6. ROSINA
Chapter six
ROSINA
When Rosina’s father lost everything to the Laird of Tighe, including his life, her mother and Rosina were taken captive.
At the time, the Gordons were scattered far and wide, and Rosina and Jeanette were forced to live in the victor’s house.
Rosina had to play lady in waiting to his daughter Elspit—not that that was such a hardship, she admitted to herself, Elspit being such a sweet girl.
Jeanette had secretly written letter after letter, begging for help from her husband’s important friends and relatives, but no one answered.
Rosina suspected the letters never reached their destinations.
Clans were made up of relatives and others with a reason to want to cling close to the laird.
That way they were safe, and by taking up arms when needed could offer safety to the clan as a whole.
When her father died at Tighe’s hands, some of his people latched on to other clans, but a few loyal supporters came with Rosina and her mother to live at Tighe.
Kenny Gordon, who was one of her father’s most staunch clansmen, now resided in one of the cottages beyond Tighe castle, and was making a living as best he could.
Rosina had always tried to make sure Kenny’s family were cared for, and that was why she was visiting now with a basket of food from the castle kitchens.
She had barely finished setting down the basket and asking how the family were, when the door was flung open.
Kenny jumped up and reached for his claymore, but it was too late. Next thing the point of a sword was pressed against his throat and a very large and aggressive Dugald Campbell was in his face.
Shocked, Rosina was speechless, and then quickly stepped in between the two men as best she could, shoving Dugald’s chest. “What do you think you’re doing?” she shouted.
His eyes slid sideways to hers. “I’m doing what you should be doing, looking out for your welfare.”
“My welfare?” she repeated furiously.
Kenny, the sword still against his throat, swallowed.
“He’s right, lass,” he said awkwardly. “I’ve told you before how dangerous it is to come beyond the castle walls in these times.
The Laird of Tighe was hated, aye, but he still has his followers and they would like nothing better than to take revenge on his daughter’s lady in waiting. ”
As he’d continued to speak Dugald had stepped back, lowering his weapon. He was frowning, and Rosina saw by the hard line of his mouth that he wasn’t happy.
“If I don’t come, who will bring you food when you need it?” she asked Kenny, her voice husky with emotion, because suddenly she felt very emotional. “And when your wife is sick, who will come then, if not for me?”
The man looked even more uncomfortable. “I thank you, my lady, for all you have done. But I would not put your life at risk for mine. Your father would turn over in his grave.”
“I will speak to my brother,” Dugald said. “He will make certain that all the Gordon men at Tighe are looked after. He probably would have done so earlier but he has been ... distracted.”
The two men shared a guffaw which for some reason made Rosina furious. She opened the door and stalked out, slamming it behind her. She was already several yards away from the hovel, on the road back to the castle, when Dugald caught up with her.
He was leading his horse, and when he reached her he shortened his long strides to match hers.
That made her angry too. As if he was treating her with care when he had no right to treat her anyway at all.
Last night in the anteroom ... Well, she had regretted her behaviour all night long, swore it would never happen again, and now the same heat was crawling over her skin, prickling it, making her clothing feel uncomfortable.
She kept her face forward, refusing to look at him, despite knowing he was looking at her. His muscular bicep brushed her shoulder and she felt his warm breath on her hair as he bent closer to her.
“Breathe, Rosina,” he murmured.
She tried to quicken her pace.
“Rosina,” he said. “Look at me.”
“Why should I?” she snapped. “You follow me and interfere in my life; you tell me what I can and cannot do. Go away Dugald, you are leaving anyway.”
She wasn’t sure where that last bit came from, and why it caused her heart to contract so hard that for a moment she found it difficult to see straight.
“Rosina.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
She sounded childish and she knew it, but he made her emotions hurtle around inside her, threatening to overturn her, and after so many years of keeping those feelings locked away, she was frightened of what might happen if she lost control of them now.
“Then don’t talk,” he replied evenly, and with something warm in his voice that she suspected was laughter.
She turned sharply to look at him and found his dark blue eyes gazing down at her.
“Don’t talk,” he repeated, and bending brushed his lips over hers.
“Kiss me instead,” he said, voice low and husky and full of desire.
