The Munro Clan Highlander Collection (The Munro Clan Highlander Romances)

by Marilyn Stonecross

  “I am not hungry.”

  “I’m not, either, but the kitchens will be open, and I need to do something with ye while yer rooms are prepared.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, she acquiesced, accompanying him down a dizzying array of corridors and stairwells. The Munro keep seemed far too large for one family; she could have fit several carnivals within its walls with greatest ease.

  “Why is it so big?”

  “We were once very large,” Logan said. “There were hundreds of us, first-ranked and minor cousins all, living here. Now we’ve stretched out, taken up homesteads…when the Gunns do not stop us.”

  There it was again: the Gunns. Katrina sensed that much of the Munro existence was wrapped up in that of the Gunns, either fearing them or perhaps longing to destroy them. How could two families hate each other so very much? What could trigger such anger, such hostility?

  She suspected asking Logan would not end well, so she tucked that question away, along with others that troubled her.

  “What will your brother do?” she asked.

  They ventured through a heavy door and into a vast room filled with the scent of bread and meat. Katrina’s mouth began to water despite her stomach’s misgivings, and her stomach echoed the sentiment a moment later, issuing a loud growl.

  Logan heard it and laughed. “I thought this might convince ye,” he said. “Come, we’ll eat down here and keep to ourselves. Ramsey will have his hands full with Sabrina.”

  They had a simple, but filling meal of venison and cracked bread, accompanied by a sort of stew that Katrina found gummy but palatable.

  It was finer fare than she’d have eaten in her grandmother’s tent, that was for certain. Grandmother tended to accept the scrapings left behind after the rest of the camp ate. Something about keeping herself lean to better see into the future.

  After they’d satiated their immediate hunger, she took a breath and looked more closely at Logan, who had been sneaking glances at her throughout the meal. He was a curious sort; she had the impression he could be quite brash, but he seemed quiet, almost attentive right now.

  It intrigued her…but something about these Munroes frightened her, as well.

  “So you are the youngest,” she said. “I know Ramsey…and Alec is the middle?”

  “Aye.” He seemed relieved to find a subject to discuss. “I’m the last one, though my dearest sister-in-law has been trying to marry me off since she arrived.”

  He smiled ruefully at his description. Katrina got the impression this was something of a longstanding argument betwixt the two.

  “And you?” he asked. “What of you? Siblings, family?”

  “Just my grandmother.” Her parents had died when a fever came through the campgrounds, and no siblings had ever come forth from their union. “The carnival is my family, strange though that may seem.”

  “I don’t think it’s strange. Ye spend time with someone, and they become family.” He shrugged, looking at her. “Ye’ve traveled all your life, then?”

  “Yes. All over Scotland and England. Most are pleased to see it. But we never stay in a place for more than a season, and…” She stopped, staring at him. “Why are we discussing this? My family is held captive by your enemies, and we’re making small talk?”

  Logan seemed taken aback by her directness. “Ye are not one to mince words, are ye?”

  “Perhaps if it were your brothers held captive by the Gunns?”

  He shuddered. “Aye, then, finish yer supper. I’ll find Ramsey after.”

  They had scarcely left the kitchens when another round of noise made its way through the keep. Logan glanced upward, seemingly steeling himself. “That will be Alec and his men. Come along, ye might as well meet them.”

  Katrina was already under the impression that this was a decidedly unconventional family. She did not have a great deal of experience with powerful families, but she knew the wealthy and strong lords and ladies of both lands tended to stand on ceremony.

  The middle Munro brother looked much like his siblings, with dark hair and a powerful build. His wife and her two small children hung back a bit, until Sabrina charged at them, drawing them into rather messy embraces.

  Katrina hung back. I don’t belong here. This is not my family, these are Logan’s people, I should be with my people…

  Her people, though, were locked away in some dark cellar.

  She sighed, rubbing her arms.

  “Cara, this is Katrina.” Sabrina had noticed her discomfort and drew her into their small circle. “She was with the carnival, and only escaped by taking a walk.”

  Cara reached for her hand. “You poor thing! You’ve come to the right family, though. The Munroes are fine folk, good and loyal. You’ll be looked after.”

  Katrina just nodded, unable to muster any additional response.

  “Come with us,” Sabrina said. “The men will make their plans. Come with us!”

  ***

  Three hours later, the Munro brothers were still in Ramsey’s study, embroiled deeply in discussion of a potential attack.

  Logan had managed to press Katrina into staying with Sabrina and Cara for the time being, though he strongly suspected she might burst into the room at any time. She did not seem the type to let anything go easily, and she’d looked deeply uncomfortable when pushed away with the other women.

  “Blasted Gunns,” Alec said for the fourth time that night. “But we still cannot attack their keep head-on. They’re too strong.”

