“But we’ve no horses,” again, the same man complained in a whine that grated across Reid’s spine.
“Then walk,” Lyall snapped. “’Twill give ye time to find your morals.”
Wild Tigress eased slightly with their departure, but Scotland’s frigid climate sent her relaxed limbs into shivers. Or mayhap ’twas Lyall’s approach that made her tremble. S’truth, the man’s size and scowl could scare the skin off a snake.
Lyall removed his fur and held it out in offering. He bent at the waist and cautiously studied her. “Did they hurt ye, lass?”
She shook her head in answer, but her grip around Reid’s waist became suffocating.
Reid cooed her with soft words in her native tongue and smoothed her black hair. “Fear not. Lyall is much like me.”
When Reid set her back to wrap her in the fur, she peeked over her shoulder at the man who’d once been Da’s loyal seneschal. “He is good?”
“He used to be.”
Lyall stood upright, tore his gaze away from Wild Tigress, and stroked his dark beard. “M’laird said ye and Robbie dinnae return.”
“I suspect ’tis obvious that my cousin lied.”
“Then where is Robbie?”
“She is being held captive on a warship in the Firth, along with a dozen of my native kinsmen,” Reid stated evenly, although the constant fear knotting his stomach had yet to subside.
“Ye left her there!”
“The colonel of His Majesty’s navy gave me little choice.” Reid didn’t need Lyall’s accusatory tone. What he needed was his help. “Eoin and at least eight of my crew carried a hundred bricks of gold ashore. I need them back to save her.”
“Your men are dead,” Lyall announced.
“God’s legions.” Reid blew a heavy breath, hating himself. The many failures he’d endured the past several days began to weaken him.
“You are not at fault.” Wild Tigress touched his forearm. “Eoin poisoned them with his promises, the same as he did me.”
“Mount up and tell me exactly what the bluidy hell has happened.” Lyall hooked his boot tip into the stirrup and swung a leg over the back of his steed while Reid set a skittish Wild Tigress atop a chestnut-colored roan.
“I’ll guide ye,” he assured her, knowing the woman had never seen a horse, much less ridden one. He mounted the third steed then followed Lyall into the wood behind the cattle yard. They reached the mouth of the cavern before Reid finished explaining the events of their journey.
“Ye took Robbie to wife then?” Lyall asked Reid, but stared at Wild Tigress.
Reid nodded and circled the wool covering the ring inside his pocket. The task had not been so simple. He’d professed words that made her his wife and claimed her as his woman, but still…he didn’t possess her heart. “I love her.”
“Ye always did.” Lyall’s mouth curved into a sad smile behind his beard. However, like Robbie, he didn’t dwell on sentiments. He dismounted and then lifted Wild Tigress off her horse before Reid’s feet hit the ground. “M’laird plans to invade the stronghold this eve. He’s promised every man wielding a weapon monies and a place in the clan for their allegiance. Now that we have the edict from King James, we—”
“The proscription has not been lifted. Eoin stole my ship and the gold before I could gain an audience with the king.”
“But m’laird said—”
“Every word Eoin speaks is a lie.”
Lyall’s movements stuck, his arms went slack. “Then we are not free?”
“Nay.”
“Damn his black blood! That lying wretch would kill us all for Kilchurn Castle,” Lyall hissed, his hands fisted. “This war is for naught. Even if we won a battle against the Colquhouns, we would still be hunted like dogs.”
Wild Tigress side-stepped around him and tucked herself behind Reid’s back, but Lyall’s anger was exactly what Reid needed. With Lyall on his side, they had a chance at success. “I need the gold to save Robbie, and I suspect the men gathered at Finglas Gorge would return to the Highlands if they discovered there was to be no compensation for their servitude.”
“And what becomes of us?”
“We offer Colonel Whitley ten bricks for Robbie’s release, as well as the release of my Mopán brothers and my ship. We use the rest to barter with the Laird of Luss for Rannoch or Auchingaich.”
Lyall led the way into the cavern chuckling. “And the bastairds would kill us in our sleep as would be their right according to the bluidy king.”
