A Laird for Christmas

by Gerri Russell

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Text copyright © 2013 Gerri Russell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  ISBN-13: 9781477808870

  ISBN-10: 1477808876

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2013906764

  To Carrie Meredith Searing for her friendship and her bachelorette advice. I value both very much.

  To my husband, Chuck, you are my hero, always.

  Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Preview: THIS LAIRD of MINE

  Renfrewshire, Scotland

  DECEMBER 12TH, 1679

  You did what?” Lady Jane Josephina Catherine Lennox asked. The castle’s library suddenly seemed cold, and sound echoed around the overly large space as Jane stared at her aunt Margaret, praying she had misheard.

  “Something had to be done, Jane. I cannot sit around and watch you worry over who will attack us and when.”

  Jane tried to will away the headache that pulsed behind her eyes at the reminder of Lord Fairfield’s arrival last week. He had come with only two men to support him, and yet he had demanded she turn over the castle and all the Lennox land to him. But that was not all he wanted. He had sidled up to her, and with a pinch to her bottom suggested she become his mistress as well.

  Jane shivered at the remembered revulsion. She had never felt so alone or as fragile as she had at that moment. She was the mistress of Bellhaven Castle. That fact had not meant anything to Lord Fairfield, neither had it to the three other men who had come to her with similar offers. They jeered at her, citing her wanton reputation, her passionate nature, and all the other lies that had been spread about her in the last six months.

  With the help of her servants, Ollie, Egan, and Angus, Jane had managed to send Lord Fairfield fleeing. But word was out that she was alone with very few men to guard her and Bellhaven. She felt again that fluttering of panic. How would she fight off the next man, or the man after that, if she had no army of her own?

  And Margaret wanted to talk about suitors?

  “I am only trying to help, Jane. To that end, I have sent for six men to apply for your hand in marriage. These men will demonstrate their skills in competition, but ultimately you will determine the winner.” Margaret straightened and her face tightened with authority. Her aunt never looked like that. Usually her pleasant face was wreathed with a calm and serene smile, bringing out the tiny lines at the corners of her eyes. “I have only done what I had to in order to protect you from losing everything.”

  “I cannot lose anything if it is not mine,” Jane said. “Father and Jacob—”

  “They are not coming back. The conflict has been over for six months, yet they have not returned to the castle and neither have their men.”

  Jane focused on the task before her, studying a clans map her father had created years before. She had been trying to determine if her family’s allies could help her now. She needed an army to defend Bellhaven Castle in her father’s absence. “Father and Jacob are merely detained—”

  “They are gone.”

  Jane’s gaze snapped back to her aunt’s. “No.”

  “Aye. And you, my dear child, will lose everything. You will lose your home and all the Lennox wealth to your cousin Bryce or some other challenger like Lord Fairfield if you do not find a groom. And fast.”

  Margaret reached for Jane’s hands and clasped them tight. “You know your father’s stipulation for you to inherit. You must be married to a man worthy of your love before Christmas Eve.”

  “I shall contest the will.”

  “There is no time.” Aunt Margaret dropped her gaze to their linked hands. “I know this is unusual, but I could think of nothing else. Christmastide is in twelve days.”

  Jane pulled her hands from Margaret’s. “You think the answer to our problem is for me to marry some stranger in less than a fortnight?”

  “Aye.”

  Jane shook her head. “I only need a few more days. I am well on my way to raising an army. That will suffice.”

  “Who are these men, Jane? Who have you found? Mercenaries who you can trust no more than Lord Fairfield?”

  Jane bristled. “They fight for money. They are Scottish. What other qualifications do they need?”

  A twinge of irritation crept into Margaret’s blue eyes. “In spite of the dreadful rumors circulating about you, you have no experience with the men of this world. Inviting strangers here could expose you to even more danger than you face at present. Or have you forgotten the odd accidents that keep occurring? Jane, I honestly think someone wants you dead.”

  A chill snaked across Jane’s neck. “I need allies.”

  “What you need is a man you can trust to help you determine who is after you and why they are doing such horrible things.”

  Odd things had occurred. And Jane could not deny she was at risk without her father and brother to protect her. She bit down on her lip as her thoughts warred between finding her own army and her aunt’s odd answer to her problem. Was marriage the solution? “And you think one of your suitors can keep Bellhaven safe?”

  Margaret folded her arms in front of her. She looked at Jane hard. “Marriage is the answer. The only answer. Besides, it is already done. The invitations have been sent.” She drew a breath and paused. “Consider this—these men will be your protectors as they vie for your hand in marriage.”

  Jane knew she was losing the battle with her aunt. She groaned. “But to marry in such a way… to a total stranger.…”

  Margaret’s face softened. “They are not all strangers, my dear.”

  Jane frowned. “Who did you send for?”

  “Well, for one, Bryce, your cousin and my nephew.”

