Thistle and Flame - Her Highland Hero

by Anya Karin

  Ramsay Macdonald’s eyes clenched shut.

  “No one,” he said, “makes a fool of Ramsay Macdonald.”

  “Twice,” added Alan.

  “Come on!”

  Kenna wiped her eyes and her nose when she heard the rapping at her door.

  “Wh – who’s there?”

  “Open the door, Kenna, I’ve got some questions for you.”

  Oh no, it’s Macdonald. He knows. He must know. He’s got to know that Gavin and I...

  “Open the door!”

  “Yes, yes my lord, one moment, I’m not dressed.”

  Pulling the shawl around her shoulders as tight as possible, Kenna’s hand shook violently as she tugged the bar off the back of her door and permitted her visitors to enter.

  “What can I do for you, Laird Macdonald?”

  Alan shuffled in afterwards, though she pointedly refused to acknowledge him. He crossed the room and addressed her with good manners, bowing deeply and kissing her hand. Kenna shuddered at the vague brown stain on her skin and wiped it on the sheriff’s lapel.

  “She’s spritely, for a certain,” Macdonald said.

  “Tell us about your lover!” The sheriff said. He shouted and pointed, so close that Kenna smelled the sweet drink on his breath.

  “My what?” She said with a hand on her chest. “I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Leave us, Sheriff,” Macdonald said. “I’ll speak to my fiancée privately. Go.”

  He watched the sheriff dodder out of the room and down the hall before shaking his head and turning back to Kenna.

  “You had some contact with one of the brigands. Orrick said that he asked you to dance and then kissed you before he darted out the window with half my dishes and spirits. All I need to know is if you’ve got any idea who he was. That’s all.”

  “But no! Why would I know him? I’ve only been here a day. I left behind everything I knew when I left Fort Mary.” Her lips were trembling, and despite her best efforts, tears streaked how down Kenna’s cheeks.

  “Ah no, no, don’t do that. No need for crying, dear Kenna.” Macdonald said. “I’m not accusing you of any complicity you understand.”

  “Then why are you asking me this? I’m as scared as anyone else who was there, what with the guns and all the to-do.”

  “I have to investigate all possibilities. You were dancing with one of the men, so I thought you had some connection.”

  As he spoke, Kenna sat down on the bed and accidentally let part of her wrapping slip and she caught a glimpse of Macdonald looking at her before he shifted his weight.

  Why does he keep moving around like that? Kenna thought. It’s like he’s trying to hide something.

  “I’m sorry I reacted as I did, my lord,” Kenna said. “It’s been a very exciting evening. I’m very tired, very anxious. Is there anything else you need from me? If not I’d like to get to sleep. I want to go back to town tomorrow and see the rest of the sights I couldn’t today for lack of time.”

  “Oh, that will be quite impossible, I’m afraid. You can’t leave the manor, not with this group of brigands on the loose and obviously going after me. That’s out of the question.”

  “You mean I’m to be locked inside?”

  “Until things have settled down, yes. You’ll be confined to the estate. I don’t even want you going to the gardens. I don’t want you hurt, or worse.”

  Don’t want me to have any chance of getting away you mean, Kenna thought.

  A moment passed in silence before Laird Macdonald began to speak again.

  “It may sound overcautious, but there is a threat of such a thing. If you were to be kidnapped now, even though you’re my betrothed, the only crime under the law would be person snatching. And a slight against my honor, but that’s not worth much to the Crown.”

  Macdonald paced back and forth, thinking out loud.

  “But, if we were married, and then you were kidnapped...what a horrible scandal that would be. Just imagine the nobles’ reaction. My wife! The Lady of Kilroyston! Snatched away by a brigand. I imagine we could even get one of the local militias to assemble and hunt him down. And rescue you, of course.”

  He walked in a circle, wringing his hands. Kenna watched him as Macdonald grew more and more excited and spoke at a quicker rate.

  “Then again, if it ever came out that I’d not only married you and then used you as bait to get the militia after this man who’s made a fool of me the scandal would turn.”

