Highlander´s Enemy: A Historical Scottish Romance Novel

by Matie Cole

  Mason did not know what Ethan would think of this sacrifice. He had no love for Bethany and would not want to help her in any way, but he did want the best for Mason, so he hoped that he would rest well knowing that he had helped his friend. Also knowing that he had fooled the English. That would have to be enough because the plan was not able to change now. This would lead to their freedom.

  “I will leave this jewelry beside the fire,” Bethany declared seriously. “It belonged to my mother and is the only thing that I had left of her. My father knows that I would not go anywhere without it.”

  “Then you should not,” Mason insisted, taking it from her. “If this is all you have of your mother...”

  “This is the best way to fool him.” She smiled brightly. “Plus, I believe that my mother would rather me be free and happy. This will be her gift to me and I will keep it with me always. I will never forget that she is the person who allowed me to live the life that I have always wanted to.”

  Mason was not convinced that this was the best plan, he feared that Bethany would grow to regret it, but she knew that it was the right move for her. It would liberate her from everything that she had been through. So, she rested it beside the fire as if it had fallen from the flames, preserving her memory and identity. Bethany slid her hands in to Mason’s as the fire continued to rage, putting their plan in place.

  “We should move soon,” she whispered to him. “Before we get caught. We do not want all of this to end up for nothing.” Truth be told, she could not wait to get home, away from here with all of it’s bad memories.

  “Of course, yes, we should,” Mason agreed. “I would just like to give everyone a moment to speak for Ethan, to make this a send off like it should be. He helped us more than he knew.”

  Mason did not know what state George Windsor was in right now, but Ethan had definitely harmed him and slowed him down which was exactly what he wanted. Ethan had made a bigger impact than he would ever know. The impact that he had also put on to people’s lives came to light as well as the men all said something small about the one man who had died on the mission to save Jackson.

  Bethany watched Jackson closely as it was his turn to talk and she found herself impressed by his confidence and the regal way that he handled things. It was clear to her that the boy had spent his life watching and emulating his father, which would lead him to be the same sort of king as Mason was when his day came. Perhaps he would even be better. Bethany was grateful that she would be able to be a part of that, to see it happen to hopefully get to know Jackson well. He seemed open to her, willing to know her as well, willing to accept her as part of his family which made her overwhelmed with smiles.

  Her life in the Scottish clan, as Mason’s wife, would be just wonderful. This was what her mother would have wanted for her, she was sure. The jewelry was a small sacrifice to make for eternal joy.

  Ethan was going to always be a part of her history as well, and she would always be grateful to him for it. This fire was her freedom, her ticket away from the life that she always hated. It would lead her to the easy life that she had always wanted.

  Chapter 19

  M ason could not stop smiling to himself on the journey back to the castle. With Jackson by his side, riding up on the horse that Ethan rode down, and Bethany behind him, clinging to him even tighter than she was on the way down, everything felt much better with the world. It was how it was supposed to be.

  Yes, they had to fear some kind of retaliation from the English. Even if George Windsor did not want to fight for Bethany, even if he thought that she was gone, he could still come for them, but for now it was a victory and he was pleased with how it had happened. He felt like this was a good sign.

  The fact that Bethany was more accepted made everything even better for him. Alex and the rest of his so warriors were very impressed with her, just as he knew they would be once they got to know her, and he figured that everyone else would follow. He was going to have happiness again, he would have a new wife.

  He leaned back against her, allowing Bethany to nestle in to his neck. The feel of her breath all over him sent a shiver of delight down his spine. The next time that he would be able to get his hands around her, they would be in his bed, their bed, and she would belong to him. She was his now. Forever and always.

  “Are you feeling alright?” Bethany whispered to Mason, still worrying about him. She was not entirely convinced that she had stitched him up well enough to survive the journey home, but Mason did not seem to worried himself. “Is there pain in your side? I do not like the idea of you being hurt again.”

  “I am fine, thank you. You are the one who saved me. If it were not for you, I would not be here.”

  “No, I can not stand that idea.” Bethany squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the idea out entirely. She had come so close to losing Mason so did not want to think of that now. “I need you here. With me.”

  “Well, I am here, so you do not need to worry about that. I will always be here for you, Bethany. After all, I have not forgotten what I said to you. Now that we have escaped this, I will make you my wife.”

  Bethany squeezed him harder, allowing her gratitude to shine through. She had always been something of a dreamer, always imagining another life far away from the one that she had, but Bethany knew that from here on out, she would only be living in the present moment. She had everything that she needed right here in this man. As his wife, she just knew that nothing could be better. Her and the highlander, her father’s biggest enemy, a man who she had been told to fear her whole life, it was a wonderful dream.