Her gaze flickered to his lips and then back to his compelling gaze. They had stopped walking now, standing in the middle of the empty road, fully engaged in each other.
“There is something still between us,” Dugald said. “I know you feel it too.”
“And you are leaving. All the more reason not to act on it.”
He was so close to her she could see the scruff on his jaw and the dark lashes that seemed too long for such a big strong man.
“Why not? Wouldn’t it make sense to work this urge out of our systems?
Then we’ll be free of it. Don’t tell me,” he hurried on, when she went to speak, placing his fingertip against her lips, “that you feel nothing. I know you do. Right now your breasts are hard points through your blouse. I can see them.” His eyes flared.
“I want to suck on them until you beg me to—”
This time it was she who put her fingers over his lips to stop him.
Dugald wouldn’t be stopped. “You want me, Rosina, and I want you.”
With a groan she turned away from him, shaking her head, and said. “Dugald—”
“Consider it,” he said before she could refuse him. “Until I leave we can fuck until this thing between us dies a natural death, and perhaps we can even be civil to each other. We have a daughter, we need to be civil, Rosina.”
She had flinched at his coarseness but the rest of his words made an uncanny sense.
Was he right? Could they drive this thing out?
Could she be free of the ache that was growing with every moment in his company?
And Mary ... he was right about that too.
She had already come to realise he had no intention of walking away from his daughter, although he seemed to have no problems with walking away from Rosina.
They would have to talk as Mary grew older and she wanted those talks to be civil.
“I will consider it,” she said roughly, still not looking at him, and then continued on her way.
After a moment he caught up with her, falling into step once more. They walked together, in silence, until they reached the gates to Castle Tighe, and then he turned in the direction of the armoury. Rosina ignored the smirk of the guard and went about her duties.
But she had a great deal to think about. His offer was crude and preposterous and yet ... Some part of her, the keening she had felt all those years ago, the sensation that had never gone away, was screaming at her to say yes.
***
Mary was sewing in Elspit’s chamber with the other women. Elspit herself was half asleep with a smile on her face, a smile that Rosina was fully aware was due to Ewen Campbell.
They were in love.
Rosina didn’t expect to find love again, that wasn’t why she was resisting Dugald’s request. He wasn’t asking her for love. This was a purely physical thing.
“Dugald says he will ask the seamstress to make me a new gown, Mother,” Mary interrupted her thoughts. “A green one, because it is my favourite colour. He says his brother Ewen is going to have a feast to celebrate his return, and I can wear it then.”
Rosina bit her lip but forced a smile. “That is very good, Mary.”
“It’s because he’s my father,” Mary stated matter of factly, but her glance at her mother was asking a question. “At least, that is what I believe.”
The other women in the room were pretending not to listen but Rosina was well aware they were. Even Elspit, a moment ago asleep, had lifted her head and opened her eyes.
“He is your father, Mary. He has been ... away but now he is returned with Ewen. But he will not be here for long. He is an important man and the duke needs him.”
Mary thought about this. “He said that even when he leaves he will write to me. I do not write very well. I should practise my letters so that I can write back.”
Rosina felt her chest ache. Her daughter, who was the worst of pupils, had suddenly decided she needed to learn to write better so that she could respond to her father’s letters. “Then you must certainly pay attention next time you have a lesson, Mary.”
Her daughter nodded solemnly. “I will. I promised Dug ... I promised my father.”
There was a collective sigh in the room, as if all the ladies felt the emotion. Elspit smiled at her friend. “Dugald is very good at getting people to do things for him,” she said to no one in particular. “That is why the duke likes him, according to Ewen.”
There seemed little to say to that. Rosina had already guessed that Dugald had risen far and would rise even further.
She could not expect him to remain here, and nor did she want him to.
And even if she wanted to cling to him, he was like a slippery fish that would never be in her grasp for long.
What did it matter what they did in the short time he remained at Tighe?
She wanted him and he wanted her, she could at least be honest about it.
Why did she have to make everything so difficult?
It wasn’t as if they were hurting anyone ...
except, she admitted, herself. Dugald had made her an offer and at that moment Rosina recklessly decided to take it.