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

by Marti Talbott

  CHAPTER I

  The King of England and Kevin MacGreagor were not friends, but they respected each other and had a word between them. The word was ‘hollow’ and when the Highlander received a message that included the word, he rode to the southern tip of his land and waited in the forest near a clearing.

  It wasn’t long before an Englishman timidly walked into the clearing with a small bundle in his arms. He was not the king and Kevin cautiously walked out to meet him. “You are on MacGreagor land.”

  “I should hope so.” The Englishman was not brave. He was old and trembled in the company of the giant. “The king begs you to hide this child.” The man’s hand shook as he lifted the cloth and allowed Kevin to peek at the sleeping baby. “If you do not hide her, she will die. Her mother is already dead.”

  “How do I hide her? Everyone will know she is not born to us.”

  “What else can we do? The king trusts you and no other. He knows you will see to her safety and he knows you will give her back when the time comes.” He paused. The Highlander didn’t look convinced and he simply couldn’t let him refuse. “You will think of a way to make your people accept her, you must.”

  The Englishman put the baby in the arms of the Highlander, hung a flask of goat’s milk over Kevin’s shoulder and quickly walked away.

  Laird Kevin MacGreagor slowly lifted the wrap off the face of the child. She wasn’t more than a few days old, the dusting of hair on her head was red and she was sound asleep. He couldn’t help himself; he kissed the baby’s soft cheek. “Aye, I will think of a way.”

  Sixteen years later

  “I hate her,” Julie muttered.

  They were teenage girls sitting in the middle of the meadow and they chose that place just to make sure no one could overhear them. They both wore long pleated plaids made of the same soft wool and of the same predominantly blue patchwork of color. Both MacGreagor men and women kept a length of plaid across their hearts and over one shoulder, with long white shirts underneath.

  Kenna shoved a strand of blond hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I hate her too. My mother says lads prefer golden hair, not red like Charlet‘s. And her eyes, where did she get those green eyes? Everyone knows blue eyes are better. In fact, most of our clan has blue eyes, even her parents had them.”

  “Maybe her mother...”

  “What?”

  Julie lowered her voice even more. “All I am saying is, maybe her father was not really her father.”

  “Of course, he was not her father, everyone knows that. Charlet’s father was a Cameron.”

  “Then no wonder she is bonnie. I have only seen a few, but the Cameron lads are very handsome. Do they have green eyes?”

  “Who knows?”

  “Perhaps we could find husbands among the Camerons?”

  Kenna rolled her eyes. “Providing we do not let them see Charlet, you mean.”

  “I hate her.”

  “Me too.”

  Julie suddenly had an idea. “We could kill her.”

  Kenna looked horrified. “We can not kill her, Kevin would be furious. Have you ever seen him furious? “

  “Nay.”

  “Well, Duff says when Kevin is furious he can glare a hole right through a lad’s heart.”

  Julie’s eyes widened.

  “And when Kevin was done with that, he would banish us and send us to...that place.

  “What place?”

  “E n g l a n d!”

  Julie drew a sharp breath, crossed herself once and then four more times just to make sure.

  In the great hall, colorful tapestries hung on the walls with candleholders between them and on the opposite wall hung an assortment of weapons. The MacGreagor mistress made sure there were fresh flowers to enjoy every day and it was normally a peaceful place filled with laughter and love.

  Sitting alone at the head of the table, Laird Kevin MacGreagor was feeling his age. His blond hair was beginning to turn white at the temples and his gray-blue eyes were not as bright as they once were. At almost forty-one, he no longer trained with the men daily. He left that up to the younger, much more able men. He was still fit, but his bones didn’t move as well and often ached.

  When Charlet entered through the larger door, Kevin’s eyes brightened and he stood up. Once an awkward girl with unmanageable red hair and eyes that didn’t seem to fit in her head, she had grown into a vivacious young woman right before his eyes.

  “You wished to see me?” she asked.

  Kevin smiled “Duff broke his nose today, were you there?”

  “Aye.”

  “Did you see what happened?”

  “I did.”

  “Do you wish to tell me?”

  “I did not do anything, Kevin, I swear it. Duff is a stupid lad.”

  “I see. He wishes to marry you.”

  She mumbled under her breath and tightly folded her arms. “I know, he tells me that everyday.”

  “But you do not prefer him?”

  “Prefer him? He gawks at me. If he had not been gawking this morning, he would not have walked into the wall.” She was furious and started to leave.

  “Charlet, I am not yet finished.”

  She stopped and turned back, “Did someone else walk into the wall?”

  He grinned. “Not that I am aware of.”

  But then his expression turned serious and she became concerned so she went all the way back to him. She remembered how he used to put his arms around her when she was little and she wished he would do it now. It would make her feel less concerned. “I do not please you?”

  He did wrap his arms around her and then quickly let go, “Of course you please me. You have pleased me since the first day you came to us.” Kevin urged her to sit down at the table and then retook his seat. “It is time to tell you something.”

  She gracefully folded her hands in her lap. “What?”

  “I have had an offer of marriage for you and I would like you to carefully consider it. It is from an Englishman.”

