Bertrice Small - Love Wild and Fair

The earl chuckled to himself. Because James was affectionate with those about him, and these were mostly males, he was thought to be homosexual. The plain truth of the matter was that the king, having been surrounded by men since his infancy, gave his affections where he could. Stewarts were loving creatures. Until recently there had been no suitable women for the king to fix his attentions on.

James had, in a burst of romanticism, willed himself half in love with his blond bride. But Bothwell knew that the king needed someone right now. If that someone was the Countess of Glenkirk, then well and good. She was neither ambitious nor a schemer. However, the earl did not think the king stood a chance. The lady seemed quite content with her dull but loving lord. A pity, really. Cat Leslie was a gorgeous creature, obviously made for love. Bothwell couldn't help but wonder if Glenkirk had awakened her completely.

James endured the evening. When he could leave without causing undue comment he did so. and suffered himself to be put ceremoniously to bed. He then called his chamberboy to him. The lad was invaluable, being mute but not deaf. His name was Barra, and he was privy to all the king's secrets.

"I'll be in the secret passageway," said the king. "I am locking the bedroom door from my side. Have ye yer key?"

Barra held his up.

"Good," said the king. "Dinna let anyone disturb me. If there's an emergency, you come after me alone."

The boy nodded wisely, and left the room to keep watch outside James' door.

Locking the door from inside, James walked to the fireplace and touched a small carving on its side. He took a lighted candle from the mantel sconce, counted off six paces, pushed the wall, and walked through the opening into the passage. He waited until the door had swung shut behind him and then moved quickly through the secret passageway until he came to his destination. He placed his candle in a holder high on the wall. Lifting a small flap, he peered into the room beyond.

Patrick Leslie stood naked by the table pouring out two goblets of wine. God, thought James, he is handsome, and well hung too-though not quite as well as I am.

The king watched as the earl moved back to the rumpled bed. Cat lay naked. Lazily she reached up for the goblet. Patrick sprawled next to her.

"Jesu, sweetheart, I hate being away from ye," the earl said.

"Then let's go home, Patrick! Ye were right when ye said we should nae involve ourselves wi the Stewarts."

"Why, hinny, I thought ye were enjoying yerself."

"I was, but these people who live at court and feed off it frighten me. I want to go home wi ye now!"

"We canna, sweetheart. I didna tell ye because I didna want our reunion spoiled, but Jamie has asked me to go to Denmark wi a group of nobles to escort the little queen home. I could nae refuse him, and we leave in a week."

Cat swore. She knew the king had planned to send her husband off, but she had not expected him to act so quickly and had hoped she could foil the royal plans. "Yer sending me home, Patrick, aren't ye?"

"I wanted to, hinny, but the king has asked that ye remain at court. He wants ye to be a lady of his wife's bedchamber. He has a high regard for ye, sweetheart."

Trapped! She was again trapped by James Stewart! The earl put down his goblet and, pulling Cat under him, kissed her hungrily. "I hae only a few days, ma-dame," he said, "before I must leave ye. It will be two months or more before we see each other again." His big hands caressed her breasts, her hips, her thighs.

Cat needed no encouragement. She yielded eagerly to her husband, unaware that the king himself was watching them.

James could not tear his eyes away from the scene below him. When the figures reached their simultaneous climax James felt the hardness in his own groin break, and the sticky fluid spurt down his leg.

I'll nae put up wi this for a week, he thought. The delegation to Denmark will leave as soon as I can arrange it.

Using the pose of an eager bridegroom, James waved his nobles off three days later. Cat knew why her husband had been torn from her early and was furious. The Eral of Bothwell suspected, and laughed to himself over the king's eagerness.

Suspecting that she would be angry with him, James stayed away from his reluctant mistress for two days. On the third day, however, Barra shyly pressed a rose on the countess' tiring woman. It was the signal for James to come that night. Ellen told her mistress.

"I'll nae receive him!" shouted Cat furiously.

"Be silent!" Ellen snapped. "Do ye want the whole world to know?"

Cat began to weep uncontrollably, and Ellen, sensing disaster, sent a Leslie servant running to fetch Adam. By the time he arrived, Ellen had already poured several drams of whisky into her mistress to calm her down.

"I am going to kill myself," the countess announced dramatically.

"Fine," said Adam Leslie. " 'Twill be far less of a scandal than if ye openly refuse the king's attentions."

"Ye'd let me do it, wouldn't ye, Adam? Have ye no feelings for Patrick, who loves ye?"

" 'Tis because I love my brother I've come. How do ye think he'd feel to return from Denmark to discover all he possesses forfeit to the crown, including the wife he adores? Christ, Cat! The king's already had ye! Why this sudden attack of nerves?"

"I dinna want to be any man's whore," she said."‘Tis my body, and I should hae some rights over it!"

"Well, ye don't," said Adam, angrily slamming his hand against the side of the chair. "Ye belong to the Leslies, and it is up to ye to do what is best for the family! Dammit, Cat! I am nae wi'out feeling! I hate the thought of Jamie Stewart lying wi my brother's wife,, but ye know that if the king had gone straight to Patrick and asked for ye, Patrick would hae said yea. This way at least he need not know. Do yer duty by the Leslies, Cat."

He did not understand at all. The whisky had calmed Cat somewhat, and she knew she had no choice. The king would use her as he wished. "I'm all right now, Adam," she reassured him. "I dinna know what came over me. I suppose it is because I miss Patrick. We've never been separated, ye know."

He nodded, relieved. "Then I'll be on my way home." He smiled at her. Thank God she wasn't going to cause any further fuss.

