Highland Brawn (The Band of Cousins Book 8)

by Keira Montclair

  “I told you not to call me that here. I don’t want anyone knowing I’m of noble blood.”

  “Sorry, Connor. Now about those meat pies…”

  Something odd called to Connor from behind them. He wasn’t sure what his gut was telling him, but he sensed she was close. A smile lifted his lips when he realized what he was reacting to.

  Quiet. The street had quieted, and he knew what had caused it. Thorn was right about Sela, after all—she’d be considered a fearsome beauty wherever she went. “Hush, lad,” he whispered to Thorn. “She’s coming. We need to head over to that copse of trees across from Buck’s Inn.” He grabbed Thorn’s hand and hauled him over to the hidden area off the main path. If she had any guards with her, he didn’t want them to see him.

  Just as he’d expected, she came around the corner with two guards, one on either side of her. “Shite, you’ve got to distract her guards.” They watched as the group came closer, but Sela and the guards came to a sudden stop outside a nearby alehouse and she motioned for the guards to go inside.

  “Thorn, stand watch. Warn me when they return, then you’ll get your meat pie,” he said, handing a coin to the lad, who took off in a flash.

  As soon as Sela was alone, Connor stepped away from the copse of trees, standing close enough to duck behind them if need be. “Sela, come to me,” he whispered, though he feared she wouldn’t. Had this short jaunt into her old life changed her?

  She faced him, but the Ice Queen was back, her face like the covering of a loch in winter, unmoving and unreadable. Glancing over her shoulder, she took two steps toward him. She covered the next steps in a run.

  Sela fell into his arms and he carried her behind the tree, his lips finding hers in the dark. He devoured her, his passion unbridled as he moved his mouth over hers. His breath coming out in a ragged whisper, he managed to ask, “They’ve not hurt you?”

  “Nay,” she replied, panting with the same need that possessed him. She kissed a line down his jaw. “Connor, will you take me away when this is over? Please?”

  “Aye, I cannot stand being apart. I worry about you. It eats at my insides to know you’re with them,” he said. Unable to get enough of her, he cupped her breast through her gown, teasing her nipple until it peaked under the fabric.

  She pulled away slightly, staring at him, and touched her finger to his lower lip. “You really do care for me, do you not? You’re not just interested in bedding me?”

  Her question, so bluntly phrased, caused all the uncertainty he’d felt about them to drain away. “Aye. I’ll not lie, Sela, I want you, but I also care about you. I would like to know you. To have a future with you. I liked waking up with you in my arms.”

  “Will we ever be together?” Her eyes misted with the tears he couldn’t bear for her to shed.

  “Hush, know that I will fight for us to be together. What have you learned? Where are the youngest ones being held?”

  “Only ten have arrived so far. They seem to be sisters and they think they’re traveling to visit an aunt. ’Tis all I know. They are being held in a manor home north of the port. They would refuse to come with you at this point because they believe whatever tale they’re being told. The others will be here on the morrow. One group in the morn, one late in the day. The ships leave mid-afternoon the following day. Three of them.”

  “Where?” he asked, kissing the hollow at the base of her throat.

  Her hands threaded through his hair, pulling him closer. “I don’t know. They’ve not told me yet. They don’t fully trust me.”

  Thorn ran up to them, his body thrumming with energy. “My lord, I mean Connor, they’re coming!”

  Connor gave her one last kiss. “High noon on the morrow. Same place.”

  The look she gave him, full of longing and not a single crystal of ice, humbled him. It made him desperate to carry her away from this place, to bring her somewhere she could be safe. But Sela left him before he could change his mind. She arrived in the middle of the path before her guards came out of the building, carrying fruit tarts and two ales.

  Her icy look had returned.

  “You like her, do you not, Connor?”

  Connor sighed—Thorn was too perceptive by half—but he wouldn’t lie to the lad. He knew how he felt. He didn’t want to live without her. They belonged together. “Aye, I surely do like her, lad.”

  Thorn sighed, mimicking him. “But she’s a girl.”