  “They don’t have the carnival folk in their keep, they haven’t the room. They must be keeping them somewhere else.” Ramsey pushed away from his desk, rubbing a hand across his face. “We’ve swelled our ranks considerably these last few years, but I fear they have also grown powerful.”

  “We should have struck them years ago!” Alec said.

  “But we did not, and now we and innocents suffer the consequences.” Ramsey looked between Alec and Logan, his expression thoughtful. “We will strike at them. Alec has brought his men, and I’ve sent for assistance from de Montfort in England, though who knows when that shall come.”

  Logan nodded gravely. The Earl de Montfort owed Ramsey a great debt, and if he were an honorable man at all, he’d send all the warriors he had.

  The question was whether de Montfort could spare enough men, and if they’d even make a difference.

  “I’ll lead the attack, though I know it grieves Sabrina terribly,” Ramsey went on. “She spent the better part of the afternoon trying to convince me otherwise.”

  Logan could imagine how that conversation had gone. Ramsey and Sabrina typically presented the perfect picture of marital bliss, but they were both hard-headed, and when they both wanted different things…well, it was best to vacate the premises when that occurred.

  “Logan,” Ramsey said, “I’ll leave ye in charge of things here.”

  That was something of a surprise. Logan straightened up, a frown crossing his face. “I’m not to ride out with ye?” he asked.

  “Nay. We must have a Munro here to protect the keep and its folk, and Alec will ride out with me. Logan, you know the lands, and you’re yet untested in true battle.”

  Logan felt his temper flare at the suggestion, but clamped down on his temper. Untested? He’d fought the Gunns all his life! What did Ramsey think he was saying?”

  “He doona mean it that way, Logan, and ye bloody well know it,” Alec said. “We need someone strong left behind, and he’s right enough, ye’ve not seen open battle on the field.”

  “And it may come to open battle,” Ramsey said. “I dearly hope it does not, but we must strike against the Gunns once and for all.”

  At least they were all in agreement there.

  “We’re riding out at dawn,” Ramsey said. “Logan, the women will be in your hands. I trust ye to handle them gently? Especially Sabrina.”

  “And Cara,” Alec said.

  Logan made a face. “What, now I must look after all the lasses?
”

  “When you have one, you’ll understand,” Alec said. “Speaking of, has Sabrina…”

  Logan sighed. “She gave that up years ago, and ye bloody well know it. Very well. I’ll stay here, guard the keep, and ye two will ride off into blood and glory. What do I do with the girl?”

  It felt odd to call her girl; Katrina seemed very much a woman.

  Ramsey rubbed his eyes, leaving a smear of ink on his brow. “She’ll stay here. We can hardly let her go off alone. Better yet, keep everyone close. Gunns may yet be lurking in the hills.”

  Logan turned his gaze to the blackness beyond the windows, where the rolling green hills usually presented a welcome sight. Did those hills now conceal dangers? What would become of his nieces and nephews, who were so fond of playing outside when the weather grew warm?

  Am I supposed to lock them all away in the keep?

  “How long?” he asked Ramsey. “What manner of siege…and what if…”

  “I’ve made provisions,” Ramsey said, gesturing to the parchments. “Doona trouble yerself just now, Logan; read them only if…only if the worst should happen. For now, leave them.”

  Logan nodded, but could not take his eyes off the papers. “Of course.”

  “If there’s nothing else, then?” Ramsey looked between the two of them, then nodded. “Then I shall see ye both on the morrow. I shall spend some time with my family.”

  Ramsey strode out, leaving Alec and Logan to look at each other.

  Logan had always felt somewhat closer to Alec than Ramsey; his oldest brother had always been the family man, concerned with keeping them and the Munro line alive. Ramsey loved them dearly, but he had ever been a remote figure, more patriarchal than brotherly. Alec had been his rough-and-tumble companion for as long as Logan could remember, and their bond felt strong even now, after years and wives and children.

  “We knew this day would come,” Alec said quietly.

  “Aye,” Logan murmured. “I welcome it, in a way, though now that it’s here, I…damn, I should be out there with ye and ye know it.”

  “No. Yer place is here, defending the family. Our family. Yers is the most important role of all.” Alec crossed the room to place his hands on Logan’s shoulders. “Ye’ve grown up to be a fine man, Logan. Ye’ll do what’s right.”

  They embraced.

  Alec quickly detached himself to sneak off to his family’s wing. Logan suspected there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the keep tonight, despite the sturdy facades his brothers tended to project.

  He slipped down into the great hall, where only one of the four great fires burned. All was dim and quiet, and he could not say how, exactly, the hall felt different, only that it did.

  It is different because we are going to war. Because this might be the last night I share the keep with my brothers. Because we have waited too long for this day already.

