Marti Talbott's Highlander Series 1 (Anna, Rachel & Charlet)

  Marti Talbott’s

  Highlander Series

  Book 1 (Anna, Rachel and Charlet)

  By Marti Talbott

  Copyright 2011 Marti Talbott

  Smashwords Edition

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  ANNA

  CHAPTER I

  Laird Kevin MacGreagor couldn‘t seem to take his eyes off the woman in the glen below. A Highlander and a giant of a man with blond curls and blue-gray eyes, he stood beside his horse on a wooded hillside, with his legs apart and his hands clasped behind his back. A soft blue dominated the color of his kilt, a length of matching cloth over one shoulder covered half his white shirt, and his leather shoes were laced up to his knees.

  She was magnificent. Her long, black hair hung down to her waist and her soft golden skirt caught on the grass as she walked, released and then caught again. She wore a purple tunic with a woven leather belt and a medallion that hung low on one hip. On her shoulder, she carried a bow and a leather sheath filled with arrows.

  He heard it before he saw the huge black stallion breaking through the trees at a trot, but her back was turned and she didn’t seem to notice. The stallion was headed straight for her and Kevin had only just opened his mouth to shout a warning when the stallion slowed to a walk. Gently, the horse nudged her back. The woman grinned, but didn’t turn around and kept right on walking. Determined, the black followed and nudged her again. This time, she laughed and shook her head. Her laughter was wonderful and Kevin wanted to hear it again.

  He wasn’t at all prepared for what happened next. The stallion turned, raced around, got in front and headed straight for her. Kevin held his breath, but the horse didn’t slow and when she held out her hand, the stallion lowered his head as if to charge her. Just as it shot by, the woman grabbed the horse’s mane and with ease and grace, swung onto its bare back. Then she leaned down and hugged the horse’s neck until the black slowed to a trot and stopped.

  Kevin couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it was obvious she was urging the horse on. She lightly kicked his sides, but the horse didn’t move. Instead, it pawed the ground and shook its head. The woman roared with laughter and Kevin couldn’t help but laugh with her. He’d never seen anything like it.

  As the horse began to move again, she carefully got to her knees and then to her feet. She balanced herself perfectly, held both of her arms straight out, and as the stallion brought her close to Kevin’s end of the glen, she closed her eyes and lifted her chin into the wind.

  She was indeed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he believed nothing she did could astound him now. He was wrong. When the horse began to bring her near again, she reached for an arrow, loaded her bow and before he could react, her arrow shot between his legs. He didn’t flinch. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and glared at her.

  She shouted a word he didn’t understand, sat down and in an instant, the horse and the woman sped into the trees on the opposite side of the meadow. He quickly mounted and followed, but after a full hour of searching, he had to admit he’d lost her. Disappointed, he turned his horse north and headed home.

  It was unwise, he knew, to go off alone the way he did. The capture and ransom of a laird put his entire clan at risk. Yet on this day, he commanded his guard to stay behind, and allow him the freedom he had not enjoyed since he suddenly became laird. Soon, his six-man guard surrounded him and he was not surprised. He might have been annoyed, but each man had taken a pledge to protect him and they were only honoring their word. Besides, he was consumed with thoughts of the woman, and he had neglected his responsibilities at home long enough. The ride through the dense forest that offered good hunting and ample timber, took less than a day and when the path became a road wide enough for carts, he could finally see his village in the distance.

  On each side of the road, farmers working the land or tending livestock, paused to wave and watch their laird. He acknowledge each with a nod and a smile.

  The village was not unlike many others, save for one thing -- it was surrounded by a high wall and a moat that added extra layers of protection against enemies. Just outside the moat, a pleasant meadow offered a place for the warriors to practice their skills and for older children to play. A path leading in the opposite direction, led to a warm-water loch fit for bathing.

  At last, Kevin and his men rode over the wide, wooden bridge into the substantial courtyard, dismounted and handed their reins to boys waiting to take the horses to the stables. From the courtyard, several tree-lined paths led to cottages, and then met at a communal garden in the back. Logs along the paths and near the garden offered the villagers a place to sit, talk and rest.

  Kevin was laird over a clan of no less than six hundred, all of whom seemed happy to have him back. Yet it was his sister, Katie, he most wanted to see. She stood on the wooden landing outside the two-story, stone and mortar keep he shared with her, and her smile was radiant as always.

  At the age of 19, an illness plagued the land taking nearly half the Highlanders, his parents and all but one of his five siblings. Kevin suffered the high fever too and recovered to find himself the clan’s new laird. He expected to be laird one day, but not so soon, and he hardly knew what to do in the beginning. Still, he did as his father and grandfather before him had done -- he spoke the edict, “Any lad who harms a lass or a child shall be put to death.” It was a good law and he was willing to carry it out.

  By most accounts, it was a pleasant life. Yet for Kevin, being laird was a heavy burden he sometimes resented. If it wasn’t two followers who couldn’t get along, it was a land dispute or a threatened clan war. Most other clans saw the advantage of calling him friend and few were brave enough to cross him. Still, there were lairds who coveted the life the MacGreagors had and war was always a major concern.