  “So, as you can see,” Mason called out to the crowd of people surrounding him, desperate to see him, wanting to know what had happened on George's land. “We have returned with your future laird, Jackson.” Cheers erupted around him. His poor boy seemed a little overwhelmed by the attention to be honest. His time alone had made it hard for him to digest everyone loving him as they did. “And it is all thanks to lady Bethany Windsor. If it were not for her, then we would not be back here. We all would have been killed...”

  “I am no Lady,” Bethany insisted. “That is my title in England, but that is no longer my home.”

  “You will always be a Lady to me,” Mason told her. “Always. You may be a Lady here too.”

  Bethany’s emotions got the better of her again. She could not stop the tears from pricking in her eyes. Everyone was so willing to accept her in a way that she had never found before. She wanted to find a way to thank everyone but the words would not come to her. She could not say anything.

  “Bethany did not just save the day,” Mason continued, needing everyone to know the extent of what was happening. “She did not just save the lives of everyone, but she is also going to be my bride.”

  Bethany’s breath got stuck in her throat while she listened to see how everyone would react to that news. Mason took her hand and she squeezed it tight, praying that the acceptance would go that far, that people would see how much she really did love Mason. Because she did, more with every passing moment.

  It was Jackson who finally started the cheering, and with him being their biggest supporter, everyone else knew that they needed to join in as well. The celebration only grew louder as Mason tipped his head down and he kissed Bethany gently for everyone to see. At long last, their love was out there for the world to see, and it honestly felt incredible. This was the start of the freedom that Bethany needed.

  “I love you,” she whispered to him as they pulled apart, but not too far because he could not stand to be that far away from her. Mason rested his forehead against Bethany’s and stared lovingly in to her eyes.

  “You know that I love you too, my darling bride,” he said back. “I love you more than anything. And I intend to show you how much I love you. But today, we need to celebrate. Today we need to party. You will finally see what a Scottish party is like. I just hope that you can handle it. It will be interesting to see...”

  Beth
any tossed her head back and laughed with delight. She did not know what Mason meant, but she was more than willing to try and find out. With him by her side, she could face anything. Even if it was a Scottish party that she definitely had no idea how to handle or what it would even entail.

  “Try me,” she shot back defiantly with her hands on both hips. “Maybe I will surprise you.”

  “It will be impossible for you to surprise me more than you already have done, my lady Bethany, but let us see. Perhaps you do have one more surprise up your sleeves, waiting for me.”

  She wiggled her eyebrows playfully. “And maybe I have more than one. Wait and see...”

  Mason could feel the intense promise of those words and they stretched a grin right across his face. If he did not care about his people so much and did not want to join in the celebrations with them, he would have called the whole thing off and snuck off with Bethany now to spend the rest of the evening with his future bride. Luckily, he had his whole life to do that. He was going to get every single day with Bethany, the woman who started off as his prisoner and now was the love of his life. She really was a surprise.

  “I feel like I have been awake forever,” Bethany giggled as they finally stumbled in to the bedroom hours later. “I can not recall the last time that I rested. Yet I do not feel like I need it quite yet.”

  “Good.” Mason scooped her up in to his arms and kissed her passionately. “Because I have been waiting to get my hands on you all night long. I have missed holding you and kissing you.”

  “But you have been kissing me all night long,” Bethany insisted, not that she was complaining. It had felt wonderful to be wanted. “But yes, I agree, kissing while we are alone is different. Preferable, I believe.”

  The heat intensified in the room, Bethany could feel it circling around her and whisking her away, taking her off to another plane entirely. Mason’s giant presence made her feel small and feminine, he made her feel beautiful as well, every time he touched her or kissed her. He just had this way of making her feel like she was worth while. His touch seemed to be everywhere in the dark right now, his hands all over her body, and she was in heaven. This was why she did not suffer from tiredness, because the electricity was zinging all over her body, crying out for him. She wanted him just as much as he did her.

  “So, you are really going to let me marry you?” he murmured in an amused tone of voice as he slid her clothing off of her, and relished in the gorgeous feel of her naked skin. “You want to be my wife?”

  “Would I be here if I did not want that?” She pinched his side playfully, instantly adoring the feel of his taut body which seemed to be even tighter now after the fighting that had just occured. He had become even more beautiful, including the scar that would lie on his side, reminding them of what it took to get to where they were. “Of course I want to be your wife. I am looking forward to the day.”

  “I know that you are not just saying that for the castle as well,” he teased. “Because you have experienced that life and it has not worked out so well for you. In the past that is, because it will work for you now.” He stroked the silky skin of her shoulders softly. “I will make sure that you have a nice life.”

  “We might not have said our wedding vows yet, but I already feel like I am your wife.”

  He picked her up as if she weighed nothing, which to him she did not, and he carried her over to the bed. Once on the sheets, it was time for Mason to give Bethany her reward for all the good that she had done for him and for clan as well. Of course, that would be a reward for him as well, because he adored kissing and touching this woman all over. There was something amazing about feeling her and tasting her in ways that no other man ever would. He knew how lucky he was to have the privilege and he would never take it for granted. That was why he took his time exploring every single part of her.

