To Have and to Trust (Heart of a Highlander Collection Book 1)

by Allie Palomino

  Andie quickly rose and rushed to him. “Can ye see my clan, Althor? How are they faring?” she asked, anxiously.

  Althor shook his head, sadness in his eyes. “Nay, Laird McBride, they doona fare well. Many have been murdered. Yer father’s body-”

  “What? What about his body?”

  “Althor!” Gavin warned in a menacing growl.

  “She needs to hear the truth, Laird.” Althor cleared his throat and said, “They have his head on a stake and are burning his body.”

  “Is that how he treats the dead?” Gavin asked, outraged.

  Bryce came forward then. “Aye. And treats the living worse.”

  She let out a strangled sound, running out of the castle.

  “Andie!” Bryce yelled after her.

  “Leave her be,” Althor said to him. “She needs her time. Alone.”

  Andie ran to the stables. She quickly mounted a horse that had been munching on his food and stormed out, not noticing the dark sky that threatened to release its rain.

  Back at the castle, Bryce hurried forward to go after her despite Althor’s advice, but Gavin stopped him. “I’ll go.” He turned to Althor. “Did ye have to tell her all that?”

  “I see the truth and I tell it,” Althor said. Gavin gave him a harsh glare, snorted, and sprinted to the stables. Bryce didn’t object, although he wondered why the laird was going after Andie.

  “Because, though he only feels intrigue for her, intrigue is enough to sustain him for now.”

  “What?” Bryce asked, his eyebrows shot up in question.

  Althor laughed. He did get a kick out of reading other’s thoughts.

  Gavin mounted his warhorse and set a neck-breaking pace. He rode out but saw no sign of her. Where was she? She couldn’t have gotten far.

  The rain began pelting down. “Damn it,” he swore. She really needed a stable head; she was too emotional now. He had a feeling she always had knee-jerk reactions.

  Gavin turned towards her clan’s direction. The rain was unusually cold and coming down hard. He couldn’t see if there were any tracks left behind, and so he made his horse run faster.

  “Andie!” he yelled out, his voice deep. He kept going forward.

  “Andie!” he yelled again, looking around. His hair was soaked and hanging long.

  Why was he looking for her? Why didn’t he just let Bryce do this? He was never one to coddle women when they threw their tantrums.

  He saw the horse tied to a trunk. Andie was sitting in front of the loch, still on his land, soaked. Her knees were brought up against her chest and she rested her chin on them. Rain kept its assault on them but she was oblivious to it. She stared at the loch unresponsively- as if it were an ordinary bright sunny day.

  He approached her slowly. She was trembling violently again. Her clothes were tightly sticking to her body.

  “Andie?” he asked, slowly.

  “Leave me,” she whispered.

  He sat next to her, undaunted. “Nay, I willna. Ye’ve come to me for help, and ‘tis what I’ll give. Yer father was an ally, and he would have never left any of mine in need.”

  “Nay, my father wouldna have,” she said solemnly.

  He stared out at the loch, too. The rain slowly simmered into a light drizzle. The fat pelts of droplets were now a fine mist.

  “‘Tis too cold here for ye,” he said. Looking sideways at her, he wasn’t sure whether the droplets on her face were because of the rain or her tears.

  “I wasna crying.”

  He looked at her just like he did when Althor ‘read his mind.’

  “Are ye a seer like Althor proclaims to be?” he said in a humorless laugh.

  “Nay,” she said simply.

  “We should travel back towards my castle now,” he said, and something tugged at him. His instincts prickled him. He immediately got up and swung around, sword unsheathed and in his hand. It was all done in one graceful movement. She inhaled sharply, taken aback at his power and speed.

  “What is it?”

  He gave her a look that told her to be quiet. His pale eyes were even paler now. She saw the lethal power within their depths. His muscles rippled under his bronzed skin. His stance was solid, legs braced apart. She was certain that his body increased its bulk. His shoulders were wide. His chest was expansive. His face had a murderous calm about it, waiting for the enemy to come to him rather than he go to the enemy. Aye, this was the legendary Dark Wolf.

  Andie shuddered. He was a very formidable opponent, one she was glad to call an ally.

