by Matie Cole
In her dowdiest dress, made of the scratchiest materials which did not require any help to dress in, Bethany used her intense knowledge of the castle to make her escape. No one seemed to know the place as well as she did, even her sister never bothered to explore it as deeply when she was a child, which gave her the advantage.
She knew it would take some time for the food to be ready, so she had time before the maid returned. Determined, she moved quickly through the roads, moving as quickly as possible from danger. Bethany spoke out greetings to the friendly people who called out to her first, but she did nothing to attract excess attention to herself. She had to blend into the background.
The day was unseasonably warm, the sunshine felt wonderful on her skin, despite the bad mood that Lady Bethany Windsor had woken up in, she was starting to believe that this would be a good day.
Of course, she would have preferred as much time outside wandering free like this as she wanted, but the visits into the town had to be short and sweet. The castle was only so big and she had learned that she could only be out of sight for so long before people would panic and her father would send out a search party to find his precious commodity. That had happened once when she was ten-years-old and hiding in one of the underground passageways. And, when she finally emerged out, she was in such trouble that Bethany vowed she would not let it happen again. It was not worth the hassle, nor would it be worth the time spent locked away by her father if he thought she could not be trusted.
For a man who worried so much about who he could not trust, Bethany did not feel that he surrounded himself with very trustworthy people. She did not like any of his men. But perhaps they were not there to be liked and it was simply her naivety. Her father often informed her that she had no idea what she was talking about... actually, her father said a lot of cruel things to her. This was just one of them.
Ugly, useless, worthless, stupid... there were so many that she lost track. Sometimes, she could not help herself but believe them. Other times, she reminded herself that he wanted her hurt and did not really mean what he was saying. Honestly, she had no idea which one of those was the truth.
“Miss?” At first Bethany ignored the strange voice. She could only assume that no one would be talking to her. At least that was what she thought until her name emerged. “Miss Bethany? Is this you?”
In a state of sheer panic because no one was supposed to know who she was, she turned quickly, her heart filled with pleas that she not be made to look bad in front of her father, but any words that might have come spilled passed, her lips melted away into nothingness as she spotted two dark unfamiliar eyes looking back at her. Instantly, her instincts told her that this was worse than a telling off.
“I... I do not know who you are talking about,” she stammered awkwardly. “My name is...”
“Lady Bethany Windsor.” The tall, statuesque man with a hint of a Scottish accent, even if he was doing his best to disguise it, circled her on his horse. “I know who you are. I would know you anywhere.”
Her heart thundered in her mouth, her breaths became sharp and ragged with sheer terror, poor Bethany had no idea what to do. She was starting to see her naivety now. She never should have snuck off without anyone knowing where she was. Now, no one would be able to save her.
“Your father has our future laird,” the man continued, his accent now shining through clear as day which told Bethany that she was stuck. “So, while you might not be the future heir, we need to take you too.”
She had spent so long wishing to be whisked off to another life, to be free of her oppression under her father’s ruling, and it seemed like her wish was about to come true... but in the worst way possible.
“I... I do not agree with my father,” she declared, knowing that her words were useless, meaningless. “I am not like him at all. You do not need to punish me for his doing.”
For a split second, it looked like the man might listen to her. She allowed a smattering of hope to flood her, but then his expression shifted and she knew that it was over.
“Sorry, my Lady,” he chuckled nastily. “Orders. You know how it is. You’re coming with me.”
And that was the moment everything went black.
Chapter 3
“Y ou did a good job,” Mason declared to Ethan and the rest of his troops. “All of you, I am very proud of you guys.”
He grinned at all of them in turn, unable to get over how quickly they had managed to obtain lady Bethany Windsor for him. He was expecting the whole thing to be much more complicated, but apparently, she wasn’t very well protected at all. George in his arrogance, didn’t think that it was needed.
Well, more fool him. The Scottish were yet again showing him just what they were made of.
“She is in the tower already,” Ethan assured Mason. “Locked away. You will get no trouble from her.”
Mason nodded, happy with this as well. Sure, there was little chance that his son was being treated with the same dignity. He would more likely to be underground in some dingy dungeon somewhere, but Mason wasn’t going to let himself follow in the footsteps that George went in. He considered himself a better man. And whatever this daughter means to George, she didn’t deserve to be too badly punished just because of the name that she was born with. That wasn’t right at all. She was here to be bargained with, not to be punished. She had not done anything to deserve that sort of treatment.
“Does she seem troublesome?” Mason asked Ethan, curious as to who lady Bethany was.
“She was raised in England,” his right-hand man spat back angrily. “Of course, she is trouble. They all are. There is no escaping that. But I made sure that she has arrived woozy. We kept her knocked out for a lot of the journey.” Ethan must have spotted Mason’s frown because he quickly continued. “What? We weren’t exactly given any choice in the matter. I could not return without her. Then where would you be? She could have easily taken off at any point in the journey, so I needed to keep her secure.”
