Highlander’s Trusted Traitor (Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance)

by Alisa Adams

  How was she supposed to move forward now? Did she dare confront Edward with this and incur his wrath? Did she confide in Lydia? Her chambermaid wasn’t likely to tell her the truth if she was guilty…it was quite the predicament. Rose endured a restless night.

  The following morning, Rose awoke to find Lydia tidying up her chambers. Rose felt a stabbing pain of insecurity within her, wondering if she should come right out and ask her directly if Keith’s claims were accurate, but she had no idea how to frame such a question.

  “Lydia, may I ask you something personal?” Rose said.

  “Of course my lady.”

  “I know we have skirted around the matter before, but as the marriage looms nearer I am growing quite anxious about the duties of a wife. There is so much clouded in mystery and I was just wondering if you have ever experienced the joys of romance, perhaps with another man in this estate? You are more free than I am to explore this area of life.”

  “I may be more free, but that does not mean I am careless with my virtue. I suppose I have enjoyed a thrill now and then, but I have never done what a wife must do. I would say that you have nothing to worry about though, my lady. These things between a man and a woman have a way of coming out naturally. I’m sure that when you and Edward are together it will feel as natural as breathing.”

  “I suppose. So you are not currently courting anyone?”

  Lydia looked at her in a strange way, and Rose was afraid that she had been too direct.

  “No, my lady. I would not want to begin anything when I shall be leaving soon to join you in your household.”

  Rose nodded slightly and thought about the prospect of having a woman she couldn’t trust waiting on her every day. Paranoia began to creep around her mind and she cursed Keith for what he had done. This seed of an idea was growing larger with every passing moment and she was unable to free herself from it. The image of Edward and Lydia’s bodies writhing and pressed together was too much for her to bear and she wanted to claw out the thoughts from her brain.

  After this, she decided to go to the only people she could trust: her parents. But when she went to their chambers her mother summarily dismissed her before she could say anything. Apparently her father was in quite a state and he didn’t want to be disturbed. Rose was even more dispirited because it felt as though everywhere she turned there was something standing in her way.

  She needed to speak with Edward. That's what she needed to do. Being in his presence again would calm her, and she would be reminded of his love and desire for her.

  Lydia locked the door.

  "That bloody Highlander! I was sure he was going to be trouble the moment Sarina brought him here!"

  "My love," Edward said calmly and moved his hands to hug her. She pushed him away.

  "I told you we had to be more careful. How many people do you think I can poison? It will raise suspicions if Keith dies the same way that maid died. We need to find another way."

  "My love are you sure it is necessa—"

  "Are you quite mad?" she screamed and realized immediately she could not raise her voice like that in fear of someone hearing them.

  "Are you insane, Edward?" she whispered. "What if he decides to tell Rose or Sarina about it? What will you do then Edward?"

  "I suppose I will claim that he is lying." Edward sighed.

  "Yes, but the suspicion will remain. Rose will be watching every move of ours. And most importantly, I will not be able to poison her. She will not trust me."

  "Lydia, I am not sure about that either my lo—"

  "My plan..." She tried to control her anger and lowered her voice. "Our plan is for you to marry that woman, take her dowry, and then when I murder her to marry me and with the money to live our lives the way we want to. You will be a great man and you will need nothing from your father. Has that plan changed my love?"

  "No, my dear," said Edward and reached out for her hand. "It's just...after meeting her..." He paused. "She did nothing wrong, she does not deserve to die. Maybe I could divorce her and then marry you."

  Lydia froze to death when she heard that.

  Does he have second thoughts?

  They had worked for months to help his father arrange the wedding, but unfortunately Rose was a young, beautiful, and desirable woman. Could that mean that Edward wanted to keep her? Maybe he wanted to bed her too after they married. Then he could easily fall in love with her.

  Lydia put her hand on his chest and slowly pushed him towards the bed, seductively looking in his eyes. When the back of his legs touched the bed she made him sit on it. Then she raised her dress, opened her legs, sat on his lap facing him, and started kissing his neck. He seemed to enjoy her little game very much. Soon he started kissing her neck and he fondled her passionately.

  "Edward...my love. There is something else too," she whispered. "I am pregnant."

  Edward stopped kissing her. "Are you sure?"

  "Of course I am sure my love," she said while she pushed his head back to her neck. "It's been six weeks now. It has begun to show even. Look." And she took his hand and put it on her belly that she intently extended forward. Edward’s eyes lit up.

  He bought into her lie easily.

  "It feels like a son, my love," she said.

  "I love you, Lydia," Edward said and kissed her passionately.

  "Do you see now why that Highlander must die?"

  "I will invite him to a hunt, and I will kill him with my own hands. Then I will marry Rose immediately, or I will kill my father if he tries to delay the marriage one more day. "

  Lydia smiled, took her dress off, and lied back. "Make me yours Edward."

  Rose skipped through the estate to find Edward. She looked everywhere but could not find him. It was as if he had disappeared; she asked other people but no one had seen him.

  A couple of hours later she found him.

