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

“She is safe but there is a lad who wants to hurt her and we have hidden her.” Kevin let go and took a step back. “That is our next problem. How do we explain her absence to the clan?” He hadn’t meant to direct his question at Kenna and was surprised when she answered.

  “Simple, put me on a horse and let some of them watch Charlet leave. If they do not see me up close, I can fool them.”

  Kevin usually didn‘t speak his thoughts, but this time he did. “We let the MacDonald think Charlet is still here, yet we let the clan think she is gone. But we want the lad who wishes her harm to think she is still here so he will not look for her elsewhere.”

  “Confounding them could work in our favor,” said Connor. “’Tis is a question of whom the lad will believe -- the MacDonald laird or the MacGreagor clan. We can bring Kenna back in after dark and we will still have her here to fool the next laird who wants Charlet.”

  Kenna’s eyes widened. “Do you mean there are more?”

  Blair insisted, so once more Bridget was sitting in front of him on his horse. She refused to lean against him, however, but the rocking motion of the horse made it almost impossible not to. She kept her hands folded in her lap and tried to enjoy the countryside, but every once in a while, she put her hand on her head.

  “Does your head hurt?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course it hurts, my horse threw me.”

  “Do you wish to stop?”

  “I wish to ride my own horse.”

  “Not until your head stops hurting.”

  “In that case, I believe it is a miracle. It does not hurt in the least.”

  It was his turn to roll his eyes. “Does your knee hurt?”

  She was so furious she slapped his arm. “You looked!”

  Blair halted the horses, grabbed both her hands and looked mean when he spoke. “You will never strike me again.”

  She looked just as mean. “You will never tell me what to do again.”

  He had no idea how to handle this situation. His glare should have scared the wits out of her, but she wasn’t at all intimidated. He decided a softer approach might be best and lowered his voice. “’Tis improper to strike someone except in war and you know it. Say you are sorry.”

  She wasn’t at all sorry, but she too decided to try another approach. She wiggled her hands free, wrapped her arms around him and put her head on his chest. “I am truly sorry. Do you forgive me?”

  What he suddenly wanted to do was wrap his arms around her as well, but he couldn’t let her win so easily. He pried her away and got off his horse. Then he lifted her and plopped her down on the bare back of her own horse. “You will never do that again.”

  She shrugged, lifted one leg to the other side, settled herself and took hold of the horse’s mane. “As you wish.”

  He was back on his horse and headed off again before he realized she had just won the first battle. She wanted to ride her own horse and now she was. He ran his fingers through his blond hair and closed his green eyes.

  Ten minutes later when he looked back, she had both her hands on her head holding it. He stopped, moved her horse up next to him, leaned over and opened his arm. She didn’t hesitate to wrap both of hers around his neck and let him lift her into his lap. She lowered her arms and again folded her hands.

  He lifted her chin so he could see her face and noticed a tear roll down her cheek. “Does the pain cause your tears?”

  “I have never been injured before. My mother would know how to ease it; she helped my father when his face was hurt.”

  “What did she do?”

  “She put a cold cloth on it.”

  “Then we will do the same. We are not far from a loch and we will stop there for the night.”

  “May I touch you now?”

  His heart was beginning to melt and it was a new experience. He felt protective, caring and worried all at the same time. And for the first time in his life, he doubted his own self control. He was supposed to protect her, not fall in love with her. Kevin was right, she had the power of a thousand Highlander warriors all wrapped up in one little tear. He cupped his hand around her head and gently put it against his chest.

  Blair and Charlet got to the loch a little sooner than he expected. He halted the horses, lifted her down and then paid more attention to the horses than to her. He let them drink and then set them free to graze on the tall grass.

  She hadn’t said a word in hours, but she wasn’t crying or holding her head anymore. He noticed when she walked into the trees and wondered if she would try to run. But, it would get cold soon and whether she liked it or not, she needed his extra plaids and the warmth of a fire.