Mason understood the logic. He supposed Ethan was right. Without Bethany, he did not stand a chance in getting his son back, but a small part of him was annoyed that a woman could be treated so poorly. And, by his own men at that. They should have known much better. It was not right.
Mason had always hated bringing people who were not directly involved in the war, especially in a situation such as this one. But he had to overcome that by keeping Jackson at the forefront of his mind.
George Windsor might have started this but Mason MacGregor would be the one to finish it.
“I will have to see the lady,” he told Ethan seriously. “I need to ensure that she is alright.”
“Oh, I can promise you now that she is being looked after in a way that would make you proud.”
Mason narrowed his eyes curiously at Ethan. It was starting to seem like he was trying to keep him away from the prisoner and he could not work out why. If he wanted to meet with her then he would.
“I am going to speak with her,” Mason declared, a little more firmly this time around so that nothing could be misinterpreted. This was not a request, it was a demand. “I need to be taken to her now.”
Ethan hung his head, almost as if he felt shame for disagreeing with his laird, and he nodded. As he took Mason to the top tower where the Lady was locked away, Ethan was unusually quiet. His usual string of opinions did not come out of his mouth which had Mason a little anxious...
As soon as he spotted the woman in the cell, he started to see why. He could now understand what Ethan was worried about, because this lady was absolutely stunning. So beautiful that he felt all of the air slipped from his lungs for a few moments. Those flaming sexy red messy hair, the paleness of her sweet freckled skin, the blueness of her eyes... wow. She gripped him and intrigued him in a way that he was not expecting.
“This is lady Bethany Windsor,” Ethan said, introducing the pair with a weariness to his voice because he could already sense what was happening and it was not wha
t he wanted at all.
“My name is laird Mason MacGregor.” Mason stepped closer to the bars to soak in more of her beauty. The closer that he got to her, the more he felt sucked in by how stunning she was. “It is good to meet you.”
“I can’t say the same thing,” she shot back tartly. “Considering the situation.”
“No, I suppose not.” Mason found himself unexpectedly sad that she was not pleased to meet with him, even though it made perfect sense. He was sure that he would feel the same way had he been kidnapped from his home and forcibly knocked out by Ethan for the journey. Perhaps he should have accepted the risk and made the trip to capture the girl with his men because this was all wrong. “I am sorry...”
“Oh yes, I’m sure you are.” As fiery as Bethany’s red hair was, it seemed to him like she had the personality to match. This brought an unexpected smile to his face. “You men of power are all the same. You do whatever it is you want, it does not matter who you affect along the way, then you say sorry if you feel like it when it all goes wrong. Well, I do not accept it. I refuse to. This is not right.”
“I do not have you here as a keep,” Mason attempted to reassure Bethany, but it did not seem like she was listening to him. “I simply want my son, Jackson, returned to me. Your father is not one to bargain if I do not have anything to give him in return. I imagine he sees the capture of my son as a mean feat and he will not back down unless I give him something of equal value. So, as soon as I can set up a meeting with him...”
“You think that I am of equal value?” Bethany scoffed, shocking Mason to the core. “My father does not care one iota about me. He will not give you what you want for me. You should have done your research.”
“What do you mean?” Mason clung to the bars, looking in at the beauty there, wishing that he could pull her out and hold him in his arms. This was the first time that he had felt anything for a woman in a very long time, and he found it utterly infuriating that he could not act up on these emotions. For she was his enemy, or at least the daughter of his enemy. “Of course, your father will want you returned.”
Bethany did not give him anything other than a nasty laugh. Mason stared desperately at Ethan who whispered to him that it was obviously some kind of trick, a way to force Mason to set her free. If it was a trick then it was working because Mason did want to free her. He could barely resist the urge to do so.
“We must go,” Ethan snapped firmly, almost as if he could sense what was really going on in Mason’s heart. “We have arrangements to make. If you want to sort out a meeting with George to trade back, we must get the letters written out and sent immediately. Haste will be important.”
“Yes.” Mason did what he could to pull himself back together. “Yes, you are right. We must. The quicker that we get everything back to how it is supposed to be, the better for all of us.”
It was a real pull to take himself away from Bethany. The urge to remain exactly where he was, to talk to her all night long, to force her to forgive him was damn near overwhelming. She was almost like one of the sirens that his wet nurse used to tell him about when he was young. The beautiful young women at sea who had ethereal beauty would lure shippers to their deaths and then laugh at their foolishness.
Perhaps she was one of these mythical creatures sent just to torture him, to make sure that he could think of nothing else. Which was exactly what happened. As Mason wrote his letters, ate his dinner, talked with his men, lay in bed at night, all he could think about was Bethany. There was a magnetic pull, tugging him towards her, forcing him to follow it, it was such a hard sensation to ignore but he knew that he had to. Mason had a feeling that if he caved to these feelings for Bethany, then he would lose the war for good. He had come this far, he could not let a woman take him down now. Even if she was intoxicating, addictive, even if he found her utterly enthralling just from that one sort conversation.
