Tamed by a Laird (35 page)

“Lochmaben!” Fiona exclaimed. “Sakes, everyone there is English!”

“Aye, but I sang there,” Jenny said. “As for the minstrels’ honesty, the Sheriff of Dumfries invited them to perform in the
market square there.”

Recalling that the sheriff’s men had searched all the tents in the Dumfries encampment for missing jewels, she tried to fit
a simple prank at Annan House with that knowledge. They had found nothing, though. She needed to think more.

However, Mairi and Fiona demanded then that she tell them the whole tale of her adventures, so she did her best to comply.
But she left out her suspicions of intrigue brewing and other, more private things.

Supper was a tense meal, made tolerable only by Hugh’s presence and that of Fiona and Mairi. When Jenny finished eating, she
had no desire to linger at the table or to join Phaeline in her solar with the others, so she excused herself, saying she
was tired from all her travels and wanted to sleep.

No one tried to dissuade her, but alone in her bedchamber, she felt unusually lonely and uncertain of herself. Remembering
that Peg had suspected Phaeline was not pregnant at all, Jenny sent a gillie to find Phaeline’s maid-servant, Sadie.

When the girl came to her, Jenny said, “I’m leaving early in the morning for Kirkcudbright, Sadie. Prithee, help me fold these
dresses into yon sumpter basket.”

“Och, aye, I did hear that, me lady. We’d nae suspicion that ye’d marry Sir Hugh. ’Twere a rare stunner, that, as we thought
ye was to marry his brother!”

“It was a surprise to me, too,” Jenny said with a smile, watching as Sadie deftly folded one of her gowns. “How well you do
that! I vow, I tried three times to make it fit without crushing it.”

“Aye, well, I do ha’ to look after her ladyship’s things, don’t I? And her being that particular, I can tell ye.”

“How does she fare?” Jenny asked. “Peg said she feared something may have gone amiss.”

Sadie’s eyes flew wide, and she stared as if she did not know what to say.

“What is it, Sadie? Should I not have asked after her?”

“I’d liefer ye didna ask
me
, me lady. I shouldna say nowt.”

“I see,” Jenny said. Peg had been right then. “Did she find her missing pearls?”

“Nay, not her, although Lady Johnstone did find
her
necklace. And them other pieces that went missing, they all turned up, too. I did think I’d found three o’ the lady Phaeline’s
pearls, but she said they was old ones from summat else and she were missing her whole string. Faith, though, she slapped
me so me ears rang.”

“Oh, Sadie, no,” Jenny said sympathetically.

“Aye,
and
she thinks someone in the castle took them. I feared she meant me, but I’d never take nowt that wasna mine. We none of us
would, Lady Jenny… Sakes”—she threw up her hands—“what do I call ye now? I’m thinking I should call ye Lady Douglas or Lady
Thornhill, but I dinna ken which.”

“Neither,” Jenny said with a chuckle. “I am still properly Lady Easdale, Sadie, but I shan’t mind a bit if you go on calling
me Lady Jenny.”

She wondered what Hugh would think of that, but as he had made the point himself, he would surely understand that she retained
her title. Just thinking of him made her wish he were there so she could talk to him. Doubtless, a wife had the right to summon
her husband to her. She wondered if Hugh would come if she did.

Still at the high table, Hugh was longing for his bed. He was not particularly sleepy, but he was tired of listening to Dunwythie.

He had long since acquitted his lordship of evil intent, because it was plain that he was just a man who preferred peace to
the sort of discomfort Phaeline could create for him if he displeased her. The woman had only to moan and put a hand on her
belly for the poor hen-hearted man to leap up and do her bidding.

Hugh could understand Dunwythie’s longing for a son. Most men wanted sons. But to wait fifteen years and do nothing in the
meantime to secure the well-being of his estates and his people was dangerously irresponsible.

Realizing that he had done much the same by failing to insist that Reid learn to run Thornhill, he could say no more to Dunwythie
on that subject. Mayhap the man would teach his daughters what they needed to know. Mairi, at least, seemed capable and would
doubtless learn quickly. The mischievous Fiona was another matter, but might well improve with age.

As soon as he could decently excuse himself after supper, he went to his bedchamber. There, he found Lucas tidying the room
and sorting his clothing. A large tub full of steaming water sat beside the small fireplace.

“That tub looks inviting,” Hugh said, beginning to strip off his jacket.

“I did ’ear we’d be going to Kirkcudbright by galley, so I knew ye’d be glad of a bath. I’m thinking though that ye mightn’t
want to take all your gear.”

“You were right about the bath but wrong about the gear,” Hugh said as he unlaced his shirt. “We’ll take it all. I mean to
return straight to Thornhill from Kirkcudbright. I have already been away from the place too long.”

“Aye, sir, and my lady?”

“So you’ve heard about that, too, have you?”

Kneeling to pull off Hugh’s boots, Lucas said casually, “Being as I were present for the wedding, as ye might say…”

“Don’t play the fool with me. I know you’ve learned she is to go with us and doubtless that I have declared she’ll remain
my wife unless she wills it otherwise.”

“Aye, sure, and wise I thought ye, too, sir—although I ken fine that ye’d sworn ye’d never marry again,” he added gently.

“Too late to think about that now,” Hugh said. “Just see to it that our horses get safely back to Thornhill and our baggage
gets aboard the right galley. Oh, and you’d better see if her ladyship has orders for you, as well.”

“What about a maid for her ladyship, sir? Happen she’ll want one.”

“Go and ask her as soon as we have finished washing my hair,” Hugh advised, wondering what Jenny would think of his sending
Lucas to her.

When the man had gone, Hugh finished his bath and dried his hair by the fire. Although it was early for bed, he decided he
could use a good night’s sleep.

