Tamed by a Laird (27 page)

Accepting a brief change of subject, Hugh said, “charcoal,” and used a sleeve to wipe the residue off his teeth. “I’d kept
some with me to use in just such a case.”

As they walked, he could hear others chattering ahead and realized that he would miss the minstrels almost as much as she
would.

He had done many things, traveled great distances, and met people of all sorts. But although he had posed as a troubadour
before, he had done so only to glean information and not as part of any company. Their way of life differed from any other
he had known, and in truth, he rather envied them their freedom.

She was silent, making him wonder what she was thinking and if she worried that he was still angry. In truth, he did not know
what he felt.

He had sworn he would never marry again. The pain of losing Ella and her bairn had been too great to risk suffering through
it again, ever. The thought that Jenny might suffer the same sort of death was too horrible to contemplate.

As the thought crossed his mind another, much worse one, chased it—that Jenny could suffer the same fate as Ella had. After
all, many women did die in childbirth, or from complications afterward. But how much worse it would be if he were not with
her then, if she had only the self-serving Reid to look after her!

He put his free hand atop hers in the crook of his arm. She was not wearing gloves, and her hand felt small and warm under
his. Her skin was silken, her fingers slim and fragile. His urge to protect her was stronger than ever. That he had other
strong urges where she was concerned was a fact, too.

He would not mind taking advantage of those husbandly rights the priest had assured him were his. But getting the annulment
would be more difficult if he did.

When he sighed, she looked up.

“What are we going to do?” she asked. “About this marriage, I mean.”

“We should be able to get it annulled easily enough in time. The priest said we can, and he does not know about Reid. I’m
nearly sure that a prior betrothal is always grounds for annulment.”

“Then what about those rights and privileges he mentioned?”

“Sakes, I’m not going to take advantage of them, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said, wishing more than ever that he
could.

“Oh.”

Was it his imagination, or had there been a touch of disappointment in that single word? Calling himself a witless fool, he
fell silent again.

The silence lasted only until they entered the encampment, when raucous cheers erupted all around them.

The Joculator stepped forward, hoisting a pitcher and two mugs. “My finest claret to toast your wedding,” he said. “And ye’ll
see yonder that the lads ha’ refitted your tent for ye, Hugo, so ye can sleep wi’ your lady tonight.”

“Aye, and we all promise to ignore your moans o’ passion,” shouted some wag from the crowd, sounding much like Gilly.

“Oh, no,” Jenny murmured.

Hugh saw to his chagrin that every member of the company was happily waiting to celebrate with them. “Sakes, lass,” he muttered.
“We’ll have to go along or tell them all the truth and disappoint them. Which shall it be?”

Although the thought of spending the night alone in a tent with Hugh shook Jenny, the thought of having to confess to them
all that she had lied horrified her. It was true that the Joculator had arranged their marriage, but she harbored a fear that
her fib had run through the whole camp. Even if it had not, people would want to know, in detail, why their leader had thought
the wedding was such a fine idea.

Even Peg and Bryan, although they knew her real identity and Hugh’s, looked utterly delighted. “I’d hate to spoil everyone’s
pleasure by refusing to sleep with you,” Jenny murmured back to Hugh. “But if we sleep together, won’t that—”

“That’s all we’ll do, I swear,” he said in the same tone. “I’ll have Lucas make up two pallets in the tent. He’ll say nowt
to anyone else.”

“I suppose that may serve,” she said. She had been about to point out that if they spent the night together, everyone would
assume that they had coupled. But her choice remained the same. And, in truth, the thought of sleeping beside him stirred
so many thoughts and feelings that she could not think straight.

For the next half hour, she stayed close to him and drank claret from his mug. She knew she had talked to people, thanked
them for their kindness, but she could not remember what, exactly, she had said to anyone. And when Hugh took her to his tent
at last, urged on by cheers and rowdy comments, her knees quaked and her skin felt numb.

“I’m going to sleep in my kirtle and shift,” she muttered.

“Aye, that’s a good notion,” he muttered back, his voice sounding hoarse. Snatching up a tallow candle in a dish, he turned
away rather abruptly to look over the sleeping arrangements as if to see if Lucas had followed his instructions.

Although there were indeed two separate pallets, with separate blankets, Jenny thought they were too close together. Evidently,
Hugh thought so, too, because he tried to shift them farther apart, but there was not enough room.

Peg brought water but left straightaway, leaving Jenny alone with him.

Hugh handed the candle to Lucas, saying, “See that no one gets up to any mischief tonight. I’d liefer not have to knock heads
together.”

“Aye, sure,” Lucas said. His lips twitched, and he turned away as quickly as Hugh had earlier. Seconds later, they were alone
in the dark.

After they got into their beds, Jenny lay stiffly and sensed that Hugh did likewise. But after a time, exhaustion claimed
her, and she slept.

When she awoke, gray dawn light peeked in around the tent flap and Hugh lay just as he had the night before. The only difference
was that she had evidently grown chilly, because she was snuggled closely against him.

“Good sakes, I’m sorry!” she murmured, wriggling back to her own place.

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “I’d have spent the night reflecting on certain rights and privileges even if you hadn’t made
it impossible to avoid such thinking. But although my thoughts dwelt on the rights husbands think most about on their wedding
night, one right did occur to me that I’m afraid you will dislike.”

“If you
think
I’ll dislike it, I
know
I will,” she said, sitting upright and facing him, prepared to do battle. “What is it?”

