Madeleine’s mind was a tangle of thoughts and concerns, but she didn’t let that deter her from letting the serenity of the massive garden she was in bring her some peace. She leaned forward, just off of the path, to smell a soft pink rose; touching her fingertips to its silky petals as she breathed in its delicious scent, when she felt the strange sensation that she was being watched. With a slight frown, she lifted her head and looked around.

  James was standing not far from her, dressed finely and looking perfectly groomed. His dark brown hair took on a glint of gold in the midday sun, and his brown eyes seemed to shine as he watched her. A playful smile formed on his mouth, and, having been discovered watching her, he walked toward her until he reached her, taking her hand in his and bringing it to his lips.

  “I would not have dreamed that this garden could ever be lovelier, but with you here in it, it has improved immeasurably.” He bowed slightly as he kissed the back of her fingers and let her hand go.

  Madeleine felt her cheeks grow warm as she blushed. “Thank ye. Hello, James.”

  “It’s a good day now because you’ve made it so.” He held his arm out to her. “Shall we go a short way and talk?”

  Madeleine dutifully took his arm, pushing away the thoughts of independence that hedged at the back of her mind. She listened as James began to speak.

  “Your aunt has made it clear that you are seeking a husband at court. I myself am seeking a wife. I have been for a while. The lady that I marry must be the right lady for me. I am hopeful that you will be that woman; your beauty is incomparable, and it would please me immensely if you were a good match for me.” He spoke pleasantly, looking off into the distance of the garden as if he was picturing his future with her in his mind, glancing at her from time to time.

  “Why have you no’ found the right one yet?” Madeleine asked curiously, wondering why a man who was considered to be such a fine catch might still be single.

  James considered her question and answered it thoughtfully. “I want a woman who is a well-behaved wife. A true lady. I’m not so concerned with the dowry a wife could offer me, so long as she is of the right mind and temperament. She must be obedient; pliant to my will.”

  Madeleine wondered if she could be the kind of woman James wanted as a life partner and if she could change enough to be someone she wasn’t, in order to secure a good marriage. Her mother’s words about marriage being a sacrifice came back to her.

  James continued, looking into her eyes. “I am a proud Protestant. My wife will be, as well, so that I may rule over a house at peace; one that is unified in its faith and direction.”

  Madeleine felt the stirring of rebellion deep inside her. “It sounds as if you’d rather have a servant than a partner.”

  James considered her statement and nodded in some acquiescence. “What is a wife, if not a servant to her husband, her lord and master? She is there to give him children, to love him and support him, to cherish him, to care for him all of his days.”

  Madeleine’s jaw clenched. She did not like the direction that his train of thought was taking. James saw the tightening of her jaw and a half-laugh escaped him. “Come now, perhaps we should get to know each other a bit better, and let rest the talk of marriage for a little while. As wonderful as it would be to continue to walk through this garden with you, perhaps we might go for a ride, instead. Come.”

  Chapter Six

  Normally, Madeleine would have preferred to make up her own mind about what she wanted to spend her time doing, but she loved riding, and the chance to get out and let herself go just a little bit was exactly what she needed. With a pleasant smile, she took his arm and reminded herself that everything she was doing was for her father and her family.

  She was made ready for a ride in no time, and a short fifteen minutes later, she was standing in the stables with James on one side of her and the stable master on the other side, while a groom stood nearby.

  Madeleine hadn’t yet been to her aunt’s stables, and she was delighted to be there. The stables were plentiful with beautiful, fine horses, and as she walked past each one, she studied them, reaching out a hand to touch them and meet them.

  James watched her with interest. “You like horses?” He asked her, taking in her familiarity with them.

  “Yes. I ride almost every day at home.” She answered with a grin, not bothering to look at him as she came upon a beautiful white mare with dark eyes. The horse had a vibrant spirit, and as Madeleine shared a gaze with it, she felt a spark ignite inside of her. The horse nickered and the stable master came forward, looking nervous.

  Madeleine grinned at the animal and raised her hand for the mare to smell in greeting. The spark in her caught fire. There was something between the two females, something so wild and raw, so untamed and natural, that Madeleine knew she had found her steed.

  “I’ll be riding this one,” she stated, turning her head only slightly to glance at the stable master.

  “Oh no, miss. I think she’s much too wild for you. If it’s a mare you’re wanting, I have another just a bit further down that would do well for you. She’s older and better behaved. It would be safer for you. Come along.” The stable master started to walk away, but Madeleine remained by the white mare.

  Her green eyes lit with the fires of determination. “I’ll be riding this one.”

  The stable master stopped and turned to look at her. He could see the stubbornness in her eyes. “Please, miss. It would be better if you rode a more mature horse. That one’s not quite as tamed as she should be.”

  “Well, neither am I,” Madeleine replied shortly, bringing the horse out on her own.

