The Highlander Who Protected Me (Clan Kendrick #1)

by Vanessa Kelly

  “Thank you, Grandda,” Royal said dryly.

  Then he tipped up Ainsley’s chin, drinking in the love he saw in her beautiful violet gaze. “But despite how thick I am, I want you to know that you never have to be afraid again. I will always put you and Tira first, and I will always protect you.”

  She blinked a few times before leveling him with her dazzling smile, one that lit up every corner of his world.

  “My loyal Royal,” she whispered. “And I will always protect you, I promise.”

  “I’m counting on it, lass,” he whispered back.

  Angus elbowed Henderson, who was pretending to be deaf in his best butler fashion. “Best avert yer eyes, man. The canoodlin’ is about to commence.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Dawn fast approached. Their luggage had been stowed, and the deckhands were loading the last of the cargo and provisions onto the ship. Now all Royal had to do was say good-bye to his family and to Scotland.

  The Kendrick clan huddled in the fitful light cast by lamps and torches on the pier. Kade, trying hard to be an adult, wiped his eyes on his sleeve and gave Royal a tremulous smile.

  “You’ll take good care of Grandda, won’t you?” the boy asked. “He’ll miss us all very much, and he’s worried about the Kinglas estate business. He told me he’s afraid Nick won’t know what to do without him.”

  Standing behind them, Nick managed to turn his laugh into a cough.

  “Of course he’ll miss everyone, especially you,” Royal said. “But Angus will be busy helping with Tira. Ainsley and I would be lost without him.”

  Even Kade looked dubious at that assertion. “Truly?”

  “Truly. He’s helping Ainsley get the baby settled as we speak.”

  Angus had turned into a wreck at the thought of leaving his family, including his beloved dogs. He’d all but broken down while saying good-bye to Kade, who’d struggled valiantly to hold back tears. The twins had started sniffling, and Victoria looked positively shattered. After the stresses of the last few days, it wasn’t a scene Royal or Nick felt equipped to manage.

  Fortunately, Ainsley had taken the situation in hand. With a dramatic start, she’d announced that Tira had sneezed, and that she feared a cold coming on. Angus had been instantly diverted, bustling over to inspect his darling, held safely in her mamma’s arms. He and Ainsley held a quick discussion and decided to get the baby belowdecks and out of the wind. Grandda had then bustled back to say good-bye to Nick and Logan, clapping them on the back and telling them not to make a cock-up without him. He’d then briskly herded Ainsley and Tira on board the ship with a cheery wave good-bye.

  Once more, Royal’s splendid wife had averted a crisis.

  Kade gave him a wobbly smile. “Tira is his favorite. As long as he’s got her to look after, he’ll be fine.”

  Royal pulled his little brother in for a hug. “No, you will always be Grandda’s favorite,” he murmured. “And mine, too. Don’t ever forget it.”

  Kade fiercely hugged him back. “I’m so happy you finally got what you deserved, Royal. You’re the best person I know.”

  “Thank you.” He could barely choke out the reply.

  He forced himself to let go, and ruffled his little brother’s hair. “Look after the others for me. I’ll expect reports from home on a regular basis.”

  Kade nodded. “With every ship.”

  Royal turned to the twins and to Braden. All three lads were clearly struggling with their emotions. They were tall, strapping young men, but in so many ways still youngsters. He knew they were taking this rushed good-bye very hard.

  Sending up a silent prayer of thanks that his brothers had managed to reach Glasgow before he and Ainsley departed, Royal put an arm around each of the twins and pulled them close.

  “Take care of each other, lads,” he said gruffly. “And at least try to stay out of trouble.”

  “We hardly get into trouble anymore.” Grant, who’d always been the quieter and more studious twin, looked very serious. “But we’ll try even harder. We promise.”

  “I know. And I’m proud of you both.”

  “I’m sorry we’ve been away so much,” said Graeme. “If we’d known you were in trouble, we would have returned home immediately.”

  Of all his brothers, Royal worried most about Graeme. The young man had a restless spirit and an unerring knack for trouble. Still, he had a grand, loving heart and Royal knew the rest of the family would look out for him.

  “You have your own life now,” Royal said. “Just write to me and let me know what you’re up to.”

  “Logan said we could visit you in the spring,” Grant said, cheering up. “We’ll go to Halifax with him when he sails in April, and we’ll stay for at least six months.”

  “That will be jolly fun,” said Graeme.

  “Splendid. Ainsley will be, er, thrilled when I tell her.” The idea of the twins let loose in the colonies was appalling.

  “I’m sure she’ll be delighted,” said Victoria with a twinkle.

