Bertrice Small - Love Wild and Fair

Opening her violet eyes, she took a deep breath.

"Ye are partly-correct," Heather said calmly. "But the act of love between a man and a woman need not result each time in a baby. There are ways of preventing conception while still enjoying the delights of love. I shall be pleased to teach these things to ye before yer marriage."

The girl looked interested.

"Lovemaking is quite nice, Catriona."

"Is it? How, mama?" She sounded scornful.

Dear God, thought Heather, how do I explain? "Hae ye ever been kissed, my child? Perhaps some of yer boy cousins hae tried stealing kisses at parties?"

"Aye, they've tried, and I hae hit them hard! They dinna try any more."

Heather wanted to shriek her frustration. "Kissing is very pleasurable, Catriona. So is fondling. Deliciously so, I might say."

Cat looked at her mother as if she had lost her mind. "I canna imagine, mama, anything pleasurable at all about a man and a woman squeezing each other's bodies."

She was so damned superior that Heather lost her temper.

"Well, it is, daughter! I should know! Jesu, Cat, ye are woefully ignorant! Ye hae no idea what it means to be a woman, and that's my fault. In the next four and a half weeks ye shall learn. Ye will marry yer cousin of Glenkirk on Twelfth Night as we hae planned. It is a wonderful match, and ye are fortunate to hae gotten so good a one!"

"I will not marry him, mama!"

Heather took another tack. "Then what will ye do if ye dinna marry wi Glenkirk?"

"There are other men, mama. My dowry is quite large."

"Only to Glenkirk, my dear."

Cat's eyebrows rose in surprise. At last I have her attention, thought Heather, relieved. "Catriona. Your very large dowry is for Glenkirk only. Mam arranged it that way. Should ye marry anyone else, your dowry becomes quite modest"

"Did Grandmam not consider that Glenkirk might die, or even cry off?" demanded Catriona, outraged.

"If Patrick had died ye would hae married James. Mam meant for ye to be Countess of Glenkirk, and there was certainly no question of yer bridegroom's crying off. Come, child. Patrick Leslie is an educated, charming man. He will love ye, and be good to ye."

"I will not marry him!"

"The choice is not yers to make, my dear. Now, take that frown off yer face. By this time our guests will be arriving. Your cousins will all be here to wish you happy."

Her cousins! Oh, God! Fortunately, her uncles Colin and Ewan lived in Edinburgh, so she'd not have to contend with their broods. But the rest! The boys weren't so bad, but those six simpering girls!

Fiona Leslie was a widow at nineteen. Poor Owen Stewart had not withstood the rigors of the marriage bed. Lush, auburn-haired Fiona with her storm-gray eyes, her red pouting mouth, and her low-cut gowns. Next came sixteen-year-old Janet Leslie, who was to marry Fiona's brother, Cousin Charles, in the spring. Jan could scarcely contain her delight at being the future Countess of Sithean-the silly cow! Ailis Hay was already fifteen, and slated to marry James Leslie, Glenkirk's next brother. That marriage was at least two years off. Beth Leslie was sixteen, but adoring of her Uncle Charles, was to enter a convent in France soon. So she might have close family nearby, her fourteen-year-old sister, Emily, was betrothed to Uncle Donald's son, Jacques de Valois-Leslie. Last was little Mary Leslie, who, at thirteen, would wait three or four years before marrying Cat's brother, Jemmie. Cat hoped that by that time Mary would stop giggling at everything Jemmie said, though Jemmie didn't seem to mind.

Catriona entered the hall with her mother. At once she was surrounded by the cousins, and their good wishes. This was her birthday celebration, and she found it impossible to remain angry.

Suddenly Fiona was saying in her husky, feline voice, "Cat, darling, here is your betrothed. Hasn't she grown, Patrick? She's almost a woman."

Catriona shot her older cousin a black look and, raising angry eyes, met the amused stare of Patrick, Earl of Glenkirk. His large, warm hand raised her little one to his lips. "Cousin." His voice was deeper than she remembered. "Ye were always lovely, Catriona, but tonight ye surpass every woman in this hall." Drawing her hand through his arm, he led her to the dais. Left alone, Fiona was surprised, and laughed. The earl seated his affianced at the main table. "Why are ye angry wi me?" he asked her.

"I’m nae angry wi you."

"Then gie me a smile, sweetheart."

She pointedly ignored him, and the Earl became irritated. When the meal had been cleared away and the dancing began, he found his aunt and, seeking the quiet of Greyhaven's library, demanded to know what ailed the girl.

"It's all my fault, Patrick," wailed Heather. "I am so sorry. I hae, wi'out meaning to, ignored a most important part of Catriona's education. The result is that she is void of emotion, and cold as ice."

"In other words, my beautiful, thoughtless aunt, ye hae been so wrapped up in yer Jamie that ye forgot to love Cat."

"But of course I love Cat!"

"Did ye ever say so? Did ye cuddle and cosset her as a baby? A child? A young girl? Nay, aunt. Ye had no time for it. Ye were too busy putting into practice wi the Master of Greyhaven all the delicious things Mam taught you!"

Heather blushed to the roots of her hair. "Patrick! What could ye possibly know of that?"

"What my mother told me," he grinned wickedly at her. "My mother assured me that my bride would be warm, and educated. Instead, aunt, I must thaw this ice maiden ye plan for me to wed."

"She says she will nae wed ye," said Heather in a little voice.

"God's bones!" swore Glenkirk. "Perhaps ye would enlighten me as to why not."

"I dinna know, Patrick," lied his aunt. "When her father told her this evening that the wedding had been moved up from next year to Twelfth Night, she became furious. She said no one had asked her opinion, but it didn't matter as she'd nae have ye."

"Have ye spoken to anyone of an earlier wedding?"

"We planned to announce it tonight."

"Aunt. Go discreetly, and bring my uncle to me."

Poor little Cat, he thought, when his aunt had gone. Left alone from babyhood to run yer own life. Then, suddenly, the largest moment in yer life is abruptly decided for ye. No wonder yer angry.

As to the other thing, he gave but the briefest thought. Leslie women were by nature hot-blooded, and once awakened to the world of sensual pleasures he knew Cat would bloom. It would take time and patience. But he was bored with easy conquests, and he had the luxury of time.

James Hay entered the library with his wife. "Well, nephew! What is so important that I must sneak away from my guests?"

"I think we should hold off an announcement of my wedding date, uncle. Catriona is obviously angry and frightened, and I would nae distress her."

"Girlish nonsense!"

"Was my Aunt Heather like that before ye were wed?"

"Nay." James Hay's voice became soft with remembrance. "She was all sweet eagerness."

"I congratulate ye on yer good fortune. Would ye deny me the same luck?"

"Heather and I were fairly well acquainted," mused James Hay.

"Precisely!" said the earl. "I hae been away for six years, studying and traveling. Cat wasn't even nine when I left. She doesna know me. I am foreign to her, and yet within four weeks' time she faces the terrifying prospect of being wedded and bedded wi a total stranger. Come, uncle! Ye've led a life of conjugal bliss. Gie me the time to win yer prickly daughter so I may hae the same pleasure."

"Well," reasoned the Master of Greyhaven, "the wedding was not scheduled until this time next year… but if she's not won over by then, willing or not, she goes to the altar!"

"Agreed," said Patrick. "But, uncle. You and my aunt must agree to something else. There will be times when my methods of wooing may seem strange, and perhaps even cruel. But no matter what happens in the courting, I plan to make Catriona my wife. Remember that."