Yes, Lady Bethany Windsor was troublesome alright, just not in the way that he had been expecting.
It did not take long for a meeting to be arranged. Thankfully, it seemed that George really was eager to get Bethany back home, whatever she had said to him. So, because he had found himself all twisted up in knots about this woman, Mason got his small army together quickly to begin the journey.
“I believe that we will have a peaceful exchange,” he told his men once the horses were prepped and ready to go. “I do not think that George will want to cause havoc with his daughter around because like all of us, he is going to want to protect his child, but I want to make sure that we are all safe.”
The men made agreeable sounds and showed off their weapons, letting Mason know that as always, they were ready to protect him to the very end. Whatever George brought with him, even if he brought a lot of men, Mason knew that his fighters would have nothing on his men. They were the best.
“Now, I will bring lady Bethany Windsor on my horse.” This was met with silence. Especially from Ethan who had fought so hard to bring the lady to Scotland. But she was never going to be Mason’s prisoner and he knew that. Everything that they did was all for this moment. “So, I will be responsible for her. Now, I know that some of you will be concerned about her running off, but she will be attached to me. I am capable.”
He waited to see if anyone other than Ethan was going to have a comment to make, but no one did. Thank goodness because Mason was uncharacteristically nervous enough about having the woman who had been in every single one of his dreams since he first laid eyes on her so close to him during the journey where they would meet George in the middle. He did not need it made any worse.
“Right, well then I will retrieve Bethany from her cell,” he continued. “And we can begin.”
It took a moment, but eventually one of Mason’s men cheered, riling up the other men and causing them to join in as well. Even Ethan managed it in the end, giving Mason the confidence that they would all work together and get this moving in a successful and peaceful way. Maybe it would even lead to the end of the war, if George was in the right frame of mind then perhaps this meeting could come to a conflict resolution for all of this and everyone could return to living their lives without the worry of war.
It was a big task and perhaps one that was not destined to become a reality, but he could hope. A brighter future was all that he could ask for in the end.
Chapter 4
B ethany found herself surprised by this man. Very surprised actually. Laird Mason MacGregor was nothing like the Scottish savage that she had been led to believe. Actually, none of the men seemed to be that way except maybe the one who kidnapped her. He did not seem to be a nice person, but the rest...
Well, it was safe to say that her father was so much worse. He could not even put on a mask of kindness, he was evil through and through. The fact that the English followed him so intensely had a lot more to do with fear than anything else. They did not have a choice, it was only George Windsor.
“I have never ridden a horse before,” she informed Mason the moment he told her of the plan. “And I do not want to be exchanged like cattle back to my father. There is nothing waiting for me there.”
It was strange, Bethany had spent her entire life hiding her opinions and keeping her mouth shut because that was what an English Lady of her standing was expected to do. But here, in Scotland, she did not feel the usual shackles wrapped around her. Mason allowed her to unleash her more fiery side, for her to say whatever she wanted, and she liked it.
She may not have been able to be herself for a long time, but it was better than never. Only she did not know how she could ever hope to return to the quiet, closed off person that she had always been.
“You can’t be allowed to just go, lady Bethany Windsor.” There was something very sexy about the way that he said her full name in that delightfully unusual accent of hers. “You will not survive out there alone.”
She rested her hands on her hips and glared at him in annoyance. Of course, a lady who had spent her whole
life living in a castle had no survival skills to cope in the wilderness, but he did not have to be so obvious about it. He could have at least acted like he believed in her, it felt so cruel.
“And my son will not live either. Not without his father.” Mason shook his head hard. “He thinks that he has it all worked out, like any young man his age, but he does not. I am worried about him.”
It was the all too concerned look on his crumpled-up face that got to Bethany. It probably helped that he was extrordinarily rugged and handsome, that crushed her heart intensely. If he wanted his child back and away from her father, which she could understand since he was pretty much a monster, then she guessed that she was going to have to help. Whether she liked it or not. She sighed loudly and nodded.
“Fine, but as I have said to you, I do not think that this will work. My father... does not want me.”
Bethany had to swallow back the thick ball of bile that lodged in her throat as she said this out loud. It was embarrassing to admit that even her own father was not interested in having her around, but Mason did not seem to believe her. He simply flashed her his winning smile and took her to the horse.
Much as this was the moment that she had been waiting for, for as long as she could remember, she had always dreamed of being astride a horse, but not like this. The horse was massive, bigger than she expected it to be, and Mason was not leaving her much time to work herself up to it. Nor were the other Scottish men, it seemed that they were keen to get her back to England much too quickly.
They might have hated her and wanted her gone, but Bethany was not keen herself. She was better off in Scotland in that cell than with her father where he could marry her off in a heart beat.
If there was not a sixteen-year-old boy in the middle of all of this, she would not have allowed Mason to carry her on to the horse, but she did, unsure of where this would all lead.