Kiss A Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (A Highlander Across Time Book 2)

by Rebecca Preston

  "Have your fun, men. I know I will have mine," Gabriel shouted.

  The bandits surrounded Bran ready to fight him all at once.

  "Coward!" Bran shouted.

  But Gabriel didn't care. Edith whispered under her breath, "Bran…"

  But before she could make a move, her hair was pulled. Gabriel had a hold of her braid and pulled her onto her back on the ground.

  "Gabriel stop!" she shouted.

  "Let go of her! Come fight me, coward!" Bran roared.

  Gabriel only pulled harder on her braid until he was dragging her on the forest floor on her back.

  "Stop! Let me go!" Edith shouted at the top of her lungs and kicked high. She kicked a small log that snapped up and fell. This spooked her horse and Bran's horse to the point that they bolted. Before anyone could grab them the horses were off, deep into the woods back toward the main road.

  "I can see that you have fallen for this temptress! You will regret it because now you will have to watch me torture her, just as she deserves," Gabriel shouted looking at Bran. "Get him!" Gabriel ordered.

  The bandits attacked. Edith couldn't see what was happening as she was dragged further away.

  "I hate you! You bastard! You are nothing! I do not belong to you! You're a freak!" she said.

  Gabriel stopped pulling her and… whack. Hit her across the head. Everything went dark.

  Edith stirred. She woke up and found cold stone underneath her hands and belly. She looked up to see the torches of the castle lighting the long dark corridor. She got up to her feet, completely confused. She called out for Bran, but there was no answer. Then she heard Gabriel, his voice echoing off the stone walls, shouting for her and coming for her.

  Edith started running down the corridor, away from him. She ran as fast as she could, tripping over the long skirts of her dress. She fell to the ground hard, hurting her head. Then she got up to her feet and began to run again, blood was dripping down her face from her busted forehead. She ran hard, with Gabriel closing in on her chasing her. But no matter how far and fast she ran, the corridor had no end.

  She ran and ran and could not find any help. She called out to Bran. Then she tripped over something. She raised up on her hands and saw Bran, lying dead underneath her. She screamed, and then could hear Gabriel laughing.

  "No. It cannot be."

  Chapter 29

  Edith stirred awake. She felt the cold forest ground beneath her. Her eyes fluttered. It was then she realized that she'd had the same nightmare again. The last thing she remembered was being hit on the head, then having the dream that she had been having since she arrived in this time period.

  She did not know how many hours had passed. When she woke up, it was dark, and it seemed like it had been dark for quite some time. Her first deep breath of air was filled with smoke. She opened her eyes fully and saw that she was very close to a campfire that had a lot of wooden embers around it letting her know that it had been on for quite some time. She knew this because she had learned a lot about how long it took for wood to burn down since she had learned to tend to the fireplace in her own room.

  Not wanting to alert anyone that she was awake, she did not make any sort of sudden movement. She kept her eyes slightly closed and looked in the direction of Bran and the guards. They were tied up, but to different trees than before. This gave her a sense of relief because she thought that maybe Bran might be dead at this point. He did not look good, there was blood dribbling down his mouth over his chin and his head hung low, but she could see that he was stirring. It was obvious that the men had ganged up on him and beat him.

  But there was a body, lying on the ground in front of Bran. She realized that it was one of Gabriel's men, the larger one. He had a dagger in his heart. This must be the result of fighting with Bran, she thought. It was unfair that all the men had attacked him at once. But it proved to be deadly for them, at least for one of them. Turning her head slightly she saw Gabriel sitting with the other bandits, eating the food that Maria had given her, sandwiches. They drank their wine and water.

  Next Edith did a mental check of her body. Had she been raped? Closing her eyes, she moved her legs slightly together and could feel her pantalettes still on underneath her dress. They had not been torn off and she did not feel any sort of soreness on her body except for on her head where Gabriel had hit her. She must have fallen unconscious.

