Historical Hearts Romance Collection

by Sophia Wilson

  But she remembered his cold eyes on the night she had sat at this very table to meet him. He barely glanced at her; and when he did, he was shrewdly assessing, like a buyer might a stud horse. And Lily had noticed how he surreptitiously grabbed the serving maids under their skirts as they bent over him to pour more wine in his goblet. Squeezing them, until they bit their lips.

  Oh, Lily had seen it all!

  And then there was the talk. Of how he had killed his first wife because she bore him a daughter and not the son he wanted. Officially, the wife had died in childbirth. But no one had seen her body after the newborn was whisked away. She just disappeared, with Richard McLaren, the Laird of Loneshire, claiming she had to be buried in a far-off cemetery in accordance with his dear departed wife’s wishes.

  No body, no ceremony, no burial. Fishy. And she was all set to become his second wife!

  “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady.”

  Oh, bother! She had been so busy wallowing in her misery that she didn’t know what was happening. Her father had just introduced her to someone. But she couldn’t recall who…?

  “Penny for your thoughts, me lady?” The voice was dry. She looked up at the man who uttered them, nonplussed. He arched an eyebrow at her.

  Lily drew herself up to her full height, which wasn’t much. She was a petite girl. “Aye, pleased to make your acquaintance.” She stopped. What was his name?

  “I am Douglas McLaren, the brother of the Laird,” the man continued. “My men and I will be escorting you to Colloness Castle, in preparation for your wedding.”

  Lily barely glanced at him. A tall man, with shoulder length jet black hair, wearing the Stewart tartan. Her gaoler. Taking her to her soon-to-be-husband. Dragging her, more like!

  She tossed her head imperiously, consciously trying to mimic her mother. “Aye, well, I hope you and your men show a bit more manners to me while travelling than you’ve shown here.” She gestured at one of his men who was belching while grabbing a serving maid.

  Douglas McLaren didn’t smile. “You need to be ready to go, now.” He turned away from her. Lily felt an upsurge of anger. He was as arrogant as his brother, obviously!

  Before she knew it, Lily was mounted on an unfamiliar horse. Everyone was gathered in the courtyard to bid her farewell. Her mother and father were looking smug, like the cat that just ate the cream. Probably counting in their heads all the gold they were getting from this union, thought Lily darkly. Her brother Neil was there, bored as usual.

  “Neil and I will arrive in a month or so, to make sure you are settled and oversee the wedding preparations,” her father said to her.

  Lily looked around. “Where is Mairi’s horse? Isn’t she saddled yet?”

  Lord Aberdeen’s face grew colder still. “Mairi? Oh, you must be mistaken, my dear, Mairi was never coming with you. You will have new servants at Colloness Castle.”

  Lily was shocked. “What are you talking about? Mairi must come with me!” She looked around desperately. Mairi was nowhere to be seen.

  “How could you do this to me?”

  A cold smile spread across Lord Aberdeen’s face.

  “Me? Oh, no, my dear, this was not my doing. This is under orders from the Laird of Loneshire himself. He expressly forbade you to bring any reminders of your former life. How did he put it? He would like you to start from scratch.”

  The horses started, and Lily found herself among them, leaving the castle that had been her only home. As they cantered off, she looked back desperately. She could just see Mairi’s face in her bedroom window, tears streaming. Don’t look back again, she told herself. Don’t let them see you cry. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

  Because that is surely why he has done it.

  Chapter Two

  Lily slumped against the back of the chair. She felt like she was bruised from head to toe. Thank the Lord the first part of their journey was over.

  They had ridden south for a while after leaving Aberdeen, before veering to the west. The lowlands of Scotland started to recede. Suddenly, sparse crags and hills started appearing.

  “Are we getting towards the Highlands?” Lily had shouted over the noise of the horses’ hooves. No one had bothered answering her.

  It was just on dusk before they started slowing down. She could see an isolated inn ahead of them, perched on the edge of a loch. None of the men offered help when she dismounted. She had slid off the horse painfully, bladder full and dying of thirst. They had been riding without break for over five hours.

