2
Kylie was getting ready for bed when the door to her cottage burst open, and her two friends marched in, bringing the chill with them. They were speaking so loudly and quickly and with such anger that Kylie had no idea what was going on. Blinking, she rapidly rebuttoned her dress and stared at them.
“What are ye two doing?” she exclaimed. It wasn’t from annoyance. She was used to the intrusion of privacy when she lived with Marcus’s wife, who was always barging into Kylie’s bedchambers uninvited. At least Jillian and Alexina were a welcome intrusion, although she had no idea what they were doing here this late in the evening.
“We have an emergency!” Alexina cried as tears streamed down her face.
Horror rocked her, and Kylie struggled not to cry herself. “Oh, Alexina, I am so sorry. Jillian and I will help ye, and we will get through this. I promise.” Although it might be too painful for Alexina to hear now, she knew of other women who lost babes and still went on to have healthy children. This was not the end.
“What? Oh, ‘tis not me. The babe and I are fine. ‘Tis ye and Creighton! He is going to wed another!”
Kylie looked at Jillian and saw the same outraged look on her face. “And this is a problem?”
“‘Tis clear that ye are infatuated with him, and he with ye.” Jillian took off her cloak and rubbed her hands together as if she planned to take all night to resolve this problem. “But we will fix this, and by the time I am done, he will be begging to wed ye. Now, I know that ye have been secretive about yer conversations with him, and that was fine, but now we need to know everything if we are to change his mind before he leaves. As it is, I believe we are going to have to sabotage his trip tomorrow.”
Red-faced, Kylie sighed and pulled chairs for the lasses to sit. It was clear that she couldn’t let the farce go any longer if they were now planning to sabotage the man’s trip. “I have something to confess.”
Jillian and Alexina both gasped as they sat. “Ye love him?” Jillian asked.
“Ye have been carrying on a torrid love affair for a year?” Alexina chimed in. “And now ye are with child so ye can be miserable with me?”
They both stared at Alexina, and she flushed. “Sorry. Carry on.”
“None of the above, actually. I’m afraid that when the Armstrong laird saw me last year, he recognized me, but he can’t remember where, and he’s spent the last year trying to figure it out. He believes me to be a liar.” She twisted her fingers around in hopes that her friends wouldn’t be too upset with her. “And he’s right.”
Jillian frowned. “What do ye mean?”
“A decade and a half ago, my parents were murdered in front of me. I remember that it was horrible and that I was alone and cold and hungry for days when Marcus found me, but I dinnae remember anything specific about their death. Marcus took me in thinking his wife would like a child, but of course, the woman hated me. Marcus promised that he would take care of me, and when I was old enough, he started letting me travel with him. I...” Kylie took a deep breath. “I started questioning all I could about my parents’ death. I strongly believe that the laird of Erksine is responsible, but I dinnae know why, and I have no proof.”
“Why do ye think that?” Alexina asked.
“I was born an Erksine, and I remember we were leaving that day. We were leaving forever. I dinnae know if we were being exiled, but my mother was afraid. I also dinnae know what she did to the laird, but I fear he killed her.”
Reaching over, Jillian took her hand and squeezed it. “I am so sorry, Kylie. That is a horrible memory to keep with ye. Ye could have told us. Graeme might know something. I will ask.”
“But what does that have to do with Creighton?”
“A few years ago, when his brother had just inherited the lairdship, Marcus took me to Armstrong lands on his trade route.” She hated this part of the story. “I snuck into the keep and asked an audience with the laird to ask my questions, and the guard directed me to an empty bedchamber to wait. I should have known what was happening, but instead of leaving me there, he...”
From the look on Jillian and Alexina’s faces, it was clear that she didn’t have to finish. “Anyway, afterward, when I was leaving, I walked into Creighton. Apparently, the wing that I was in was off-limits, and I was terrified that I would get into trouble, or worse, that I would get Marcus into trouble, so I lied about my name. If he remembers who I am, he will know that I lied. I might tell Graeme that I am untrustworthy, and I would be exiled.”
