To Love A Highlander (Highland Warriors Book 1)

by Donna Fletcher

  She kept hold of Craven’s hand as she stood beside him, watching clan members file past the woman lying on a slab of wood, all but her head wrapped in a shroud. Craven squeezed her hand now and then, acknowledging her, but did not look at her. His eyes were focused on each and every person who walked past the woman. He was waiting to see if anyone showed even a brief recognition.

  He, like Espy, was waiting for Ober to look upon the woman, but as the line grew shorter and shorter, Craven realized that Ober was nowhere in sight.

  Craven turned to Dylan. “See if you can find Ober and bring him here.”

  Dylan nodded and went off, gathering several warriors with him as he went.

  “What are you not telling me?” Espy asked her husband, seeing his brow narrow and feeling his hand close a bit more tightly around hers.

  Craven kept his voice low. “The wrappings on the body had been disturbed when the warriors went to get it this morning for viewing.”

  “Ober?”

  “Since he is nowhere to be seen, it is possible, though there may be others involved as well and that troubles me. I am curious about Adara. Why does someone want her dead? Why even think she was here in the first place? There is much we need to ask her.”

  They both turned silent, watching and waiting and when they saw Dylan hurry toward them with anxious steps, they knew the news would not be good.

  “Ober cannot be found and no one has seen him since last night,” Dylan said as soon as he stopped in front of Craven. “With him taking flight, I would assume that this woman was known to him.”

  “But why flee with her dead and unable to identify him? His secret was safe,” Espy said, her hand suddenly gripping her husband’s. “What if he discovered where Adara hides?”

  Craven had shared some of what Espy had told him with Dylan, though not the parts where she helped people escape. He did, however, tell Dylan about Adara.

  “Keep watch for Ober in case he returns and secure him if he does,” Craven ordered. “I will take Espy with me to get Adara and bring her here.”

  It was not long before they left, Espy riding Trumble, and Craven on his mare while several warriors followed.

  “How is it that you never knew that I fought alongside Warrick?” Craven asked, noticing that her scar was less prominent than usual. It was fading and he wondered if it would fade away all together, not that it mattered. With or without the scar, to him she would always be more beautiful than any other woman.

  Espy shrugged, not understanding it herself. “I believe you may not have been home the times I came to stay with my grandmother, and since I never heard her refer to you as the beast or anyone else for that matter, it was something I would not have known.”

  Craven watched how her eyes remained alert to everything around her and how she would tilt her head every now and then as if she was trying to distinguish a sound she heard. She also kept a good grip on her reins, something he did when in a situation he might have to flee. It was all instinct, learned out of necessity to survive. He was glad for her acquired instincts, in case she should ever need them, though he would see that she never would.

  “What brought you together with Warrick?” Espy asked.

  “Hatred of a common enemy,” Craven said. “The Crown is forever changing, rulers being murdered, young lads becoming King, men claiming the crown that have no business to it. England fighting for dominance here. The Highlands is a world of its own and we will not tolerate foreigners and lowlanders infringing on our homes and rights.

  “Like Warrick, I did not trust those who rule. Promises are made but never kept, so I fought along with Warrick to keep the Highlands, our homes, free.”

  “The King—”

  “Fears the mighty Highland warriors. Besides, Warrick sees to taking care of things for the King that he does not trust others to do. There are many who fear Warrick and many more who need him.”

  Espy slowed Trumble. “The cottage is up around the bend and there is an area of woods that is too thick to ride the horses through. We will have to walk.”

  “You will stay close to me,” Craven said.

  “You will not take Adara by force. You will let me convince her to trust you,” Espy said, worried the frightened young woman would not even show herself let alone agree to go with them.

  “Until I have no other choice,” Craven warned.

  Espy was glad he was honest with her. It made her more determined than ever to convince Adara to go with her. That she would be safe and would need not worry any longer.

  “Keep your warriors back, out of sight,” Espy pleaded when he reached for her waist to take her off Trumble. His hands fit firm around her and he lifted her with ease to place on the ground in front of him. The breadth of him consumed her. She could not see past his broad shoulders and while she was used to the size of him, Adara was not. “Perhaps you should keep your distance as well until I have a chance to speak with her.”

  Craven brought his face down for his nose to almost touch hers. “That is not going to happen.”

  “You will frighten her,” Espy cautioned.

  “Then she will also know I can easily protect her. Now let us be done with this and get her where she will be safe.”

  He was right. Adara’s safety was why she was here.

  They reached the cottage, his warriors remaining a discreet distance behind them where they were not that visible. Craven on the other hand was extremely visible and when Adara did not respond to Espy’s call, she feared the young woman would never come out of hiding.

  “I brought my husband to help you, Adara. He will keep you safe from whoever is after you and he has given his word that he will see to settling the problem of the theft you were accused of, so please, please trust him and come out and come home with us.”

  No amount of pleading worked and that was when Espy realized… “She is not here. Adara is gone.”

  Craven had his warriors search for the woman but they found nothing, not even a track they could follow.