  James reached for Madeleine’s hand and stayed her swiftly. “Listen to the man, my dear. You should not be on a horse like this. Take the other horse.”

  “I willn’a.” Madeleine jerked her hand away from James. “I ken what I can ride and what I cann’a. This is the mare I’m riding today.”

  James stared at her, stunned. She realized in that moment that he was unaccustomed to anyone speaking to him that way, especially a lady. There was a hint of confusion on his face, and then it was overtaken by a strange expression, almost as if he had been presented with a challenge, and he wanted to take it on.

  “Let go of the horse,” he told her insistently.

  Madeleine lifted her chin and turned her head away from him, leading the horse to the groom. “Saddle her,” she instructed the groom.

  The groom looked helplessly from the stable master to James, not knowing whom he should listen to.

  “My lady, I must request that you do not take this horse!” the stable master pressed her further. “Only a very skilled rider should be astride her, and certainly not a woman!”

  “I agree completely!” James added, his voice growing adamant. “I demand that you release this steed and take the mare that the stable master advises you to take.”

  Madeleine stared at James. She was unaccustomed to being told what to do by any man, save her father, and he rarely butted heads with her. He was more of a mind to let her take a risk and a fall to learn a lesson than to protect her from the whole experience altogether.

  The fire in Madeleine began to burn hot, and she felt defiance rising in her. She knew that she was entertaining her suitor for no other reason than to please her parents and uphold her family name, and that she should feel lucky that he was even interested in her at all, but James had somehow reached a divide in her. She was only willing to be submissive to a point, and no further.

  “Make no mistake about this, any of ye. I am a woman, and I will make my own decisions about who I am and what I will do, and if I choose to ride this mare, then this is the one that I will take, and I will no’ be told by any man what may or may no’ be right for me. I ken better than anyone else what my abilities are. If ye will no’ saddle her, then I’ll saddle her myself.” She turned then and reached past the groom for the saddle.

  All the men were horrified, most of all the groom. “Oh, my lady, no! I’ll do it! Please… I’ll do it.” He hung his head and took the saddle from her, looking completely flummoxed.

  “You will not do it!” James demanded, raising his hand to stop the groom. “She will not be taking this horse!”

  “You’re no’ going to stop me.” Madeleine stated evenly as she moved to take the saddle from the groom. The groom pulled the saddle away and grudgingly put it on the horse. She suspected, in that instant, that if he knew a stubborn horse, he could easily mark a stubborn woman, and he knew when he’d met his match.

  James was astounded and could only stare alongside the stable master as the groom cinched the saddle bonds, and Madeleine leapt upward and onto the back of the horse as if she had done so every day of her life.

  “You stubborn, willful woman!” James breathed out incredulously.

  “Will ye be joining me?” Madeleine asked with a daring smile at him.

  Her stubbornness ignited a fire in him, and he hurried to his horse, mounting it as she rode outward from the stables with her head held high. The white mare whinnied and pranced impatiently, anxious to get out for a run and stretch her legs. Madeleine leaned forward and spoke to the mare. “I ken just how ye feel. We’ll be out of here soon enough.”

  James came to her side, riding his big, russet stallion, and looking as if he was caught somewhere between being irritated and excited as he locked his eyes on Madeleine. “Let’s go slowly through the woods. There’s a path we can-”

  The horse beneath Madeleine reared up on her hind legs, and Madeleine held tight to her. “Let’s go fast,” she replied, just as her steed took off, racing away from the stables and up a hillside carpeted with green grass toward a pretty wood that stretched a fair distance beyond the immediate grounds around the home.

  James gaped at Madeleine as her horse thundered away from him. In a moment, he was racing along behind her, working to catch up. Madeleine did not wait for him; instead, she blazed along the trail on her wild mare, the wind sending her dress blowing like a sail behind her and tugging her carefully pinned curls loose until her hair flew at her back like the mane of the horse she rode.

  As she felt the powerful muscles of the beast beneath her and the pounding of its feet on the earth below, the wind rushing around them, and the release of the run, Madeleine found a bliss that she hadn’t known since she’d left her beloved Scotland. It felt like freedom to her, and she knew it felt the same to her untethered steed. Happiness, pure happiness, washed over her like a waterfall, and she rejoiced fully in it.

  It was a while before she heard the echoing footfalls of the stallion that James rode, and it almost snapped her out of her perfect reverie. She had all but forgotten that she wasn’t in the wood alone; she had left her riding companion far behind her, and when she heard him catching up, she felt the bonds of guilt and obligation begin to rein her back in.

  With a sigh of disappointment, she knew that she should slow down and let her suitor match her speed, riding alongside him, rather than several paces ahead of him. Her mare seemed to understand and began to slow from an abandoned gallop to a more respectable canter.

