by Matie Cole
A Historical Scottish Romance Novel
1st Edition: October 2020
©Matie Cole
HIGHLANDER´S ENEMY
©Cover design and edited by: Romance Group
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the autor´s imagination
for are used fictitiously
All rights reserved.
Thank you for purchasing this ebook.
Content
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
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Extract
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 1
ENGLISH–SCOTTISH BORDER, 1543
“I do not find this acceptable!” Laird Mason MacGregor’s voice boomed through the walls of his Scottish castle as he tried his hardest to digest the terrible news. His only son, Jackson, had been kidnapped by the man he hated the most in this world. The one and only, George Windsor, his biggest enemy. “The English should not feel like they are winning. With my son held captive, they have an advantage now, they have the leverage over us.”
He expected some kind of explanation from his men, but got back absolutely nothing. It was as if none of them had a damn word to say and now, because of this huge mistake, war between George Windsor and the MacGregor clan had now kicked up a notch and action would have to be taken.
“We rushed,” Mason continued. “We went into this unprepared, and now we are facing the consequences.” His footsteps were heavy as he paced up and down in his planning room. “I refuse to make the same mistake again because now, my son’s life is at risk. Everything that we do from here, needs to be planned properly and done rightly.”
Mason caught the eyes of his right-hand man, Ethan Abercrombie, and he spotted a fire in his friend’s eyes. Good. Ethan was his best soldier and had the sharpest mind, so if he was ready to battle some more, then the rest of his men could be fired up as well. Perhaps it wasn’t fair, since the Scottish had not started the war, but Ethan intended to make sure they were the ones to end it all. George would not win.
“Jackson is your future laird,” Mason boomed with a second round of confidence. “You must prove your loyalty to him and we must save him before anything bad can happen to him. Since his mother died when he was just a wee boy, it has taken the whole kingdom to raise him. We have all worked together through thick and thin which has united us and made us stronger. The English might assume that we are weak, but that’s because of George Windsor’s arrogance. Just because he thinks that he can win over Scotland, it doesn’t mean we will allow that to happen. This is our chance to prove that.”
“What if something bad has already happened...?” A small voice from the back of the room spoke Mason’s worst fears. He knew that if he allowed himself to, he could succumb to the terror. But he couldn’t allow that to happen. He had far too many people depending on him for that.
“No, the English need Jackson too and they need him alive,” he replied with full confidence. “He will be their greatest bargaining tool. They cannot dispose of him when they could use him to win.” He paused thoughtfully for a moment. “But they will not win. The Scottish will not allow George Windsor to win anything.”
Cheers erupted around Mason, pleasing him. He had managed to rally up his troops and prepare them once more for the attack when they needed to. But this would be much more tactical, much more careful, he wasn’t going to let George win over him again. Much as this whole mess had angered him, he had a cool enough head on his shoulders to recognize when his own personal emotions had to be pushed to one side and rationality must win out. It was this cool head personality alone which made him a respected leader.
Eventually, because he needed to be alone, he waved his hand dismissively and caused everyone to exit his room, to return to their posts. After what had happened today, he needed his best men on guard, and luckily, he knew that he could trust his soldiers to make that happen. Between them all, they had enough Scottish pride to keep the country running, and they would do whatever it took.
“So, Mason, what do you have planned?” Only Ethan remained, knowing that his king would need someone to discuss his ideas with. “You must have a sneaky idea up your sleeve over there?”
Mason sighed heavily. In all honesty, this had shaken him more than he wanted anyone else to know. He had allowed the plan to be rushed and his son to end up being captured. Sure, Jackson was the one who insisted on leading his troops forward in a pig-headed way like any other young man who was eager for action would have done. Mason might have even been the same way at that age, but he had not stopped Jackson as he should have.
“I do not believe that it will be easy to get Jackson back,” he admitted to Ethan. “The English will have him under lock and key. They will have their best men on it. We cannot storm in there without risking more people and without also putting Jackson in danger. I need him to remain as a bargaining tool.”
Ethan’s teeth gritted together in rage. The man’s hatred for the English outshone anyone else’s. Sometimes, Mason worried that this blind rage would get Ethan harmed at some point, but so far, he had acted exactly as he should have done in a battle. Mason did not feel like he needed to worry.
“And what shall you give George in return?” Ethan growled. “You do not have anything to exchange for the life of your son. Aside from your clan, and I assume you will not do that.”
Mason shook his head. He had not thought of it in that manner, but Ethan was right. He did need something of his own to exchange back for Jackson’s life, and right now he only had his land which would be of interest to George. Mason and the Scottish had fought too hard to allow that to happen.
