Page 1 of Kidnapped by a Rogue
PROLOGUE
Drumlanrig Castle
The Lowlands of Scotland
1522
Margaret’s husband, the 7thBaron of Drumlanrig, stormed into the bedchamber, banging the door against the wall, even before the maid had time to change the bloody sheets.
“You failed again, you useless woman!” He leaned over the bed and shouted in her face, “Have you and your family not made me suffer enough already?”
Margaret curled into a ball and covered her ears. Another miscarriage. Another lost babe. Her heart could not bear it.
“For God’s sake, stop your damned weeping,” he said. “I’m speaking to you.”
Could he not show her some mercy for once and leave her alone?
“Nay, you’re worse than useless!” William continued his ranting as he paced back and forth beside the bed. “You’re a rope around my neck tying me to your traitorous family.”
“Please, laird, your lady wife must rest,” the elderly maid spoke up. “She’s lost too much blood this time.”
The poor woman’s attempt to intervene earned her a shove from William that landed her on the floor. Margaret tried to get up to help her, but she was too weak to rise from the bed. Frightening the elderly servant appeared to calm William for the moment, and he sauntered over to the side table to pour himself a whisky.
“I was the envy of every man in Scotland when we wed. A rare beauty, they called you,” William said, raising his cup to her in mock tribute. “But what good is a beautiful wife if she’s a cold fish in bed and too weak to bear an heir?”
Margaret made no effort to placate and soothe him as she usually did. She was too lost in grief to care what William said.
“Of course, it wasn’t your looks that made ye such a dazzling marriage prize,” he said. “’Twas that your brother was Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, the sly devil who wheedled his way into our widowed queen’s bed and persuaded the lovesick cow to wed him.”
Why was William droning on about this now? Did he feel no sorrow for the child they’d lost?
“Your brother outmaneuvered all the other powerful magnates by becoming the stepfather of the infant heir to the Scottish throne.” William held his clenched fist inches from her face. “He had it in his grasp to rule Scotland.”
His sour breath in her face made her uneasy stomach turn. When she tried to roll away, William pinned her arms.
“Not one of the men who envied me would have ye now.” William’s voice was low and dangerous. “You’re nothing now that the men of your family have been charged with treason and fled to France.”
“William, please…” She suspected she was still bleeding, judging by the growing dampness beneath her, and she just wanted him to leave.
“In truth,” he said, nodding to himself, “’tis a blessing ye lost the child.”
A fresh flood of tears streaked down the sides of her face.A blessing?How could he say that? For the sake of a peaceful home, she had made excuses for his behavior and forgiven him time and again, but this was too much.
“Since there will be no child, I’m free to be rid of ye,” he said. “Even if it costs me a damned fortune in bribes, I’ll obtain an annulment from Rome.”
A cold sweat broke out on her brow, and she felt so lightheaded she could barely follow what he was saying.
“I’ll not risk losing my lands and title for a barren woman and her treasonous brothers.” He grasped her shoulders and shook her. “Do ye hear me? I want you out!”
She fell back on the bed when he released her. Her head swam, and her fingers had gone numb.
“Get her out of here,” he told the maid as he headed for the door.
At last, he was leaving.
“Of course, laird,” the maid said. “I’ll prepare another chamber for her right away.”
“Nay, I want that woman gone from the castle,” William shouted. “Gone! Tonight!”