  James finally reached her side, and both he and his horse were panting. “Let’s stop for a rest!” he called out to Madeleine. She knew that it was probably a good idea to at least let the animals rest and refresh themselves.

  She followed the sound of a nearby creek, and soon enough, they found a small meadow beside it where they dismounted and let their horses drink the cool, fresh water.

  James released the reins of his horse and walked over to Madeleine. He was staring at her.

  “You… you ride like the wind is your only companion.” He shook his head, completely astounded by her.

  She bit at her lower lip, knowing that she should have waited for him, but she said nothing and only looked up at him. He drew near her, so close that she could feel the heat from his body.

  His mahogany eyes roved over her face and her fully loosed tumble of dark curls, strewn about her shoulders and reaching down her back to her hips. He reached his hand up slowly, taking some of her locks and closing them in his fingers. “Your hair…” he trailed off, looking hard at her as if he was seeing something he had never seen before.

  Madeleine felt a blush of self-consciousness heat her cheeks. “I… I’m sure ‘tis a mess. I dinna think about that when I took off.”

  James shook his head in disbelief. “You are wild… unbridled…” He was almost in a trance, fascinated with her, as he wrapped his mind around who and what she really was. “The women at court who all come after me… they are all so docile, so delicate, like porcelain that could break at the slightest firm touch, but you…”

  Madeleine realized in a moment that the kind of women he was describing at court were precisely the kind of woman he had just told her he wanted when they were in the garden. “Those are the women for ye, James,” she said quietly, knowing she might be costing herself an engagement. “Ye want a woman who will bow and scrape to you… a woman ye will be master of. I am no’ a woman like that. I will ne’er be owned or ruled by any man!” Her voice rose along with her passions.

  A wave of excitement overtook James, and he slipped one hand behind Madeleine’s neck, his fingers tangling in her curls, and one hand around her waist, holding fast to her back. She gasped as her eyes widened, and she stared at him.

  “You are wild now, beautiful and untamed, but I will tame you! I am the man to break your uninhibited spirit, to take you and make you mine, to bend you to my will until you give in completely, and then I will own you, and I will rule over you, and you will want nothing more than to obey me and please me for the rest of your life!” He spoke with an impassioned voice and glittering eyes, and Madeleine pushed her hands firmly against his chest as she scowled fiercely at him.

  “I am no wild horse to be broken, Sir! No man will ever rule me!” she shot back at him, pushing to get loose of his tight grasp.

  James shook his head, and a laugh escaped him. “All wild horses can be broken, and you will be too, by me, and I will love nothing better than taking you, you wild thing, and taming you to my will! You will be mine in every way that I want you to be!”

  With a fiery lust, he pulled her tightly to himself, crushing his mouth over hers, kissing her hard for a long moment until he groaned deeply with a need she did not understand. He moved his hand from behind her back to her breast, his thumb pressing down against the soft swell of flesh bared above her dress.

  Madeleine found herself freed enough from his embrace in that moment that she was able to pull away from him suddenly, startling him as she broke his kiss and took a few steps back. “Ye will no’ tame me! I will no’ become a hollow shell for you to control and rule over!”

  With that, she rushed to the white mare’s side and mounted her in one sweeping movement; and though James lunged for her, she was already gone. He laughed and roared, watching her go with dazzled eyes. “You are already mine!” he called out after her. “I will have you!” He mounted his stallion and took off after her, quivering with the thrill of the chase. “I will have you every way I want you!” he vowed to himself as he and his horse worked to catch up to her.

  Chapter Seven

  Madeleine’s mare sensed her urgency, and they reached the stables long before James did. Madeleine dismounted and with a grateful rub on the steed’s neck, she left her to the groom, who was relieved to see them both come back unharmed.

  Madeleine rushed into the house, and as she strode past her aunt, she cried out vehemently, “I will no’ marry him! Send him away!” And without another word, she went straight to her chamber and slammed the door, sinking to her knees as she lowered her face into her hands and began to weep.

  Margaret was headed toward Madeleine’s room when James came stalking into the house. “Lady Margaret!” he called out with a bold, deep voice.

  Margaret hesitated outside of Madeleine’s door, hearing the girl crying inside, and then turned and walked to the foyer where James was waiting for her. She gave him a critical look.

  “What happened between you two?” she inquired, wanting to know every detail.

  James was breathless, laughing softly as he shook his head. “You have a spirited niece, Madame, and she has inspired me as no other woman has. I will marry her as soon as possible. Make the arrangements. I will speak to King Charles and the Queen Mother about this, and I will be in contact with you very soon.”

  Margaret was wary as her niece was weeping in the other room at that moment, but she was well pleased with the news. “Very good, monsieur, I will help you with the arrangements right away. Thank you for your visit. I must see to Madeleine now.”

 

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