  The inn was full of patrons, all in their cups, singing of bonnie Scotland loudly. A buxom serving girl was weaving in amongst the crowd, refilling ale mugs at random. Lily felt a pounding headache begin to throb behind her eyes. She had been abandoned at this table while the men were relieving themselves behind the shed, or drinking themselves stupid at the bar. There was no sign of Douglas, her intended’s brother.

  Where the hell was he? Lily craned her neck to find him. Eventually she saw him in a far-off corner, squashed against a woman.

  Lily felt the anger rising in her again. How could she be treated so shoddily? She was the daughter of a laird! To be made to ride for hours without break, and then to be dumped at a table while the men she travelled with ignored her!

  Well, she would show them, so she would.

  Hobbling to her feet, Lily pushed through the crowd. Ignoring the leers of men and trying very hard not to get pitchers of ale poured over her, she finally made it to the corner where Douglas and the woman were ensconced. Why, she might as well be sitting on his lap, thought Lily sourly.

  “Ahem.”

  They both looked up at her. The woman’s eyes slowly raked over her, taking in every detail, from the crumpled nature of her green gown, to the disheveled state of her black curls.

  “Aye, and what can we do for you, lassie?”

  Lily started at being talked to so disrespectfully. Didn’t this woman know who she was? I will ignore her completely. She turned to Douglas.

  “Mr. McLaren,” she spat. “Will you kindly order me some food and drink! I have been travelling all day, and to be treated like this…”

  “Treated like what?” Douglas’s voice was smooth. But he didn’t smile.

  “Treated like nothing, dumped on a chair, while you…. while you….”

  “While I what?” Oh, the man was impossible!

  The woman had been looking at her the whole exchange, and suddenly leaned over Douglas, whispering something in his ear. Her bosom looked like it was about to spill from her blouse as she did so. Lily couldn’t hear what she said, but it tickled Douglas’s fancy. He laughed loudly.

  “What are you saying?” Lily could have kicked herself for asking, but she had had enough! “Are you both laughing at me?”

  “Keep your drawers on, lassie,” drawled the woman. She snaked a finger down the side of Douglas’s face as she spoke. Douglas seemed spellbound.

  “Mr. McLaren, this is not acceptable….”

  Douglas slowly turned to look at her, tearing his gaze away from the woman’s bosom.

  “Keep the heid,” he said now. “Calm yourself. Go and sit back down where I left you. I’ll order some pottage and a tankard of ale for you.” He turned back to the woman.

  And that was that! She had been dismissed! Face burning, Lily turned to battle through the crowd again. She was half way to her table when she looked back at them. They only had eyes for each other. She had been forgotten entirely.

  She felt a dark coil of ugly emotion spring up inside of her. She wasn’t jealous…. was she?

  ***

  They set off at daybreak.

  Lily could barely keep her eyes open and her feet in the stirrups. She had had a bad night’s sleep, tossing and turning on the short hard bed. Her thoughts had turned over and over, chasing each other. Her fear and loathing of the laird…. her anger at having to leave behind Mairi…the arrogance of his brother Douglas, flirting with that damn woman right in fro
nt of her nose….

  Shaking her head, Lily tried to empty her mind. The sunrise was casting fingers of orange and pink over the barren landscape. The air was chilly. She wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders. As much as she disliked this journey, she was fearful of its end. A part of her just wanted to keep riding until the earth gave way to the ocean.

  They rode for a few hours, before finding a clearing to partake of some lunch.

  Hamish got down first. He was a tallish man with a full ginger beard. He turned to Lily.

  “Do you need a hand to get down, lassie?”

  Nodding gratefully, Lily took his hand and slid off her horse. At least someone was starting to notice her, she thought. Unlike Douglas.

  The men were walking around, stretching their legs. Some walked away to relieve themselves. Lily looked down at the ground. She needed to go herself. But where…?

