Highlander's Rightful Claim
He thought he knew his destiny until she changed everything...
Kenna Kendrick
Contents
Thank you
About the book
Prologue
1. ‘The Son of the Laird’
2. ‘The Lassie in the Glade
3. ‘A Memorable Lassie’
4. ‘Murdoch’s Feast’
5. ‘A Happy Sight’
6. ‘A New Path Ahead’
7. ‘A Terrible Surprise’
8. ‘A Weary Obsession’
9. ‘A Meeting of Minds’
10. ‘Don’t Blame the Laddie’
11. ‘A Dangerous Liaison’
12. ‘Following the Lassie’
13. ‘A Sad State’
14. ‘A Missing Laddie’
15. ‘The Woes of a Laddie’
16. ‘Escape!’
17. ‘A Dismal Return’
18. ‘A Blameless Lassie?’
19. ‘A Dejected Crofter’
20. ‘Just Like Old Times’
21. ‘The Long Suffering Wife’
22. ‘A Mysterious Mark’
23. ‘A Miraculous Cure’
24. ‘A Tender Encounter’
25. ‘The Truth Will Out’
26. ‘An Unfamiliar Familiarity’
27. ‘The Duty of a Laddie’
28. ‘The Message in the Herbs’
29. ‘Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow’
30. ‘War is Coming!’
31. ‘An Anxious Wait’
32. ‘The Road to War’
33. ‘A Soldier?’
34. ‘The Rightful Heir’
35. ‘All is Fair in Love and War’
36. ‘Revelation’
37. ‘My Brother’s Avenger’
38. ‘Through the Gates’
39. ‘A Wedding is Announced’
40. ‘The First Day’
41. ‘A Wedding is Prepared’
42. ‘The Nuptial Feast’
But there’s more…
Afterword
Do you want more Romance?
Capturing the Highlander's Heart
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Thank you
About the Author
Thank you
I want to personally thank you for purchasing my book. It really means a lot to me. It’s a blessing to have the opportunity to share with you, my passion for writing, through my stories.
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About the book
He has to fight for revenge, but he wants to live for love...
Andrew Cameron was not an ordinary child. He was born with a purpose and a duty; to win back his legacy from the evil Murdoch Mackintosh, who killed his father and rob him of his rightful place.
With that burden on his shoulders, Andrew lived all his life preparing for this moment, but his destiny is in jeopardy when he meets an alluring lass...
Nairne Mackintosh was afraid of her father, Murdoch, her whole life. Raised by a man who was tormenting and abusing her, she never thought that tenderness and happiness were an option for her.
One day, on the shores of a mystical loch, a very naked and vulnerable, Nairne meets a young man who will change her life forever and put her in even bigger danger than she already is...
Andrew is focused on getting his revenge for the murder of his father, but lasses can be distracting when found in the woods alone.
He thought he knew his destiny until she changed everything...
* * *
Prologue
Twenty-one years ago Iain Cameron, Laird of the Cameron Clan, and master of the glen fell upon the battlefield. A noble death at the hands of a treacherous man: the Laird of the Mackintosh Clan, Murdoch Mackintosh.
The battle had been long and hard. A bitter rivalry and age-old feud between two clans had resulted in much blood being spilt. As Murdoch Mackintosh raised his sword in victory and rode to the castle of the Cameron’s to claim his prize, a new era was beginning.
Iain Cameron’s wife was the beautiful Rhona, a beauty unsurpassed by any woman in the glen. Murdoch had heard many tales of her, but as she stared defiantly into his eyes, his prisoner and captive, he saw that beauty for himself and decided to take it. Declaring that Rhona would be his wife, he decreed that all of the Cameron Clan would also come under his rule.
By Murdoch’s side stood his brother Stewart, a good and noble man, much troubled by his brother’s wicked ways, and horrified by Murdoch’s plan to make Rhona his wife. She was with bairn, and shortly after they had taken possession of the castle, she gave birth to a healthy wee laddie. Andrew Iain Cameron was safely delivered, named for his father and the great Scottish patron. Murdoch was jealous of the child and would have had him killed if it were not for his desire to appease Rhona into marriage.
As time went by, Rhona and Stewart were growing closer, a less likely friendship than could be imagined. However, love has a way of crossing divisions, and it was not long before both realised their feelings for the other.
Desperate to escape, Rhona agreed to a bold plan. One which would see Stewart Mackintosh betray his brother as he helped her to freedom. He had declared his love for her, and despite the obstacles, Rhona loved Stewart as they now prepared to flee together.