  “Ah, my beloved Rose!” he exclaimed loudly when he became aware of her presence. He embraced her and she felt warmth spread through her as he kissed her cheek and took her hand. “You are as lovely as the morning sun,” he said. She blushed. He dismissed his retinue with a wave of the hand and the two of them were left alone, aside from a few servants who milled about. She wondered where Keith was at that moment.

  “How are you today Edward?”

  “Oh, I’m just fine, although I’m afraid to say that our parents still haven’t reached an agreement.”

  Rose was dismayed to hear this. “What is taking them so long? Edward, can’t you do something?” she asked, trying to study him.

  “I know Rose, I have had to deal with my father’s behavior all my life. There is nothing I would rather do than marry you right this instant, but he would not allow it. Everything needs to be in order.”

  “Why don’t we?” Rose asked, clutching his hand, suddenly filled with an impetuous flair.

  “Why don’t we…what?”

  “Get married! We could run away together and be married ourselves. Oh Edward, it would be so romantic. We wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else interfering or anyone making any deals. We could simply do as we wished and nobody could do anything to stop us!”

  Edward tilted his head and looked unsure. “I appreciate your enthusiasm Rose, but I fear that it would lead us to be disowned by our families and we would not be able to enjoy the privileges afforded us by our status. We would lose your dowry, and my income.”

  At the mention of the dowry, Rose thought back to something else Keith had said, about how it sounded like a payment. She did not like the answer Edward gave her very much but he really did seem very eager to marry her. There was no doubt about that.

  “Cheer up Rose,” Edward continued, “our fathers are reasonable men and it won’t be long before they come to an arrangement that suits everyone. Let us talk about other matters.”

  “What do you make of Keith?” she asked after thinking for a moment.

  “The funny little Highlander? He’s fine I suppose, although I
thought it was strange of Lord Douglas to let him sit at the same dinner table as us. I suppose it was an indulgence for his sister, who is queer as well. I don’t know what could possess a woman to leave a good life in England and run to the wilds of the Highlands. It’s very strange indeed. I am quite glad that you are not like that,” he said.

  “I spoke with him recently. It was nighttime and we both could not sleep. He’s not what I expected.”

  Edward’s face twisted and he rounded on Rose, eyes blazing with anger. When he spoke, every word was said deliberately, and his voice seethed with a low anger.

  “I don’t like the idea of you spending your evenings with another man. It is quite improper. What are people to say if they had seen you together? Especially not some peasant Highlander,” he spat. “You are not to go into the gardens unescorted any longer. Who knows what he might have done with you!”

  Rose was taken aback by the fury of his words. He should have known that she would never do anything untoward with anyone.

  “I did not ‘spend the evening’ with him,” she said in her defense. “It was merely coincidence that we found ourselves in the same place at the same time. It would have been rude to ignore each other. Anyway, he wasn’t as I expected. I thought Highlanders would be completely barbaric, but he actually saved a baby bird that had fallen from its nest.”

  “He saved a bird?!” Edward scoffed. “What use is that? He might as well have killed the poor thing. I think you were delaying the inevitable. A bird who gets frightened that easily is not going to last very long in the wild.”

  Rose was a little stunned by his reaction, but she didn’t pursue the matter any further. She had something else to talk with him about. “That night was the night you spent with our fathers and Lord Douglas. Did you have a pleasant time?”

  “Oh yes it was wonderful.” Edward puffed out his chest. “We spoke of many important matters and really put the world to rights. You know, I believe we could do much more good as advisors to the King than whoever he has advising him at the moment. It was a shame that nobody else was there to hear our good ideas.”

  “I did try to see you during the night. I went to your chambers, but you weren’t there. I suppose you must have still been with the men.”

  “Yes, I was with the men,” Edward said. She watched his eyes carefully for any sign that he was lying, but she could not see any.

  “Oh Edward, I just want this ordeal to be over quickly. I want us to be married so that we might begin our lives together. All I want is to be your wife.”

  “And you will be,” he said reassuringly. “All it takes is a little patience.”

  Rose was becoming tired of hearing that word. All her life she had been told to be patient, and she thought she had been patient enough.

  Later on in the day the families met again for another discussion and, once again, William Drake seemed intent on being difficult. Rose wasn’t privy to all the discussions, but from what she could gather he wanted assurances about the dowry that her father could not provide, and William was trying to negotiate down his own investment into the marriage. Tensions were rising and at one point she thought Steven and William were going to come to blows. Her own mind was focused on other matters. Her gaze continued to shift between Lydia and Edward, trying to see if there could possibly be anything between them. Lydia was ambitious, but Edward had shown nothing but devotion for her. It was such a troubling situation and she only wished that Keith had never said anything.

  There was a row blazing between William and Steven, and it took Lord Douglas to intervene. He slammed his hand down onto the table and everyone went quiet. Rose’s attention was shaken from her own thoughts and brought back to reality.

  “This must stop! You are not negotiating a business deal, you are arranging a marriage between your children. They are the ones suffering here. Now, it seems as though we are getting nowhere with these discussions. I think we could all use a break. I propose a hunting trip where we can spend some time together doing something fun. Perhaps then we shall find some common ground and we might reconsider our stance,” he said.

