A Beauty at the Highland Court: A Star-Crossed Lovers Highlander Romance (The Highland Ladies Book 7)

by Celeste Barclay

  As an arrow whizzed past his shoulder, he leaned over Arabella, protecting her back and making himself a smaller target. He glanced beneath each arm, looking back at Beathan, who now lay on the ground, and the larger group that was advancing on his men. He whistled sharply and heard the hoofbeats following him. He and his men traversed this mountain path frequently since he made regular trips to court to visit his sisters. They knew the lay of the land, and Lachlan was confident his men’s knowledge exceeded the Gunns’.

  As the five horses raced across the rocks and shale, Lachlan whistled once more. Arabella spied the Sutherland men fanning out, their horses kicking up rocks with every step. She watched as the steeds strained to climb the mountainside without a path to follow. She feared once more what became of Firelight. Her mare wasn’t built with the endurance these Highland warhorses possessed. As more arrows impaled the surrounding ground, Arabella squeezed her eyes shut and clung to the horse, grateful Lachlan’s enormous frame kept her pinned to the animal.

  “La petite fille!” Lachlan called out. Arabella didn’t understand why he yelled “the little girl.” But she opened her eyes and spied George and Taran nodding. She couldn’t see Lellan or Wallace. She prayed Lellan was still with them. Lachlan brought his mouth close to Arabella’s ear. “Sutherland warriors ken all the Gaelic names of these mountains in French for this vera reason. The Gunns dinna speak French, but ye ken they speak Gaelic. If I use the mountain’s real name, A’ Bhuidheanach Bheag, they’ll ken where we’re going. Just hold on, mo ghaol.”

  “I trust you, mo ghràidh,” Arabella said against the wind in her face. It was the Gaelic phrase for “my darling.”

  “Ye’ll be a fine Highland lass soon enough.” Arabella heard the pride and merriment in Lachlan’s voice. The tone sent conflicting emotions through her. She was pleased that he appreciated her attempt, but the good humor terrified her as their daring escape continued. She saw no jocularity in their situation. “Dinna fash. I’m just trying to make ye feel better.”

  Lachlan’s comment came just as her unease grew. She nodded and closed her eyes again. She placed her faith in Lachlan without hesitation. She would believe in him and his battle-hewn skills to keep them alive. An arrow landed too close to the horse’s hoof for its comfort, making the steed whinny as it skirted away only to have another land between its front and hind quarters. It reared from fear, and it was only Lachlan’s weight on top of Arabella that kept her from slipping.

  “Come on, Spiorad. Now isnae the time to act scared. Ye’ll embarrass yerself in front of yer lady. Let’s go, lad. Ye’ve done this before,” Lachlan coaxed his horse, whose name meant “Spirit” in Gaelic. His voice was authoritative yet soothing. Arabella didn’t know how it could be both, but even she felt calmer as she listened. The stallion nodded its head and continued its headlong charge. As they climbed, the cloud cover grew denser and surrounded them, giving them a cloak of near-invisibility. Lachlan raised his torso enough to see their surroundings. When no more arrow soared toward him, he looked around.

  The other Sutherlands had disappeared, but the echo of their horses’ hoofbeats carried to him. They were in front of him, which made sense to him since their horses only carried a single rider. Lachlan strained to hear anything from behind. With the low visibility, Lachlan knew everyone was moving slower, but he had no desire for his enemy to catch up to him.

  “Stay quiet, Belle,” Lachlan whispered beside her ear before he dismounted. He grasped his horse’s bridle and led it along the rocky ground. He was certain he heard Spiorad breathe a sigh of relief to have only one rider. Lachlan looked back at Arabella, who still laid over the horse’s withers but watched Lachlan with wide eyes. They continued their ascent in silence, and soon Lachlan couldn’t hear anything around him. That worried him more than if he heard Gunn’s army chasing them.

  The cloud cover opened, and Arabella had a breathtaking view across the Cairngorm Mountain range. While they weren’t the tallest mountains she’d heard of, they were still spectacular. As Lachlan’s steed lumbered beneath her, she was reminded of the tale she’d read about the North African invader, Hannibal, who marched into Rome with elephants he’d brought through the Alps. She patted Spiorad’s neck and said a prayer of thanksgiving that she was on horseback and not elephant back.