  Leaves rustled, but the noise came from behind him.

  Andie had her sword unsheathed and was approaching him. He tensed, thinking it was a trap.

  From her.

  His eyes grew doubtful and deadly.

  “Maitland, ye really need to learn how to trust more,” she said, exasperated. She walked to his side and waited.

  A tall red haired man appeared. Gavin kept his strong stance, while Andie sheathed her sword and walked to the stranger. Gavin grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

  “Where are ye going?” he asked, not knowing whether Andie was friend or foe. Was she ensnaring him in a trap?

  “This is Charlie, Gavin. Charlie, this is-”

  “The Dark Wolf,” Charlie finished, nodding towards Gavin.

  “What are ye doing here?” Andie asked, looking at him fretfully. She moved away from Gavin. “I thought ye were going to stay until I gathered more aid from the allies.”

  “Our ranks have weakened, Andie,” Charlie said, still eyeing Gavin.

  “How many remain,” she asked, anxiously.

  “Just who ye see here, Andie,” he said pointing behind him.

  It took her no longer than a few seconds to do a quick estimate.

  “Fifty men remaining? No, Charlie, that’s impossible! We had over two hundred men! What happened?” Andie said, her voice fraught.

  “We’re forty strong, now, Andie,” Charlie corrected.

  Gavin still stood with his legs braced apart staring at Charlie, but sheathed his massive sword.

  “How many soldiers did Alistair have when he began the rebellion?” Gavin asked.

  “About fifty,” Andie said, unconcernedly, staring at Charlie.

  Gavin thought about that for a minute. Only fifty men were able to overpower two hundred McBrides?

  “Charlie, we’ve lost all those men? What about the women?”

  Charlie looked away a second and turned his green eyes back to her.

  “Some have been killed, Andie. His men violated some of them, beat others.”

  “No! Charlie, no!” she said breathless, her hand covering her mouth. He had killed women! Rape was certain where her cousin was concerned, but murder?

  “How did ye know to find her here?” Gavin asked, his eyes studying Charlie.

  “I didna. I first thought ye dead,” Charlie said, looking at her, and continued saying, “but then I heard Alistair rambling about ye and knew ye had escaped. I saw Bryce before he left to find ye, and was relieved he was alive. He told me that ye were going to the McKendricks. I went there and the McKendrick told me he hadna seen ye.”

  “He didna tell ye about Bryce being there before?” Andie asked.

  Charlie shook his head no, his green eyes looking down for a moment, and then he looked back up at Andie. “Nay, he didna. But were I him, I wouldna have either.”

  “Why do ye say that?”

  “He knew ye were McBride’s daughter. He may have been suspicious having so many ask about ye. He knew Bryce but I’m nay sure we’d ever met. After seeing him, I went back to see how the men fared. I gathered them, and here I am now.”

  Andie shivered, still drenched. She was thinking about everything, sadness in her eyes.

  “Andie, we need to get back,” Gavin said, moving towards the horses. He untied Andie’s horse and did the same to his warhorse. He mounted his steed in one fluid motion and waited for Andie to do the same. It was a little difficult f
or her because she was soaked from the rain. Once Andie was mounted on her horse, she looked at Charlie curiously.

  “Why did ye nay get horses, Charlie?”

  Another in the crowd of men replied. “‘Twas a bloodbath, Andie. We needed to leave there while we still had this many men in our ranks.”

  Andie nodded, sadly. “Thank ye, Peter.”

  Gavin looked at the man closely, then he looked to all of them, and lastly to Charlie. He would have to make accommodations for them, for the time being.

  “Let’s go,” Gavin said, moving ahead and all followed.

  As Gavin rode, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more going on than what was at the surface. Andie would probably criticize him for being untrusting. He had trusted the wrong person before and that mistake had nearly cost him everything- his son.

  He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

  Chapter Three

  “It might be wiser to wait longer than a fortnight,” Charlie said, drinking another mouthful of ale. It was hours after they’d returned to the castle. Charlie had been given a chamber, and Andie’s men were shown their accommodations with Gavin’s own men. They sat at the table, contemplating their choices.