  “Get your meat pie,” he said, giving him a small shove in the direction of the vendor.

  That would give him the moment he needed because he had an important decision to make.

  Should he stay or should he leave?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Connor stood in the same spot the next day, well after the sun was at its highest. Where the hell could she be?

  Thorn said, “I think we should travel the path near the castle again, see if anything new is happening.”

  While Connor hated to leave the spot where he’d promised to meet Sela, he couldn’t wait all day for her. If the group that had arrived was as large as they suspected, it was possible she wouldn’t be able to break free.

  It was in the Band’s best interest for them to see what else they could learn around town. Maggie and Will were also in Berwick, gleaning information, but in a different area. The other cousins had remained back to guide the warriors.

  Maggie had requested that the hundred warriors who’d set up camp an hour outside of the burgh join them at high noon just outside of Berwick. She wanted them at the ready for anything that could arise. All total, they now numbered nearly three hundred, with another two hundred ready to move forward.

  But where was the Channel? Sela’s failure to appear wasn’t the only sign something was wrong. They hadn’t seen any Dubh men out and about.

  “Are you sure you’d recognize the Dubh men, lad?”

  “Aye, they travel together, they speak to no one, they don’t wear identifiable plaids. I don’t see them here.”

  After a quick jaunt down near the port, they found Maggie and Will in the center of town. There weren’t many about so they were easy to find.

  “What have you learned?” Maggie asked. “Did Sela have any more information for you?”

  Connor shrugged. “She never came. I know not what happened to her, but I suspect the next group arrived and she’s been put in charge of them. Have you seen any unusual activity?”

  “Nay, naught,” Maggie confirmed. “And yet...something feels off.”

  He agreed and said so. They found their way to a vendor to purchase food, which allowed them the chance to chat with the two men behind the stand. “Things seem different this day,” Connor said, speaking to the one who kept scanning the area. The man seemed far more interested in what was going on in town than in his present customers. “Something going to happen that we don’t know about?”

  The man leaned toward him, and in a whisper said, “Aye, I hear there’s a large group of English knights headed this way.”

  “For what purpose?” Will asked, moving closer.

  “I hear they’re after the group of savage Highlanders that showed up at the castle gates the other day. They don’t usually try to hide, so ’tis most unusual that they disappeared so quickly.” He pointed to the man working next to him, who gave them a wide grin.

  “We know most of what goes on in the town.”

  Connor was glad they’d dressed all in black to avoid being easily recognizable. “What are the knights planning?”

  “We heard they’re going to take over the town and keep the Highlanders out.”

  Thorn scampered off down the street, much to Connor’s surprise. Usually he liked to be part of the conversations they intercepted. Then he noticed why. The lad did more pishing than anyone he knew.

  He shifted his attention back to the men. “You’re certain they’re coming here?”

  “Nay, not inside the town. They’ll be on the periphery, keeping unwanteds out. Only those who li
ve inside Berwick will be allowed in. That will keep the savages away.”

  As soon as they stepped away, Maggie said, “We must go back and advise the others of what we learned. We’ll catch the knights off-guard.”

  “My lord!” Thorn rushed up to Connor and tugged on his tunic sleeve. “Guess what I heard? There’s to be a game here in the town this day.”

  “Never mind, Thorn. We’re mounting up and going off to fight the English knights. We need to be ready to do battle.”

  His words were clearly music to the lad’s ears, for he jumped up and down in delight. “I’m coming, my lord.”

  ***

  Sela scanned the area for the tenth time, still hoping they’d be discovered in the middle of this dastardly deed. The sixty lasses around her had arrived late the night before. This group was entirely different from the last. These lasses had been kidnapped and kept locked up overnight. They fought every step of the way. Since they were so difficult, Dee had decided to send them out first. The calm group would go on the second boat.

  She wished to free the lasses, or to run as fast as she could to find Connor and tell them what was happening. Unfortunately, her behavior was intently scrutinized by Guy and Dee.