On the very day of the wedding, they made their escape through the castle gates, as the rest of the clan awaited the marriage in the village Kirk. Without turning back, they rode deep into the forest, as Murdoch, realising the betrayal, sent out search parties in a desperate search to find them.
Rhona, Stewart and the bairn were gone, and Murdoch had lost his prize. The three journeyed far up into the mountains where crofters, still loyal to the Cameron’s, were in hiding. It was there they raised the bairn, their marriage sealed, and happiness secured. Yet for how long?
* * *
That had been twenty-one years ago, and much had transpired.
Murdoch had not given up on his search for Rhona, sending out spies into the forest, but to no avail. The great glen was so vast that it could hide any number of secrets. No friends of Murdoch resided beneath its trees, and the loyal Cameron’s kept their noble mistress and her bairn hidden from prying eyes.
At times Murdoch would send his men into the forest, hunting for his brother, whom he never forgave for betraying blood ties. At these times the Cameron’s would band together, attacking the search parties and driving them back to the Cameron Castle. As the years went by, Murdoch brooded, growing older and more bitter, realising that his grip upon the glen was failing.
He took a wife for himself and made the Cameron Castle his home, but still, his heart was bitter and twisted towards Rhona and Stewart. He was consumed with hate and vowed that one day he would have his revenge. An uneasy peace reigned over the glen; the Mackintosh clan not daring to enter the forest in any great numbers, the Cameron’s keeping to the secret ways and paths. Both sides avoided the other, and as the years went by, they taught their children those same prejudices.
To Cameron children, Murdoch Mackintosh was an evil and wicked man, a person to be feared and a threat from parents to naughty children. Murdoch told a similar tale about the Came
ron’s, reminding the villagers that if it were not for his benevolence, they would all be subjected to the wickedness of a Cameron Laird.
That “young pretender,” as he would refer to Andrew, always on his mind.
Andrew Cameron grew up to be a noble and robust laddie, a fine figure of a man, and one whom Rhona was proud to call her son. He was raised upon the story of his mother’s escape from the clutches of Murdoch Mackintosh and of his father’s death at the hands of that wicked man. Murdoch’s was a name which he feared, longing to rid the glen of this evil man, and avenge his father’s death.
Twenty-one years is a long time to hold a grudge, but the desire for vengeance lay on both sides. As the seasons came and went each side told of the other’s treachery, they hated one another, and now that Andrew Cameron was of age the time for revenge had come.
Chapter One
‘The Son of the Laird’
Andrew Cameron was breathless. He had run for several miles through the forest that morning, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of the beautiful place. Above him the sun cast its light through the canopy, a dappled shade spread across the forest floor covered by ferns and mosses, a carpet of greenery stretching out before him. Soon he was deep into the forest, running along a path which was often used by the deer. At length, he came upon them quite suddenly, startling them from their grazing and causing them to scatter. As he watched the young creatures disappear into the woods, a magnificent stag appeared into the glade, taking little notice of Andrew who posed no threat to this monarch of the glen.
The young man watched as the stag grazed, it’s majestic appearance an astonishing sight to behold. Turning its head, the animal looked at Andrew for a moment and instinctively bowed its head, as though recognising Andrew for who he was: the rightful heir and Laird of all he surveyed. Andrew stood motionless as the stag turned and ambled off into the forest after its herd. A sight so spectacular that it took the young man’s breath away. Such views were the reward of solitude and Andrew would have gladly resided in the forest his whole life, the peace and tranquillity of that place as much a home to him as the crofts from which he had just descended.
He had left home as the dawn broke, the first crofters emerging with him to see to the animals, the sun rising over the moorlands. His mother and stepfather, Rhona and Stewart, had still been asleep as Andrew left the croft quietly, running off across the heathers towards the forest.
Rhona and Stewart had lived a happy life together, though one which was always fraught with danger. At any time, they could expect a raid by Murdoch’s men, though the pretender himself never dared to face his brother. Stewart and Rhona had raised Andrew to always honour the memory of his father, Iain Cameron, taking every opportunity to remind the young boy of the brave deeds and great acts of heroism that the Laird had achieved.
“Ye are very like yer father in so many ways,” Rhona smiled. Her son was growing quickly, and the young laddie loved to think about his father and what he might have been like.
“What was he like, mother?”
“A brave and noble man, my son,” Rhona looked wistfully into the distance as memories of her dear husband returned to her
The crofters lived a simple life, tending to their cattle and making a living from the land. As a child Andrew had learnt to hunt and catch fish and following in his father’s footsteps he had learned to fight. He was taught by his stepfather Stewart and uncle Duncan, the brother of Rhona.
