by Matie Cole
But now... now he had lost the fight to keep him alive and he had died. Bethany should have felt something about that, it was not right to feel absolutely nothing, but she did. She was empty, hollow.
“Well, I suppose that means we do not have to look over our shoulders forever,” she declared in response. “Not that he was ever going to come for me, but now he will not come for anyone. Do we know who will inherit the lands? I always thought that it would be my father’s brother, Edward...”
“You are correct.” Mason stared at his wife curiously. He was expecting more of a reaction than he had from her. But then why would she be upset about a man who had brought her up with cruelness? “Edward is the man who has taken over his possessions. What do you know of your father’s brother?”
Bethany grinned. “He is a kind man, someone who you will be able to work well with, should you choose to. If not, I do not think that he will be worried about us. He is nothing like my father.”
“So, you are really telling me that it is over?” Mason rose to his feet and pressed his hands to his chest to feel the pounding of his heart. It was beating furiously, but with hope for an even more positive future than before. “You really believe that our clan will live in peace?”
Bethany stepped forwards and grabbed her husband’s hands as a lightness encased them both. “I really do think so. It is over. All over.” It might have taken some time, but Ethan’s stabbing had finally done exactly what he wanted and killed off George Windsor. There had to be some pleasure to come from that. “We are safe now. We have created a safe world for our child and now we can be happy.”
Mason pressed his hands to his wife’s stomach and he felt the surge of life growing inside of her. A baby who would be born soon. Another son, perhaps, who could carry on the family name MacGregor. Or maybe it would be a daughter, a girl of his own who he could spoil with love. He did not mind, Bethany did not either. She was just excited to become a mother, to have a child to love unconditionally.
“Father, did you hear?” All of a sudden, the magic of the moment was shattered as Jackson raced in to the room. He had a look of wild-eyed panic on his face which Bethany could only attribute to the discovery of her father’s passing. A suspicion confirmed when he saw her and turned bright red.
“It is alright,” she reassured Jackson. “I have already been told about my father. I know.”
“And you... you are not too upset?” Jackson hung his head low, scared to meet his eyes.
“My father was not a good man like yours.” Bethany rested her hands-on Jackson’s shoulders and smiled gratefully at him. “Perhaps a time will come where I am upset about it, but right now I am relieved because it means I will not have to live my life looking over my shoulder. I am finally free.”
After being locked up, Jackson could understand Bethany’s need for freedom, but he was still a little worried about her. She might not have been able to feel it, but he could sense pain in her face. She was a little contorted in agony, it had to be coming for her soon enough. He shot his father a worried look, but Mason had not seemed to sense that anything was wrong either. Perhaps he was being paranoid...
“Ooh.” All of a sudden, it hit Bethany. But as she bent double it seemed to be more of a physical pain than a mental anguish which scared Jackson some what. “Oh, my goodness, what is this?”
Mason snapped in to action, wrapping his arms lovingly around his wife. “What is it, my love?”
“My... my stomach...” she rasped out, staring at Mason with pleading desperate eyes.
“The baby,” Jackson muttered picking up on what was happening before anyone else. “The baby is coming. I shall go and get Marie. She needs to be here, and whatever medical professional is on duty.”
Mason caught Bethany in his arms before she could fall to the floor and they stared at one another with excitement and love. The next chapter of their lives, of their love story, was about to occur and they could not wait for it. They had been preparing for this moment for months, but now that it was here they knew that nothing could have prepared them. Soon enough, they would be parents and everything would start all over again, on the day that they learned that they no longer had to watch their backs as well.
“I love you,” Mason declared with a sweet smile for his wife. “I love you very much. I will be here for you. Not just today as you give birth, but forever. I hope you know that I will be here forever for you.”
“I do.” Bethany clung to him hard, needing him now more than ever before. “I know that you will and that is why I love you so much, why I will always love you.”
In that moment, they both took the time to consider how lucky they were to have found one another, to have fallen so deeply in love with the way that the world had been at the time, and how great it was going to be to spend the rest of their lives together with their little family.
Finally, Bethany had her freedom, had the life that she had always wanted, and it was everything to her. Better than she ever could have imagined, and it was all because her father had made an enemy of the highlander.
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I never expected to find this beautiful angel lying in the forest.
When laird Bryson MacGregor found an unconscious woman in the middle of the forest, he did not think that he would end up madly in love with her. Even less so when, after losing his wife, he swore that he would never fall in love again.
Now that mysterious angel focuses all his thoughts and will never allow him to leave her side.
Maisie Ferguson remembered nothing from her previous life.
With no memory and nowhere to go, she accepted Bryson's hospitality, discovering happiness with this warrior and his little daughter Anice. But her past will come back to claim her and the price to pay will be very high.
Mystery, lies, jealousy and murder surround the truth about Maisie. A truth that can separate her forever from everything she loves.