  She spotted some tall trees a bit away from the men. Resolutely, she set off.

  She got as far behind the trees as possible. The last thing she wanted was one of the men spying on her as she did her business.

  It was hard keeping her balance as she squatted. With one hand trying to hold up her skirts, and one pressed against a tree to stop herself toppling over, she finally let go. It was ungainly, and her shoes were getting wet. She tried to spread her legs further apart to stop it, when she suddenly lost her balance. She was lying on her side, skirts akimbo.

  “You look like you’re in a bunch of strife there. Need a hand?”

  She looked up from the ground to see Douglas looming over her. Of all the times! Face burning, Lily shook her head, trying to gather some dignity.

  “I’m perfectly fine, thank you! Would you please turn around and leave!”

  Douglas chuckled. “Ah, come now, lass. I really think you need a hand.”

  He grabbed her hand and wrenched her to her feet. I must look a mess, thought Lily. She smoothed down her skirts and picked at something in her hair. A twig, of course.

  “I am fine, I say! Let me go!”

  “If you insist.”

  He suddenly let go of her hand, and she lost her balance again, falling over some brush and against him.

  His chest felt like rock beneath her hands; tight and hard. She looked up at him. His eyes were the color of flint – grey, with a speckle of green through them. There was a long silver scar zigzagging down the left side of his face. How did he get that? She wondered idly. His long black hair fell against her forehead, tickling it slightly. She felt a flush spread over her, a warmth springing up from a source unknown.

  She pushed him, hard.

  Taken by surprise, Douglas lost his balance, flailing his arms wildly to break his fall. He landed with a thud.

  “So know you know how it feels!”

  And with a toss of her black curls, Lily left him on the ground and walked back to the other men. She was hungry. What was for lunch?

  Chapter Three

  Douglas watched her as they rode that afternoon.

  She rode well, but you could tell that she wasn’t used to long journeys. Each time she dismounted, she seemed stiffer. But she didn’t complain – well, at least she hadn’t since that first night at the Inn, when she’d gotten into a huff when he was with the barmaid.

  He couldn’t quite work her out.

  He knew he liked to watch her. Her long, black curls bounced down her back as she rode. Since that first day, she had left her hair down. But then he supposed, she had no lady’s maid to help her with her hair.

  A flash of anger tore through him. His brother. The scoundrel. Insisting that she not bring anyone from home with her. Jesus, he could be a cruel bastard.

  But that was a given. His brother Richard, the Laird of Loneshire, was a bastard through and through. He had known that since they were boys, when Richard had stolen things then blamed him. He had also been on the receiving end of his fists. Richard was always angry, and looked to the weakest person to take it out on. When he was young, that had been Douglas. In the last few years, it had been his late wife Elspeth, God rest her soul.

  Elspeth. A timid woman, she had met her match in Richard. He had controlled her completely. Douglas didn’t know what had happened to Elspeth in the days after she gave birth to his niece, Isobel. But he had heard the rumors, the same as everyone. And he knew his brother – too well. It wouldn’t surprise him, not at all. He looked again at Lily, riding toward her bridegroom. A fission of unease went through him. How could he deliver her to that bastard?

  It wasn’t just Elspeth, either. Douglas knew about the whores that Richard kept. He could barely keep away from them. Poor Lily. She was in for a rough time of it. And she would make such a lovely wife…

  Not my concern. My job is to deliver her to him, nothing more, nothing less.

  Resolutely, Douglas spurred his horse to overtake her. The less he looked at that winsome figure bouncing on the horses back, the better.

  ***

  She had thought travel would be exciting, but it was all the same. Monotonous. And it hurt.

  Douglas was ahead of her. He had not looked at her, or acknowledged her in any way since she had pushed him over this morning. She didn’t know what had come over her. He was only trying to help. Then she remembered how she had felt when she had fallen against him – the warmth that had spread through her like honey.

  It was just embarrassment, she told herself fiercely. He had found her in a compromising position, after all.

  She nudged her horse alongside his.