“I will need something,” he mused as he began to pace up and down the room once more. “Something that George values over my clan. The man has children of his own, does he not?”
“Two daughters,” Ethan shot back immediately, almost as if he had been waiting for his laird to come to the same conclusion as him. “The eldest child has been married to a count in France, but the youngest is still living with him. She must be very worthwhile to him, he likes to forge bonds through marriage.”
Even though marriage of convenience was a common practice, it never made sense to Mason. He did not intend to interfere with Jackson’s love life, just as his own father had not interfered with his. Mason had chosen his wife at a young age, and he was happy with his decision. It was a shame that she had passed away years ago, leaving him a widower, but he would not change the life that he had led. If he had not married Jackson’s mother, he wouldn’t have the son he loved and respected so much.
He did not know what direction the marriage would have taken had she still been alive now. After his wife’s death, Mason had changed to be a totally different man to the impulsive person he used to be, and surely, she would have changed as well had sickness not robbed them of the chance. Yet, he was not the only man to have lost a loved one, not by a long shot, so all that he could do was keep moving forward.
George might have formed a bond through marriage to Fran
ce, but Mason hoped that he would not use his son-in-law's forces to act on his behalf in a conflict in Scotland. The French had nothing to do with this dispute between the MacGregor clan and George Windson.
These were Scottish lands, where only Scottish or English blood would be spilled.
“So, this daughter...” he declared with a small smile in Ethan’s direction. “If we kidnapped her, then it would be an eye for an eye, would it not?” Ethan nodded, pleased. “So, if we bring her here, then George will be forced to return Jackson to us. Particularly if he has an arranged marriage set up for her daughter. And, with a man like George Windsor who is always looking towards the next scheme, I have no doubt that he does.”
“That is exactly what I had in mind.” The twinkle in Ethan’s eye excited Mason. It proved that he was carrying out the best possible plan. “And I think that we should act quickly. Do not give them the time to prepare.”
This sounded good to Mason as well. The less time that the English had with his son, doing whatever they wanted to do to him without any retaliation from the Scottish, the better. They needed to hit George hard.
“Do you think that you can handle it tonight, Ethan?” Mason asked him curiously. “Can you arrange a discrete troop to get this done before the week is up? I would like this sorted rapidly. Before the English catch wind of our plan and they put extra protection on this daughter... what is her name?”
“Lady Bethany Windsor. From what I have heard she has a shock of flaming red hair.”
“Interesting,” Mason mused. “And does she stand out? Will you be able to get out unnoticed?”
“You know that you can trust me,” Ethan declared. “This will be sorted before you know it.”
Mason watched his henchman leave and knew he was ready for the next step in his strategic plan. It was logical that he did not want to rush, so as not to make the same mistakes as last time, but he could not let this particular part of the plan drag on too long. At least, simple or not, kidnapping didn't involve fighting.
Once his clan had George's daughter, they would be on a level playing field and it would be an easy trade ... although things were never usually easy with the English. George Windsor used to complicate things and Mason did not know how he managed to get people to fight for him. Perhaps through fear.
He did not want to be hated and feared by his people, he was rather a simple man who liked to be surrounded by his clan. Fight with them as one more, share their joys and sorrows and train with them. It had always been this way and always would be. Things worked well that way and he would do everything possible to keep things the same.
If possible, on this foray he would have liked to be in the front line with his men, but then he would have exposed them to danger, as his face was too well known to carry a plan in secret.
“Ethan will have this under control anyway,” he told himself as a stark reminder. “The man has served you well. All these years he has been loyal to you. Faithful, he has worked hard. He has always been good.”
Maybe Ethan’s hatred was a little problematic, perhaps there were times when Mason felt afraid that it could lead to danger, but in the end his trust overshadowed everything else.
As he looked out of the stone window and down on to his lush green lands to see Ethan already organizing people to work alongside him, Mason knew it would all work out, blindly trusting his men.
The English always believed that they had an advantage, that they controlled every situation and that made them predictable. Mason knew it, as did Ethan and they would use that knowledge to their advantage.
It was also in his favor that George believed that, with Jackson in his cells, he had all the power, but that arrogance was not going to last long, Mason knew from experience. He saw a man die in utter loneliness and sadness, precisely because of that same arrogance that George boasted. A horrible death for a man who, with his position of power, left a horrible legacy.
Chapter 2
“O uch,” Lady Bethany Windsor snapped as the handmaiden dragged the brush through her hair much too sharply. “Please, I know that my hair can be troublesome, but be gentle.”