  Kevin was a strong, but fair-minded man who was not as strict with his followers as some Lairds. Everyone was allowed to call him Kevin and none were required to bow or curtsey. Yet in the presence of other clans, his people showed their respect by doing just that, which pleased him very much.

  In the days that followed, Laird MacGreagor still could not get the woman on the horse off his mind. He was determined she would be his someday; all he had to do was find her. Nevertheless, rumors of a coming battle left him with little time to search for her. He should have known better, but of an evening, he confided in his best friends, Thomas and Clymer. In a world where gossip was the favorite form of entertainment, it wasn’t long before everyone knew every detail, except for the color of her eyes, which he had yet to see. It was just as well. He couldn’t leave often and perhaps someone else would find her.

  No one ever did.

  Two years passed and at twenty-six, the time had come for Kevin to find a wife to give him sons. He hated the thought, but there it was. Yet not one of the women in his clan measured up and knowing his heart was set, most didn’t even try. Lairds from other clans tempted him with daughters, hoping to make a favorable alliance, but Kevin found none of them pleasing either. At last, he didn’t care who she was. All he had to do was bed her to have sons.

  It was fortunate then, when a message arrived from an English Baron by the name of Stoneham, who offered hi
s daughter in exchange for influence over another laird. Kevin quickly agreed.

  Kevin’s mother was one of only a few English women to live among the MacGreagor clan. Her greatest gift was to teach some of them her native language, and it had come in handy for Kevin on more than one occasion. Communication with his wife, at least, was not going to be a problem. Yet he was not looking forward to being married to a woman he had never seen.

  “I will not agree!” Anna braced herself. She knew what was coming and wasn’t at all surprised when her father slapped her face.

  Her home was a large English manor. It was a forbidding place with no gardens, little color in the courtyard and even less inside the many rooms. A stone wall enclosed the entire estate, the gates were almost always closed, and Anna was rarely allowed to go out. Her father was a wealthy man who found favor in the eyes of the king, and more often than not, there were guards everywhere.

  The day Anna feared most was finally here. Her father and two of his guards had her cornered in her small bedchamber with no avenue of escape. He was determined to send her away, and she would be of no use to anyone if he did.

  Baron Stoneham was a big man with foul smelling breath, who nearly always yelled. “You will agree! You are to go to his keep, agree to marry him and wait. Do you understand?”

  It was a waste, she knew, but she stood her ground anyway. “I will not agree.”

  The baron’s punishment was not what she expected. The two guards grabbed her arms and held her still while her father closed his fist and started to strike. Then he thought better of it. Slowly, he pulled his dagger and began to cut handfuls of her hair off. She was appalled and watched as her lovely locks fell to the wooden floor, but Anna didn’t cry. Years of experience taught her that crying would make him think he’d won. No, she would never let him see her cry.

  “Do not fret, Anna, he will find you distasteful, but he has accepted you and he will not go back on his word. Highlanders are wild beasts and if he is as big as his father, he is a brute of a man, who would rather kill you than look at you. All he asks is that you willingly agree to the marriage and I have assured him you will.” When Stoneham finished with her hair, he stood back and surveyed the damage. Satisfied, his words soon took on a sarcastic tone. “Let me see, perhaps a scar across your face would further his despair. Yes, yes, an ugly scar would be sweet revenge indeed.”

  “What has this man done to deserve your ire?” she asked.

  “Kevin MacGreagor has done nothing at all. It was his father who tricked me and I have not forgotten. When I attack the MacGreagors, I will burn his home and kill all his followers. And if you are a good girl, I might let you live. Do as I say, Anna, and before you know it you will be back in England where you belong.”

  She was hardly listening when he vowed to kill her little sister and her mother if she did not obey. Instead, she was trying to decide how best to avoid his dagger. Just then, he oddly put it away, and she was so greatly relieved, she was off her guard when he hit her with his fist. The blow knocked her out.

  When Anna awoke just after dawn, she was lying face down across the back of a grazing horse. One rope was wrapped around her upper chest and arms, a second one was a few inches above her waist and a third bound her legs. She wiggled to get free of the constraints, but it was no use. Next, she tried scooting back in hopes she would slide off, but that didn’t work either. Her ribs hurt, her head was pounding and she doubted she could survive much longer with her head hung down that way. This can not be right, she thought. Surely, her father didn’t mean for her to die before she agreed to marry the Highlander.

  Anna heard the thunder of their horses long before she saw them. They were enormous Highlanders, riding swiftly toward her, and the sight of them was terrifying. Except for seeing a few from a distance, she had very little knowledge of the people who lived in the north, and if what her father said was true, she’d been left at the gates of hell.

  She closed her eyes, relaxed and pretended to be dead.

  There were seven men in all, each dressed in the tradition of their clan with white shirts, light blue kilts and a length of matching cloth over one shoulder. As soon as they reached her, five formed a defensive circle, drew their swords and searched the woods with their eyes while the other two quickly dismounted and ran to her.