  “Bait? Laird Macdonald, I’m sorry but I’ve lost what you’re saying.”

  “No, no, Ramsay,” He said. “She wouldn’t be used as bait.”

  He wants to lure Gavin by letting him kidnap me? There’s no way they could make things that easy.

  “It’s a risk, but if it worked, it would go quite a long way to restore my honor. After all, he did kiss my wife.”

  “Fiancée,” Kenna said.

  Kenna chewed her lip and intertwined her fingers against her naked belly, under the blanket. Instinctively, she touched the ever present thistle hanging at her throat. When she looked at Macdonald, he looked back at her with half-opened, unimpressed eyes, although he was still shifting his weight back and forth. Catching a draft, Kenna pulled her blanket back up around her shoulders, and the Laird looked away.

  “I don’t understand, my Lord,” Kenna said. “Do you mean that if I’m kidnapped before we’re married, there’s less of a penalty to the man who kidnaps me?”

  “Quite right. Under English law, the kidnapping of a commoner is hardly punished. It’s unlikely the police would even search. However, if you’re married to me, and so you’re a Lady, then it’s certain he’d be hunted down. Strangled to death, dangling from the end of a rope with his feet kicking back and forth.”

  “What is it you mean to do with me?” Kenna’s eyes flashed as her voice rose.

  “You’ll not speak to me like that, girl.” Macdonald said. “If you know what’s best for you.”

  “I forgot my place, sir,” she said. “But I’m still confused on your plan. We’re not to be wed for months. Does that mean I’ll have to stay inside until then?”

  Kenna drew her knees up under her chin.

  “Miss Kenna,” he said with a sneer, “how would you like to become Lady Kenna sooner, rather than later?”

  Kenna turned to Ramsay and stared at him, lip trembling in spite of her strength.

  “Is that really what you’ve planned?” She said.

  “Which part?”

  “The wedding? Is it really so easy? Being moved up? Aren’t there preparations that have to be made?”

  “I think it’s for the best, don’t you? For your own sake, Kenna. If you’re kidnapped, or God forbid, run away,” at that he glared at her, “the law pays much more attention to a Lady in duress than it does a common person. It’s for your own good.”

  “But what if...” What if I don’t want to, she thought.

  “What if what?” Macdonald set on the bed beside her, groaning as he did.

  “No, nothing. You’ll keep me safe, won’t you?”

  “Of course I will. That’s a husband’s job after all.” He stood as he spoke and closed the door, remaining inside.

  When he turned back, Ramsay Macdonald had a terrible look on his face and two of his fingers were unhooking his waistcoat.

  “Wh – what are you doing?”

  “Shh, be quiet. I won’t hurt you,” he said.

  “Hurt me? Oh! No! Stop!”

  “You don’t say no to me, do you understand? I own you, Kenna Moore.”

  He grabbed the top of Kenna’s shawl and ripped it out of her fingers. “I always get lonely after parties. Good thing I’ve got you now, isn’t it?”

  “Please, Laird Macdonald, master, sir, please don’t. I’ve never...”

  “I know,” he said eyeing her hungrily. “That’s why I took you from your father. If you’d been touched, I’d have left you there, rotting away
in that backwater Hellhole you came from. But here you are.”

  With a tug, he pulled her cover off the rest of the way and Kenna curled up to hide her nakedness from him, but he grabbed her foot and pulled that away too, baring her to his lecherous, devouring eyes.

  “I’m going to enjoy this,” he said, “I’m going to enjoy this more than you could ever know, little lass.”

  She shuddered, and then began to weep at his dry, cool touch.

  “Please!”

  “Oh leave off,” he said. “I’m not going to touch you tonight. I wanted only to see what I was going to have. I’m satisfied. I’d not defile you before we were wed. Afterwards, though...wait then, what’s this?”

  He pulled Kenna’s hand away from her neck and then slapped it when she reached back.

  “Jewelry? Who gave you this?”