“A husband’s right to command obedience,” he replied. “We will leave for Annan House today, Jenny, and I
don’t
want to hear any argument.”

H
ugh had indeed scarcely slept, other than to doze from time to time, and had wakened well before Jenny had, when her warm
body had snuggled against his. His had leapt in welcome of her presence as he wakened, and he had lain stiffly, quietly, since
then, not wanting to awaken her. But he ached to hold her.

Although he told himself he would ache to hold any comely lass, he knew it was untrue. None had stirred him since Ella’s death,
although he had met many in the meantime. He had believed no woman would ever stir him again. But Jenny did.

He eyed her now, glowering at him, and had to struggle not to smile.

He did not expect her to submit to his decision without argument. But after days of feeling helpless to do anything but keep
an eye on her, he now had a legal right to enforce his authority—and he would.

Continuing to glower, she said, “Do you really think you can
make
me go if I don’t want to?”

“Aye, I can,” he said. “I could toss you over my shoulder and carry you to your horse, and not one man here would interfere.”

“They would if I asked them to.”

“Lass, like it or not, these people contrived to make me your husband and they accept me as such. But you do have a choice.
You can obey me in this or you can reveal your identity, and mine, and admit to everyone here that you have deceived them
from the outset. When you tell them that you lied to the Joculator about my being your suitor, how do you think they will
react?”

She sighed. “You know how. You also know how
I
feel about it. I behaved badly, stupidly. But I lied only to him. He must have told someone else, because they all seem to
think that you care for me. If only everyone had detested you—”

She broke off, grimacing. “That was a horrid thing to say. I never meant them to dislike you. I just wanted to make it harder
for you to take me back by force.”

“I couldn’t have done that in any event,” he said. “Dunwythie asked me to fetch you but gave me no written authority to do
so. That I might need such a thing occurred to neither of us, because he wanted no scandal.”

“I’m glad he gave you no authority,” she said, putting her hands to her flushed cheeks. “Just think if you’d had a document
to show to the Joculator! You’d have taken me straightaway. How embarrassing! Of course, if you had, I’d never have told him
that fib, and—”

“I doubt if any document would have persuaded the Joculator to let me take you against your will,” Hugh said. “Minstrel companies,
being itinerant by nature, rarely expect the law to treat them fairly, so they look after their own, and you became an accepted
member of this company overnight. I knew from the start that they would take your part against me, especially the Joculator.
Having no family of his own, other than this company, the chances of his siding with your uncle—”

“He did have a son,” Jenny reminded him. “Recall that the
vielle
belonged to him, but he died years ago. Cath said the anniversary of his death is near, which is why the Joculator spends
so much time alone and sets his tent apart from the others.”

“What happened to his wife?”

“I don’t think he ever married. But that is naught to do with us, sir. I still think we must go to Threave to warn Archie
that he may have trouble brewing!”

Hugh shook his head. “I’ll see that he learns of your suspicion.”

“Faith, you still don’t believe there
is
any plot threatening him,” she said more sharply than she had yet spoken to him.

“Whether I believe it or not, I will see that Archie hears of your concerns,” he said, careful to keep his voice even and
not reveal a hint of his own increasing suspicion that something was at least amiss. “He is my kinsman and I served him loyally
for years. I would not keep any such possibility from him.”

“Still, you do not attach much importance to warning him, or you would set off straightaway and just leave me here. I would
be perfectly safe.”

“I also have a duty to Dunwythie,” he reminded her. When she opened her mouth to go on arguing, he added curtly, “Think, lass.
If I were to ride off to Threave, leaving you with this company, what do you think would happen if you are right and some
plot does exist? What would the plotters think?”

She frowned. “You need not say you are riding to Threave.”

“Sakes, I told everyone at the outset that I was going there,” he said. “ ’Tis why they’ve let me travel with them.”

“Even so—”

“Don’t you see, if someone
is
plotting mischief and has reason to think you might suspect as much,
you
might be in danger
here
. In any event, you will go back to Annan House so his lordship can begin to undo this marriage of ours and set things right.
Betrothals are complex matters, and the Kirk takes a dim view of treating them lightly, let alone of ignoring one and marrying
someone else.”

“But I didn’t do that!”

“You know that, and I know that. But yon priest has a copy of our marriage lines, which he will duly record in the parish
book at Sweetheart Abbey. You heard him say he must follow his rules, and we must follow the Kirk’s laws to undo what he did.
Until then…”

“But you said the minstrels don’t care about laws, so what makes you so sure they won’t support me if I say I want to stay
with them?”

Exerting himself to find patience, he said, “We have already plucked that crow. The plain fact is that a husband has absolute
right to command his wife, and every man and woman here knows that.”

She met his gaze for a long moment and then sighed, pushed aside the covers, and said, “Where did I put my shoes?”

“Yonder,” he said, pointing to the shadows at the foot of her pallet.

She nodded, stretched to retrieve them, and put them on. “If you will permit me to go outside, sir, I must…” She bit her lip.
When he nodded his understanding, she stood, pushed aside the tent flap, and stepped out.

Finding his boots, Hugh pulled them on, wishing he could think clearly. His body still ached for hers, as if it called him
a fool for honoring his promise to her.

It had been all he could do to pretend that he was unaffected by having her so close to him. The temptation to grab her and
stop her arguments with kisses and caresses had been almost more than he could withstand.