  “Bryce?”

  “I had to ask him. That does not mean you have to choose him. Since he will inherit if you do not marry, we needed to involve him or he could contest your marriage to someone else. It was the only way to be certain you and your new husband would be safe.”

  New husband.

  Jane could not deny that she was in danger, but to turn everything over to a husband? For a moment, she considered her options. The only advantage she could see was that a husband would not be able to turn on her. She stared back at her aunt. Perhaps she could turn the situation to her advantage—use the competitions, as her aunt had called them, to assess the men’s ability to lead an army.

  All that mattered was keeping her home.

  Bellhaven was all she had left of the family she had once adored. Her mother had slipped away during the birth of her brother, Jacob. Jane had been only three years old at the time. Her father never recovered from the loss of his wife. He had distanced himself from his two children until only recently, when he had taken an interest in teaching Jacob how to use a sword to defend
his country. If it had not been for their suddenly widowed Aunt Margaret, Jane and Jacob would have found themselves quite alone during that time. And now her father and Jacob were gone, too, off to fight the Covenanters.

  Margaret smiled. “I only want what is best for you, my dear.”

  “I know that in my heart. It is my head that needs convincing.” Jane straightened and with a sigh asked, “Who are the others?”

  “Men from your past. Some of them are titled, others not. And one is a new friend I made last week who left an impression on me.”

  Jane could feel the hopefulness radiating from her aunt. Her cousin, acquaintances, and a total stranger would all vie for her hand in marriage. She forced her chin up. What other choice did she have if she wanted to protect Bellhaven and her people? “When do these men arrive?”

  “In three days’ time. I have sent Egan, Angus, and Ollie as messengers.”

  Jane drew a slow, deep breath. She had wanted an army to defend the castle in her father’s absence. By her aunt’s doing she would get her wish. An army of suitors would arrive in a matter of days.

  The first invitation was received by Colin Taylor that same morning in the study of the palatial mansion he had built with his own hands and financed by the profits gained from the use of his sword. Colin schooled his features into that of reserve despite the flare of hope that surged inside him. He read the missive a second time, then set the paper down on the overly large desk that sat between him and the unusually large servant from Bellhaven Castle. “Why was this sent to me?”

  The hulk of a man seemed entirely comfortable dressed in the traditional red-and-green livery of the Earl of Lennox despite the fact he was too large for the chair in which Colin had bid him sit. “The contents of the message are for yer eyes only. All I know is the Lady Margaret sent for ye. Do ye have a response I may carry back tae her?”

  Lady Margaret had sent for him? He had met Lady Margaret only a fortnight before when she had been traveling through Renfrewshire and her carriage had thrown a wheel. He had come to her aid that day, and they had spent the better part of an afternoon together. She knew nothing more about him than a few trivialities. Now she wanted him to “compete” for her niece’s hand in marriage?

  “Where are Lady Jane’s father and brother?” Colin asked. “Do they not object to a competition of matrimony?”

  The hulk of a man straightened and seemed to grow even larger, if it were possible. “They’re no longer with us.”

  Colin frowned. “Dead?”

  A look of regret shadowed the man’s eyes. “It appears so.”

  The opulence of Colin’s self-made home faded. No amount of money had ever purchased him what his heart truly wanted. Colin sat forward in his chair as a million questions raced through his mind. He studied the servant. “Who are the other competitors?”

  “People from Lady Jane’s past, friends, one relative. Ye are the only stranger…” The man paused, then cleared his throat. “Forgive me, ye are the only one who is unknown to our lady.”

  The only stranger. Colin was not offended by the word. He had been a stranger to most people his whole life. He was used to learning how to fit in by charming those around him. In fact, it was that skill that would help him now. If this was truly a competition of courtship, charm would be an asset. And perhaps it would help him achieve the one thing he wanted most—to settle down, which he had always denied himself while warring in lands far and near. It was time to grow roots and become a part of something. He might be the only stranger invited to this “competition,” but being the only one without history might give him an added advantage.

  Over the years, he had learned advantage was everything in battle. Colin tempered a smile as a surge of hope filled him. “Tell the lady I will arrive at Bellhaven in two days’ time.”

  The man stood, bowed, then withdrew, leaving Colin alone with his thoughts.

  Lady Jane Lennox could change everything for him—change everything for the better. He was a man with no past. At least not one he remembered. He was an orphan, the abandoned child of a nobleman. He was supposed to have traveled to England, to his guardian. He remembered the old nurse that took him to the orphans’ home saying so. He remembered the feeling of her gnarled fingers wrapped around his wrist. He was six years old when she left him there on the doorstep in Scotland instead of his intended destination. His guardian had never been contacted. He had never come looking for Colin, either. And with the old woman’s death, the knowledge of who his guardian was had died, along with Colin’s dreams of being part of a family.