  “Nay, Charlie. We must go back in a fortnight. As it is, that is too long of a time to wait. Our women are unprotected,” Bryce said.

  Charlie nodded. “It was disastrous, Bryce. I shudder when I remember the women.”

  Gabriel came running in. “Gavin, come see this,” he said, and his furtive glance towards Andie alerted her. Andie sat up straighter.

  “What is it, Gabriel? Does it have something to do with me?” she asked, rising. She patted Riley on the head, who had been sitting on her lap, and walked forward.

  “Andie, ‘tis best that ye nay go outside. Wait here,” Gabriel said, looking at Gavin to give the command.

  “Nay, I willna. What is it?” she insisted.

  He didn’t answer and she pushed past him.

  “Andie!” he said and tried to grab her but she evaded his grasp, running outside. Gavin hurried after her, and the men followed. Before Gavin could walk through the threshold outside, he heard a cry. It was an anguished, primitive cry.

  He ran outside and saw Andie on the ground, hunched over. He came forward to see her face, finding tormented tears fall from her lifeless eyes. Her hands shook as she cupped them over her mouth. Her body trembled violently, despite her change into dry garments. She was deathly pale. Her cries were heart-wrenching and came from deep within her soul.

  He looked to the ground and cursed.

  Andrew McBride’s head was lying there.

  “He is a vile mon, dishonoring the laird so,” Shaun said, shaking his head.

  “He is gruesome,” Gabriel agreed.

  Bryce and Charlie walked through the threshold. The McBride warriors followed, all curious. Then they looked from Andie to the ground, and they grew enraged.

  “Papa!” she whispered. She began to reach for his head, her hands trembling. Her whole body was shaking so violently, that her head shook as well. Her body looked as if it were convulsing. “Papa?” she whispered painfully.

  “Andie, doona look at it. It’s nay Andrew, it’s just his face. Yer father is resting in peace now,” Bryce said coming forward.

  She stood up slowly, not able to calm her trembling body. She began to back away, her eyes unable to break from the site of her father’s pale, worn face. She stepped to the side when she lost her balance, and straightened. She turned towards the men behind her.

  “I’m alright,” she said. She nodded her head for reinforcement. She began taking a step forward, and collapsed yards from Gavin’s feet. Riley rushed forward.

  “Andie!” he said and began crying. “Doona die, Andie,” he said, his little voice almost hysterical.

  Gavin laid a comforting hand on his son’s small shoulder. “Riley, she isna dead. She just swooned,” Gavin said, bending to pick her up into his arms. He looked to Bryce and Charlie.

  “She hasna been eating nor sleeping,” he said and passed them, carrying her inside. He ascended the stairs, and from the top, he turned with Andie in his arms and told Gabriel, “Get rid of it, Gabriel. For her sake, place it in a box and bury it.”

  Gavin carried her to her room and gently laid her down on the bed. Still bent over her form, he studied her face. Black smudges, proof of her sleepless nights, were under her eyes. Her lips were looking better, and her bruises were still evident, but fading to yellow. She was beautiful. He sighed as his eyes caressed her face, something his hands itched to do.

  The skin was beginning to grow tighter around her cheeks. He looked down at her hands and saw the skin stretched taut over her knuckles, too. He thought she’d had a bite of food here and there, but the gauntness and pallor of her skin told otherwise.

  There was a knock on the door. He looked away from Andie, uncertain just how much time had elapsed. His eyes went to the window to confirm his suspicion. He grimaced. A considerable amount of time had passed.

  “Come in,” he said, his eyes moving from Andie’s prone body to the door.

  “Yer pardon, laird. I thought perhaps the lass could use some tea when she wakes. I understand she hasna been sleeping so ‘tis best to allow her to sleep now,” Greida said.

  Greida had gray hair, pulled back in a loose bun. Stray hairs framed her chubby face. She wore a grey gown, which covered her plump body. Her brown faded eyes were gentle.

  “Aye,” he said, and continued to stare at Andie as Greida left the room.

  Not two minutes after, Althor entered without knocking. Damned rude.

  “I heard of the lass’ swoon,” Althor said in his deep, hypnotic tone.

  Gavin rolled his eyes. “D’ye ever knock, old mon.”

