat. It is small and secluded, set in the hills above Loch Sithean."
"How big, and in what condition?"
"Stone wi a slate roof, and put back into shape because of the wedding. There's a kitchen, and a parlor downstairs, and a bedroom on the second floor. There's also a small stable wi two loft rooms. That's about all there is to A-Cuil."
"It'll do," said Ruth. "How long a ride?"
"A good hour up into the hills," replied Ellen.
Ruth smiled. "I shall convince Mistress Cat to go there, and then I will go to Glenkirk, and tell the earl. In a quiet place, away from the rest of the family, they'll settle their differences."
Ruth was as good as her word. Persuading Cat that she would be happier if she could get outdoors more, now that summer was coming, and assuring her that A-Cuil was a good distance from Glenkirk, she sent the girl off. Ellen had been sent on to air the house and bring in food supplies. She had begged her young mistress to allow her to accompany her. Lonely, Cat had agreed.
A-Cuil was set high in a pine forest on a cliff that gave a view of Glenkirk, Sithean, and Greyhaven far below. It was hidden and quiet. For several days Cat prowled, restless, through the woods around her. At night she slept deeply in the big bedroom. Ellen, in the trundle, slept by her side. They had been there ten days, and Cat was beginning to feel safe.
With a bad storm about them that night they retired to the bedroom. Building up the fire, they ate a supper of toasted bread and cheese, and drank slightly hardened cider. Neither minded the lightning that crackled ominously about them, or the rolling peals of thunder. Suddenly the door flew open. Ellen gave a shriek of terror. The earl strode in.
"Yer brother's in the kitchen, Ellen. Is there a place ye both can sleep?"
"The lofts over the stable, m'lord."
"Run along, then."
"No! Dinna leave me wi him, Ellen."
Ellen looked helplessly at her young mistress. Gently, the earl took the serving woman by the arm and escorted her to the door. "Dinna come near this room unless I call you. Do ye understand?"
"Aye, my lord."
The door closed firmly behind her, and she heard the bolt slam home. Padding down the stairs, she found her brother and led him off to the loft rooms in the stable. "Is he very angry wi her, Conall?"
"Aye," said her brother calmly. "He's going to beat her."
"Never!" gasped Ellen. "He's mad for her!"
"Still," replied Conall, "he's going to beat her, and a good thing too. She's a wayward lass to have run from him like that. If he's nae the master in his own house from the first, he'll always have trouble wi her. That's no marriage for a man."
"If mother and I had known that he'd hurt her, we'd nae have let him find her."
"Sister," said Conall patiently as if explaining to a child, "he's not going to hurt her. He's just going to gie her a wee beating to help her mend her manners."
Ellen shook her head. She knew Cat Hay better than all of them. After all, she'd raised her. The earl was about to find out that beating his bride would never tame her.
Chapter 6
CAT Hay angrily faced the Earl of Glenkirk. Carefully he spread his wet cloak over the back of the fireplace chair and removed his damp linen shirt. He sat down. "My boots, Cat!" They were the first words he'd spoken to her.
"Go to hell!" she spat at him.
"My boots!" His green-gold eyes narrowed and glittered dangerously.
Her heart pounding wildly, she knelt and drew his boots off. I'm not afraid of him, she thought. But why was her heart beating so quickly? Standing up, he caught her by her long hair. Wrapping it around his hand, he drew her face to his. Grasping the top of her shift with his other hand, he ripped it from neck to hem and pulled it off her. "I warned ye once that if ye ever defied me I'd beat ye!"
And before she could protest, he'd pushed her onto the bed and brought his riding crop down cruelly on her buttocks. She screamed her pain and outrage at him and tried to escape. But, holding her down, he raised several angry red wheals on her bottom before stopping. Tossing the crop away, he raged at her. "Ye've led me a fine chase these last months, madame! Had Adam not been willing to wed immediately we would hae been embarrassed before every family in the district. Does it please ye to know that Fiona held the place of honor at our wedding?"
Turning over, she gingerly sat up and faced him with a defiant, tear-stained face. "You bastard!" she shrieked at him. "What ye put between my legs, ye put between hers also! I'll nae forgie ye tha
t! Never!"
"Little bitch!" he shouted back. "How could ye believe her? Never did I lie wi Fiona. Once she waited in my room, but Adam was wi me. He'd been hot for her for years, so I slept in his room that night while he took his pleasure of her. Never have I slept wi that she-devil!"
"Why should I believe you? Yer bastards are scattered from one end of the district to the other! Fiona said she could have any man she wanted, and then proceeded to describe your bedroom accurately. What was I to think?"
"Why did ye believe her over me?" he demanded. "How could ye lie wi me, and not believe that I love ye and would do nothing to harm ye?"
"Liar! I hate ye! Get out of my house!"
"Yer house? Yers? Nay, Cat. This house is part of the dowry your father gave me along wi ye. It belongs to me now, as ye belong to me." He pushed her back onto the pillows and bent over her. "Yer my possession, Cat, as is Glenkirk, as are my horses, and my dogs. Ye are something for my pleasure. A thing on which to breed my sons. Do ye understand me?"
She raised her arm. Catching a glitter, Patrick twisted aside as the arm moved down. He wrenched the little knife from her hand and slapped her face. "A whore's trick, sweetheart! Is that what ye want? To be treated like a whore?"
"I'd be a whore before I'd be yer wife, Glenkirk! No man owns me! No man!"
He laughed. "Brave words, lass. However, since ye've expressed an interest, I'll teach ye some whores' tricks. Ye've not begun to be facile in bed yet. Not enough practice. But I'll remedy that in the next few weeks."
"What do ye mean?" Her heart was pounding uncontrollably.
"Why, my dear. Until I put my bairn in yer belly, ye'll nae go home to Glenkirk. I obviously canna trust ye to wed me till then. When ye ripen wi my son ye'll hae no other choice, will you?"
Standing, he swiftly pulled his trunk hose off, and then flung himself back on top of her. He found her angry mouth and kissed her cruelly. Sliding down between her legs, he pulled them over his shoulders and buried his head between her legs. Her cries of terror quickly became sounds of shamed desire as his velvet tongue stroked and probed her.
Love Wild and Fair Page 4