  Colin shivered. There were so many things he had forgotten in the days after that time. All he remembered was the cold, the confusion, and the fear. All of it had blurred into a long, seemingly endless nightmare from which he had eventually escaped through his own cleverness and skill.

  He was a soldier for hire, a self-made man. A man with a name he had borrowed from the town tailor and a dream of making a home with a woman who truly cared about him.

  Was this that opportunity to become more than what life had offered him thus far? He clenched the invitation in his hand. It was a beginning. A beginning was all he needed.

  “What is this you say? Lady Jane alone at the castle?” Sir David Buchanan tossed his invitation aside and unfolded himself from his chair near the hearth in the great hall. In a much-practiced motion, he grasped his sword and sheath, then lashed it to his side.

  “Lady Jane is not precisely alone. Her aunt and the servants are with her,” a young Bellhaven servant David knew as Egan explained. “All the servants are doing double duty. We’ve all done our best to protect our mistress. I might be a groom, but I’m also skilled with a sword.”

  “Her father is gone?” David asked, already calculating in his mind how many men he could spare from his own defenses to take with him to Bellhaven.

  “Aye.”

  “Her brother is gone?”

  “Aye, again.”

  “And the men? The castle’s protection? They have not returned since the Battle of Bothwell Bridge?”

  “Nay, sir.”

  He had been there at the battle himself. He had seen the carnage, the loss of life. He blocked the memory. War was war. Men fell. “We achieved our goal of victory over the Covenanters. And mark my words, there will be another battle, and soon. In the meanwhile, unrest in the country is the result. If anyone else discovers Lennox is dead, along with Jacob, Lady Jane will be at risk. There are men out there who would try to take her father’s land and the lady herself by force.”

  The servant nodded. “They have already tried four times. And with me and two others gone to deliver these invitations, Lady Jane is more vulnerable than ever.”

  David frowned. “How many men are left at the castle?”

  “Three.”

  “Three men cannot defend a castle,” David said.

  The servant straightened and a look of challenge entered his eyes. “For our lady, those who remain can try.”

  Despite the desperate situation, David could not help but smile. Jane did that to people. She endeared them to her with her gentle heart. Most of the men who had come to know her would do anything and everything to help her, protect her from harm. Especially himself.

  “I will leave for Bellhaven immediately.” David turned and strode toward the door, determined to gather a small retinue of men and leave within the hour. Jane needed him.

  “Wait,” Egan called, hurrying to keep up with David’s long strides. “Have you forgotten about the gift?”

  David stopped and turned back to the young servant. “A gift?”

  “As the invitation explained, if you accept the challenge for Lady Jane’s hand in marriage, you must bring a gift that expresses your devotion to her.”

  David tried to still his thoughts from those of men, weapons, and war. “I bring her troops and protection.”

  The young servant-turned-warrior frowned. “She is a woman. If you want to win the lady’s hand,
I would suggest something more feminine.”

  More feminine? David looked about his great hall, at the many hunting trophies—a boar’s head, five deer, three bear, seven red fox. And those were just the ones he had had prepared and hung. Would she like one of them? His frown deepened. Probably not. Most of the ladies he had met were not fond of staring at the heads of woodland creatures. “I must bring her a gift?”

  “Aye,” Egan repeated with a slight smile. “By the look on your face I can see you are baffled by the thought. I will give you a hint. The simpler the better with Lady Jane.” On those words the servant brushed past him and headed for the door. “I have another invitation to deliver if I am to return to the castle and my own role as a defender. Good luck to you, master. And I thank you for your haste in departing for Bellhaven Castle. Arriving before the others will serve you well.”

  Would his arrival be enough of a gift to her? Was that simple enough? Is that what the young man meant? David continued toward the door at a much slower pace than before as his thoughts spiraled from war to gifts, then the woman herself.

  When the servant had arrived with the invitation and news, his first impulse had been to protect Jane. She needed him. Yet now that he had set those thoughts aside, he realized it was he who needed what the invitation offered—a wife, a partner, a mother to his children.

  He put his hand against his right side, covering the healed wound he had incurred in the same battle in which Jane’s father and brother had vanished. He had escaped with only a reminder that life was precious and tenuous. That wound had made him confront what was lacking in his life, what he tried to avoid with hunting and warring.

  It was time for a wife, regardless if he loved the woman or not. He needed an heir. Love could come in time. He had lived alone for nearly ten years now. That was long enough. It was time for a change. A change that Jane now offered.

  He pursed his lips as he headed for the door and the stable beyond. It was a change that all started with a gift.

  He had to think of something.

  The door to Jules MacIntyre’s gaol cell opened. He was alone in his cell, as he had been for the majority of the past year, chained to the cold stone wall at his back. Heavy manacles circled his wrists. The false charge of murder hung over him, threatening him with his own death.