Reid pulled in a breath tinged with smoke. “Then we lead the clan north, to the Highlands, and start anew.”
“’Tis January. The weak will never survive.”
“They would if we took them by ship.”
Lyall mulled over that option as he struck a flint and brought a smoldering torch back to flame. A yellow glow illuminated the interior of the cavern and filled Reid’s mind with ancient memories.
Bring me the gold, MacGregor, and I’ll give ye your kiss. A green-eyed lass bartered with him in his mind’s eye, but the mental image was quickly replaced with a picture of Fergus sprawled out on the cavern floor soaking in his own blood.
Age-old fury slithered through Reid’s insides. Eoin needed to pay for all his lies.
“M’laird will never agree to such a folly.” Lyall’s words brought Reid out of his vengeful thoughts, but it was those same memories that reminded him of who he was.
“Eoin is nay longer your laird. I am reclaiming the chieftainship of Clan MacGregor as is my birthright.”
The smile lifting Lyall’s lips came instantly. “I supported your da and would be honored if ye chose me to act as your seneschal.”
Reid reveled in Lyall’s loyalty for the briefest of moments before giving the man his first order. “As my trusted advisor of accounts, I ask ye to answer one simple question.” Reid raised his chin, commanding respect. “Where is the gold?”
Lyall pivoted and pointed at three lengths of rope disappearing into the loch water. “’Tis all there, save for the brick Eoin took with him to the gorge.”
Angst fled Reid’s body in the form of a heavy exhale. “My thanks to ye.” He bent to one knee, eager to collect the means that would put Robbie back in his arms.
A splashing of water echoed throughout the hollows and halted his actions.
Lyall drew his sword as the tip of a longboat broke through the blackest area of the cavern.
“Reid.” Robbie clutched both sides of the small vessel as Jax rowed toward them.
“God’s legions!”
Robbie’s smile weakened his knees, yet somehow he managed to steady the longboat and assist her onto the rock floor. “What the devil—”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and silenced his question with a kiss. Their teeth scraped, their tongues twirled. Never had he known such heat. His face burned with emotion, his chest was afire. Her heart pounded against his, fluttering in sync—like the rapid beating of a butterfly’s wings.
She pulled away, still beaming that proud grin. “Think ye we were just going to wait to be rescued?”
“How did—”
“We reclaimed the Obsidian then rowed up Loch Long. With any luck at all, Colonel Whitley will think we took a different inlet or fled back to sea.”
“Ye are insufferable.” Reid pulled her back to his mouth, this time he dominated the kiss. Her strength filled him with the vitality he needed to achieve the task ahead of them.
“Welcome home, lass.” Lyall’s words separated their lips and ended their brief reunion.
“’Tis good to have the earth beneath my feet, even if ’tis covered in bluidy snow.” Robbie remained tentative, but Reid wasn’t about to deny her the spoils of her homecoming.
A small push was all she needed to embrace Lyall. “’Tis good to find ye well, my friend.”
“Ye have been missed.”
Robbie eased back into Reid’s side and took his hand. “How does Grandda fair? And Nanna and Alana and—”
“Those who cannae fight are at Brack Roody, preparing weaponry for the battle.” Lyall stopped her before she could inquire about every member of the clan individually.
“We are not going to war,” she bit out and narrowed her eyes on Reid as if he’d been the one to call an army down from the Highlands. She grabbed fistfuls of her skirt and ran out of the cavern.
Reid rubbed his temples and sighed.
“Ye should go with her,” Lyall suggested. “I’ll keep Eoin occupied at the gorge as long as I can while ye get the clan safely aboard your ship.”
“Let the MacGregors of Glenstrae know they have a choice; they can follow Eoin or they can follow me.”
“And what of us?” Wild Tigress posed the question beside Jax.
With Jean-Pierre and the majority of his crew dead, Reid had no choice but to see his Mopán kinsmen back to the Yucatán himself. With the wind at his back, ’twas still possible to get Jax home before spring. “I will see ye safely home. I give ye my word as your brother.”