  They continued in silence for another quarter hour before Lachlan stopped beneath an outcropping of rocks and helped Arabella down from the saddle. They wrapped one another in their arms and embraced, both relieved that their death-defying mountain climb was over. Arabella rested her head against his chest and listened to Lachlan’s heartbeat. The strong, steady, and slow rhythm calmed her own racing heart. Her nerves were still fraught with anxiety, and she longed for a drink despite nearly drowning in a barrel’s worth of whisky for two days. A tremble began in her hands as she thought about the taste and the warmth it would provide her against the blustery wind that whipped around the mountaintop.

  “Belle?” Lachlan looked down at Arabella. “You’re shaking.”

  “Just chilled,” Arabella answered. Lachlan tightened his hold, and it wasn’t long before Arabella felt like she was sweltering.

  “I ken ye’re nae still cold, Belle. What’s wrong?” Lachlan pressed. Arabella shook her head and tried to look away, too ashamed of her weakness. “Are ye wishing for a drink?”

  Arabella gasped, her embarrassment morphing into humiliation. She tried to step away from Lachlan, but he kept her at his side.

  “Belle, I dinna want anyone to see ye. We’re protected here, but if ye step out, ye will be a target if anyone is nearby,” Lachlan warned. He cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Dinna hide from me, mo ghaol. I will always find ye. If ye need some space, say so, and I will give it to ye as best I can. But if ye’re hiding because ye fear what I will say or do, I dinna want that to come between us.”

  “It’s both,” Arabella confessed. “I’m restless and jumpy from the attack, and it’s only made worse by how badly I need a drink.” She looked away from him. “I hate telling you that, and I despise myself for being so weak. I want to push you away and pull you closer. I don’t know what I want.”

  Lachlan released her but took one hand in his. He brought it to his lips before letting go. He didn’t move away, and neither did she, but he wouldn’t crowd her. Arabella turned tearful eyes to him, and the look would haunt him for years. She looked nearly as distraught as she had the morning he’d found her sprawled across her bed. “Dinna give up, lass. I never will. Arabella, I need ye too much to lose ye.”

  Arabella heard the emotion in Lachlan’s voice, and the hurt and fear she saw in his eyes confounded her. She never imagined seeing such vulnerability in the man she believed could move mountains if he tried. It wrenched at her heart to know she caused it, but it proved a depth of feeling that his words simply couldn’t.

  “For you, I won’t,” Arabella promised.

  “It canna just be for me. It has to be for ye too. It has to be what ye want.”

  “Don’t you think I want to be sober? Don’t you think I hate myself for who I am?” Arabella hissed. Her temper sparked, and she wanted to lash out at someone, something. The venom in her voice didn’t make Lachlan flinch. Her emotions found it patronizing, even while her mind reasoned that he was being the support she needed. Instead of answering her, Lachlan pointed past her.

  “Do ye see that mountain? It’s Meall a’ Chaorruinn, or the Hill of the Rowan Tree, and it’s a wee more than a mile from here. Badenoch isnae far past it. Just a ways to the northwest. There’s a cave in Meall a’ Chaorruinn that ye will only find if ye ken where to look. We need to pass over the summit of A’ Bhuidheanach Bheag, and we should find Wallace and the others. If we do, then we’ll make for the cave. I’ll send the men out to hunt, then down to the village of Dalwhinnie. I dinna think Beathan will think to look there, as the village is easy to miss. George has distant cousins there, and we sometimes stop for the night.” Lachlan took Arabella’s h
ands again. “Once we have food in the cave, ye and I will stay while the men are in Dalwhinnie.”

  “Why?” Arabella’s emerald eyes were wide with confusion and apprehension.

  “Because ye are going to be vera ill for the next few days as yer body purges its cravings. I dinna want anyone to see ye like that. I would spare ye the embarrassment. But ye willna be able to travel much longer before ye start feeling poorly. The cave is the safest place within a few days’ ride where nay one will notice us. There’s a stream near it with fresh water, and the cave is deep enough that I can build a fire without smoking us out or signaling the Gunns, if they’re still in the area.”