  Her brows shot up, her jaw dropped and she couldn’t even speak. A Highlander wanted her to consider marriage to an Englishman? She sighed, shifted her eyes and then her temper took over and she glared at him. “Kevin, if you wish to be shed of me, just say so. The Camerons will take me, I know they will.”

  She got up and started inching toward the door. “I would much rather be married to one of them. I would even sooner marry a Ferguson or a MacDonald. Naturally, I want to stay here, but if you do not want me, then I...” She darted out the door and was gone.

  Kevin strummed his fingers on the table and began to count, “One Highlander, two Highlanders, three Highlanders, four...”

  Charlet stuck her head back in the door, “What Englishman?”

  The Highlanders called their laird’s home a Keep. It was a two-story building made of stone with a large courtyard and stables enough to house twenty-five horses. Cottages and a web of paths were spread out behind the keep with a garden at the far end. A high wall surrounded it all, complete with a moat and a drawbridge.

  Julie and Kenna often walked the paths inside the wall, wandered over the bridge and strolled toward the loch to the east, or the meadow to the west. But this day, they wanted to watch the door to the keep, so they stayed inside the wall, only went as far as the first cottage and sat down on a log.

  Julie whispered, “Charlet has been inside talking to Kevin forever. See how the guard does not let anyone in? I have never seen that before. In fact, Kevin never spends that much time with any of us.”

  “Aye, there are too many of us for that.”

  “She is probably choosing a husband, or two, or three.”

  Kenna giggled, “She deserves at least three -- three to wash for, three to feed and three to...”

  “What?”

  “Never mind.”

  Julie insisted, “Three to what?”

  “Three to give her children.”

  “Oh.” Julie wrinkled he
r brow. “My mother calls it a duty, but Rachel says she finds great pleasure in it when Connor touches her that way. Which do you think is the truth?”

  Kenna rolled her eyes. “I would not know, would I. I am not married and probably never will be!”

  In the great hall, Charlet was shocked. Her life was not at all what she thought it was and she was having a difficult time taking it all in. It was true, Connor found her when she was a baby and brought her inside the wall. But she never once guessed Kevin put her there in the first place for Connor to find.

  “You are upset with me.” Kevin kept his voice as soft and as comforting as he could.

  “Nay, I could never be upset with you. You saved my life. It is just that I have always believed my real mother did not want me. It never occurred to me she died. Of a truth, I have been so happy here, I rarely think about my real family at all.”

  “I am pleased you are happy here. I would have you stay with us forever, but you have a purpose greater than what I want.”

  “Do you know why someone wanted to kill me?”

  “Nay wee one, the Englishman who gave you to me did not say. He said the king wanted you safe and knew no one would look for you here.”

  “Is the King of England my father?” she asked.

  “I do not know.”

  “How did you learn of this marriage proposal?”

  “Laird Cameron told me. I meet with him on the third morning of every week in a place not far from here. He heard it from Laird MacDonald to the north.”

  “Then half the Highlanders know an Englishman wants to marry me. How dreadful.” She lowered her eyes and stared at the table.

  Kevin was thoughtful for a time too. He just figured out he had a bigger problem than he thought. Good women, especially beautiful ones, were not so plentiful in the Highlands and those who had seen her might not be willing to let her go to the English without a fight.

  Charlet interrupted his thoughts. “So you think it odd this Englishman wants to marry me?”

  “I do. If he had seen you I would not think it odd at all. But you tell me you have never seen an Englishman.”

  “I would remember, would I not? I have heard they wear strange clothing.”

  “‘Tis true. Then there are two possibilities; either he has discovered who you are and wishes you harm, or the king has arranged this marriage.”

  “How will we know which?”

  “That, wee one, we must figure out.”

  She drew in a long breath and let it out, “My head is spinning, Kevin, I can not think.”

  “I understand. Go to your rest, but I caution you; it is not wise to speak of this to anyone. As you are well aware, secrets are not easily kept in the Highlands.”

  “Aye, but you have kept this secret. Does anyone else know?”

  “Nay, not even my wife.”

  “Kevin, I have one more question. Have you ever met the King of England?”

  “I have, but it was many years ago.”

  “Can we not just ask him if he sent the man?”

  “Perhaps we will.”

  Charlet barely made it to the bottom of the steps outside the keep before she was flanked by Julie and Kenna. Kenna was especially eager to know. “Who did you choose?”

  Charlet stopped and turned to her. “What?”

  “Who did you choose for a husband?”

  “Why would you think I was choosing a husband?”

  Kenna rolled her eyes. “What else could you be talking to Kevin about for so long?”

  To Charlet, these two girls were like pests. They constantly plagued her about husbands and she certainly wasn’t in the mood today. She just wanted them to go away, but then an idea crossed her mind. Maybe there was a way to quiet their complaints once and for all. “Suppose we make a bargain. You decide which MacGreagor you want to marry and I will make it perfectly clear to him that I am not interested.”

  “You would do that for us?” Julie asked.

  “I would do anything to get you to go away.”

  “You will not change your mind?”

  Charlet put her arm around Julie’s shoulders. “I truly do not wish to marry any lad. Therefore, I will not change my mind. Now, which lad do you favor?”