  Both men grumbled, but Edward thought it would be a wonderful idea. Rose liked the idea as well. It would be good to get off the estate, so they arranged to go that afternoon.

  The men and the horses gathered together at the stables, ready to gallop into the forest. Rose insisted on coming even though Edward seemed to think that it was an event made primarily for men. She wasn’t going to be left behind though. Before they left, however, she did pull her father aside and try to calm him down.

  “I can’t believe how obstinate that man is being!” Steven declared.

  “Father, please, try to keep your calm. I am sure there is a reason why he is being so difficult, but you must remember that you are doing this for me.”

  “I know, I know, I am just frustrated.” He sighed. “One moment we are making progress and the next moment he is making quite an unreasonable demand. I don’t think he understands that the dowry we proposed was everything we could offer. He always wants more, and somehow he thinks we should accept less from him. It is a very trying time.”

  “Did you not have fun with him and Edward recently?” she asked.

  “Oh yes, we enjoyed a good night together and it showed me that they can be quite reasonable men when they’re given a chance. But it’s as though something overcomes him when he’s at the negotiating table and I’m not entirely sure how to deal with it.”

  “It must have been a late night if you were getting on so well.”

  “Late? Oh no, it wasn’t that late,” Steven said, shaking his head. “We were in bed at a reasonable hour. We were all tired from the negotiations anyway. We didn’t stay up long past the middle of the night.”

  Rose furrowed her brow, because she had gone to see Edward not long after that and he hadn’t been in his chambers.

  “Perhaps Edward and his father stayed up a little longer?”

  “No, we all walked back. I saw Edward go to his chambers.”

  Rose wondered why Edward would lie to her. There could only be one reason.

  Keith must have been right.

  11

  Keith hated himself for telling Rose the truth. He chastised himself for being so foolish. She was utterly besotted with Edward and would not hear a word against him and that was all he had: a word. He thought they had developed some sort of a bond during their time in the garden, but evidently they had not. He had been a foolish, naïve Highlander and it only showed him that he still had much to learn.

  He busied himself with his duties once more and found himself doing a diverse range of tasks. Most of them involved manual labor, as he had more of an impressive physique than most of the servants. He also helped out at the stables and, at one point, he passed through the Kitchen and made a suggestion to change a recipe. The cooks scoffed, but once they tried it they actually found that he was right. Charles had seemed an intimidating man at first, but as Keith grew to know him he began to understand that Charles was simply a man of standards and wanted the best for his Lord.

  Keith reported to Charles regularly so that Charles could make an assessment of Keith’s performance. Some of the other servants resented Keith’s relationship with Sarina. None of them had ever had the privilege of dining at the same table as Lord Douglas and his guest, but Charles had not a sliver of envy in his body.

  “Charles, I heard some of the other servants talking about a code between them, where we take care of each other, is that right?” Keith asked.

  “I’m sure some have such a pact, but I have always believed we are here to perform our duty. We should look out for our lords and ladies first, and then each other.”

  “Sae if ye discovered something ye would tell ye lord if ye thought they should know?”

  “Yes, I believe I would, and if you want to do well here then you should as well,” Charles said. Keith was glad that Charles would have done the right thing.

  Si
nce he was there to learn, Keith set himself to task in everything he did. His attitude won over even the most skeptical people and some of them remarked that it was a shame the nobles didn’t get to see this side of life, as they might stop their silly wars with the Highlanders. Keith soon found himself to be quite popular with the servants and he thought he might well settle into this life. It was exhausting, but it wasn’t as bad as he first thought, once he got used to the way things worked. The servants helped each other out where they could and there was a pleasing camaraderie between them. The only person with whom he had any difficulty at all was Lydia, who shot him baleful looks whenever they encountered each other.

  By talking to others he discovered that nobody really had a high opinion of her. She seemed to cause a lot of trouble and had been described as an opportunist. It had surprised some that she had put herself forward to take care of Rose, as there were others who had been more experienced. Keith also worried about Edward. He half expected the man to come storming down to the servants’ quarters and challenge him to a duel, but evidently Rose hadn’t confronted him with Keith’s assertion. It was a shame in some ways, because Rose was allowing herself to fall into a life where she wouldn’t be appreciated. From that, and from what Sarina said her life was like before she met Seamus, it seemed to Keith as though most of the English nobles were unhappy. They seemed to be forced into lives they didn’t truly want, and made to dance to a tune they did not like. He began to appreciate his own life more.

  There was a humble honor in the freedom of the Highlands.

  He heard through servants’ gossip that matters between the two negotiating families were not proceeding as anyone had expected. Nobody could quite understand why William was being so difficult, as everyone agreed that Rose was as lovely a bride as anyone could want. Keith was secretly glad that it was taking longer. It allowed more of a chance for Rose to discover the truth for herself. It pained him to think about how she was caught in the middle of this situation and wouldn’t allow herself to see the truth. Her parents were bickering, Edward was betraying her, and all she wanted was to begin a new life.