But first, he had to secure the clan in the Highlands.
* * *
The backs of Robbie’s thighs burned as she ran up the hillock in ankle-deep snow. Icy mist carried the smell of smoke to her nose and scraped her throat raw with every draw of air. Exhaustion weakened her emotionally, but damned if she would succumb to fits before her loved ones were safe from Eoin and his treacherous war.
She forged down the knoll and into a white valley lined by a forest of barren trees. Water struggled to flow through a near-frozen brook. ’Twas bone-chilling cold, desolate, and lifeless.
Why would anyone give their life to own a sliver of this fruitless land?
She now understood the mental struggles Calum MacGregor must have endured. He’d known the beauty of a land far more bountiful than Glenstrae and the MacGregors had called him a coward when he’d tried to take them there.
A horse nickered behind her, dragging her out of contemplation.
“Your anger cannae help the clan. Ye should prepare words for them.” Reid didn’t look at her, nor did he debate the subject further before he dropped the reins of a second steed and then spurred his own horse ahead.
His aloof demeanor made her cringe. She wanted to drag him off his horse and rip his damnable self-control out of his chest. “Do ye ever do anything without forethought?”
“It seems every decision I’ve made as of late has been impulsive and based on emotions.” His bleak tone reflected his obvious disapproval.
She mounted the mare and nudged the beast’s sides to catch up to him. “Then ye regret your decisions?” This conversation was as much about their relationship as it was about the clan.
“I cannae determine whether or not I have regrets, as I’m still waiting to reap the rewards of my decisions.” His gaze remained fixed on the terrain.
Frustrated, she spurred her horse in front of his. “I have no regrets.” She finally caught his attention. “Nor will I have them in the future.”
“Then you have made decisions of your own?”
She’d spent four days aboard the Dreadnought, pondering their options and playing over the outcomes. For once, she knew what she wanted. “I’m going to lead the clan away from here.”
“’Tis exactly what Lyall and I decided as well. Now quit fighting me. I am not your enemy.” He smacked the hind quarters of his mount with the reins and started out across the valley. “Heed me and prepare your words. The clan believes the proscription has been lifted, and ’twill take more than a demand to get them aboard the Obsidian.”
Though her insides gave way to relief, she knew the task ahead of her would not be an easy one. If the clan could see Reid the way she did, they wouldn’t hesitate to follow him to the ends of the earth.
They rode hard up a twisted mountain pass toward Brack Roody where the air thinned and the smoke blended with the mist to create a wall of fog. Five crofters’ huts built side by side created a backdrop to the activity taking place in the yard. She thought she would be overjoyed to be reunited with her people, but what she saw sickened her. Cait and Anice tied bundles of arrows with twine and stacked them in a sled harnessed to an old ox. Beside a fire pit, Shane and a half dozen boys peeled the bark off tree limbs while another six used the strips to form rounds of debris. Brody painted the balls with tar so they would catch flame easily once placed into the catapult. Hundreds of the black shots filled a second sled.
Bent over another fire, Nanna stirred boiling black tar in a copper vat, and Robbie could only assume the bundle tucked into a sling on her back was baby Alana. Behind a group of women building ladders out of tree limbs and twine, she spotted Grandda auld Angus sitting atop a fallen log sharpening spearheads.
She wanted to scream at them, to tell them to stop, but before she could gather words, Reid was at her side assisting her off her mount.
“Control your emotions.” He wiped tears from her cheeks she didn’t even know were there. “They believe freedom is a battle away. ’Twill be up to ye to prove Eoin a liar.”
“How am I to convince them that the man they’ve been loyal to for more than a decade would step over their corpses to walk through the gates of his bluidy castle?”
Reid cupped her jaw and brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. His touch caused a yearning inside her that demanded fulfillment. “Draw the words from your heart, Robbie. They will recognize your love for them, and in the end, ye will be their salvation.”
His faith in her gave her hope. She dried her cheeks on the edge of her arisaid, swallowed a knot of trepidation, and then started out through the fog across the frozen peat.