  “What will it be like?” Arabella whispered.

  “I dinna ken for sure. I’ve only heard what happens, and it’s different for different people. But ye may feel like ye have a fever, likely throw up, have a headache. Ye will sweat and shiver. Ye willna want to eat for a couple of days. Ye may become vera angry and jumpy. Some people see things that arenae really there,” Lachlan explained.

  “For how long?” Arabella was terrified to hear the answer.

  “The worst may last aboot two or three days. Ye should be on the mend after five or six days, a sennight at most, I think.”

  “You think?” Arabella snapped. She covered her mouth and shook her head. “I’m sorry. You already told me you’ve never witnessed it. I shouldn’t treat you like this. Leave me with enough water when we get to the cave, then go with your men.”

  “Ye’re bluidy out of yer heid if ye think I’m going anywhere without ye. And I most certainly amnae bluidy well leaving ye alone. Ye can do us both a favor and put that notion right out of yer bonnie little heid.” Lachlan didn’t intend to growl at Arabella, but he was growing frustrated.

  The past month with Arabella had been little more than one disaster after another. Lachlan was tired. He wanted to be done with the fear for Arabella’s wellbeing, the fear of someone taking her from him, the fear of her doing something thoughtless. He wanted nothing more than to have the woman he knew still lurked within Arabella to re-emerge, and he wanted to go home.

  “I don’t want you to see me like that,” Arabella confessed. “I’m scared you’ll reach the point where you’ve had enough, and you can’t keep forgiving me.”

  Lachlan stifled the sigh he nearly released, realizing it would only make Arabella more agitated if she heard him. He knew this was a situation of her own making—to an extent. She was as much a victim as she was to blame. And laying either of those at her feet would get them nowhere.

  “What kind of husband would I be if I walked away at the first sign of trouble? Life willna always be easy. I could lose an arm or a leg in battle and be a cripple for the rest of ma life. Ye might have to take care of me like a wee bairn. Will ye leave me if that happens?”

  “You know I wouldn’t,” Arabella shook her head as she spoke.

  “Then none of this foolishness. This isnae easy, and this isnae how I hoped our life together would begin, but this is where we find ourselves,” Lachlan’s gaze bore into hers, daring her to refute what he said.

  “When we come out of this on the other side, there will be naught we can’t face together,” Arabella said.

  “Ye have the right of that, lass.”

  Arabella stilled as she looked up at Lachlan. She took in the face she knew so well, the physique she was learning, and the steadfastness he always showed. “Thank you.”

  They were two of the simplest words, but they conveyed so much of how she felt in that moment. Lachlan nodded, then his face eased into one of his boyish smiles that she saw so rarely. She was used to his rakish grins, his brotherly smiles, and his deep rumble of laughter. But the smile she saw now was unlike any of the others. She’d only glimpsed it a few times, and it felt like a secret only she knew. She ran the pad of her thumb over his lips before rising onto her toes. Their foreheads rested together before they exchanged a quick peck. Their lingering look expressed how they both wished for more, but they had a mountain to finish climbing.

  Thirty-Three

  Lachlan held Arabella’s hand while the other held his horse’s reins. As they crested the summit, they had another expansive view of the land surrounding them. On three sides were more mountain peaks, while to the west the rolling hills of the Highlands stretched before them. Lachlan whistled a bird call, and it was only a moment later that they heard a response. Wallace and his horse seemed to appear from nowhere as Arabella twisted and turned to see where he might have been hiding. The other men appeared too, and a frisky mare nickered and tried to pull away from George.

  “Firelight!” Arabella exclaimed. The horse stomped its hoof, nearly landing on George’s foot. He released the reins, and Firelight appeared to prance toward Arabella. She wrapped her arms around her horse’s neck as she rubbed the long bridge of her horse’s nose. Lachlan watched her fondly as she chattered quietly to her horse, promising the animal all the carrots, apples, and sugar she could eat. He motioned his men to come closer, but they knew to stand where all five of them could see Arabella.