  That night Espy woke screaming from a dream. She was running, trying desperately to reach Adara only a short distance ahead of her and just as she was about to grab hold of her, a black shadow swooped down and swallowed Adara whole.

  Craven jumped out of bed and went for his sword, Espy’s scream having been filled with such fright. When he realized a dream had been the cause, he hurried back in bed to take her in his arms and soothe her fears.

  “It was a dream, no more, just a dream,” he said, hugging her tight against him and caressing her bare back in soothing strokes, trying to rid her of the quiver that ran through her.

  “I failed her again,” Espy said, her heart pounding in her chest the fear was so real.

  “You have not failed her. We will find Adara and keep her safe,” Craven assured her, intending to do just that. “What of the other woman you saved?”

  “Hannah,” Espy whispered softly. “I often wonder what happened to her. I thought she and Adara might remain together, help each other, but Adara has made no mention of her.”

  “You will ask Adara about Hannah when we find her,” Craven said, his confidence that they would find her bringing a gentle smile to Espy’s face, though it did not chase her quivers. He knew what would change those quivers to something much more pleasurable and he let his hand drift down over her bare backside to slowly caress it.

  It was not long before his hand found its way to more intimate spots and it took even less time for Espy to respond and her quivers to turn to passion and all thoughts of the dream faded away as her husband made slow and gentle love to her.

  Espy beamed with joy as she placed the newborn lad in his mum’s arms, eagerly stretched out to take him.

  “John will be thrilled,” Cerise said with a huge smile. “With three daughters, he was hoping for a son.”

  “A fine, strapping lad he is,” Espy confirmed.

  Cerise laughed. “If he had been my first I may never have let John touch me aga
in, the little bugger was so painful to deliver.”

  “It is his size,” Espy said glad the ordeal was over for Cerise and mum and son were doing splendid.

  The door flew open and a large man ducked his head to hurry in. His round, green eyes went to his wife in the bed.

  Cerise held the swaddled bairn up with pride. “Come meet your son.”

  John burst into tears. “A son, finally I have a son.” He hurried to Cerise. “You are a good wife, the best wife in all of Scotland.” He kissed her brow and his eyes turned wide as he looked upon his son. “He is a big one.”

  “Like his da,” Cerise said.

  Tears continued running down his cheeks as he took his son in his arms.

  Espy quietly left the cottage, leaving the new parents to enjoy the birth of their first son.

  The sun had flickered through the clouds all morning, the clouds finally winning and consuming the sky. Rain would fall as usual, but then it was spring and the land and all its seedlings needed nourishment.

  Espy strolled through the village. It had been two days and there had been no success in finding Adara. Espy wondered if the young woman had been so frightened that she left the area. But where could she have possibly gone in such a short time? Craven had his warriors search far and wide to the point that Roark had asked if he needed help in finding whatever he had lost.

  Craven had declined and offered no explanation to him.

  Espy could not make it through the village without being asked how she fared. The many heartfelt queries made her feel all the more part of the clan… part of a family.

  With her arm still healing, Innis had pitched in and helped tremendously, though none of the women would let him birth their bairns. He was glad of it since he had little to no experience delivering babies. He also visited with Cyra every day and that pleased Espy, especially when he spoke of her grandmother with such affection. That he admired the woman was obvious, but Espy wondered if there was more to how he felt about her and she was curious as to what her grandmother thought of him.

  She shook her head at her foolish thought. It had been only a few days since they met, but Espy recalled how her grandmother once told her how she knew upon first meeting her husband that she would wed him. It had been the same for her mum. Her da had visited the Highlands just as Innis was doing and her grandmother had told her that when Espy’s mum looked upon Espy’s da for the first time, Cyra could see that she lost her heart to him there and then and Cyra saw that Espy’s da had done the same.

  Not so her.

  Hate had been what Craven had felt when he had laid eyes upon her. For her, it had been guilt. So how had love grown when there had been nothing there to nourish it?

  “Something troubles you, wife?” Craven asked, reaching out and easing her into his arms.

  “For a large man you have a quiet footfall,” she said with a soft smile.

  “You were deep in thought, you heard nothing, not me and not the children who were calling out to you.”

  Espy looked around and saw a few girls, giggling to each other and looking her way. She quickly waved to them and they waved back and returned to giggling.

  Craven took her hand so they could continue to walk.

  “John and Cerise have a son,” Espy said.

  “He must be thrilled.”

  “He shed tears of joy.”

  “That would be John. He gets teary-eyed more than any man I know,” Craven said, “but then having a son after three daughters would bring any man to tears.”

  “You want only sons?” Espy asked.

  “Every man wants a son to carry on the family name and honor, but as long as no harm befalls you when you deliver our bairns, it matters not to me whether you give me sons or daughters as long as I do not lose you.”

  He would worry about that after what had happened to Aubrey and she wanted to reassure him, but the only thing that would truly reassure him was her delivering his child safely. She offered him what she hoped would help ease his concern.

  “Cyra will tend my birth and, no doubt, Innis will be here as well since I do not think he plans on leaving for some time.”

  Craven’s face brightened at her words. “He may never leave. I saw the way he looked at your grandmother, like a besotted fool.”