Jillian glared at her. “First of all, I am furious that ye didnae tell us this sooner, and I am livid that ye think Graeme and I would exile ye for a little lie! We are friends, and ye should trust us by now!”
Ashamed, Kylie hung her head. “I am sorry, but I have never had friends before now, and I didnae want to do or say anything to make the two of ye hate me. I am coming to ye now, and I need yer help. I have never been able to speak to any of the lairds other than Fletcher, or traveled to Sinclair, where I believe I can find the most information. Creighton is traveling to all of them, and this is my opportunity to find my answers. I must follow him.”
“Tis dangerous, Kylie,” Alexina whispered as she rubbed her belly. “The roads between the borderlands are filled with thieves and killers. They will have no problems with someone like ye.”
“But if she sticks close to Creighton and his guards without being seen, help will be just a scream away, and Creighton wouldnae dare walk away from a lass in distress.” Jillian’s eyes gleamed as she leaned forward. “This is what we must do...”
After spending another hour plotting with the lasses, Kylie opened the door and bid them goodnight. Immediately, she saw his silhouette move around the corner of her house, and she stiffened. Had Creighton heard their plans?
Jillian and Alexina were unaware of his presence, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm while she watched them disappear over the hill. “My neighbors will get the wrong idea if ye continue to seek me out so late,” she called out to him.
“‘Tis why I made myself scarce when I saw that ye had company,” he said quietly as he stepped out from the shadows and walked toward her. The lit hearth inside illuminated his features, and she gazed up at him. He really was a handsome man if one liked masculine, rugged features, but it was always masked in ice. He wore his family tragedy like armor, and she doubted anyone would pierce it.
“And what of me? I might get the wrong impression,” she whispered hoarsely, unhappy to hear the hitch in her voice.
Slowly, he reached out and tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. “I have made it more than clear what I want from ye, and believe me, when I court a lass, she knows it.”
“I cannae satisfy yer curiosity,” she lied. “Ye should focus yer attention on that wife ye are searching for. She may not take kindly to this obsession ye have with me.”
Creighton chuckled. “I will have a new focus once I wed, and ‘tis making certain that my clan and my allies are safe. This may be yer last chance to come clean with me, Kylie, before I start making my own inquiries about ye. I already know that ye traveled extensively with yer guardian. I wonder if he was doing more than just selling wares. I wonder if ye helped him.”
Now he was accusing Marcus of lawlessness? Kylie’s stomach clenched. “No wrongdoing, Laird Armstrong, but perhaps ye have answered yer own questions. Perhaps ye saw me during my travels. I am often told that my beauty is memorable.”
“No lass alive would tempt me away from my convictions,” he growled. “So dinnae think yer beauty can save ye. I have a feeling about ye, Kylie, and I dinnae intend to let it lie. When I next see ye, things will be vera different between us.”
He touched her again, leaving a warm impression on her cheek, before he turned and walked away. Kylie quickly shut the door and closed her eyes as she breathed deeply. She hated the fact that he affected her body so, but God willing, his threat was empty.
If she were successful, Creighton would never
see her again, even as he escorted her safely across the Highlands.
3
Creighton had spent his night restlessly, his thoughts beginning in anger and despair. By now, he was used to the darkness when he was alone. It had become an obsession as he tried to understand how Brodie, his charming and carefree little brother, had fallen under the thrall of a wicked woman and, on her orders, had their older brother murdered. Creighton was to follow the same fate had the allied lairds not intervened.
In one fell swoop, he’d lost his whole family, and he could not move away from it. Brothers killing brothers. Had there been something in Brodie that Creighton had simply not seen? Something that might have warned him that his young brother, who Creighton had loved fiercely, was dangerous?
Was it something that might have lurked inside of him as well?