  “How much further are we to travel today?” she asked, as soon as she was level with him.

  He glanced at her. “Feeling a bit sore, are you?” He looked at the sky. “Not much further. There is rain coming soon.” He pointed to a patch of clouds to the west. “We’ll try to get to Stirling. I know a good inn near there.”

  They fell silent.

  “What’s he like?” Lily didn’t even know she spoke until the words had left her mouth.

  Douglas turned to her slightly in his saddle. “Richard, you mean?”

  “Aye…. Richard.” It was like she was testing his name on her tongue. He had simply been the Laird of Loneshire to her, up until now.

  Douglas looked at her. “Aye, well, he is a very grand laird,” he answered carefully. “You won’t want for anything. As many pretty gowns as you desire. He owns all the lands for miles around Colloness Castle. You shall be a very fine mistress of the castle, ye ken.”

  “Aye, but what is he like as a person?” she pressed.

  “Ah, well….” What could he tell her? That she was going to marry a bastard, who may or may not have killed his first wife? Who chased after anything in a skirt? “He likes things his way. He likes things in order.” Would that do?

  Lily grimaced. “You are not painting a very pretty picture, Mr. McLaren.”

  “Douglas.” He looked at her. “My name is Douglas.”

  She swallowed. “And mine is Lily.” She felt herself flushing again, and looked down. “I suppose we can dispense with formalities…we are to be brother and sister, after all.”

  The look he gave her this time seemed to go on forever.

  “Aye,” he said eventually. “Brother and sister. And what a pretty sister you make.”

  He spurred on his horse and rode off. She stared after him.

  Douglas McLaren. She did not know what to make of him, at all.

  ***

  They rode into Stirling, and spent the night at a better inn than the previous.

  He wasn’t flirting with barmaids tonight. This time, he took a seat opposite her and shared the meal of mutton and bread.

  “Are you looking forward to marriage?” he asked, and then could have kicked himself. She obviously wasn’t. Anytime she or anyone else mentioned the laird, a fearful look came into her eyes.

  She considered. “Well, I am looking forward to being mistress of my own home,” she answered. “Living with my family was…hard, in some ways. We aren’
t very close; in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “Aye, your father is a cold fish, that’s for sure. I didn’t get to speak to your mam. A bit standoffish, I’d say?”

  Lily smiled. “Aye, you could say. And then there’s my brother….” She trailed off.

  “Neil, isn’t it?” he pressed. “He didn’t make himself known, when I was there.”

  “Neil keeps to himself.” The less said about Neil, the better. “He doesn’t like to associate with riff raff, as he calls most people. “

  “Thinks he’s a bit good himself, does he Neil?”

  “Aye.”

  “And here was me thinking I was alright, being the brother of a laird, and all.” He laughed dryly.

  She changed the subject. “What about your family? Are you close to…. Richard?”

  Douglas laughed outright. “Close to Richard? I don’t think anyone could be close to Richard!” he stopped when he saw the look on Lily’s face. “I’m sorry. That was unkind of me.”

  Lily swallowed painfully. “Tis alright, I have to know what to expect. What of his child?”

  This time Douglas smiled – a genuine smile which seemed to light up his features. He is the most handsome man, thought Lily suddenly. Stop it. He is about to become your brother- in- law!

  “Isobel is two years old, and the bonniest lass you’ve ever laid eyes on. You will love her as soon as you see her!”

  “I’m sure I will.” How loving he seemed towards his niece! “I am looking forward to it.” She stood up. His eyes lit up in surprise.

  “I am tired, Douglas, it was a long day’s travel. I think I will climb the stairs and retire for the night.”

  He couldn’t hide his disappointment.

  “Of course.”

  She turned away.

  “Lily.” She turned back to him. “You should know…we ride into Colloness Castle late afternoon tomorrow, weather permitting.”

  She stared at him. “Aye. Well. It was bound to happen, sooner or later.” She walked away.

  He watched her leave. Watched everything about her very closely. Oh, Lily, he thought. What am I doing?