  And Hord—the sick bastard.

  She’d helped usher them to the top of the hill they’d just crested south of Berwick, surrounded by men with swords—men she’d never seen before. Hired hands. Many of them.

  And there were more still to come.

  Guy and Dee barked orders at everyone, their mood soured by the crying and squealing girls. The lasses clung to one another as they were forced down the hill, along the shoreline, and then ushered into the underbelly of a boat where they huddled together like criminals. Men shoved them along, hollering at them. She’d been told they were to be sent off in this boat originally intended for the smaller group, although she couldn’t imagine how so many lasses would be able to sleep in the close space.

  Hord trailed behind them, bellowing to Dee. “The next group will be here in an hour.”

  “Perfect. Send the knights to the north side of Berwick where the Highlanders are camped. Draw them out for three hours and we’ll be done.”

  Sela couldn’t believe her ears. Had she heard them right? Did they truly mean to do battle with the Highlanders?

  Connor, where are you?

  “Sela,” Guy said, “move them into the boat faster. Tell them to stop their crying or we’ll send spiders after them.”

  “Where did you get so many?” Sela asked, surprised at the number and their obvious innocence. Their language was not Scots or Gaelic, but a form of English unfamiliar to her.

  “They all came from an abbey in England. We promised to ship them to an abbey in France. They wish to do the Lord’s work in Europe.” Guy made his statement as boldly as if it were truthful.

  “Aye,” Hord said with a snort, “they’ll be doing the Lord’s work, will they not?” He stepped closer to Sela. “Did you know that I will be escorting these lasses to France? Aye, I’ve got a wonderful berth just for me. I’m going along to be certain they’ll behave.” He lifted his jacket to expose the bag he carried.

  The kind he used to hold spiders.

  She wouldn’t wish such a fate upon anyone, although a small, still-selfish part of her couldn’t help but cheer that she would finally be free of him.

  “I am allowed one companion. Guess who I’m choosing?” he said, leaning close enough to touch her jaw. “You.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Connor stood in the middle of the cousins back in the Grant camp, now over one hundred and fifty strong. The Highlanders continued to dribble in—Menzies, Camerons, Grants. His confidence was waning. True, they had the numbers to take on many warriors, but what were the Dubh men planning? Where were they?

  And where the hell was Sela?

  They’d turned up nothing in Berwick. They’d even sent Thorn into Berwick Castle, but it had appeared deserted.

  A sentry came racing toward them. “A large group of chain-mailed knights is headed this way. Reportedly an hour south of here.”

  Maggie spoke to the heads of the groups—Uncle Logan, Connor’s sire, Uncle Drew, and Uncle Micheil. “Prepare your warriors. But do not slay Guy or Dee. We need them for information. ’Tis a long coastline and the lasses could be anywhere.”

  The men each moved to their groups. Connor turned around to cast his gaze over the gathered warriors. It was quite impressive. Braden and Roddy came up behind him. “Hard to believe we have such a group,” Roddy said, clasping his shoulder. “With another hundred or more Grant warriors joining us soon. We’ll put a quick end to this, aye?”

  Connor was uneasy. Something wasn’t right.

  “Connor, you don’t look convinced. What is it?” Braden asked.

  “I can’t put it into words. A group of English knights is coming for us, but are they part of the Channel or were they just hired by the Dubh men? It doesn’t feel right—especially because we couldn’t uncover any of the Channel’s tracks in Berwick. ’Tis as if they’ve disappeared.”

  Roddy said, “Then we must find them after we defeat this group. The numbers will be in our favor then, and if we must take the entire town as ransom, we’ll do it.”

  Braden said, “Aye, someone must know something.”

  Connor quirked his brow, more uncertain than ever.

  ***

  Thorn was so excited that he would probably pish himself. He was going to be part of a big battle with the Grants of the Highlands. Everyone had heard of Alexander Grant and his prowess at the Battle of Largs. Thorn had eaten in his hall and even spoken to him, and now he’d see him in action. Gwyneth Ramsay would join the fighting, too. Everyone had heard the tales of how she could pin a man’s bollocks to a tree with her arrows.