  The trees were even further apart than at noon and she was not pleased. She kept right on walking and expected him to come get her but he didn’t. She wondered if he bothered to bring any food. Then she heard something in the forest. She thought it was Blair and looked back, but he was still in the clearing building a fire. She couldn’t see or hear anything more, but just in case, she turned around and went back.

  He heard her and when she came back and stood behind him, he didn’t bother to turn around. “Go to the loch and wash.”

  She clicked her tongue in disgust and spoke in Gaelic, “You sound just like a husband.” She planned to go wash anyway, but she had a thing or two to tell him on the way -- in English. “You are a stubborn, mule-headed, horse’s rear end and the biggest damn man I have ever seen.”

  He had to walk quickly into the forest so she wouldn’t see him laugh.

  At the MacGreagor hold, the sun was almost down. Connor put Kenna on a horse and handed her a bundle filled with Charlet’s belongings. “Keep your head down. Let them think you are too unhappy to look at anyone.” She nodded and he mounted his horse.

  He noticed a few people were starting to come down the path and knew he needed to hurry. He urged his horse to gallop and as soon as they were across the drawbridge, the guards began to raise it. Once they were out of view, he turned their horses into the forest and took the long way around until they were behind the keep and not too far away from the hidden door in the wall.

  “We will rest here. It must be very dark before you go back in.” He suddenly thought of something. “Do you know how to swim?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Good. Kevin will be waiting on the other side of the moat to take you back inside,” Connor said.

  “What will you do?”

  “I will go back around and enter over the bridge. The guards will lower it, lads will come out to see what is happening and they will realize Charlet did not come back with me.”

  “Will they ask where she has gone?”

  “They might, but Kevin knows how to silence them without answering. Try not to worry, all will be well.”

  “I only worry about one thing; someone might take me thinking I am Charlet.”

  “We will not let that happen.”

  CHAPTER III

  Kevin had not sent a message to the King of England for years and he wasn’t quite sure how to accomplish it now. In bed with his arms wrapped around his wife, he was trying to explain. “The word is ‘hollow’ and the message must contain the word somehow.”

  “How did Athena get a message to him?”

  “Athena walked right into his court.”

  Anna’s eyes widened. “And you let her?”

  “My love, I could hardly stop her. She was an elder, you might recall. Even a laird must respect the wishes of an elder.”

  “I could take the message.”

  “That, I can prevent.”

  “But Kevin, I am your best choice. I am English and I can go anywhere without anyone noticing.”

  He took a deep breath, released her and rolled on to his back. “I could not bear it if anything happened to you. We have not been apart in years and I would be beside myself with worry.”

  “I will take a full guard and wait for the king on MacGreagor land just as you did. He will come to me quickly and I
will be gone but a few days. I will be safe.”

  “The only place you are truly safe is in my arms.”

  She moved closer and kissed his neck. “And I have loved being safe in your arms.”

  “I promised to keep you safe and I also promised never to lie to you. Yet I did lie. I let you think I was with another woman in your mother‘s cottage.”

  “You had to protect Charlet and get her away quickly. That is what a good lad is supposed to do. You expected me to be upset because you didn’t tell me about Charlet, and you did not have time to deal with it. You would have been right, you know. I am not always a reasonable lass.”

  He smiled and kissed her lips. “You know me too well. The truth is I hardly remembered Charlet was not ours to keep or I would have told you.”

  “Let me go to England. ’Tis the only way to know if the king arranged her marriage. If he did, we can bring her home.”

  It was dark, Charlet was cold, and the fire was going out. At least he had given her a plaid to keep her warm, an apple and some cheese to eat. She felt better after that. But how was she supposed to close her eyes and sleep with a strange man only a few feet from her? She had only one choice. She would stay awake the whole night. Her head was still hurting and even the cold, wet cloth he brought her didn’t help. She watched him lay down on the other side of the fire and thought maybe he did not mean her any harm. So she slowly stretched out and closed her eyes.