  It did not take Mason long to join Bethany in being naked. He stripped himself down in what felt like record time, before joining her lying down on the bed. Their bodies automatically came together, like they knew that they were meant to be, like they knew how well they fit when connected and it was heaven.

  They were in tuned to one another. They immediately knew how to pleasure one another, so did everything that they could to bring the night to a delightful close. The moment connected them both deeper, brought them closer together, reminded them that through everything they had one another.

  “I am looking forward to the future,” Bethany commented idly as they collapsed next to one another on the bed in a beautiful post orgasmic bliss. “I have never had a future worth looking forward to before.”

  “It has been a very long time since I have had someone else to think about, other than my kingdom and my son, so I am excited as well.” Mason rolled Bethany towards him so that they could kiss some more. “So we both have a lot of thrilling things to think about... maybe even a family of our own one day...”

  Bethany pressed her hands to her stomach, wondering what it would feel like to have a baby growing inside of her, one grown from love, half her and half Mason. It would be wonderful. Even better, she could raise her child in an environment that she was happy and comfortable in, that was one of the best things of all...

  Chapter 20

  One Year Later...

  “O h, my goodness, Marie,” Bethany chuckled. “I am too big to even get up now. How on earth am I supposed to keep on going? Look at the size of me. How long until my baby is born?”

  Marie laughed along with Bethany, knowing how happy she truly was about the baby that was to come soon enough. The complaints were only in jest. “I am sure that the baby will come soon enough. You are looking like the child is going to come within the next few days. Are you ready to be a mother, Mrs. MacGregor?” Bethany rolled her eyes, wanting her friend to only use her first name. “I mean Bethany.”

  “I am ready,” she confirmed with a short, sharp nod. “I have been ready ever since my wedding day which was almost a year ago now. Can you believe that I have been a wife for a year?”

  “I do not know,” Marie admitted. “On the one hand, it feels like it was such a short time ago that you were brought here as a prisoner, back when everyone was scared of the up coming war, before it all calmed down. But on the other hand, it seems like you have always been here. I can hardly recall a time before you were here and my friend. That time feels like another life time.”

  Bethany tried to remember back to her time when living with her father, before she knew any of the Scottish people, but the girl that she was back then was not the woman that she had become. She had transformed, she had grown and progressed in to the person that she was always meant to be. Bethany loved the person that she had become here, she felt happier than she had ever been before.

  “I know exactly what you mean, Marie. It really has been forever and I love it...”

  Mason entered the room and immediately Bethany lit up like she always did when she saw her husband. It did not matter how much time had passed, she absolutely adored him and he still made her feel incredible in every single way. He always called her his angel, but to her, he was her hero.

  She might have been the one to save the day back when they freed Jackson from her father’s prison, but he had spent every day saving her from a terrible fate ever since. He rescued her ever single day.

  But he was not returning her smile. Actually, he looked like he was struggling with something. He needed to tell Bethany something, she could see it in his eyes, but she was not sure what it was.

  “Marie, do you mind giving us some time alone?” she asked her friend quickly. “I will find you later.”

  Marie could already sense that there was something strange and awkward in the air, so she nodded rapidly and escaped the room as fast as she could. All the time she desperately hoped that nothing was going to get in the way of her favourite couple. Bethany had softened Mason, had made him a better ruler than he always was, and he had brought her out of her shell, making her bloo
m like a flower.

  No, she told herself decidedly. They are perfect together, so in love. Nothing will get in the way.

  “What is happening?” Bethany asked worriedly inside the room, needing Mason to tell her before she started to expect the worst. “You are ashen. You look like you have seen a ghost. What has happened?”

  “It is your father.” Mason took a seat, slumping forwards as the weight of the world weighed down heavily up on him. “He has finally succumbed to his wounds and his illness. I have had note that he has passed away. I am so sorry, Bethany, I know that this must be hard for you to hear.”

  Bethany thought for a moment, pondering on these words, wondering just how they made her feel. On the one hand, this was her father and someone that she had spent her entire childhood being raised by, but on the other, he was a terrible man who had always treated her like she was the worst person alive.

  A year ago, when Ethan stabbed her father and died for the pleasure, his men thought that they had lost their leader. They were all so worried trying to keep him alive that they did not think about the Scottish and them escaping. Bethany could only assume that they thought both Mason and Ethan dead, probably Jackson as well so they did not chase them down, allowing them all to live.

  While the injuries did not kill George in the end, he was not the same man afterwards. He had lost the deep rage within him, the need to continue the war, to seek more power than he already had. Sometimes, Bethany wondered if it was discovering her staged death which had caused the flame to burn out within him, but she never dwelled on that too much because it probably was not the truth.