Abruptly, with no warning, Creighton’s thought had turned to something a little softer but no less dangerous. Curves beneath silky skin. Large eyes, so blue they threatened to drown a man, and those full rosy lips that drove him to distraction with every word she spoke, every lie. And yet still, Creighton had taken himself in hand, his thoughts on her while he spent a more pleasant portion of the evening attempting to ease the ache that began whenever he saw her.
Now, under the early rise of the sun, as Graeme, Jillian, and some of the guards had arrived to bid them farewell and good luck on his journey to find his wife, he found him searching for the lass who was never far from his thoughts.
It was just as well that she wasn’t here. No doubt she was relieved that he was leaving and taking his inquiries with him.
“Creighton, I want ye to promise me something,” Jillian said softly as she patted the neck of the stallion beneath him. “I was forced to be with Beth for months. I, of all people, understand the darkness inside of her, and I see the effects that it has on ye. Promise me that ye wilnae let that distrust and anger fester until ye are someone that I no longer recognize.”
Surprised, he looked down at her with a frown. She claimed that she was no witch, but Creighton suspected that after everything she had been through, she saw more than most. “Ye have nothing to worry about,” he assured her.
“And when ye did see the lass that may claim yer heart, ye will give her a chance.”
“Jillian, I know ye want me to find love, but I am afraid that all I am searching for is a pleasant lass who will make a good mother and a good mistress.”
“Why is it that all the men in the Highlands are fools? I will see ye on the return trip. I pray ye dinnae do anything that will disappoint me.”
Even Graeme was looking at her suspiciously, but she simply stepped back to let them pass. Creighton took one last look around, but there was no Kylie to be seen. Perhaps she had taken his warning seriously.
Or maybe she didn’t give much thought to him at all.
“So,” Andrew began in a mischievous tone, “we still havenae decided on the physical qualities that ye are searching for in a wife. Sinclair breeds lasses like the mistress of Hamilton. They call her a hellion, ye know.”
Because this trip was as much a political journey as it was a personal one, Creighton had brought two of his top three guards. Without an heir, Andrew, his first-in-command, was in line to lead the Armstrongs should anything happen to him, and Clement was his third. Walter, his second, was back at his keep, overseeing things while he was away. There was a time when he used to say that he trusted these three men like brothers.
That meant something different now.
“That hellion saved my life,” Creighton said with a small smile. The day Grace Sinclair, now Hamilton, had felled Beth MacSeaver and several of her men while they waited to ambush Creighton, Theo, and Hamilton was the days he learned to think of the word hellion in a whole new light.
Hamish was a lucky man to have a warrior as his wife. “And we will see soon enough if anyone dares continue to call her a hellion.”
“Two of the alliance’s mistresses are English,” Clement called out from behind. “Perhaps we should travel to England to find ye a bride.”
“Over my dead body,” Creighton said as he looked over his shoulder. Immediately, he casually put out his hand to signal to his men that he was seeing a shadow in the woods to the left of the path.
Something was following them.
There was a sharp curve just up ahead. “A race then!” Andrew shouted. “And whoever wins gets to name one physical attribute for the future Armstrong mistress!”
Creighton had only just agreed when his two guards raced past him. With a smile, he quickly caught up, shouting with glee, but it was all an act, and as soon as they rounded the corner, they dashed into the woods on the right and waited in the shadows.
If whoever was following them wanted to keep up, they would need to be on the path to keep up with them if they wished to avoid injury to their horse. Sure enough, a single cloaked rider emerged from the woods and began to gallop. Before he reached the curve, however, Creighton and his men burst out to surround him.
The horse reared, but the rider kept his grip on the reins and stayed calm. When the hood slipped off, Creighton snarled as long brunette tresses tumbled down.
Kylie.
Dismounting quickly, he raced to her side, but she’d already gotten the horse under control. “What the bloody hell do ye think ye are doing?” he roared as he grabbed the horse’s reins. It was incredibly foolish of her to follow him, but she could have broken her neck.