  “I’m sorry sir, it’s only a thistle, it’s from home, I-”

  Macdonald grabbed the glass bauble and yanked on it, snapping the string and burning Kenna’s neck.

  “You have only one home now. This one. Best remember that.”

  “Please let me have it, it’s the only thing I have to remember G – ah, to remember my mother and father by. Please!”

  “Who is G? What were you about to say before you stopped yourself, you red-haired tart?”

  “Nothing! My tongue slipped! I’m scared and made a mistake, please!”

  He slapped Kenna across the face and then grabbed her hair, pulling her close.

  “Don’t lie to me, girl.” She tasted his breath. “Don’t lie to me now, or ever. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes, I’m not lying!”

  Ramsay Macdonald pulled her close so that she had to suck air into her stomach to avoid touching his belly, held her there, staring into his awful eyes for a moment, then flung her backwards. Her knees hit the bed and then she sat down hard, thankful for the softness.

  “Remember your place. You’ll not argue or fight. Do you understand?”

  In his fist, he clenched her thistle. He may as well have had her heart.

  “Yes sir, yes, I’m so sorry for whatever I did, I’ll never do it again.”

  “See that you don’t.”

  He turned to leave, then remembered the object in his hand which he flung as hard as he could at Kenna, but she jerked the blanket up just in time for it to thump harmlessly off and to the floor.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow. You’ll begin fitting and lessons for the wedding. I’ll hear no complaints.”

  The door slammed shut.

  Kenna clutched her thistle to her chest, thought about Gavin, and let the tears soundlessly spill down her cheeks.

  “Come for me,” she whispered to her empty room. “Please, Gavin, please come.”

  She remembered that he was to come in two days, but she feared that was too late, too long away. She feared her heart would break in two before she saw him again.

  I’ll be strong, she thought, clenching her fist. I’ll be strong for you. I’ll do whatever I have to do if it means I can feel your arms around me just one more time.

  Chapter Ten

  As John and Gavin slept, a rock with a note wrapped round it sailed through the open window, waking both of them. John rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and stretched his neck.

  “What’s this then?” He said.

  “A letter, looks like.” Gavin said.

  “Yes, of course, your brains are why you’re the leader of our little gang.” He slid his finger along the seal. “You expecting anything from anybody?”

  “No, not that I know of,” Gavin said. “Red, maybe? Needing us to save him from his wife?”

  John read in silence for a moment.

  “Oh,” he said. “It’s from Lynne.”

  “Lynne?”

  “Aye, while you were cavorting around with your girlfriend at the Laird’s manor, I was doing the same, but with a serving girl. A man must keep to his station,” he said with a profoundly ridiculous Londoner’s accent.

  “Good for you,” Gavin said. “Is there a reason you’re telling me about your love note, or is it just to brag?”

  “Oh, piss off, you old grouch,” John laughed. “You’ll be with yours soon enough. But no, she’s only part time at Macdonald’s lair of self-loathing Scotsmen playing at being English. She also works down town at a club. It’s modeled after the salon springing up all over the place.”

  “Ach, right, I’ve heard of that. Where rich old men sit around, swill brandy and talk about politics, Voltaire and how to best maintain their levels of wealth, aye?”

  “Not far off. But this one is more of an investment club. Less philosophy and more trying to leverage banks and so on, which she explained but I cared not to understand lest I take my attention away from her luscious...”

  “Right, so, what is it the letter says and why am I still awake in the middle of the knight? A rogue needs his beauty sleep.”

  “Lips.”

  “What?”

  “I was going to say lips. She’s got these gorgeous ruby lips that are big and full and plump. Even when she was wearing servant’s livery, she was a sight.”

  “I’m sure she is. Very nicely done, John.” Gavin heaved a sigh. “What of this salon?”

  “Well, she goes on at the beginning about my dashing good looks at some length, and then when she gets to the part about the salon, I lost interest. Let me see what it says. Ah, yes very good. Uh-huh. Right. Very informative!”