  “Now, now, laird, if ye want yer time alone with her, I’ll leave ye be,” Althor said, laughing.

  “What is it ye want, Althor?” he asked, sighing.

  “Just wanted to see the lass. She is the woman, after all, who has caught the laird’s interest.”

  “Althor, if ye’ve come to irritate me, leave,” Gavin said, annoyed.

  “Ye know Gavin, ‘tis best nay to bury yer head in the ground. Ye see yer friends and foes better if ye doona,” Althor said, walking to the door.

  “Stop talking in riddles, Althor, or I swear that ‘twill be no great matter for me to toss ye on yer arse, no matter how many of yer grandsires have resided here,” Gavin grumbled. “What do ye mean? Say it straight,” Gavin demanded, looking at Althor.

  Althor sighed.

  “What I mean, young laird, is that there is a traitor in our midst. Ye better nay bury yer head in the ground. Doona ignore anything. Who ye think is yer foe, isna, and the one who should be friend, isna,” Althor said.

  Gavin’s back straightened. “Who then, Althor, The Great Seer? Who is this infamous foe ye speak of?” Gavin asked him, pinning him with a piercing cold gaze.

  “I doona know, but the lass isna yer foe,” Althor said, shaking his head.

  “What do ye know, then? Ye didna know anything about Sarah, did ye? Ye didna see the bitch she was. Doona come to me now, Althor, with this great sight of yers. I doona believe in it; ye waste yer time,” Gavin said, turning to Andie who had her eyes open.

  “Verra well, laird, but ye’d do well to heed my advice. Ye’ll be depriving yerself of yer happiness,” Althor said, and paused at the door, his back to Andie.

  “‘Tis a pleasure to see ye awake, lass,” he said and left the room.

  Andie began clearing her throat. “Why,” she began, but coughed. “Why do ye dislike him?” she asked, beginning to sit up. Gavin helped her.

  “He isna the seer he claims he is.”

  “Why do ye say that?”

  “I doona want to talk about it,” he said tightly. She saw the muscle working in his jaw.

  “Why am I in bed?” she asked, her voice gruff.

  Gavin handed her the tea. “Ye swooned. D’ye nay
remember?”

  Andie shook her head, drinking the warm tea. “Nay.” She kept her gaze on the man next to her, with his fearsome glacier eyes.

  Gavin sighed. “Andie, yer father’s…Gabriel came in and said…” he couldn’t tell her. She was looking up at him and her beautiful hazel eyes were already full of hurt at the mention of her father. When her eyes lowered and her face paled, he knew that she’d remembered.

  “Aye, his head was sent here,” she said in the barest of whispers.

  “I had Gabriel bury it in a box.”

  Her head came up. Her eyes swam with tears, making her hazel eyes appear yellowish-green. “Why?”

  He shrugged. “It was proper,” he said.

  “How long have I been sleeping?”

  “Half a day.”

  “Ye’ve been here all this time?” she asked softly.

  “Aye,” he said, and she could tell that he wasn’t liking the conversation. He looked uncomfortable.

  “Why?” she asked again.

  He shrugged. She seemed to like that question as much as he hated it. He was looking at the coverlet on the bed. She slowly sat up higher and leaned towards him. She planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank ye,” she said softly.

  When he looked at her, she inhaled sharply at the look in his eyes. They were so pale and luminous, like a wolf’s. It was almost as if they glowed from the inside. She saw his head descending towards hers and she was powerless to stop her head from moving closer to his.

  The kiss was explosive. He began slowly, sensing that she was new to this intimacy. She hesitantly moved her lips against his. At the tentative touch of her tongue on his, he growled and devoured her mouth. His hand plunged into the amber of her hair, reveling in the silky softness of it. He moved closer to her, looming over her body. His hand went down to her waist.

  She was so soft and feminine. He wanted to ravish her, to devour her. He deepened the kiss as he felt his shaft harden even more.

  She was engulfed by his flames. Her heart beat faster with every second of being near him. She felt the wolf in him, almost as if it were howling to be unleashed. The wolf, she knew, who was powerful, primitive, wild- who was losing control. It would never be tamed. Something, she knew, had made it so that he would never be tamed again.