Bethany had not been blessed with the glorious long blonde glossy locks that her sister had, exactly the same as her mother according to rumors. Not that she had ever been able to meet with her mother herself, since she died in child birth. Katherine liked to remind her constantly that she was the one who killed her, as if Bethany purposely ensured that she didn’t have a kindly maternal figure to grow up with. As far as Bethany was concerned, she was the one who had lost out, but Katherine did not agree.
Well, she liked to remind her of that before she was sent off to a foreign country to marry an old man that poor Katherine hated. It didn’t matter that Bethany had spent her entire life being berated and upset by her older sibling, she did not like to think of her, sad and alone in France... especially when one day she would likely face a similar fate. Her brutish father, who did not seem to care about anyone other than himself, would find a man who could benefit him in the future, and wed her off to him as if she were just a property. As if she were not a person, but some trading material, simply there to benefit him.
But that’s all George Windsor’s daughters were to him, just like everything else in his life. If there was anything that wasn’t there to further his cause, to help him to become even more powerful than he already was, then he did not care. It seemed a sad existence to Bethany, but she supposed that she simply did not understand power. It was a man’s prerogative to want to rule the world and she was left in a world of no power, no control.
The older that Bethany got, the closer that time of marriage came, it left her incredibly sad. That would be the moment when she really lost it all. She didn’t have much power over herself as it was, but it would only fade once she was someone’s wife. It was a stark reminder that her red curly, unruly locks which came from her father’s side of the family, was not her biggest issue. Not anymore, anyway.
She was now twenty-three. Her sister had been married soon after she turned twenty-one. So, right now, Bethany found herself living on borrowed time. It would not take much longer. She could not expect to get any luckier than she had already been. She had already been given the gift of two years.
“I do apologize, lady Windsor,” the handmaiden retorted as she continued to brush. “I will do my best.”
Bethany allowed her mind to wander, she drifted off into dream world as she often did when she was as alone as a lady of her standing could be, and she imagined herself in a different life, anything other than the one that she was in. Sometimes, she was a princess in a distant kingdom with a set of parents who loved and respected her as she thought like a caring mother and father should, with a sister who loved her rather than resented her, or sometimes she was a peasant girl with no money and only wearing some ragged clothing but an having interesting and exciting life with friends. She was never allowed to have any real friends in this life because of her title. Other times, she was a mermaid or a fairy, living inside one of the myths that the maids liked to tell.
She whisked herself away from the future that was full of doom, the present that was consumed by her father’s brutish moods, and from the past that was also only flooded with sadness.
Today, she found herself riding atop a horse. A beautiful black one that could run like the wind. Bethany had always wanted to learn to ride, but she had never been permitted to do so. She could only assume that it was yet another trap that her father had encased her in, refusing to allow her to go.
“The people are talking, you know,” the handmaiden suddenly burst out, as if to fill the silence. “They say your father’s army has captured the son of his enemy and that he is sitting in the dungeons below.”
“Is he?” Bethany could hardly contain her excitement. She did not care that this male was an enemy of her father, she was just happy to think of a new face in her life, someone else to talk to. “Can I see him?”
�
��Oh no, I would not think so.” Bethany was greeted with a horrified look at the mere suggestion. “Your father will have the best protection set up on him. He will not want him taken away from us. This could win the war.” Bethany pursed her lips together, refusing to retort that she did not care about any war. “He is only sixteen years of age, but was trusted by his father to run his own men, which back fired badly.”
“Is he Scottish?” Bethany was intrigued. She simply wanted to know more about other people and could not understand why it had to resort to fighting all the time. “Is his father MacGregor?”
She had heard a lot about this man, MacGregor. Of course, it was all from the men who surrounded her father in snatched conversations that she was not supposed to hear. Her father assumed that MacGregor was weak and easy to defeat but since that had not happened yet, Bethany could only wonder why.
“We are all very pleased to have your father as in-charge. His ruling is impeccable.”
Since Bethany could not stand to listen to this handmaiden compliment a man that she hated so dearly, she sent her away with the promise to bring her back some food. Bethany was not hungry, but she also could not stand to sit in her room all day long while there was excitement surrounding her. She was not foolish enough to assume that she could sneak into the dungeons to meet this young Scottish boy, as much as she would like to. But, she could still dress in her most casual clothing and sneak out into the town to hear what people were saying. It was not permitted for her to go out alone, but Bethany had done it on numerous times, even more so since Katherine had been sent away, and no one had ever discovered her.
Pretending outside that she was simply a normal woman running her daily errands was the biggest thrill that Bethany could get. Since there was now a strong feeling of change in the air, which could have only come from the capture of this Scottish boy, she did not know how much longer she would be free to do this. She needed to take advantage of any snatched moments of freedom that she could get her hands on.