Page 68 of Captured by a Laird
“I saw ye send Brian off yesterday,” she said when she saw that David was awake. “Has something happened?”
She had waited to ask, hoping David would tell her on his own. Brian was David’s most trusted man, so the errand must be important. Still, she did not care where or why he’d sent Brian so much as she cared that David share it with her.
“Nothing to trouble yourself about,” David said, and kissed the tender spot below her ear.
“I know your responsibilities weigh on ye,” she said. “My mother always said that sharing your troubles makes them lighter.”
He leaned down and circled her nipple with his tongue. If he was trying to distract her, he succeeded.
“Tell me the tale behind this,” he said, running his finger over the smooth black stone that lay between her breasts.
Though she was disappointed he would not tell her about Brian’s errand, at least he was showing an interest in her beyond her breasts.
“How do ye know there’s a tale?” she asked.
“The stone is unusual and ye always wear it.” He paused. “Was it Blackadder who gave it to ye?”
“Nay.” Ach, she wanted to gag at the thought. She wished she could burn everything of hers that Blackadder had ever touched.
“Who gave it to ye, then?” He raised an eyebrow. “One of your admirers?”
“I was far too young before I wed to have admirers.”
“Beautiful women have admirers,” he said, “married or no.”
He'd managed to give her a compliment and an insult all at once.
“My mother gave the pendant to me,” she said. “She had one made for me and each of my sisters from a single stone that she believed had protective powers.”
“So thereisa tale,” David said.
“Aye, one of royal politics, love, and murder.”
“Ach, the best kind,” he said with a glint in his eye.
This was the unexpected, playful side of David that made her defenses melt like butter in a hot pan.
“When our late king was a young man, everyone knew that he must marry a foreign princess to make an alliance for Scotland,” she began. “The only question was whether the princess would be French or English.”
***
David should get an early start on the day. And yet he found himself entranced by Alison's melodic voice and the faraway look in her eyes as she recited what he guessed was an oft-told story in her family.
“A royal mistress, however, could bring lucrative posts and other favors to her family,” she continued. “So all the Scottish nobles paraded their bonny daughters before the young royal in the hope that one of their own would catch his eye.”
No doubt David’s family had played in that game, though the thought disgusted him.
“The Drummond sisters, my mother included, were renowned beauties,” she said. “The king fell deeply in love with my mother's sister Margaret and made her his mistress. That in itself did not endanger her.”
Something nagged at David's memory about a tragedy in the Drummond family.
“The king installed my aunt in Stirling Castle and lived openly with her as if she were his queen,” she said. “Rumors began to fly that the king wished to make her his wife.”
David did not need to be told that this would have upset every powerful faction in Scotland, not to mention the kings of France and England.
“What did your grandfather Drummond do to protect his daughter?” David asked.
“Protect her?” Alison gave a short, humorless laugh. “He imagined his grandchild with a crown his head and persuaded our besotted young monarch that a king could do as he pleased.”