"Gie my love to Fiona," Cat said softly. Then, unable to resist, she added, "And best ye keep from court, Adam, lest Jamie decides to change his luck. Yer wife would have to do her duty by the family, ye know."

Adam hastily left his sister-in-law, her mocking laughter ringing in his ears.

THE whisky had made her slightly drunk. "What time is it?" she asked Ellen.

"Past one," came the reply.

"I shall sleep till just before the evening meal. Wake me then. I'll be back here at ten. Have a bath ready for me. Put fresh linens on the bed, and be sure there is plenty of wood for the fire. I want wine, both red and white, and fruit and cheese in the cabinet. And marchpane. The king is mad for marchpane."

At eleven that evening the king entered the Countess of Glenkirk's bedroom through the secret passage. She rose from the bed and walked slowly across the room to him.

"Stand still!"

She stopped, and James feasted his eyes on his unwilling mistress. Her nightgown was exquisite, and had obviously been designed with seduction in mind. Of pale-green silk, it had long, flowing sleeves and a deep V neckline. The bodice appeared to have been painted on, molding her glorious breasts and tiny waist. The skirt rippled with hundreds of tiny pleats, and he could see the pearly sheen of her hips and legs shimmering through the silk.

Her tawny hair was piled at the top of her head and secured with several small gilt and pearl pins. She stared back at him proudly. She was so beautiful that he was almost afraid to touch her, but then desire overcame awe and he drew Cat into his arms.

His amber eyes never left her leaf-green ones, and when his arms closed tightly around her he could feel her trembling slightly, and was pleased by what he believed was her awe of him. He held her thus imprisoned for what seemed a lifetime, and then he bent and his mouth captured hers. Reaching up, he pulled the gilt pins from her hair, and it tumbled down over her shoulders in a perfumed cloud.

He pulled at the thin silk ribbon at her waist, and the gown opened easily. He watched as it slid to the floor. She turned without speaking, walked to the bed, and got into it. James forced himself to disrobe slowly, but once in bed with her he did not think he could wait She knew it, yet she held him off.

"I am nae a whore to be quickly fucked, Jamie."

"So ye can talk! I thought ye were angry wi me."

"I am! Twas nae kind of ye to send Patrick away so quickly!"

"My dear Cat, for three nights I stood in that damned passage and watched ye and yer husband make love. I could stand it no longer. Would ye rather I came through the door and asked yer husband to move over?"

Stunned, she could not answer. That anyone else had partaken of her private moments with Patrick infuriated her.

I hae a large score to settle wi ye, James Stewart, and I intend to settle it one day, she thought bitterly.

The king's mouth closed over the nipple of her breast and sucked hungrily. His hand was between her legs, seeking her soft, sensitive secret flesh. With exquisite expertise he caressed her, his fingers teasing with unbearable gentleness. Within minutes he had reduced her to a writhing passion.

She had wanted to punish him with coldness, but as her own desire grew she suddenly realized that the greatest harm she could inflict on James was to be the most voluptuous female he would ever encounter. She would ruin him for other women! She knew that once young Anna of Denmark arrived in Scotland, James would devote himself to her. Above all, he wanted a wife who belonged to him alone, and he wanted a family. He was the kind of man who couldn't jeopardize all that.

However, a teenaged virgin would hardly compare favorably with a woman as experienced as Cat was. She was no wanton, but Patrick had taught her well, and Cat was by nature a sensuous woman. She would now use her experience to revenge herself on James Stewart. Shifting her lovely body, she slid under the king and wound her arms about his neck. "Jamie," she whispered huskily. "Love me, Jamie hinny!"

He could scarcely believe his ears, but when he looked down at her he saw shining eyes and an inviting mouth. The king didn't question his good fortune. He took possession of the lips offered him. They were soft and yielding, and they drove him to a frenzy.

Her thighs opened and she arched her body to meet his downward thrust. Her legs wrapped tightly about him, and each time he drove within her, her little tongue darted within his mouth. His excitement was fierce and he was unable to control himself. Yet, within minutes, as she moved voluptuously beneath him, he grew hard again with lust for her. She whispered his name over and over again like a litany. He was mad with passion for her, but this time he held himself in check until she could find her heaven too.

Exhausted, they lay panting on the bed. Finally, he spoke. "Ye frighten me, Cat! Ye canna be human, for no woman can love like ye have just loved me!"

"But I can, my lord. Did I not please ye?"

"Aye, love, ye pleased me verra much. Did ye use witchcraft?"

Cat remembered that James was terribly superstitious.

She bit back her laughter. "Nay, my lord. I used only the sorcery of my body." Standing, she stretched tall, and then walked over to the cabinet.

"Red or white, my lord?"

"Red," he said, and she poured out two crystal goblets of the ruby wine. Carrying them back to the bed, she handed him one. Sipping it thoughtfully, he asked her, "Did Patrick teach ye to make love like that?"

"Aye," she answered him quietly.

"Ye've never known any other men, have ye?"

"Nay, Jamie, none. I am by birth a Hay of Grey-haven. Our home is quite isolated, and other than my brothers and my Hay and Leslie cousins, I had no contact with the world. I came to Patrick a virgin."

"Is yer family large?"

"I hae four brothers-one older, three younger-and my parents are both living."

"Yer fortunate, my sweet," sighed the king.

"They are but part of my family," she reminded him. "Dinna forget I have a husband and six children." She looked directly at James. "When the queen arrives from Denmark, your majesty, I am going home to Glenkirk and to my children. Ye may be the king, but I'll nae allow ye to destroy my marriage! I love Patrick Leslie, and I love our bairns. If I did not I would hae sooner killed myself than submit to another man's lust!"