  Clymer was shocked to find a woman in that condition and didn’t hesitate to slip his arm under her, lift her down and carefully stand her on the ground. Then he held on to her while Thomas cut and unwound the ropes. Her green gown was dirty, a missing sleeve exposed several bruises on her arm, and she wore no shoes.

  In command of the small group of guards, Thomas was sickened at the sight of her injuries. The ropes had cut through her clothing, burned her all the way across her back in two places, and she was bleeding. Yet when she finally raised her head, nothing could have prepared them for the sight of her face. It was a mass of swollen bruises. Blood covered her chin and trickled down her neck into her gown.

  “’Tis a wonder she is alive,” said Thomas. He quickly mounted his horse and walked it as close to her as he could. “Give her to me.”

  Clymer couldn’t think of a place to touch her without hurting her, but there wasn’t time, so he just scooped her up and seated her in front of Thomas. He grabbed the reins of her horse, mounted his own and headed them north.

  Thomas wrapped his arm around her waist and nudged his horse forward. “You are not safe here,” he whispered in less than perfect English. He felt her grab hold of his arm, and was relieved she had enough strength to do it. He knew her head had to be pounding as the blood drained back into her body, and wondered how she was able to sit up straight.

  They were on MacGreagor land, but without knowing who had beaten her, they needed to be deeper in the forest and a lot more difficult to find. Several minutes later, Thomas gave the word and they halted in the thick forest near a small stream.

  He was almost as big as Kevin with dark hair and green eyes. Thomas was Laird MacGreagor’s second in command and escorting the clan’s future mistress was a very high honor. When the men left home, they were not at war with anyone. Now they would be. A rage was building in Thomas, and once the others heard, the MacGreagor warriors would find the men who did this and gladly crush their skulls.

  Thomas set those thoughts aside and took a deep, calming breath. First, he needed to keep her alive, at least long enough to tell them who did it. At his nod, the other men dismounted, took up defensive positions around them, and prepared to fight to keep her safe.

  Thomas leaned to his right a little so he could examine her back more closely. He decided if he was careful and put his arm between the rope burns, he could carry her without hurting her so much. He slid off the back of the horse, lifted her down and carried her to the creek. As gently as he could, he set her on a smooth rock and held on until he was sure she could hold herself upright.

  With Clymer standing behind him, Thomas knelt down on one knee in front of her. “Who did this to you?”

  She didn’t answer. With the tip of her tongue, she checked to see if any teeth were missing. She had a long, deep cut on the inside of her cheek and knew that side of her face was swollen. The other side was not as bad except her eye was nearly swollen shut. Her jaw hurt and when she found a painful lump, she carefully moved her mouth up and down to see if it was broken. It didn‘t seem to be, but her nose had not fared so well and she looked at Thomas. “Can you fix it?”

  “It will hurt, Milady.” Before she could fear what he was about to do, he took hold of the back of her head with one hand and quickly straightened her nose with the other. She closed her eyes, clenched her fists and took deep breaths as the pain shot through her whole face. Knowing first-hand how much it hurt, Thomas kept one hand on the back of her head and the other on her arm, ready to catch her if she passed out. At last, she began to relax her clenched fists and he knew the worst of the pain had subsided.

  Thomas turned to Clymer and spoke
in Gaelic. “She is very brave.”

  “We should have brought a lass. How will we know if she is hurt inside?” asked Clymer.

  Thomas turned back to Anna, “I must touch you.” He waited for her nod, put his hand on her stomach and gently pushed to see if it caused discomfort. It didn’t seem to. Next, he carefully felt her arms and then her legs. She had a large lump on the side of her knee and he feared it was broken.

  “I must look,” Thomas whispered.

  She was reluctant, but began to gather her skirt on that side until it was high enough to expose more bruises on her leg and the lump on her knee.

  “Do you think it is broken?” Thomas asked.

  She shook her head and let her skirt slide back down. They were Highlanders and she didn’t trust them, but this one seemed caring. “Who are you?”

  “I am Thomas. We are your protection, Milady.”

  “You are too late.”

  “We came at the arranged time. If we had…”

  She did not mean to insult him and thought to apologize, but changed the subject instead. “What day is this?”

  Thomas wasn’t sure, so he looked to Clymer for the answer.

  “Sunday,” Clymer answered.

  Anna whispered, “Sunday, it can not be.”

  Thomas drew his dagger, pulled a length of kilt free of his belt and cut it off. He dipped it in the cold creek water, handed it to her, and watcher her hold it against her swollen eye. Until then, she had not noticed the blood on him, reached out and touched his arm.

  “Aye, ‘tis your blood. It will stop soon.” He took the cloth, rinsed it again and handed it back. “We will take you home.”

  “I wish to die.”

  Thomas stood up and straightened his shoulders, “You will not die. You are pledged to our laird and we will take you home.” He abruptly wrinkled his brow. “You are Lady Anna, are you not?” He was relieved when she nodded.