Chapter 2 #2
“Where would the fun be in that?” The man steered them toward a door that led to a darkened passageway Cairren knew couples often used for trysts. She dug her slippered heels into the floorboards, but the man took little notice, or rather he ignored her opposition.
“Cuthbert, who is this fine piece?” Another Armstrong asked as they came closer to the door than made Cairren comfortable. She recalled now that the delegate had an English name because his mother had English parents.
“Don’t you recognize the Kennedy’s daughter, Nevil? I intend to discover if she’s as smooth as French women are reported to be. She’ll be good for a tupping. I’ve heard her people own women just to pleasure men.”
Cairren gasped, understanding Cuthbert’s meaning.
She recalled Cuthbert and Nevil were brothers.
She had no intention of allowing any man besides her husband discover what her grooming habits were.
She twisted away, but the man’s hold on her hand made it impossible to break free.
She grabbed his little finger and pulled it back as hard as she could.
His hand dropped from hers only for his brother to wrap what felt like an iron manacle around her arm.
“Let go of my daughter,” Innes’s quiet hiss made Cairren and both Armstrongs halt.
Suddenly, Cairren was free and stumbling toward her father.
He pulled her against his side, dropped a kiss on her crown, then pushed her behind him as he cracked his knuckles.
“I heard what you said to my daughter. I saw my daughter trying to get away. To me, it looked like you intended to accost her.”
Innes took a menacing step forward, but the men were foolish enough to stand their ground.
Innes’s grin made the men finally realize the grave error they made.
It was an expression that made warriors cower on the battlefield.
He grasped a handful of hair on each head and slammed their foreheads together.
“Perhaps if you put your heads together, you’ll come up with some sense.” Innes pulled them apart only to ram them together again. “You can tell your laird that I expect a proper apology or our alliance is through.”
“We offer that apology now, my laird. We beg your pardon and Lady Cairren’s for the slight.”
“Nay,” Innes growled. “Not good enough. You’re here to represent the Armstrongs and your laird. Since you act on his behalf, your behavior is a reflection of him. He will offer an apology or he can fight the English without the Kennedys.”
Cairren listened to the exchange and was prudent enough not to interfere, but she wished her father would let sleeping dogs lie.
She didn’t want this to become public fodder for her last two days at court.
While she appreciated her father’s intervention, his overprotectiveness was creating a scene.
As if sensing his daughter’s growing anxiety, he released the men and spun on his heel.
He wrapped his arm around Cairren and led her back to where Collette sat with the senior guardsmen who traveled with them.
“Qu’est-ce qui s’est passe?” What happened, Collette asked as she noticed their approach.
“Rien, Maman.” She knew her father would say it was more than nothing.
“Two Armstrong swine tried to pull our lass out of the Great Hall and made inappropriate comments. I handled it,” Innes stated as he took his seat on the bench beside Collette. A speaking glance at his men had them hurrying away from the table.
“You don’t seem very surprised, Cairren,” Collette observed. “What did they say?”
Cairren’s face flushed as she glanced at Innes, whose temper seemed ready to flair again. She looked back at her mother and shook her head. “They were interested in learning aboot French grooming customs. They intended to see for themselves.”
Collette’s French temper was shorter than Innes’s Scottish one, which meant her mother was ready to commit bloody murder to defend her daughter. The older woman’s eyes swept the crowd, narrowing when she recognized the Armstrong contingent.
“Maman, please. Just let it go. I’m used to it.” Cairren wanted to swallow her tongue. She hadn’t intended to admit that she was accustomed to such insults.
“Pour quoi?”
“Because that wasn’t the first time I’ve heard that. Court is not a place known for morality. The ladies-in-waiting receive uncouth offers, but most refuse them.”
“But most aren’t likened to a harem slave,” Innes growled.
“Harem?” Collette’s eyes narrowed as she left her seat.
“Maman, s'il vous pla?t. Non,” Cairren begged, but Collette was already winding her way through the crowd until she reached the Armstrongs. Silence fell among the men as they recognized Lady Collette Kennedy.
“Qui? Who?” Collette demanded. She kept her voice low, but the steel edge cut through the awkwardness.
“Who, what, madame?” Cuthbert spoke up. His smarminess dripped from his words. But Collette refused to play his game. She reached out, grabbed his groin, and squeezed mercilessly.
“C’est vrai. It is true. They say the English have tiny cocks.
Perhaps your mother shouldn’t have lain with one and kept herself to a good Scotsman.
” Collette squeezed once more for good measure.
“Give my regards to your mother, Lady Anne. And I’m certain your uncle will offer the apology I imagine my husband demanded. ”
Those surrounding them chuckled at Collette’s put-down.
She stepped away as the crowd of onlookers parted to allow the angry Frenchwoman through.
But she turned back to face the Armstrongs once more.
“By the by, if I learn a single one of you insults another young lady, you’d better guard your cods because I will cut them off.
” She made a slicing motion through the air, and more than one man winced.
Cairren wanted to melt into the floor. Her humiliation was complete, even if she recognized her parents’ good intentions. It was just as well she was leaving because she wouldn’t be able to show her face again. She prayed she could spend the next two days hidden away.