  “Any sign of the Gunns?” Lachlan asked.

  “Nay,” George shook his head. “Last we saw, Beathan was bleeding from where I stabbed him. The men with him fell, and he was gushing blood like a bubbling spring.”

  “We havenae seen hide nor hair of them,” Lellan said. Lachlan noticed only a small portion of the arrow protruded from his back. Someone had snapped the shaft. He cradled his left arm across his chest, but he looked as if the wound barely fazed him. He assured Lachlan, “It’ll come right. Wallace’ll take it out once we are somewhere he can clean and seal it. Aches, but it’s nae too deep.”

  “Do you think Graham and the other men stayed at the base with Beathan?” Lachlan asked.

  “Likely,” Wallace said. “They dinna ken these hills like we do. I havenae seen any sign of them, so I imagine they’re regrouping and planning what to do next.”

  “I’m taking Lady Arabella to cave in Meall a’ Chaorruinn. I need ye to hunt enough to last us a sennight. I can take her to the brook, but I dinna want to be away from her as long as it would take to hunt.”

  Four faces turned toward Arabella. As though she sensed their gazes, she turned around. Four sets of eyes studiously avoided hers. She glanced at Lachlan, but his smile assured her that all was well. She suspected they were discussing her, but Lachlan had to tell his men the truth. They deserved to know the plans that involved them all. She turned back to Firelight.

  “Before aught else, ye need to ken Lady Arabella and I are wed. Lady Menzies and Lady Millicent stood as our witnesses. We married by declaration.” Lachlan lowered his voice for his next comment. “I have the proof. So nay one can claim she is meant to marry another mon. She is ma legal wife.”

  While the men kept their voices low, they congratulated Lachlan with warrior handshakes and claps on the back. When Arabella looked back at them again, she had a grin that matched Lachlan’s. She continued to talk to Firelight as she walked around her horse, checking the mare’s legs and flanks. Lachlan continued explaining to his men what would happen next.

  “Ye ken Beathan kept her drunk the entire time he had her, and ye ken she had problems with the drink before that. We’re going to Meall a’ Chaorruinn, so she can recover from her need for whisky. I want her safe and with privacy. Ye will go to Dalwhinnie and wait for us there.”

  “Lachlan,” Wallace shook his head.

  “I willna be gainsaid on this, Wall,” Lachlan warned.

  Wallace stepped closer, and all five men leaned in. “Ye need us closer than that. If Beathan finds ye while she’s ill, ye willna be able to move her. Ye canna defend her alone. If she’s as ill as ma uncle was when he got off the drink, then ye may need more than one set of hands.”

  Lachlan knew his friend and guard made sound points, but he didn’t want the men in the same space as where he hoped Arabella could fight past her demons. He nodded slowly. “Go to A’ Bhuidheanach. It’s les
s than a mile from Meall a’ Chaorruinn, and it’s taller than this mountain or Meall. Ye’ll have a better view of anyone coming or going.”

  “We can make do there. We’ll take shifts, two with ye and two on A’ Bhuidheanach,” Taran spoke. The quietest of the men, he observed much and spoke little. “If ye dinna want her to ken, she’ll have nay idea we’re there.”

  Lachlan shook his head. He wouldn’t keep secrets from Arabella. He called out to her, and she gave Firelight one last stroke between her wide-set eyes. She smiled at the men as she took her place beside Lachlan. He explained the change in plans, and she nodded, softly agreeing that it was wiser for them to stay close together. They were prepared to start walking when Arabella coughed out a nervous laugh.

  “If A’ Bhuidheanach Bheag,” Arabella struggled to say. “Means the little girl, does A’ Bhuidheanach mean the girl or the little?” Arabella asked timidly.

  “The girl, ma lady. Ye did vera well with that. They arenae easy names for someone who doesnae speak Gaelic,” Wallace offered. Then he grinned. “Yet.”

  “Aye, yet. I told Lachlan some time back that I would like to learn,” Arabella admitted. She looked questioningly when Lachlan snapped at the men in Gaelic, and they laughed riotously. “What?”