  Braden stepped forward and grasped Royal’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Royal. I’ll look after the twins.”

  “But we’re older than you—” Graeme started to protest. Grant elbowed him to silence.

  Royal had to stifle a smile. Although Braden was the second youngest Kendrick, his bespectacled brother had a gravity and maturity well beyond his years. Everyone in the family took his advice, even Nick.

  “Just concentrate on those medical studies of yours,” Royal said. “When you get a chance, let me know how you get on.”

  Braden gave him a tight nod and a quick hug before stepping back to join Kade, protectively resting his hands on his little brother’s shoulders.

  Royal moved to embrace his sister-in-law. “And you take care of yourself, you grand, beautiful lass. I’ll miss you ordering me about.”

  She let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob, and then gave him a little shake. “Take care of that family of yours, and take care of yourself, too. I won’t be happy if I hear from Angus or Ainsley that you’re working too hard.”

  He smiled into her sky-blue eyes. “Thank you, Victoria. Thank you for saving the most stubborn, annoying group of men in Scotland. We were all quite lost until you came into our lives.”

  “Amen,” Nick said softly.

  “Drat,” Victoria said. “Stop making me cry, Royal Kendrick. You’ll give me a headache.”

  “Yes, your highness,” he teased.

  “Say good-bye to your brother, and then be off, you dreadful boy.” She gave him a little shove in Nick’s direction.

  This was the hardest leave-taking of all. In so many ways, Nick had always been more father than brother. He’d taught Royal all the things a man should know, and loved him with a fierce, unquestioning devotion. Nick had quite literally saved his life. He was the best man Royal had ever known.

  “I’m sorry I’m leaving you with such a mess,” he said, clasping Nick’s arm.

  His brother snorted. “Logan and I can handle Cringlewood and any other little matters that might arise.”

  Little matters like a dead body in Lady Montgomery’s drawing room. Angus was facing a potential murder charge, Royal had taken part in a thoroughly illegal duel, Ainsley had shot a British peer, and they could all very well be charged with abducting that peer’s child. Along with Angus, they’d spent the last three days hiding out at a small country inn near the River Clyde until one of Logan’s merchant vessels was ready to sail. Nick had already put it about that they’d fled to France. Along with Victoria, he’d also begun exerting considerable legal and social pressure to manage the fraught situation.

  Still, there was no doubt it would take months and possibly years to resolve, and much depended on convincing Cringlewood to stand down. Until that happened, who knew when they would see Scotland or England again?

  But if anyone could get them home, Nick could.

  In the meantime, there were certainly worse things than starting a new
life in a new land with the woman you loved and the child of your heart. It was an unfortunate necessity that Angus was also forced to leave his home, but he was growing reconciled to it. As long as he had Tira and a purpose in life—a good part of which constituted bossing Ainsley about—the old fellow should be just fine.

  Royal waggled a hand. “Still, we both know it won’t be easy. And here I am, running off and leaving you to manage everything. It’s not fair, is it?”

  His brother took him by the shoulders. “Listen to me, Royal. I am incredibly proud of you. I’ve always been proud of you. I want you to be well, and I want you to be happy. No one, and I mean no one, has worked harder for happiness or deserves it more. Do you understand me?”

  Unable to speak past the boulder clogging his throat, Royal nodded.

  Nick pulled him close. “I’m going to miss you, little brother,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “More than you can possibly know.”

  They held on until Logan placed a firm hand on Royal’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, lad, but it’s time to go or you’ll miss the tide.”

  Royal was grateful for the intervention. Nick looked entirely gutted, and both Victoria and Kade were now openly crying. Royal felt like his heart was cracking wide open.

  Logan extracted a small packet from inside his coat and handed it to him. “Some letters for my son. Give the lad a grand hug for me when you see him, and tell him that Papa will be home in the springtime.”

  His words had a remarkable effect, freezing the entire family into an astounded tableau.

  “You have a son?” Nick finally asked.

  Logan scratched the bristles on his cheek. “Oh, I say, did I forget to mention that I have a little boy?”

  “Apparently so,” Victoria said wryly.

  “It just slipped your mind, I suppose,” Nick said in a decidedly frosty voice.

  “Zeus!” Kade waved his arms. “I have a nephew? What’s his name? How old is he?”

  Everyone started gabbing at once, although Nick’s annoyed tones could be heard over the others.

  Logan glanced over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling, and gave Royal a little jerk of the head.