  “I’m going back to sleep. Wake me up if you decide to stop being a pud’s tip.”

  “Wait, wait!” John said. “It would seem as though my dear Lynne has invited us for a party.”

  “Not in the mood. Had enough of parties.”

  “It’s a different sort. The kind that rabble like us is never invited to attend.”

  “Only to rob? Why should we steal from them? Just being rich and blowing a lot of hot air about banking strategies isn’t cause.”

  “No, but this is.” John handed the note to Gavin. “Read it. Start after the part about my stunning charms.”

  “John,” Gavin said. “I think we have a problem.”

  “Do we?”

  “Aye, the part about your charms is only a line long and says you’ve got less than a worm.”

  “What?” John shouted, reaching playfully for the note.

  “Alright, let me see here, alright. She talks about the salon, then drops a note about how warm your lips are – very nice – goes on at length about how obnoxious her matron is, and then makes a crude remark about your cock and how debauched you make her feel. Tisk tisk, John, you need to treat a lady with more respect. Then we get to...oh, goodness.”

  “I guess you’ve got to the part about the land grabbing scheme?”

  “Is such a thing even possible? Working with the Crown and our good friend Ramsay Macdonald to start parceling out land all the way from Edinburgh to Glasgow? No one lives between the cities except...”

  “Aye, the poor, and the farmers. Exactly who we aim to protect.”

  “But this isn’t set in stone, it’s just a plan. A plan that may go nowhere farther than I can throw you.” Gavin said, wiping his hand across his lips.

  “Keep going.”

  “Right, here’s some moral justification about the depravity of the poor and...fuck me, but is this a proposal to buy half of Edinburgh from the crown and raze it?”

  “Seems to be, and watch your language you gutter rat.” John laughed. “If this goes through, Macdonald will find himself in charge of a Crown Committee built from the ground up to remake Edinburgh in whatever fashion he – and the rest of the nobles – sees fit.”

  “But what’s a little theft going to do? This is so vast...if such a conspiracy ever formed, do you have any idea how impossible it’d be to stop?”

  “Oh quite impossible, I’m sure. That’s why we have to do what little is in our power to stop it before it gets going. We steal from these people enough to drive them o
ut of the city, to drive them apart, what’s to say they’d bother getting back together?”

  “I’ve got to do something to keep my mind off Kenna, anyway. She’s all I can think about.”

  “I know,” John said. “We’ll get her back one way or another. I know how much she means to you.”

  “You’re a good friend, John,” Gavin said. “The best I’ve got.”

  “No. Well, yes I am, but I have to admit, the other reason I’m so certain we’ll get her back is that I’m not sure I can live with you otherwise. Come on,” he said as he stood. “We’ve got work to do.”

  The two of them walked along the sleepy, pre-dawn streets of Edinburgh, not bothering to stick to the shadows. All was dead in the city, and a misty gloom hung over the place like a graveyard after a rainstorm, with a thick smell that stuck to the inside of Gavin’s mouth. For the first ten minutes of their stroll, neither man spoke a word, instead preferring to be lost in their own thoughts.

  “Gavin, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

  “Eh?”

  “Well I’ve been thinking about your wee lass there, and a few things just don’t add up in my mind.”

  Gavin remained silent.

  “I just don’t understand how you can pine for a girl you’ve never met.”

  “I’ve met her. I just haven’t talked with her very much.”

  “Or at all, Gavin. Listen to yourself. You’re completely sensible in every other part of your life, why not this? You spent longer questioning me over this job than you took to give your heart to this girl.”

  “Don’t know,” Gavin said.

  His eyes never left the stones that clicked by under his heels.

  “I just don’t know. Nothing has ever been like this for me. I’ve known that she was the one for me since I saw her as a wee boy. Seeing her last night just me realize how right I’d been. When I saw her hair, it took my breath away, and when I tasted her lips, I almost fell over. And then, when I put my hands on her back, it was like...it took my breath away. Did I already say that?”