  The next thing she knew, she was sitting up. Blair was on his knees beside her with his hand over her mouth.

  He could see that her eyes were filled with terror and he knew she might be afraid of him when he got that close in the night, but he couldn‘t let her keep screaming. He quickly put his mouth close to her ear. “You are safe.”

  She remembered her nightmare then and her whole body shuddered. Charlet closed her eyes, slowly released the memory and let her muscles relax. When he took his hand off her mouth, she wanted to explain. “My parents died in a fire and I saw them burn. I do not always have that dream, just sometimes.”

  He nodded. “I must sleep next to you.” He stood up and went to get his bedding.

  “Why?”

  “So I will not have so far to run the next time you start to scream. I will not hurt you.”

  She did not truly trust him until she finally realized something. If Blair harmed her in anyway, Kevin would kill him and that made her feel safer than she had since the fire. She turned on her side facing away from him, listened while he spread his plaid and felt him lay down beside her. “Blair?”

  He turned on his side with his back to her. “What?”

  “How far?”

  “Half a day. You will like it there.”

  “What will I like?”

  “Go to sleep, Bridget.”

  The next morning, Kevin, Connor and Rachel stood on the landing of the Keep and watched Anna ride out of the hold. Just beyond the bridge, she turned on her horse to look at her husband. She smiled to reassure him, waited until her guards surrounded her and then rode away.

  But Kevin didn’t have much time to regret letting her go. A rider swiftly came to tell him Fergusons were on MacGreagor land and coming this way.

  “How many?”

  The boy’s horse danced around, but he finally got control and then answered, “Two, their laird rides with them and they are unarmed.”

  “Let them come.” Kevin looked at Connor. “What could he want?”

  “You know what he wants, he is unmarried.”

  Kevin sighed, “Send someone to find Kenna.”

  Laird Shaw Ferguson led his men up the road toward the MacGreagor hold. Not two years before, the Fergusons had gone to war with the MacGreagors, the MacGreagors easily won and Kevin killed Laird Ferguson. The new laird was well aware he was not welcome on MacGreagor land, but he wanted peace between the two clans. His elder brother had been an unkind man and Shaw Ferguson was not sorry Kevin killed him.

  This was no time to show cowardice, so Laird Ferguson boldly rode his horse across the bridge, dismounted and waited in the courtyard for the MacGreagor laird to meet him. He was standing with his legs apart and his hands behind his back when he saw her coming down the path. She took his breath away. He didn’t especially like red hair; he preferred golden hair like his instead. But she was so becoming, he would not have cared if her hair was green.

  Kenna spotted him too and didn’t think she had ever seen a more handsome man. She stopped and stared at him. Did Kevin really want her to turn down this marriage proposal? Then she remembered she was supposed to be Charlet. She turned, gracefully climbed the steps with her head held high and went inside the Keep.

  Shaw Ferguson waited. Another woman with red hair came out of a cottage and then another appeared. He hardly moved his lips when he spoke to the guard standing beside him. “Do all their women have red hair?”

  Just then, Connor came out to the landing and motioned for them to come up the steps. As soon as he entered, Shaw spotted the woman sitting at the long table with her hands gracefully folded in her lap. She was looking down as though she were bored.

  Kevin, on the other hand, was standing with his arms tightly folded. “You are on MacGreagor land.”

  “I am Shaw Ferguson. You killed my brother and I came to thank you for it.”

  Kevin was impressed, but he didn’t trust a Ferguson and wouldn’t be pacified so easily. He didn’t say another word and instead glared at the man.

  But Ferguson didn’t back down and finally said, “I have come to ask for peace between our two clans. Many of my followers have family here and they want to see them again. Will you allow it?”

  “And that is all you want?”

  “It is.” The woman looked at him then and he looked at her. To his surprise, she smiled. But he couldn’t be sure she wasn’t Kevin’s wife or daughter, so he looked away.

  Kevin didn’t quite believe him. “You have not come to ask for a wife?”