“Merciful Moses,” Nanna whispered and stopped stirring.
Robbie’s presence caused a hush throughout the yard. But no one squealed her name or rushed into her skirts. ’Twas as if she’d returned from the dead.
“Mary-Robena?” Grandda squinted and used his crooked walking stick to push to his feet.
Tremors wracked her limbs as she jogged the final steps to get to the man who’d raised her and taught her everything he knew. She wrapped her arms around his thin frame and thought he’d lost all of the weight she’d gained. His tattered plaide smelled of stale smoke and a hint of fish. ’Twas atrocious, but comforting at the same time. “I have missed ye, Grandda.”
“Ye foolish slip of a girl. Why did ye return?” He scolded her in a gruff tone even as he kissed the crown of her head.
“We returned to save the clan,” Reid answered from behind.
Thick tears spilled over Grandda’s sagging eyes as he set her back and pointed his walking stick at Reid. “Ye should have kept her away.”
“The lass is a wee bit obstinate when it comes to the clan.” Reid snapped a wink at her, but his attention quickly diverted toward the large group gathering around them.
“Ye are going to save us?” Cait looked up at him through a tangle of blonde curls, and the hope shimmering in her pale blue eyes all but stopped Robbie’s heart.
“I am going to try.”
“Grandda, dinnae give me trouble when I ask ye to trust me.” Robbie positioned herself at Reid’s side, showing the clan who she supported. “Your laird has lied to ye. To all of ye. King James’s edict against the MacGregor name stands.”
Whispers of denial erupted, but she gathered her guts and pressed on. “The war ye prepare for holds no promise. Your laird’s arrogance guides our men into battle, but I can assure ye, there will be no victory.”
Shane stepped in front of Nanna. “We’ve an army assembled at Finglas Gorge.”
“An army that will disband and return to the Highlands when Lyall informs them that the proscription is still in affect,” Reid tossed out which caused upheaval among those who understood what Lyall’s actions would cost him.
Grandda cursed beneath his breath and leaned heavily against his walking stick. “Lyall will be banished from the clan and the protection of our laird.”
“As will I.” Eoin’s prot
ection no longer imprisoned Robbie. She laced her fingers through Reid’s and inhaled his strength. “I renounce Eoin MacGregor as my laird and pledge fealty to my husband and the rightful chieftain of the MacGregors of Glenstrae.” She looked into the beautiful face of the man she trusted with her life and with her heart.
Tears glittered in his silver eyes, but he blinked them away and addressed his clan, “I will protect all of ye—the young and old, the weak and lame. Give me your loyalty and your trust, and I will lead ye to a place that knows no war.”
“And what of our men?” A woman asked from the outer circle.
“The MacGregors of Glenstrae have been given the option to follow me or to remain loyal to my cousin and his cause. ’Tis my hope that they will follow Lyall to my ship which awaits us at the tip of Loch Long.”
Silence ensued.
Robbie understood their fear, but she only needed one of them to start the chain. “Are ye with us?” She directed her question at Grandda, but Nanna was the first to speak out.
“I am with ye. I’ll not make the same mistake twice in this lifetime.”
“We are with ye.” Cait and Anice looked at auld Angus. “We are with them, right, Grandpapa?”
Robbie’s bladder nigh emptied while she waited impatiently for the elder’s response.
“Where will we go?” Auld Angus asked through his wrinkled scowl.
“To the Highlands, to start anew,” Reid answered.
“Aye, then. We are with ye,” auld Angus agreed without pause as did Grandda, and the chain began…
“To the Highlands!” someone cheered.
“To the Highlands,” the clan acclaimed their approval ten voices at a time, after which, Reid began directing the members with tasks.
“I want ye laddies to empty the sleds and layer the beds with fur. Assist the elders into the back and then fill every nook with the youngest bairns. Shane, are there more horses?”
“There are four mares harnessed to the catapult ’round back.”
“Robbie, help the women gather their personal effects if they have any. And smile. Ye have everything ye wanted.” Reid pressed his lips against her temple, then started out behind the crofters’ huts with a lift in his step.
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