  He giggled at the thought. Lasses could be quite fierce. Much like Sela.

  It had surprised him to see Connor kissing Sela last eve. Although he’d gone off to spy on the guards, he’d looked back to see them wrapped around each other. What kind of devil’s curse had the Ice Queen cast over him? Connor was the strongest and biggest lad he’d ever met, yet he wasn’t safe from the beauty.

  Thorn didn’t understand why men got so foolish over lasses, though he knew his mother would have been the sweetest mama ever if she hadn’t died birthing him. In fact, his sire used to tell him his mother always watched over him.

  He wondered if his sire did, too, now that he was dead. If so, he hoped his father was watching how good he was doing. He wished to make him proud.

  After seeing Connor and Sela together like that, he’d turned back toward the guards in the ale house, quick as he could. They’d been whispering and laughing to each other. He heard them say something about knights coming to attack the savages. He didn’t know if that meant the Highlanders or not. Then he heard some words he didn’t understand. One called it all a ruse and the other said it was a wily ploy on Guy’s part.

  He didn’t know what any of that meant, but now that he thought about it, he’d heard much the same from the men he’d listened to while he was pishing in the town. They’d been talking about a ruse of knights.

  What was a ruse? Did it mean a huge number? Or perhaps the “ruse” knights were the very meanest? Aye, that must be what they’d meant. It was a cruel group of knights coming. A ruse group.

  See, he’d tell Nari. They could figure things out if they thought hard enough. He squared his shoulders at his clever findings and stepped closer to the group of cousins.

  He listened to them talking, waiting for them to talk more of the battle.

  “I fear ’tis a ruse,” Connor said, shaking his head.

  There it was, that word again!

  Thorn tugged on Connor’s tunic, trying to explain everything to him, but Connor shushed him with the wave of his hand. He tugged harder on Connor’s tunic, again and again, until the great warrior finally looked down. “We’re about to go to battle. What is so important that you must inte
rrupt me?”

  Thorn looked up at him, his neck tipping way back, and said, “What does that word mean? ’Tis the same word the men with Sela used.”

  Braden made a motion to silence the lad, but Connor stopped him. “What word, lad?” He knelt down so he was face to face with him. “What word?”

  “Ruse.”

  “Tell me exactly what they said, and you’ll never be without a meat pie if you want one.”

  “One man said the knights were a ruse, but I didn’t know what that meant. The other man called them a wily ploy. Does that mean anything special? Does it mean they are extra cruel? Or something else?”

  Connor grinned and lifted Thorn into the air, tossing him over his head. Although he didn’t understand what had Connor so excited, he squealed with delight. “Aye, it does mean something else. Go get Nari and have him bring Gregor and Gavin.” He called out to some of his cousins, the ones called Maggie and Will, waving them over. Thorn passed along the message, quick as he could, then dragged Nari back toward Connor. The great Alexander Grant had joined him, along with Logan Ramsay, the Beast of the Highlands. The two were quite impressive together.

  But not as impressive as Connor. He was the biggest and the best.

  Had anything more exciting ever happened?

  “What is it?” Maggie asked.

  “’Tis a ruse,” Connor said. “The knights are a ruse to keep us busy while they load the ships and set sail early. ’Tis exactly as I suspected, and Thorn overheard the men with Sela discussing it. They didn’t tell her they were planning to leave early because they don’t trust her.”

  “Take your cousins and go down to shore,” Alex said. “Forget the castle but examine the entire coastline. We’ll stay here and fight the English fools, keep them busy so they’ll not bother you.”

  Another couple of men walked over—two more of the cousins. Thorn was shocked and fascinated to see one of them lacked a hand. They were with another, older man, who looked a wee bit like Logan. “Change of strategy?” the man asked.

  “Aye,” Logan said. “The cousins are going to the coastline in case there is a ship ready to sail. We’ll stay and handle the knights.”