  “I will, if it will bring peace between us. Which lass would you like me to consider?”

  Kenna started to laugh, Connor smiled and Kevin was having a hard time keeping from laughing.

  But it confounded the Ferguson. “Do I amuse you?”

  Kevin tried to quickly mend the damage. “Lately, there has been an unusual number of requests for the hands of some of our lasses. We expected you to want the same.”

  “If this one is an example I can see why.” He glanced at her and could tell he made Kenna blush. “Is she your wife?”

  Kevin liked this man. He was courteous, respectful and not like his brother at all. There was a time when he was friends with Shaw Ferguson’s father and perhaps this son was more like him. It would be a good alliance and Kevin wanted to know more about Shaw Ferguson before he agreed to call a truce. “She is not my wife. Kenna you may leave now.”

  She got up and walked to Kevin. Kevin did not demand that his followers curtsy to him, but when in the presence of others, they always did out of respect for him. She curtsied to Kevin, then to Laird Ferguson and went to the door, but she wasn’t completely gone before she heard Laird Ferguson say, “Kenna is a fine name.” She ran down the steps and headed up the path. “Wait until Julie hears this!”

  Inside the keep, Kevin offered Shaw a goblet of wine and the two men sat down at the table. “At the beginning of our war, your lads killed a MacGreagor, his wife and one of his sons. At the end of the battle, I demanded the Fergusons bring me the lads who committed the murders, but they brought only one lad. I suspect there were more.”

  “There were two more; your lads killed them in the battle.”

  “I see. Why did your brother want a war with us?”

  “He lusted after your land, your clan and your wife. I have heard she is a bonnie lass as well.”

  So far, Kevin felt the man was being honest. “Where were you in the battle?”

  “He left me to protect our land. You could easily have taken the rest of us had you attacked. Wh
y did you not?”

  “The MacGreagors do not enjoy killing. Your lads were poorly trained and it was not a worthy fight.”

  “That is true, we are not well trained. I have much to do now that I am the Ferguson laird. The people feared my brother and because he was so unworthy, they do not yet trust me. I am hoping an alliance with you will ease their fears. What must I do to convince you the Fergusons want peace?”

  Kevin looked down. The MacGreagors would like to see their Ferguson relatives again, that was true enough. It was also true the Fergusons lost their best men in the war and those who were left posed little danger to the MacGreagors. It would be beneficial to have a friend both to his west and to his east. Kevin stood up. “Tell your people they may meet with their MacGreagor relatives on your side of the loch tomorrow after the noon meal.”

  Shaw Ferguson got up too and walked back to stand in front of his guard. “That will greatly please them, thank you.” He turned to go and then turned back. “Is Kenna married?”

  Kevin smiled. “Nay, and unless I am mistaken, she has Ferguson relatives.”

  Charlet hadn’t thought about Kenna and Julie for hours and to her surprise, she missed them. She missed Kevin, although she was still mad at him. She missed her adopted brothers and sisters, Anna, Rachel, and even Connor. She used to think Connor was the most handsome man on earth, but just this morning she finally looked at Blair. He was smiling when she woke up and she didn’t remember seeing that before. He fed her, folded her plaid, lifted her onto her horse and smiled at her again. Her head didn’t hurt as much and for a moment, she wished she was back in his arms with her head on his chest but she dismissed that thought quickly.

  He hadn’t said much, which was good. Waking up with a sharp mind was not her best quality. He did insist she put the long scarf back on to cover her red hair and she didn’t argue. She had a lot to think about. If she really was the daughter of a king, then she was a princess. Oh why did he have to be the English King? Why couldn’t he be the Scottish King? Of Course, the King of Scotland wouldn’t need to hide a child in the Highlands. Would she ever meet the King of England? He must be a very old man if Kevin met him years ago. Maybe he wasn’t still alive. No, the Highlanders would have heard if the King of England died. She had a real family out there somewhere and she wanted to know who they were.