  “It took me three hours to get away from Sabrina and Cara,” a soft voice said. Logan slowly turned and saw Katrina sitting before the burning fire, warming her hands in its soft glow.

  He approached her slowly, his hands at his sides. “I told ye they would look after ye.”

  “And they did. I’ve been stuffed full of food, offered new clothing and rooms, anything they thought might please me. I think they were trying to distract themselves.” Her hair draped over her right shoulder in a luxuriant waterfall, and she began plaiting several strands together. “Laird Ramsey will take his men into battle, won’t he?”

  “Aye,” Logan said, peering down at her. “’Twas a long time in coming.”

  She patted the ground beside her, and after a moment’s hesitation, Logan sat.

  “You fear for them,” she said.

  “A bit.”

  There was something decidedly wretched about admitting that fear. His brothers were strong men who did not need him worrying over them; they had wives and children for that. He of all people knew what Ramsey and Alec were capable of. With a bit of luck, they’d silence the Gunns once and for all.

  But still he worried.

  “You have a fine family,” she said. “I know not what to do with them, but they seem to extend their hospitality freely. You are very lucky.”

  Yes, he knew this well. He didn’t need some lass from the carnival to tell him.

  He curbed his tongue, though. His mouth got him into a great deal of trouble in the past, leading to stories of foul temper and more than a few black eyes from fights. Logan had never considered himself ill-mannered, though, just unable to think before he spoke.

  He did not want Katrina to see that part of him, though he could not say why.

  “Ye have rooms?” he asked. “They are satisfactory?”

  “Yes, they gave me a room. I’ve been well looked after.”

  The silence between them grew taut. Logan probably could have cut the tension with a broadsword.

  He took a deep breath. “I am sorry for what happened to yer folk…we should have stopped there before. Ye were right.”

  Katrina let out a shuddering chuckle. “It is kind of you to say, but the Gunns would have swept through anyway…and we would have been taken with them, would we not?”

  Logan snorted. “I’d have put up a devil of a fight.”

  “Then you’d be dead, and I’d be with them. No, you were right in what you did, Logan. Now Laird Munro knows what’s happened, and he can go try to set things right. It is for the best we did not go to them first.”

  He hadn’t quite thought of it that way, but he felt the pressure in his shoulders ease somewhat. “I am still sorry for it.”

  Katrina folded her hands in her lap. “We were warned not to come to Munro lands. We did not listen.”

  “Ye will stay here until things are set right,” Logan said, eager to change the subject. “There’s plenty o’space, and the women will see to it yer welcomed.”

  “The women will be the death of me,” Katrina muttered.

  Logan snickered and nodded. “Aye, they’ll pamper ye. Let them, if it takes their minds off their men. Ye can always see to the horses with me, if they get to be too much for ye.”

  “You will be staying?”

  “Aye.”

  The bitterness in his voice surprised even him. Katrina placed her fingers against his arm. “Someone needs to protect the keep.”

  “Me brothers said the same as you.” He glanced at her, his brow furrowing in suspicion. “Have ye been speaking with them? Was it ye who gave them the idea?”

  “I fear I’ve no head for tactics, but it makes sense. You would not leave a keep of women and children defenseless.”

  Yes, Ramsey and Alec had said that, too. Perhaps Logan was the only one who saw the dishonor in staying behind while other men—better men?—fought in his stead.

  But that was hardly conversation he could engage Katrina in.

  “I’m glad you’re staying,” she said. “I feel safer with you near, Logan.”

  Something about her words warmed some long-absent part of his heart. He lowered his head to better see her.

  Katrina had her head bowed over her lap, her hands still held out in front of the fire, save the fingers that still rested on his arm. He placed his own hand over those delicate fingers, a smile tugging at his lips. “No harm will come to ye while I breathe, lass. I promise ye that.”

  They sat like that for a long time, simply sharing each other’s company. Logan could not remember the last time he had simply taken in the pleasure of another’s presence, nor could he recall enjoying his time with a woman so very much.

  It felt good to promise protection to someone.

  He just hoped it was a promise he could keep.

  ***

  The morning dawned dark and dreary, as women bade farewell to men and children cried for their departing fathers.

  Katrina watched the departures from her window. Ramsey had gathered a great many men, powerful warriors who would fight beneath the Munro colors. She did not know where they were headed, or w
hat dangers they would face; they went to free the only family she knew, and spare their own family further heartache from the Gunns.

  But would that happen?

  Ramsey, already mounted on his great black stallion, saw her looking and lifted a hand in her direction. Katrina hesitantly waved back.

  He seemed a good man, and the Munroes overall a fine family. Lairds and ladies aside, they were the kind of family she would have chosen for herself, had she been able to.