Extract
Highlander’s Angel
━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━
Chapter 1
“M urder?” Maisie clutched her mother’s medallion close to her heart, wondering what on earth was happening. A moment ago, she was existing in the happiest dream ever, she was back with her mother, cuddling in to her as if she were a small child once more, and no one had passed away. It had been a glowing, joyful moment which she really did not want to be ripped away from. Certainly not for this. “But my father... he has not been murdered. We were together not so long ago. He was fine. Just fine.”
Lady Lauren Nauthdon lips curled up into a very nasty looking smile. Almost a smirk which caused Maisie to presume that she was not awake at all, instead existing in the middle of a terrible nightmare.
“Well, I am his wife, lest you forget,” Lauren snarled at Maisie. “I understand that you might not like it. You probably never have liked it, but me and your father have been married for over a year now and if I am telling you that he has been killed, then he has been murdered. I would not lie to you.”
“But... but who?” Maisie staggered backwards away from Lauren, unable to process what she was being told. “Who would do that to my father? Everyone loves my father, they all adore him...”
“Yes, everyone loves your father, I agree.” Lauren grew intimidatingly close to Maisie. She might have only been a decade older than her stepdaughter at thirty-one years of age, but she had a confidence and a demeanor that always scared the living hell out of Maisie. There was something almost evil about her. She had been nothing like Maisie’s wonderful, kindhearted mother who had been taken away by a rapid illness, but Maisie never felt able to confront her father about his strange choice in Lauren. She was too shy and introverted. “There is no one who would want him harmed, nor is there any way for a stranger to get into the castle. It is absolutely impossible which means the killer must be within these walls.”
Maisie shook her head hard. “But no. There is no one who would do this. I cannot believe it
.”
She was in shock. It did not feel right for someone of her age to go through so much tragedy. To be so youthful and to lose both parents whom she had always cared a whole lot for. It was utterly heart breaking to have to try and cope with the knowledge that she was now on her own. Much as Lauren was her stepmother, it was safe to say that neither of them considered one another family. They might have lived under one roof and acted like things were fine, but there was no real love lost there. Maisie was always under the impression that Lauren loved his wealth more than her actual father, and that Duncan Ferguson deserved so much better. But now... well, now it was starting to look like all of that was lost.
“I believe that there is only one person who would harm my lovely husband,” Lauren continued. “And that is his bitter twisted daughter who wants to get her hands on her family inheritance.”
“What?” Maisie almost bent double in shock. “What are you saying? I would never...”
“You killed him.” Lauren jabbed her finger hard into Maisie, nearly knocking her backwards. “You did not want him to keep on living because you think him too old to have everything that he has. You have wanted it for yourself for a terribly long time. I could see that within you the very first moment that I met you. I tried to warn your poor father about your vicious tenancies, but he was so kindhearted and would not see it. Well, look where that has left him now. You have stabbed him in the back. He is dead, his poor heart is no longer beating and it is all because of you. You have destroyed that poor man.”
“No,” Maisie practically screamed. “No, I would not do that. My father... I loved him. It has been me and him for years. He has single handedly raised me since my mother died. I would not...”
“So, jealousy drove you to it?” Lauren relished in driving Maisie to distraction. She was clearly getting a kick out of the torture of the young lady. She did not seem like a woman who was in the midst of grief because she had just lost her husband. She seemed to be on top of the world. If Maisie could find any strength within her then she would have commented on it, but she was empty and had nothing. “You did not like it because he chose to marry me. You have always had him to yourself, so anyone else getting his attention was too much for you? Is that what you are telling me? Huh? That you could not stand him having any kind of happiness with another woman, so you killed him to get rid of him?”
“No, no, I would never...” Maisie could not stand this. How was Lauren turning this into something so complex? “I would never kill my father. I would never hurt him. I would never do anything...”
“And yet you did,” Lauren declared loudly. “And by morning, everyone will know what you have done. I will ensure that there is not a single person who does not know what you have done to your father. You will not get everything like you aim to. I will ensure that none of your father’s spoils go to you. The woman who has killed her father does not deserve anything. You will be locked up in jail for the rest of your life.”
“I do not want... I am not after... I do not need anything...” Maisie stammered. “I just want my father. I need to see him. I want to make sure that he is okay. I cannot stand this...”
Lauren tossed her head back and laughed loudly. “You will never get to see your father again. He is gone. You did this to him. Do you not understand? Do you have so little intelligence that you do not get it?”
Maisie had no response. All that she could do was weep hard into her hands. All of this was too much for her. She did not understand, she could not work out, she did not care about what Lauren was saying to her. She was far too consumed by grief to be thinking about anything else.
“And before you try and act like it was not you,” Lauren continued, taking full advantage of Maisie’s silence. “I have proof that it was you who killed your father. I have a witness.”
“You... you cannot,” Maisie stammered. “I did not do it. There will be no proof...”