“Would ye quit yelling at me?” she snapped. “Ye are making my horse nervous, and let go of her reins. She doesnae like men.”
“So glad ye have something in common with the mare,” he said through clenched teeth as he reached up and easily pulled her off the horse before the mare threw her off. “Now explain yerself.”
Crooning to the horse, she got it settled again and glared at him. “As ye can clearly see, I am traveling. Not that it is any of yer business.”
“What I can clearly see is that ye are following me.”
She averted her eyes as he stared her down. He thought her deceptive, but it was becoming more and more clear that she could not lie to save her life. “Vera well. When I heard that ye were going to Sinclair lands, I saw an opportunity before me. I wish to start a new life, and using ye as an escort seemed best.”
“Without telling me?”
“What was the point? Ye would have said no.”
“And this was the better alternative? Anything could have happened to ye!”
“Ye would have heard if I was in distress,” she said as she met his gaze defiantly. “Unless ye are trying to tell me that ye would have ignored the sounds of a lass in distress?”
“That is not the point,” he growled. “Damnation, Jillian helped ye with this, didn’t she? Well, it was for not. It will be nearly a week before we reach Sinclair lands, and I will not have ye following me that whole time. We will escort ye back. If ye wish to go elsewhere, I am certain that Graeme will find ye an escort.”
“If ye try to take me back, I will just follow ye again.”
Furious at her boldness, Creighton sighed in frustration. He did not have time for this, and she had clearly lost her mind. She needed to be taught a lesson. With a shrug, he turned and walked back to his stallion. Her eyes widened just a little as he mounted and stared down at her.
“Ye arenae a child,” he told her. “If ye wish to make this trip, then ye do it on yer own. I wilnae have someone I distrust travel with me. We intend to make a brutal pace to Loch Moran, and we wilnae slow down for ye. I suggest ye make yer way back to the safety of yer home, but if ye dinnae, I wilnae be responsible for what happens.”
Signaling to his men, they took off, leaving Kylie standing by her mare. It wasn’t until he was certain he’d put some distance between them that he slowed down.
“Laird,” Andrew asked quietly. “Are ye certain that ye wish to leave her?”
“Aye. I offered my help, and she refused me. I wilnae be harass
ed,” he said coldly even as an unwanted feeling settled in his belly.
Guilt.
He’d made his choice, knowing that she was too stubborn to turn back, so he’d left her on the road; anything could happen to her.
Steeling himself, he kept his face forward as he rode. He was not about to let a woman manipulate him. He was not as weak as his brother.
The woods were full of bandits. Even if her hood was up and they didn’t recognize her as a lass, they would still target her because she was alone.
It was not his responsibility. She was not part of his clan, and she’d lied to him from the moment he’d met her. That was more than clear.
When the bandits did discover that she was a lass, they would hurt her for days.
His stomach twisted.
“Damnation!” he roared and turned his horse. Andrew and Clement didn’t say a word as they turned back and followed at Creighton’s brutal pace. Kylie was strong on a horse, but he would have nearly an hour’s start on her. By the time he returned to where he had left her, his breath caught in his throat.
There were too many hoofprints. They had been watched. She’d been taken before she’d even had the chance to follow him.
She’d be broke by now. Maybe even ruined.
“The prints go west,” Clement said, a hardness in his voice. “There is a clearing not three miles from here. A place for them to make camp.”
Turning his stallion, Creighton wasted no time in following the bandits’ path, which did indeed lead down a narrow path. When they grew close, he slowed his path. Without knowing how many bandits awaited them, it was wise to try and sneak up on them.
They separated to surround them and moved slowly, swords in hand. Smoke curled up into the air from the camp, and there was faint laughter.
“Well, what happened then?” one of them demanded.
“What do ye think happened? Not a single one of the English could pick up the sword, and rather than end their humiliation, the warrior sent them back home, their tails between their legs like the dogs they were!”
Highlander’s Elusive Bride: A Scottish Medieval Historical Romance Page 2