  Kenna was not that easily convinced. “We can choose any lad in the place, but that will not make him love anyone but you.”

  “Why do you blame me for that? I have done nothing.”

  “You could be a little uglier,” said Kenna.

  Charlet was amused and headed to her cottage. “I think that is a wonderful idea.”

  Rachel and Anna were sisters and they looked very much alike with dark hair and blue eyes. In the small cemetery, they stood next to each other looking down at the place where Emily and Dan were buried.

  Anna sighed. “I thought Charlet would never stop crying. She blames herself still. She simply can not be convinced Dan did right by pulling her out of the fire instead of Emily.”

  “I know.”

  “I miss Emily very much.”

  Rachel rubbed the back of her neck. “So do I. Did Kevin ever discover how the fire started?”

  “Not that I have heard. It is odd the way it started on the roof. Of all the plagues in the world, I fear fire the most. Thank God the lads got it out before it spread and killed many more.”

  It was a peaceful graveyard, just beyond the meadow, where wildflowers grew abundantly and the wind whistled through the trees. When the sisters moved to look at the place where their mother and her husband were buried, Rachel patted her extended stomach and put her other arm around her big sister. “Perhaps if it is a girl, Connor will name her Catherin and if it is a boy, he will call him Justin.”

  “That would be very nice. I was surprised Justin died so soon after Mother, but I have heard of such things. He loved her so much; he just did not want to live without her. I wonder if it will be the same with Kevin and me.”

  “I do not know. Justin had no sons to live for and Kevin does. Besides, you might outlive him.”

  “I would not like that one bit. I would rather die first and save myself the pain of losing him.”

  Rachel put an arm around her sister and turned them back toward the keep. “How very selfish of you. You would leave the rest of us to deal with Kevin after you are gone and he will be unmanageable for at least a year.”

  “Will he take another wife, do you think?”

  “If I say yes, do you promise to live forever?”

  “I would have to, wouldn’t I?”

  Rachel smiled. “My husband says he would never want another woman, it took him too long to convince me to love him.”

  They took the long path home so they could enjoy the warm sun and Anna could pick heather blooms. “Where is my husband’s second in command? I have not seen him all day.”

  “Off to see Thomas. There is something in the air, but Connor does not say what.”

  “You are right, there is something in the air and it has to do with Charlet. Kevin spent a long time with her this morning.”

  “What could Charlet possibly have to do with anything?”

  “I do not know, but when I left, my husband was pacing the floor.”

  Connor rode into the courtyard and found Kevin waiting on the landing for him. He dismounted, handed his reins to a waiting boy and walked up the steps. But when he started to speak, Kevin interrupted, “Come in and rest.”

  He followed Kevin inside and then closed the door behind him before he spoke. “They have seen no Englishmen but his proposal of marriage is all over the Highlands. Some of the clansmen are enraged just as you suspected they would be.”

  “Our clan will hear soon enough as well.” Kevin poured wine into a goblet and handed it to the younger man. “We must set a guard for Charlet.”

  “Aye, a rather large guard. Thomas suggests we hide her. Both the Englishman and the Highlanders know she is here and Thomas thinks we should make her harder to find.”

  Kevin rubbed hi
s forehead. “How does he propose we hide a bonnie lass with red hair?”

  “He thought of that. He sent Blair to wait in the forest for you to bring her to him. If anyone can hide her, Blair can. She will be safe with him.” Connor took just a sip of wine. He didn’t really want it, but he knew Kevin was usually in pain and the wine dulled his aching bones. Drinking with him put Kevin at ease.

  “Blair is a good lad, but I hate to send her away. Charlet will be miserable and she will feel punished for something she has not done.”

  “Perhaps, but at least she will be alive. It is only until we know what is happening,” said Connor.

  “Were you able to learn anything about the Englishman?”

  “The Camerons have heard nothing, but they will try to find out. Kevin, I am worried. There are rumblings the MacDonald laird wants her.”

  “He has not seen her either. He only wants to keep her out of the hands of the English. Besides, he is older than I am.”

  “Aye, but if the other unmarried lairds think MacDonald will have her, they will want her too. We could well have a Highlander war right on our own land.”

  Kevin took a long breath and let it out. “I will take her to Blair.”

  Kenna didn’t trust Charlet to keep her promise. In her mind, she had only one choice; if the MacGreagor men preferred red hair, she would find a way to please them. She was on a mission now and knew what she was looking for. She walked across the drawbridge, glanced at the top of the trees and then walked into the forest toward the loch.

  His name was Blair Cameron, he was Laird Thomas Cameron’s second in command and he had it in him to be the kindest or the meanest man on earth. All of the Cameron women were afraid of him and most of the men feared him as well. He didn’t feel himself to be that fearsome, but it served a purpose so he didn’t try to change anyone’s opinion. He was honored to help the MacGreagor laird. He hoped someday to find a wife among the MacGreagor beauties and he thought a friendship with Kevin MacGreagor would further that goal. But when Kevin brought the woman to him, she was not on her horse. instead, she was slumped in Kevin’s arms. Blair walked his horse closer and looked at her. “Does she sleep?”