But the words fell apart on her lips when she spotted who Lauren was talking about. Ray, her assistant who the whole clan seemed to have a strange respect for, despite the fact that he was shady and scary to Maisie. She had always thought that he was far too close to Lauren, that there could be more bubbling underneath the surface of their relationship, but she had not ever expressed that aloud out of sheer terror. Now, she was wishing that she had said so many different things. Silence had not worked out for her at all.
“I saw you,” Ray growled. “Coming from your father’s chambers with a bloody knife clutched in your hand.” As he stared at her fingers, Maisie realized that she was still clinging so tightly to her mother’s medallion that her knuckles had begun to turn a funny shade of white. “And then you dropped it in the hallway. Of course, all I could do was pick it up and take it to our Lady so that she would know the truth...”
The bloody knife appeared as if by magic in Ray’s hand. He yanked it from behind his back, causing Maisie to fall to the floor in shock. She hit the floor hard, so hard that she knew it would leave behind a bruise, but the pain in her upper thigh was nothing compared to the agony in her heart.
That was her father’s blood. He truly was dead. And she was going to be blamed for the whole thing. She had done nothing. She had been sleeping through the whole crime, but it did not matter. She could argue for the rest of her life, but she would be doing so in jail. Lauren would win.
In fact, Lady Lauren Nauthdon seemed to be the sort of person who always won, who would succeed no matter what life threw her way. She seemed to have a knack of always landing on her feet. Unlike Maisie who was facing this huge challenge knowing that at twenty-one years of age, it would end her life.
“You... you did this,” she gasped. She spoke quietly, but it was the first time that she had really spoken out since this whole messy situation began so it was not easy for her at all. “You did this. The two of you. You killed my father and you want to blame me. You are the ones who want everything, not me.”
“Then it is a good job that you do not want anything,” Lauren sneered. “Because you will not get it. Do you hear me? There is not a chance in hell that you will get your hands on anything. It does not matter what is the truth and what is not. What matters is that I will win.” She ran her eyes all over Maisie. “Look at you. You are pathetic. Simply a heap on the floor. Get up, get some sleep, because this will be the last night that you spend within a castle. You might as well enjoy it while it lasts. Come on, Ray. We must get to bed as well. We have a very big day on our hands dealing with a murder and a betrayal.” She winked at Ray, almost teasing Maisie with the knowledge that there was a lot more between them. “It will be an intense one.”
They left Maisie alone in a heap on the floor with a trail of laughter following them, breaking poor Maisie’s heart increasingly by the second. She had now lost it all, there was nothing left for her. She had nothing here but misery and a desolate future awaiting her, one that she did not deserve. A person who killed her parents for financial gain would never be received well. It was a fate that Maisie did not want.
“I must go,” she whispered to herself. “I must leave. I cannot stay here. I will be better alone out there.”
She had never been out there before. Her father had always protected her from the outside world. He simply forgot to protect her from the monster inside the building, that was all. But he was no longer around to save her from anything, so she was going to have to dig down deep, to save herself.
First, Maisie Ferguson needed to drag herself off the floor, she needed to gather herself back up because what lay ahead of her would require her to use all of her wit and intelligence. She was going to have to carry her grief with her as baggage rather than deal with it properly, but that was the only way in which she would be able to stay alive. It was the only way in which she could avoid whatever Lauren had for her. Perhaps it would make her look guilty of something that she had not done, but Maisie knew that Lauren would make that happen anyway. This was her only choice. She needed to survive alone
somehow.
Chapter 2
T hump, thump, thump. The intense hammering of Maisie’s pounding heart was almost overwhelming as she snuck through the home that had always been a comfort to her until tonight. Thump, thump, thump. She could not deny that the fear of getting caught by Lauren and Ray was a lot to handle, as was the terror of making a life for herself in a world that she did not know, but Maisie was trying to cling to every bit of inner strength that she had to get her through this. Thump, thump, thump.
But her heart was starting to become something of a problem. It was beating so hard that Maisie feared it was shaking all the walls of the castle. She feared that she might be waking everyone up which would only lead her in to far more trouble than she had ever been in before. But she needed to keep going.
“Help me, mother,” she whispered quietly as she held on to her medallion, just like she always did when life was hard. She had a feeling that she was going to need her medallion now more than ever. “I need you. I would like you to guide me through life, just as you have done before. I cannot do this alone.”
But the usual warm feeling that Maisie encountered when she tried to communicate with her mother from beyond the grave via her medallion did not come. It might not have been a real sensation anyway, simply something that Maisie conjured up to assist her through the most difficult of times, but she could not manage it now. Not now that she knew that her father was no longer alive. Life was too sad.
“I guess I am alone,” she reminded herself. “I am alone. And now I need to work out how to do that.”
She had clothing on her body and some in her bag, but since she would be on the run, Maisie did not have much with her. She did not have a lot of clothes that would pass as just another normal girl on the streets anyway, everything that she normally wore drew attention to herself, which from now on she would not be able to do. So, there was no need to bring with her more than she already had.