  With a salute of thanks to his outrageous but wonderful brother for the distraction, Royal turned and boarded the ship. The gangway was quickly pulled back and seamen began scurrying to and fro, pulling lines and shouting instructions. Royal stood by the rail as the vessel began to slowly drift away from the dock. Logan and Nick were still arguing, Braden was trying to intervene, and the twins were clearly enjoying the verbal debate.

  Kade, however, had turned and walked to the end of the pier, his earnest gaze fastened on Royal. Victoria joined him and slipped an arm around the lad’s shoulders. As the ship pulled into the channel leading to the firth, they both raised their hands in farewell.

  Royal swallowed his tears and waved back.

  A brisk click of heels on the deck sounded behind him before Ainsley slipped her hand through the crook of his arm.

  “Goodness,” she said, peering back at the docks. “You Kendricks certainly are an emotional lot.”

  He smiled down at her. “Highlanders like to do everything with a certain dramatic flair.”

  “I’ve noticed. What are your brothers arguing about? I can hear them shouting even out here.”

  “As I was getting ready to board, Logan casually mentioned that he had a son. The announcement had the desired effect.”

  “Jolly good of him to do that for you. By the way, I just shared the same distraction with your grandfather. He was getting entirely too emotional thinking about Kade and the dogs.”

  Royal had told Ainsley about his brother’s secret a few days ago, although he’d sworn her to silence until their departure. “How did he take it?”

  “He was too astonished to say a word for a full six minutes. I timed it.”

  He laughed. “Perhaps we can come up with other shocking announcements when necessary.”

  “It could be the one way to preserve our sanity. The notion of being cooped up with Angus for several weeks is rather daunting.”

  He pulled her close as the sails unfurled and the ship moved farther away from shore. “Oh, I’m sure we can think of other ways to entertain ourselves.”

  “You shock me, dear sir.”

  “I hope so, dear madam.”

  She flashed a grin before snuggling into his arms to keep watch with him. The figures on the pier receded into the distance until finally disappearing in the haze of the early morning fog over the water.

  Still, Royal couldn’t bring himself to go below deck. He needed this last taste of Scotland. He needed the rugged cliffs where Loch Long, the loch he’d grown up on, emptied into the River Clyde. He needed the early snows that glinted off the high peaks in the distance, the peaks he’d climbed as a youth with his brothers. He needed the gannets and the cormorants wheeling overhead, and the comical puffins burrowing in the cliffs. Even the seals came to bid him farewell, flashing by the ship and heading for the heart of the firth.

  Royal needed to engrave those images in his heart for the months or years to come. Ainsley seemed to understand, keeping silent watch with him as his beloved homeland slipped away.

  Finally, she stirred. “I know you’ll miss it terribly, and I’m truly sorry about that.”

  “We’ll be back someday.”

  “I hope so. It’ll be quite the challenge to make that possible, even for your brother.”

  “True, but don’t forget he’s got a secret weapon.”

  She lifted an enquiring eyebrow.

  “Victoria,” he said. “My sister-in-law will storm Carlton House, if she has to. The Prince Regent won’t stand a chance once she starts giving him a piece of her mind.”

  “But Victoria has never even met her father, has she?”

  “She won’t let that stand in her way.”

  Her eyes briefly crinkled with laughter. “Still, I think it will take some time and doing.”

  “Yes,” he admitted. “In the meantime, we’re off on a grand adventure, are we not? Think of all the fun we’re going to have—you, me, Tira, and Angus. We can go sledding and ice skating in the winter, and Logan said we might even see a moose.”

  “That sounds utterly dreadful.” She shook her head. “Nova Scotia, of all places. I used to hate setting foot outside of London, and now I’m off to the colonies.”

  He hooked an arm around her neck and pulled her in for a lingering kiss. “You’ll conquer the colonials, just like you conquered the Scots, love.”

  “God knows I tried.” Then she placed her hands on his chest and turned serious. “But it doesn’t matter where we go as long as we’re all together. Thank you, my dearest love, for giving my life back to me.”

  “Ainsley, you did that when you had the courage to come back to us. You rescued yourself. And in doing so, you rescued me and Tira, too.”

  “I love you, Royal Kendrick,” she said in a gruff little voice.

  “I love you, Ainsley Kendrick.”

  He bent to kiss her again, but stopped when the wind from the stiffening breeze snatched the hat right off her head and whipped it out over the water.

  “Drat,” she sighed. “That was a new hat, too.”

  “I’ll buy you a better one when we get to Halifax.”

  “Yes, I’m sure they’ll have all the latest fashions,” she said wryly.

  With a laugh, Royal took her arm and steered her toward their cabin. The sun rose at their backs, transforming the water into a sparkling mirror that lit up their way to the future.

 

 

 
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