Free Tempted by Virginia Henley Page A

whirled away from him, then gathered the plaid high about her neck and clutched it desperately. “Please leave me in peace so I may dress and come downstairs.”
    “Don’t ye like this luxurious chamber?” he mocked
    “Yes, it’s lovely—she’s lovely,” Tina said, indicating the portrait of Damaris.
    “The Kennedy bitch!” She thought she saw a look of pain in his eyes before he spat.
    Valentina felt as if he had slapped her in the face. “If you hate her so much, why haven’t you removed it?”
    Ramsay Douglas laughed, but there was no mirth in that laughter. “Don’t think we haven’t tried When the painting is taken down, all hell breaks loose in the castle until it’s back in its place. The bitch haunts us,” he said quite matter-of-factly.
    She laughed derisively. “Oh come—the infamous Black Ram believing in ghosts?”
    His eyes narrowed and gleamed with their strange pewter shade. “Ye know me, wench?”
    “C-Colin told me your name. He said it with such reverence, I assumed you must be a god at the very least”
    “A god?” he snorted “Perhaps an archangel,” he conceded.
    Valentina laughed and her eyes sparkled, her fear momentarily forgotten. “Well, at least you have a sense of humor.”
    “Ye too,” he conceded. “Perhaps we are alike in other ways.”
    “I don’t even know who I am, or who you are for that matter,” she replied coolly.
    “Yer a woman, I’m a man. It might be rewarding tae find out,” he said, stepping closer. If he touched her again, Tina thought she might faint. There was a sound at the door, and impatiently Ram flung it open. It was his wolfhound.
    “Oh, please don’t let him in,” she begged, retreating to the fireplace.
    “Never fear, he won’t enter this room. The specter keeps him at bay.”
    “You are serious about her spirit haunting this castle?”
    “Aye,” he said grimly. “My cousin Alexander brought her here as a bride over fifteen years ago. She was a whore, like all the Kennedy women. She had two brothers at each other’s throats over her. Alexander poisoned her, then took a dive from the parapets.”
    Tina’s cheeks colored with anger at his offensive words. “Perhaps it is the evil shade of the poisoner Alexander who is condemned through eternity to haunt the halls of this cursed castle.”
    “His phantom stands ever at my shoulder warning me against marriage. Wives are like spiders—once they are mated, the female slowly devours the male.”
    Valentina shuddered. She knew she must get away from this dangerous man. Women were obviously less than dirt to him. “My lord, I beg you will allow me to finish dressing and also allow me the freedom of your castle. I know my memory will come back to me if I walk about—perhaps get some fresh air—take a look at the spot where I fell. Perhaps seeing my horse will jog my mind so that all will fall into place.”
    He waved an arm. “Feel free tae explore my cursed castle, if yer no’ afraid of bogles.”
    “‘Tis the living I fear,” she said pointedly.
    “Touché, my lovely vixen. ‘Tis obvious ye would be rid o’ me.” He smiled cruelly. “I’m off for an interesting encounterwi’ my nearest and dearest neighbors, the Hamiltons. I invite ye tae sup wi’ me when I return.”
    “Thank you,” she said faintly. She leaned her head against the door weakly after he’d gone. He’d called her vixen—her father’s name for her.
    “Never be alone with him again,” warned Damaris.
    Tina walked to the fireplace, threw off the despised Douglas tartan, and put on her lavender-wool gown She looked up at the beautiful pale girl in the portrait and whispered, “Damaris, help me find Davie. We must get away. All hell will break loose when he learns it wasn’t the Hamiltons who raided.”
    “I seldom leave this chamber ‘Tis the only way to avoid Alexander,” whispered Damaris
    Tina retrieved her knife and carefully slipped it up the sleeve of her gown.
    “Mary and Joseph,