He had scarcely settled in, however, when a rap on his door roused him.

Certain that it must be Lucas returning with men to carry away the tub, he growled, “Come in then!”

But when the door opened, Jenny stood on the threshold with a candle in her hand, her unplaited hair hanging in soft waves
to her hips. “Oh,” she said. “I did not think… That is I thought you would still be up. I… I should not have come.”

Hugh sat up, recalled his nudity, and forced calm into his voice as he said, “I can pull my breeks back on and be up again
in a trice, lass. Don’t run away.”

In truth, one part of him was already up. It had leapt to attention the moment he saw her. She turned her back, making him
fear she would leave, so he grabbed his breeks and yanked them on, imperiling the most wakeful part of him as he jerked the
lacing tight.

“Come in, Jenny,” he said as he tied off the laces. “What is it, lass? I sent Lucas to you. Did you forget something you wanted
to tell him?”

“Nay, he went off to get his supper. But my room is cold and lonely, and I knew you must still be angry with me, so I thought…
I guess I want to apologize.”

Since she still stood on the threshold, he went to her and urged her inside with a hand to a shoulder, nudging the door shut
behind them with his foot.

She wore only a loose lavender robe and slippers, and she smelled of roses, his favorite perfume. It was the first time he
had seen her hair unplaited. It hung in long waves, and where his hand still touched her, it felt silky soft and a bit damp.

“You washed your hair,” he said.

“I washed all of me,” she said. Then, catching sight of the water-filled tub, she added, “You must have, too. It smells of
musk and cloves in here.”

Unnaturally aware of his hand on her right shoulder, he warned himself that he ought not to be touching her at all before
he sorted out why she had come. But when she turned toward him and stood there, looking trustfully up at him, he could not
resist putting his other hand lightly on her left shoulder.

The lavender robe was soft, and her eyes, reflecting the light of her candle, looked more golden than ever.

He took the candle from her, set it on a nearby stand, and put his hand back on her shoulder. “Now,” he said, “why did you
come to me?”

“I told you, I should apolo—”

“Lass, when I am angry, you won’t just suspect it. You will know it.”

“But you were,” she insisted.

“Aye, but not with you. I should have said when I’m angry with
you
, you will know it. I am not one who conceals true anger when I feel it.”

“You were hiding it today. I could tell.”

“Could you? I was angry that they had treated you so unfairly. I saw your father’s will, and it makes his wishes clear. If
Dunwythie read only far enough to learn he’d named him your guardian, I suspect he wanted to know no more, lest it make difficulties
for him. That amounts to cowardice and did make me angry, but I hid it for the same reason I warned you not to display your
feelings to them.”

“So as not to give them the satisfaction of knowing they had angered us.”

“Aye, and you did well, lass. But I was talking of more personal things a moment ago. You need not hide your anger with me—if
ever I should stir it,” he added with a teasing smile. Then, more seriously, he said, “You should also know that I don’t always
manage to control mine. Sometimes, it just leaps before I can.”

“Phaeline said you have a fearsome temper.”

“Aye, well, she should know. She has stirred it more than once.”

“Is that why you told me not to throw things?”

“Aye, and you should take that warning to heart,” he said. “But now that we have established that I’m
not
angry with you, is there aught else you want to say?”

“I expect Lucas told you that I don’t need a maidservant to go with us.”

“Not yet; I thought you were he coming back for the tub. Art sure you don’t want someone? There are unlikely to be other women
aboard the ship.”

“I don’t have my own servants here from Easdale,” she said. “And I don’t want anyone from Annan House.”

“Then you need not have anyone. Anything else?”

She hesitated, then looked him in the eye. “Phaeline told me that you swore you would never marry again, and today you declared
me your wife because they made you angry. I… I just wanted to talk to you… to… But now I don’t know what to say. That is,
I don’t know what you really want from me. Will you tell me?”

His fingers gripped her shoulders tighter. He had not been sure either at the time. But looking into her golden eyes, feeling
her tremble as she waited for him to speak, and feeling his cock vote its prick’s worth, he knew exactly what he wanted.

“I rarely say aught that I don’t mean, Jenny, especially when I’m angry. I meant what I said to them. As far as I am concerned,
we are husband and wife and will remain so unless you choose otherwise. Twice now, you have demanded that I act as your husband.
Mayhap you should consider that demand more carefully.”

“And mayhap the third time will make it so,” she said. Then, with a hesitant smile, she added, “May I sleep here with you
tonight?”

“I cannot think of anything I’d like better,” he said. “But you should know that if you do, I will act the husband in every
way, lass, from now on.”

“Sakes, I already told them that you had,” she said. “Shall I undress?”

“Nay, I want to undress you. Then, if you are very good— and very quick—perhaps I will let you undress me.”

J
enny thought she had sounded sure of herself when she asked if she should undress, and she stood silently now, hoping she
looked as if this sort of thing were easy for her. But as Hugh reached for the sash of her robe, the back of his hand brushed
the tip of her left breast, making her gasp.

His lips twitched as if he would smile, but he did not. If he had spoken the truth in saying he would show his feelings openly
to her, his only intent now was to undress her. She trembled again, hoping he did not expect her to help.

The sash was swiftly gone, and he pushed her robe wider, revealing the narrow silk ribbons of her shift. A gentle tug, and
the ribbons parted. The gathered top of her shift opened wide.

He put his hands on her shoulders again but only to push the fabric of both garments away as if they were one. Easing them
off her shoulders and down her arms, he bared her torso and paused, caressing her breasts with his gaze and making her tingle
warmly inside, as if he had touched them. Then he did, with both hands, and her robe abandoned her shift and slid to the floor.