Page 1 of Savage Kilted Highlander (Temptation in Tartan #9)
CHAPTER ONE
A pril, 1588
Ashbourne Hall
Hexham, Northumberland, on the border of England and Scotland.
“I think we can both agree, Lord Belton, that your marriage to Constance, my eldest daughter, will being many benefits for both of our families,” said Lord Richard Ashbourne, Viscount of Hexham, in honeyed tones. He was sitting in his favorite armchair next to the hearth in his private study at Ashbourne Manor, his family seat, a half-drunk glass of claret in his bony hand.
The Earl of Huntingford, George Belton, who was lounging in the armchair opposite the Viscount, nodded with obvious enthusiasm. “Indeed, Lord Ashbourne, I do heartily agree,” he replied, patting his paunch almost gleefully. His rubbery, liver- colored lips widened to reveal large, yellowing teeth. “As you know, I wish for an heir, and I am certain that Constance will give me many fine sons.”
Constance, who was perched stiffly on the very edge of a wooden settle a few feet away, with her hands clasped in her lap, feared she might be sick. She struggled to conceal the revulsion she felt towards the Earl as his pale, bloodshot eyes roved lasciviously over her from head to toe. He put her in mind of a hungry wolf about to devour his prey.
His insolent appraisal was a gross insult of the sort which would normally entitle any noble lady like herself to slap the Earl’s face and sweep from the room in high dudgeon. But however much Constance would have liked to do both of those things, she remained calmly in her seat, putting up with his lewd stare. For she was there at the command of Lord Ashbourne, the man whom, until very recently, she had believed unquestioningly to be her father, and she knew from bitter experience that to rouse his ire would bring harsh punishment.
She looked at him, the fine English gentleman who was supposed to protect her, at his hard features, and wondered if he had a heart at all in that bony chest of his. She thought not. How else could he have spent the previous twenty years raising her as his daughter alongside his two other children, and allow the Earl’s insulting behavior. By appearing to ignore it, he made his lack of affection plain.
But what did she expect? It was more likely to expect angels to descend from heaven and bear her away than to expect any protection or consideration from him. He cared nothing for her and never had. In his mind, she was naught but a useful gaming piece, to be deployed to his advantage in his relentless quest to enrich himself.
Truly, she heartily despised the man who had raised her, who claimed she was his daughter, and who wished to shackle her to this debauched man who was old enough to be her grandfather. Lord Ashbourne had always regarded her and his younger daughter Amelia as nothing more than his property, to be disposed of as he wished. Hence his plan to wed her to the influential Lord Belton.
She sat between the two men, vaguely listening while they decided her future as though she were no more a human being than the coalscuttle by the grate. Unpleasant though it was, she remained outwardly calm. Reaching inside her shawl, she touched the golden locket hanging there. It had been her mother’s. She had given it to Constance just before she had died sixteen years before. Constance treasured it and never took it off.
Now, it offered her comfort and strength, for it seemed the embodiment of the crucial, secret knowledge she had lodged in her heart for the last three months — a knowledge that would save her from marrying the Earl. For Constance had found out that Lord Richard Ashbourne had no true right to sell her in marriage. Indeed, legally, he had no claim to her as his daughter in any way. For the simple reason that he was not her father at all.
Her mind went back to that revelatory evening when she had accidentally overheard Lord Ashbourne talking with his oldest and most trusted friend, Lord Lionel Morton, in the manor gardens. Her life had been dramatically upended.
“The truth must never be known. She cannot find out who her real father is, not ever! If it ever got out, my reputation would be ruined, the Earl would call off the wedding, and I would lose the valuable business connections he has promised me as part of the marriage agreement. Not to mention how her true father might react if he were to find out who his daughter is engaged to. It must go ahead,” Lord Ashbourne had said vehemently.
“You are worrying too much, my friend. You only found out the truth yourself about Constance years after Eleanor had had her, and I’m the only one you’ve told about her affair with this Scottish laird, this Ewan Kerr. How could anybody else discover it now?” Lord Lionel had asked.
“Kerr has no idea that I know the truth about what happened between him and my wife all those years ago. He is unaware that I know she gave birth to twin daughters while I was away at court. Upon my return, it was easy for them to fool me into believing Constance was my child, while he took the other twin back to Scotland to raise as his own. They called her Agnes.”
The initial shock had died away with time, but those words from Lord Ashbourne remained impressed in Constance’s mind.
The Earl’s soft, plummy voice slithered into her consciousness, pulling her back to the present. “It is a union devoutly to be wished for, Lord Ashbourne,” he was saying, his eyes still crawling all over Constance. She stoically ignored him. “And since the King himself has given the union his blessing, I can see no reason why the ceremony cannot go ahead at the earliest opportunity.”
“Very good, then it is settled,” Lord Ashbourne replied, his thin lips stretching into an approximation of a smile. As always, Constance noticed, it lacked any genuine warmth. “Shall we say the wedding can take place six weeks from now? That should be sufficient time for the banns to be read and all the arrangements to be made.”
Plan all you like, you vile creatures, this wedding will never take place. For in six weeks’ time, I shall be long gone. I shall be living in Scotland with my twin sister Agnes, under the protection of my true father, Laird Ewan Kerr.
If they’ll have me.
Naturally Constance had been shaken to her very core by the revelations when she had discovered the truth.
Could it be true, she had asked herself over and over. Could her mother really have had an affair with that Laird Ewan Kerr twenty years before, and was he her father? Did she really have an identical twin sister called Agnes?
It was almost impossible to believe her mother could have done such a scandalous thing. Constance treasured many fond memories of her beautiful, gentle mother, who had passed away from an illness when Constance was but eight years old. The very idea of that gracious lady indulging in some sort of extra-marital romantic liaison with any man, let alone a Scottish laird, seemed outlandish.
If she had, then it would have been a betrayal of not just her husband, but of her family and country as well. The rebellious Scots were the enemies of the English Crown, and the Ashbourne family had sworn to fight for and uphold that Crown for over a century. Her mother would never have broken her sacred vows and willingly participated in such a terrible betrayal of her husband and family with a Scotsman. Would she?
She might if she loved him. She could not imagine how mother must have suffered being married to Lord Ashbourne. Perhaps she was very unhappy and sought solace in the arms of her true father. Thinking of it like that, the idea suddenly seemed very romantic.
Poor, dear Mother , perhaps she had felt she deserved a little happiness.
But Constance had been raised to believe that all Scots were brutes and savages, and it puzzled her greatly that her mother could have loved such a man. She wondered what he was like, her true father. He had given up one of his daughters and kept her mother’s secret, to protect her reputation, all these years. It did not seem to Constance like the sort of thing a brute or a savage would do.
All her life she had felt something was missing, as if she had somehow mislaid a part of herself, but she could never put her finger on it.
But now I know , I have a twin sister! Agnes is the part I have been missing!
How exciting it all was!
She was consumed with curiosity to see Agnes, to meet and talk with this Scottish lass who supposedly looked so like her. She had been dreaming of going to find her sister but knew Lord Ashbourne would never sanction it. Obedience to him was so ingrained in her, she had not though she would ever have had the courage to do it on her own.
But now, with the wedding to Earl Belton due to take place in six weeks’ time, the decision had been made for her.
I must go. I must find a way to leave Ashbourne Manor as soon as possible. I shall leave England and journey to the lands of my true father and be with Agnes. But if I am to get away from here without Lord Ashbourne knowing, I will need help.
She had hurried back to the house, in search of the only two people she could really trust at the manor, her brother and sister, Henry and Amelia. There had been no doubt in her mind that once she told them everything, they would understand her need to leave and give her all the help they could.