  Because of this, her hands and feet were not tied. This was her chance, but what could she possibly do? She moved her head again, looking over at the man who was dead on the ground with the dagger in his heart. If she could just get that dagger, then she would have some sort of weapon but there were still a lot of men at Gabriel's side and she was no match for them.

  "Well, look who is awake just in time for dessert," Gabriel said.

  Her eyes grew wide as she turned to look at him. He was wiping away wine that was running down his chin and she knew that he was incredibly drunk. This was not good, and a wave of fear ran through her body as she sat up onto her knees and slowly rose to her feet.

  "I will finally take what is mine, considering I haven't sampled it before. But now I will impregnate you with my child and you will forever be mine. After I kill your friends here, you are coming with me and you will never see this countryside again," he said walking slowly to her.

  "I told you before that I am not yours. Just go away, Gabriel, you had your freedom. You had to come back just for revenge how stupid are you?" she said.

  Gabriel stopped. "I have never heard you say something like that before. It looks like someone has grown some courage. Nevertheless, it's not going to save you."

  He took a running start to her and she turned to take a step to run away, but he was on top of her in no time. The bandits cheered, egging Gabriel on.

  "I'll punish you in front of everyone!" Gabriel shouted clawing at her clothes.

  Bran let out a frustrated groan and started to move in his binds. But Edith knew that there was no one to save her. She had to do something. It was entirely up to her.

  She got to her feet, scrambling across the dirt, and threw herself on top of the dead body. Blood splattered on her.

  "Disgusting! Get off that!" Gabriel shouted.

  "Oh, she wants to dead man more than she wants you!" a bandit shouted.

  Gabriel did not like hearing the bandits make fun of him. He grabbed Edith's hair and pulled her up. Edith had the dagger in her hand and sliced Gabriel on the cheek. Her eyes grew wide, she'd surprised even herself with this movement. Gabriel let go of her and grabbed his cheek, squealing like a pig.

  The bandits laughed, hooting and hollering. Edith took the opportunity and ran to Bran as quickly as she could and sliced at the rope tying his hands. But only a few threads of the twine came undone because the rope was so thick.

  "Grab her, you idiots," Gabriel shouted as he held onto his bleeding cheek.

  Edith worked the rope as much as she could with the knife, but the bandits were on her almost immediately pulling her away. One grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, hurting her arm so badly that she opened her hand and the dagger fell to the ground.

  "You pussy, Gabriel! You can do nothing without these men! You are no man!" she shouted at him.

  Bran let out a small laugh.

  Gabriel took very fast strides to her as the men held her. "Shut up, whore!"

  Gabriel grabbed the dagger from the ground and held it up to her face. He started shouting and screaming how he was going to gut her. "I'll pull your insides out!"

  Chapter 30

  Bran could not contain his rage watching Gabriel drag Edith along the ground of the forest by her hair. The heat inside his body turned red hot, and he knew that he was not going to allow Gabriel to live. No amount of being tortured in prison would be good enough, he wanted to take the man's life for causing her harm.

  He wanted to be the one to beat him, so he challenged Gabriel to a one-on-one fight, that of course Gabriel did not do because
he was a coward and left his men to fight Bran, ganging up on him. Bran had the upper hand for quite some time, being used to fighting several at once, and managed to kill the big one of the group, stabbing him directly in the heart with his own dagger. But then the other men got a good blow on his head, with the back of the hilt of a sword knocking him cold. When he awoke he was tied to the tree again.

  Edith again was in danger, but Bran was completely surprised to see her rescue herself. He'd had her all wrong. She may have once been weak, vulnerable, and much like a child but she had grown. In this moment he watched as she made the decision to throw herself upon a dead man in order to grab the weapon in his heart. Then she used it to defend herself, cutting Gabriel across the face. She was like a warrior, a Scottish woman warrior unlike any he had ever seen. She was strong and quick, not needing too much time to think about what to do next. He didn't need to order her around, she knew instinctively what to do, even better than some of his own men.

