Bond of Passion

“Bertrice Small creates cover-to-cover passion, a keen sense of history, and suspense.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Ms. Small delights and thrills.”

—
Rendezvous

“An insatiable delight for the senses. [Small’s] amazing historical detail . . . will captivate the reader . . . potent sensuality.”

—*Romance Junkies

“[Her novels] tell an intriguing story, they are rich in detail, and they are all so very hard to put down.”

—The Best Reviews

“Sweeps the ages with skill and finesse.”

—
Affaire de Coeur

“[A] captivating blend of sensuality and rich historical drama.”

—Rosemary Rogers

“Steamy . . . a work of grand historical proportions . . . a must read!”

—
Romantic Times
(top pick)

“Brimming with colorful characters and rich in historical detail,

Small’s boldly sensual love story is certain to please her many devoted readers.”

“[A] delight to all readers of historical fiction.”

—Fresh Fiction

“[A] style that garnered her legions of fans . . . when she’s at the top of her form, nobody does it quite like Bertrice Small.”

—
The Romance Reader

THE BORDER CHRONICLES
A Dangerous Love
The Border Lord’s Bride
The Captive Heart
The Border Lord and the Lady
The Border Vixen

THE FRIARSGATE INHERITANCE
Rosamund
Until You
Philippa
The Last Heiress

CONTEMPORARY EROTICA
Private Pleasures
Forbidden Pleasures
Sudden Pleasures
Dangerous Pleasures
Passionate Pleasures
Guilty Pleasures

THE O’MALLEY SAGA
Skye O’Malley
All the Sweet Tomorrows
A Love for All Time
This Heart of Mine
Lost Love Found
Wild Jasmine

THE WORLD OF HETAR
Lara
A Distant Tomorrow
The Twilight Lord
Crown of Destiny
The Sorceress of Belmair
The Shadow Queen

SKYE’S LEGACY SERIES
Darling Jasmine
Bedazzled
Besieged
Intrigued
Just Beyond Tomorrow
Vixens

MORE BY BERTRICE SMALL
The Kadin
Love Wild and Fair
Adora
Unconquered
Beloved
Enchantress Mine
Blaze Wyndham
The Spitfire
A Moment in Time
To Love Again
Love, Remember Me
The Love Slave
Hellion
Betrayed
Deceived
The Innocent
A Memory of Love
The Duchess

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First published by New American Library,

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First Printing, October 2011

Copyright © Bertrice Small, 2011 All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

Small, Bertrice.

Bond of passion / Bertrice Small. p. cm.

ISBN : 978-1-101-54495-2

1. Clans—Scotland—Fiction. 2. Marriages of royalty and nobility—Fiction. 3. Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542–587—Fiction. 4. Kings and rulers—Succession—Fiction. I. Title. PS3569.M28B577 2011
813’.54—dc22 2011024652

Set in Goudy Old Style STD

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SCOTLAND, 1565

“H
e’s a sorcerer!” the laird of Rath’s wife, Anne, gasped. “You cannot seriously be considering giving our daughter to a sorcerer, Robert. And I am told he holds with the old religion. He’s a Catholic. A papist! Only the Gordons and the barbaric Highland families hold to the old faith and refuse to see the error of their ways.” The expression on her lovely face was very concerned by her husband’s apparent decision.

Robert Baird, laird of Rath, snorted impatiently. “If Angus Ferguson is a sorcerer, wife, then so am I. He’s no more a sorcerer than any. As for his faith, ’tis his, not mine. Did the queen not say we might all worship as we pleased?”

“But even here in the eastern borders it is said the Fergusons of Duin practice—”

The laird cut her short. “Said? Said by whom? The Earl of Duin is no sorcerer,” he told her firmly.

“Then why does he allow such scandalous rumors to persist, Robert?” his wife wanted to know. “A man’s reputation is his most valuable possession.”

“He’s a man who wants his privacy,” came the answer. “By allowing such myths about his family to be perpetuated among the ignorant, he achieves his purpose. This family of Duin is careful in its dealings, Anne. Have you ever heard of their being involved in any kind of disloyalty or treason? Nay! Not the Fergusons of Duin.”

“You seem to know much of these people, although I do not,” his wife remarked.

“I went to Bothwell,” Robert Baird said. “I know him to be friends with Angus Ferguson, for they studied together in France. Has James Hepburn not been attempting to broker the sale of the lands I inherited in the west with Angus Ferguson for the last few years? He has. And you know I would not sell that property to Angus Ferguson, for my kinsman from whom I inherited those lands feuded with the Fergusons. It somehow seemed disloyal to profit from my inheritance under the circumstances. But trust James Hepburn to come up with a perfect solution.”

“So marrying our Annabella to Angus Ferguson was the Earl of Bothwell’s idea?” Lady Anne’s pretty mouth pursed disapprovingly. James Hepburn might be the keeper of the queen’s borders, and one of the most powerful men in Scotland, but she like others thought him a great womanizer. He had charm, though, she had to admit.

“Of course it’s Bothwell’s idea,” Robert Baird said. “I wouldn’t have dared reach so high, Annie. We’re a wee clan with little to recommend us other than an old name.”

“Why, Rob,” his wife replied, “the Bairds saved the life of King William the Lion, and were given great grants of land. It’s a good border name.”

He laughed, patting her hand. “A few hundred years ago, Annie, and how many generations since, with the
extensive
lands being split this way and that? Nay, we’re simple folk, and I was fortunate to get you to wife, for you’re a Hamilton, a great name today here in the borders and in Scotland. I know Jamie Hepburn is a bit of a rogue, but he’s an honorable man, and a good friend.”

“How can he be certain the Earl of Duin will take Annabella as a wife? They say he is wealthier than any man living, and the handsomest man in the borders to boot. Our eldest daughter is as plain as mud. Would not Myrna or Sorcha be a better choice?”

“Myrna, Sorcha, and wee Agnes will have no difficulties finding husbands, for they are as beautiful as you are, my dear,” her husband said candidly. “’Tis our Annabella who faces an eternal maidenhood. Bothwell himself will speak with Duin. He will not dissemble the facts but be entirely truthful. He has told me that Angus Ferguson’s heart is not engaged elsewhere; nor is there any impediment to a marriage between him and Annabella. If he wants these lands that I hold in the west, then he will acquiesce to Bothwell’s proposal. I am told Angus Ferguson is in his middle thirties, and like any man with title and property will want an heir or two. At twenty our daughter is almost past her prime, but still young enough to give a husband bairns.”

The possibility of her eldest daughter bearing a title, mothering a future earl of Duin, was beginning to seep into the lady Anne’s consciousness, along with the advantages such a marriage for Annabella would bring for her family. “If this comes to pass, the Melvilles will no longer be able to look slantwise at Myrna, for her connections will more than make up for her lack of a large dower portion, Rob. She will have Ian Melville and no other, she vows. She is more than ready for marriage, and should wed as soon as possible after Annabella.”

“I don’t like Ian Melville,” the laird of Rath said, “but if she wants him I cannot deny her. The Melvilles are a good family, and stand high in Her Majesty’s favor.”

“How soon will we know if the Earl of Duin will have Annabella?”

“Within a few weeks,” Robert Baird answered his wife. “Bothwell has gone himself to suggest the match.”

“Well, as long as he isn’t a sorcerer,” the lady Anne said, and her husband smiled.

“May she be as happy as we have been all these years,” the laird said to his wife.

The lady Anne nodded in agreement. “I pray it,” she replied.