“We must always be ready for a Mackintosh attack, laddie, ye must be ready to defend yerself and yer dear mother tae.”
Andrew was as capable with the sword as he was with the tools of a crofter, and as he grew, came to be liked and respected by all. He was a handsome young man, with the strength of his father and the gentle good looks of his mother. A crop of blonde hair and green eyes gave him an attraction which many a young lassie had noticed over the years. But Andrew found little interest in such things, at least he had done until now, the lassies on the crofts were all the same, simple folk and the daughters of peasants, he knew himself to be the son of the Laird and could not merely chase after any lassie who took a fancy to him.
Besides, it was not the excitement of the battlefield or the work of the croft which interested Andrew Cameron. As often as he could, he would go off by himself into the forest. There he would run through the trees and feel the rush of fresh air around him. The scents and sights of the forest a familiar home to him. Ever since he could remember, he had loved to be alone in the forest. Solitude gave him time to think, and often he would ponder on the future and his destiny to be Laird of the glen, it was this inheritance which often troubled him, a sense of unworthiness hanging like a rain cloud. Could he ever emulate his father’s deeds? Or be strong like his uncle and stepfather? Andrew was still a boy and had much to learn, but in the forest, he was master of all he surveyed.
He knew every part of it, from the waterfalls which cascaded down from the high mountains to the glades where deep pools and gushing streams flowed through the trees, and where it was said that the faery folk lived. He knew the paths which the animals took and the best places to watch the deer grazing and the wildcats at play. Often, he spent the night there, kindling a fire and sleeping beneath the stars, the ways and moods of the forest as much a part of him as they were of themselves.
It was this solitude which Andrew Cameron longed for that morning as he set off across the heathers and down into the forest below. He took his familiar route, one walked a thousand times before, following a path which led him deep into the woods.
As a child, his mother had warned him not to stray too far, and to always keep an eye on where he was going. Evil men lay at the other end of the forest, and she recounted the tale of his father’s death and the capture of the Cameron castle all those years ago when Andrew was but a bairn in arms. Occasionally he had dared himself to walk deeper into the forest, seeking out new paths and edging closer to the mysterious castle which held so much fear for them all.
“Tis’ Murdoch Mackintosh who now resides there,” Rhona furrowed her brow “and no more wicked man can be found than he. Ye know the tales of what he did tae me and tae yer father. How he murdered him upon the battlefield and would gladly have murdered us all if given a chance. Long has he sought an opportunity to be rid of ye, my son.”
Stewart nodded in agreement. “Stay away from that castle my laddie tis’ a dark place and ye do not want tae encounter my brother Murdoch. If I never see him again, then I shall be glad of it.”
“Keep yer wits about ye at all times, nephew,” his uncle added, “the woods are full of Mackintosh spies if ye are intent upon walking there so often then be prepared tae use yer sword and dagger upon any stranger.”
At these words, Andrew remained silent, secretly wondering just what the castle was like and whether every Mackintosh was truly as bad his relatives made them out to be. Once he had gone almost too far to the walls of the castle, following a track that seemed to lead directly there. He had caught sight of one of the castle banners in the distance, just as a party of Mackintosh men had appeared on the road ahead, patrolling for Cameron insurgents, their swords drawn and murderous looks upon their faces. Andrew fled quickly back into the forest, running with all his might in terror at the sight of such wicked men.
Ever since then, he had kept his distance, the vast forests big enough to ensure that he need to go nowhere near that evil place again. Now, as he walked into the trees, he breathed in the fresh scent of pine and smiled to himself as above him the birds sang, a cuckoo echoing its song in the distance, as the first dawn rays broke through the canopy.
Today all he desired was to be alone. He walked more slowly through the forest, but decided against visiting his Godmother Cairstine and her husband Alistair as he often did, who resided in a cottage deep in the woods, instead he took the hidden paths, known only to the animals, pausing to collect berries which he ate and drinking from one of the streams. The cold, icy water refreshed him,
and he was soon running through the trees intent upon reaching the waterfalls which flowed down from Cornevis, the mountain towering high above the glen, and even in summer had wisps of snow about its top.
As he ran, Andrew thought once more of his destiny. Ever since he could remember his mother and stepfather had impressed upon him the fact that he would be Laird and that when he was of age, it would be his responsibility to lead the Cameron Clan to revenge Murdoch Mackintosh, the man who had murdered his father and left them in exile.
Highlander's Rightful Claim (Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance) Page 1