  So, when she moved to him, to begin to cut at the ropes at his wrist, he knew that there was hope they were going to get out of this. He felt the rope loosen, and knew it was enough, even though she was taken away from him as soon as the Irish bandits got a hold of her.

  He felt the ropes loosen more, and began to work his way out of them, until he was completely free. But it wasn't over yet.

  Now, he faced off with Gabriel as he held the dagger to Edith once more, threatening her life. Bran knew that he would make Gabriel pay for all that he had done. By the look on Gabriel's face, he knew too.

  Gabriel raised the knife high, ready to come down on top of her, but as he did so Bran stopped him by grabbing his wrist. Bran had busted out of the ropes that Edith had loosened with the knife. With a quick movement, Bran put his large hand on Gabriel's head and slammed it into a tree, knocking him unconscious. Edith got loose and ran to the guards to untie them as quickly as she could. Gabriel fought, punching the bandits that came at him. But it wasn't long before the guards were at his side fighting as well. Finally, Gabriel and the guards had the bandits laying out on the ground unconscious.

  "Are you all right? Where are you hurt?" Bran asked Edith as he came to her side, putting his hands on her arms.

  "I think I'm okay. What about you? You look badly hurt, Bran."

  "I've been worse, trust me."

  Edith hugged him tightly. But Bran only indulged for a few seconds before pushing away from her to direct his men.

  "Guards, gather rope to tie up these Irish scum. They escaped from our prisons and that is where they will live out the rest of their days."

  Edith turned toward the forest, and looked to be peering into the dark, at what he didn't know and then she gasped.

  "Do that and I will kill her," Gabriel said. He had Edith from behind with the knife pointed against her neck, again.

  Bran and the guards turned to face him. A dark feeling filled him..

  Edith looked at Bran, pleading with him to not risk his life for hers with just one look.

  But Bran had anger in his heart as he stepped forward, ready to pounce on this man.

  "You thought you could take what is mine? No. You will not. If you want her, you will have her as a corpse unless you back off," Gabriel said stepping backward.

  "Do you really think that you can escape this? Let her go and I might let you live to spend your days in prison instead of killing you where you stand," Bran said.

  "Listen," one of the castle guards said to Bran.

  The sound of horses hooves rumbled nearby. Then the sound of a voice on the wind said, "Bran!" The horn from the castle guard blew on the wind.

  Bran recognized it instantly as the Laird.

  "You are surrounded now. Let her go. You will be strung by the neck for murder if she dies. She is a friend of the Lady of the castle and if you harm her, you will not live," Bran said.

  Just then the trees parted, and Cameron appeared with a small band of guards that surrounded the encampment. As they took their positions, Gabriel dropped the knife and fell to his knees.

  Edith ran into Bran's arms. He put her behind him, shielding her.

  "Help. These bandits took me hostage!" Gabriel shouted.

  Just then one of the Irish bandits stood up behind Gabriel and said, "Gabriel what are you doing?"

  "It was this one. This one is the leader of this gang and he took me as his prisoner from the castle. Arrest him," Gabriel shouted.

  The Irish bandit clearly had had enough. Whack. He pierced Gabriel through the chest from behind with his sword.

  Edith screamed from behind him. He knew she had never seen a man killed in front of her eyes before, especially not a man she knew.

  "Guards. Take these men!" Cameron shouted.

  The guards moved in.

  Cameron dismounted and moved to Bran's side. "You look like shit. Are you dying?" Cameron asked sarcastically.

  Bran laughed. "I think I've done more harm to myself in sword practice. How did you know to find us?"

  "Your horse showed up at the stables without you. Considering you do not let that creature out of your sight, we knew something had happened. Though I'm surprised that it is this. All this time this man has been out there, planning his revenge," Cameron said.

  "Yes, and now he is no more," Bran said.

  "Are you hurt, Lady Collins?" Cameron asked.