  Espy laughed. “I was just thinking that he might favor her.”

  “Favor her?” Craven chuckled. “He fell hard as soon as he looked at her.”

  “How wonderful, now if only my grandmother felt he same way.”

  “There was a twinkle in her eye I have never seen before when she talked with him.”

  Espy’s smile spread and she squeezed her husband’s hand. “It would be nice for her to know the love of a good man again.”

  “Tell me what had you deep in thought,” Craven asked, curious over the slight frown that had marred her lovely features and pleased to see the many smiles that had replaced it.

  “Love,” she said, “I was wondering how your hate and my feeling of guilt could produce love.”

  “That is easy to answer.”

  Espy halted her steps, turning a perplexed look on him.

  Craven stole a quick kiss, her moist lips too inviting to ignore. “We both were wrong. There was no reason for me to hate you and no reason for you to feel guilty. Once we realized that, it was easy for love to grow between us. Though, you were quicker than me to realize it and you let yourself love me in spite of my pitiful treatment of you.”

  Espy kissed his lips this time, wishing she could linger there. “None of that matters now. What does matter is our love for each other and mine grows for you more each day.”

  “I am so glad that you were brave enough not to let the beast frighten you away.”

  Espy grinned and tapped his chest. “There are times I very much favor the beast… like when I hear that growl rumble low in his chest just before it turns to a roar when he—”

  “Tease me, wife, and you know what will happen,” Craven warned with a whisper, though it was too late, he was already planning on hurrying her off to their bedchamber.

  “Aye, I do,” she said with a flare of passion in her soft blue eyes.

  He took her hand and tugged her toward the keep, but she tugged him to a stop, nodding at the healing cottage that was only a short distance away. They both grinned and hurried toward it.

  A high-pitched scream stopped them and when they turned they saw Tula, her eyes nearly bulging from her head and pointing. They followed her finger.

  Ober was staggering out of the woods, a dagger handle sticking out of his chest.

  Craven yelled for his warriors as he and Espy ran toward the man.

  “The woods, find whoever did this,” Craven ordered as several of his warriors rushed over to him as he caught Ober before the man collapsed to the ground.

  The warriors took off and Espy dropped to the ground beside Ober. One look told her that he had been lucky he had gotten as far as he did and what he had worried about all that time had finally fallen upon him…. death was near.

  He grabbed Espy’s arm and fought to speak, his eyes turning wide and with his last breath he spewed out, “Lies.”

  Espy glared at him, for at that moment she realized where she had seen him. He was the man who had brought the three women, one of them Adara, to Warrick’s dungeon.

  Chapter 30

  “You are sure of this?’ Craven asked, handing her a goblet of wine before sitting in the chair beside her in the solar after hours spent handling the Ober incident.

  “It was dark and while I did not get a good look at his face, I did his eyes. They were wide, the white standing out in the darkness and they were filled with a sense of glee as if he was pleased to be delivering the women for torture.” She shook her head. “I do not know why I had not seen it before, though maybe my memory was spurred by Adara being here as well. It makes some sense now. He brought her to Warrick’s dungeon believing she would die there and he shows up here along with that
woman and Adara’s life is threatened again.”

  “Adara must know something very important that someone wants her dead.”

  “We have to find her,” Espy said, worry creasing her brow.

  “My warriors are trying, though whoever did this to Ober escapes us as well. No tracks could be found anywhere.” Craven’s brow scrunched for a moment, then turned wide. “Do you think Adara could have done this to Ober?”

  Espy was about to shake her head and stopped.

  “You are thinking what I thought. She stabbed the woman, why not Ober?”

  Espy thought back to the young woman she had tended in the small cell. She had been frightened beyond belief, saying over and over again that she had done nothing wrong. Nothing. She did what she was told. She always did what she was told… or she would suffer for it.

  She never confided any more than that to Espy, though she would listen in silence as Espy spoke of her home with her grandmother and her secret cottage. It had been the only thing that had calmed her.

  “If Adara is at fault, then she did it to protect herself.” Espy shook her head again, refusing to believe it. “I do not think she did this. Besides, what did Ober mean by lies? His last word and he says lies? What was he trying to tell us? I also wonder if MacPeters was connected with this in some way.”

  “MacPeters?” Craven questioned as if it made no sense. “That would mean it has something to do with Aubrey’s murder. But how could Adara in any way be connected with Aubrey’s murder?”

  Espy shrugged. “I have not a clue, though it seems strange that both the man claiming to be MacPeters and Ober both were murdered. Could they both have known something that someone did not want made known?”

  Craven grinned at her. “I can just imagine how you must have driven your parents and grandmother mad with endless questions when you were a young lass.”

  “They encouraged my questions,” she said and laughed, “lucky for me.”

  “At least, I have forewarning before you give me a daughter with your inquisitive nature. I will be prepared to answer all her question and the ones I cannot, I will tell her to take to you.” He liked the thought of having a daughter who would resemble her mum in more ways than features. Espy was an intelligent and courageous woman and he would love for his daughter or daughters to be the same.