  "A little bruised, but nothing broken or stabbed. I think I shall heal," she said.

  "Good. I will see to this," Cameron said to Bran and moved to oversee his guards with the prisoners.

  "Edith," Bran said taking her into his arms.

  "Bran… I am so happy you are alright."

  "I must confess that I am shaken. Nothing has ever made me as angry as seeing you being hurt in front of my eyes. I will never forgive myself for not being able to stop it."

  "You did everything that you could. You are here and I am here and that is all that matters," she said.

  "All that matters is how I feel holding you in my arms now, Edith. I love you," he said.

  "You do?" Edith smiled brilliantly. "I love you too, Bran."

  "I have loved you since the moment I saw you, but I could not say anything."

  "I wish you would have told me."

  "I could not. I do not expect you to understand this code of honor of our people, but it is strong. Trust me it was hard to stick to it."

  "And now?" she asked.

  "And now… you can be mine," he growled huskily. He pulled her to him and kissed her.

  Chapter 31

  Edith never thought she would ever go through the type of adventure that she had found herself on. She never thought that at she would be brainwashed into marrying a man that was a monster. Nothing could have ever prepared her for the journey that she had taken. Not only had she faced grave danger and grown up, learning so much about who she was and what she was capable of, but she also learned about other people. Never again did she let a silver tongued person get the better of her. After her dealings with Gabriel she had learned to spot it early.

  But not only did the journey allow her to grow and learn as a person, but it had allowed her to have the adventure of a lifetime, traveling back in time and into history. She was so glad that she was not alone in this and that Maria had experienced the same thing, at least it would let her know that she had not lost her mind.

  This adventure was unlike anything that she ever thought could happen to her, and although she missed her family greatly in modern life, she was glad to have found a new family. Nothing made her more grateful than looking into the blue grey eyes of the man she loved. His eyes were like the color of the Scottish sea surrounding the island. They held love and lust and passion for her.

  Now as she faced those beautiful eyes, she knew that this was the man that she was meant to be with. This was true love and there was no way that she could have ever known that she had to travel back in time in order to find him.

  "I bind your hands together in ceremony that
you Bran and you Edith are committed to each other in spiritual body and soul," Cameron said as he stood in front of Bran and Edith.

  They held hands and a binding rope tied around their wrists. Bran kissed Edith, sealing the ceremony and making her his bride.

  The crowd cheered.

  Edith smiled at her new husband. Her heart filled with joy. Finally, after all that she had gone through, she had love and happiness. It had seemed that this destiny was so far from her, and it had been. It was waiting for her in another time period.

  Bran picked Edith up into his arms and whispered, "I'm taking you to my room… that is our room."

  "But what about the feast? All are expecting us in the grand hall," she said.

  "They know where we are. We will meet with them in a few hours."

  "Hours?" she asked.

  "Hours… yes," he said. "I've waited a long time and my appetite is uncontrollable."

  A few moments later, he opened the door to his rooms and carried her inside.

  "Lass… my petite wife," he said kissing her.

  "Bran…" she whispered. "I love you, husband."

  Bran pressed his lips to hers and carried her to his large bed. He kissed her with more passion as he pressed her into the mattress with the weight of his own body.

  Her hands moved down his neck and over his strong back as she pulled at his tunic and wedding clothes. He leaned back and smiled.

  "Hungry, wife?"

  "I am. Take this off. All of it and when you are done take my clothes from me."

  "You command me the way I command my armies," he said as he stood up and shed from his clothing.

  Edith sucked in a sharp breath of air as she looked at his incredibly strong body.

  Then he started to pull at the laces and ties of her dress, until she was naked lying in front of him.

  "My God, lass. You are a beauty," he said before laying on top of her once more.

  Her desire overtook her hands as she wrapped them around his hard manhood. He groaned in delight. His tongue brushed against hers and caressed her softly. Edith moaned softly at his touch. His hands fondled her bosom. She gasped.