Yours for Eternity
Books by Hannah Howell
ONLY FOR YOU * MY VALIANT KNIGHT
UNCONQUERED * WILD ROSES
A TASTE OF FIRE * HIGHLAND DESTINY
HIGHLAND HONOR * HIGHLAND PROMISE
A STOCKINGFUL OF JOY * HIGHLAND VOW
HIGHLAND KNIGHT * HIGHLAND HEARTS
HIGHLAND BRIDE * HIGHLAND ANGEL
HIGHLAND GROOM * HIGHLAND WARRIOR
RECKLESS * HIGHLAND CONQUEROR
HIGHLAND CHAMPION * HIGHLAND LOVER
HIGHLAND VAMPIRE * CONQUEROR’S KISS
HIGHLAND BARBARIAN * BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
HIGHLAND SAVAGE * HIGHLAND THIRST
HIGHLAND WEDDING * HIGHLAND WOLF
SILVER FLAME * HIGHLAND FIRE
NATURE OF THE BEAST * HIGHLAND CAPTIVE
HIGHLAND SINNER * MY LADY CAPTOR
IF HE’S WICKED * WILD CONQUEST
IF HE’S SINFUL * KENTUCKY BRIDE
IF HE’S WILD * COMPROMISED HEARTS
HIGHLAND PROTECTOR
Books by Alexandra Ivy
WHEN DARKNESS COMES
EMBRACE THE DARKNESS
DARKNESS EVERLASTING * DARKNESS REVEALED
DARKNESS UNLEASHED * BEYOND THE DARKNESS
DEVOURED BY DARKNESS
Books by Kaitlin O’Riley
SECRETS OF A DUCHESS * ONE SINFUL NIGHT
WHEN HIS KISS IS WICKED * DESIRE IN HIS EYES
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Yours for Eternity
HANNAH HOWELL
ALEXANDRA IVY
KAITLIN O’RILEY
KENSINGTON BOOKS
www.kensingtonbooks.com
Contents
Highland Blood
by Hannah Howell
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Taken by Darkness
by Alexandra Ivy
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Immortal Dreams
by Kaitlin O’Riley
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Highland Blood
HANNAH HOWELL
Prologue
Scotland
Summer 1511
The sound came in on the wind. Voices and a soft mewling. Adeline sat back on her heels and put the blackberries she had just picked into her basket as she strained to listen. She hoped it was not the blacksmith’s boys torturing a cat again. Unable to hear clearly and determined to discover just what was going on, she crept toward the sound, pausing only to pull the hood of her cloak over her head. Her cursed red hair could easily be visible even in the shadows of the trees.
When Adeline drew near enough to not only hear but to see what was happening, it took all of her willpower not to rush forward and confront the couple standing over a wounded child. The child was bleeding from a slash on his small arm and neither the woman nor the man was doing a thing to help. She pushed aside the anger pounding in her head and listened. It soon became clear that Anne Drummond was the child’s mother but Robbie MacAdam was not the father. What also became clear was that they were arguing over the best way to dispose of the child.
“Nay right to just leave him here to get eaten by the beasts,” said Robbie. “Ne’er liked that, though ’tis done from time to time. Why dinnae ye just kill the little bastard?”
“And have that sin on my soul?” Anne shook her head. “Nay, this will do.”
“He will still be dead at your hand.”
“Nay, he willnae. ’Twill be the beasts what kill him, nay me.”
“Dinnae see much difference, woman. Ne’er have. Dead be dead whether ye kill him yourself or leave him for the beasts to gnaw on.”
“If ye think this is so wrong, then ye kill him!”
“I willnae kill a bairn.”
“I dinnae see ye doing anything to save him, either.”
“He be a demon, the devil’s own son. I dinnae want naught to do with him.”
“Then can we leave now?”
“Still doesnae seem right,” muttered Robbie, but he hurried to catch up with Anne, who was already striding away through the trees.
Adeline did not move until she was certain the couple was gone and would not return. It hurt to see the child sitting there, fat tears falling from the little boy’s wide eyes, but she fought the urge to immediately go and comfort the child. Anne and Robbie wanted the child dead. She could not give them any reason to think the boy had survived.
Then the boy looked in her direction. Adeline knew he was aware of her but she did not know how he could be. She had not moved and had made no sound. Cautiously, she stood up and moved toward him. When he showed no sign of fear, she quickly hurried to his side to tend to the cut on his arm. She frowned when she found that it no longer looked as bad as it had first appeared. It did not even need to be bandaged. Shaking away all thoughts of that oddity, she began to plan how she could help him.
“The only curse ye have, my bonnie laddie, is your mother, aye? Now, what to do to make them think they succeeded in their crime?”
She looked at his bloody, ragged clothing. The thought that it was a lot of blood to have come from a cut that was already closed slipped through her mind, but, again, she shook it aside. Murmuring soft words to ease whatever fears the child might feel, she stripped him of his clothes. Tearing the rags, she scattered them over the ground, hoping it would appear that some animal had taken the child.
“Now, ye look a sturdy lad,” she said as the little boy toddled up to her side. “I wonder what your name is.”
“Demon,” the boy said.
“Nay.”
“Debil.”
“Nay.”
“Battird.”
“Most certainly nay. I believe I shall name you. Ye will be called Osgar from this day forward. ’Tis a proud name. My father carried it weel. Now ye can grow up to do the same.” She picked him up in her arms and gently kissed his cheek. “Will ye come home with me, laddie?”
The boy nodded, his wide golden eyes fixed unblinkingly upon her face. “Aye.”
“And your name is?”
“Othgar.”
Adeline laughed and hurried back to her basket. She knew it would not be easy to keep the child safe but she was determined to do so. Anne would never get another chance to kill the boy. Osgar was now hers and woe to anyone who tried to take him away or hurt him. Looking at the boy who smiled up at her, she shook her head. How could anyone think he was a demon?
She stroked his cheek and smiled when he grabbed her by the wrist. He was a strong little boy. They would make a home together, she thought. Finally she would no longer be alone. Adeline’s soft, happy thoughts about the future came to an abrupt halt when Osgar sank his teeth into her wrist.
Chapter One
Enough was enough. Adeline finally accepted the fact that she could not keep Osgar safe as she bathed the dirt and blood from his shaking body. For two years she had struggled to keep him hidden but she had failed. This was the third time someone had hurt him. All she had accomplished with her cautions was to make everyone for miles around
think there was a demon running free in the woods. The hunts for the demon were growing more frequent. People not even from the village had joined in, strangers who chilled her blood. It would not be long before the hunters cried her a liar when she claimed that she had never seen the little demon they all looked for. They would tear her tiny cottage apart looking for Osgar.
This time the wounds Osgar had suffered were little more than scratches and a few bruises. The next time her beautiful golden-eyed boy could die. Osgar’s death was what the hunters sought. Although she could not understand such fear of a child, she had to accept that it existed. Adeline swallowed the urge to weep as she sat down on the bed next to Osgar, her dream of their becoming a family in ashes.
Osgar crawled into her lap and Adeline held him close. Burying her nose in his thick raven curls, she blinked back the tears in her eyes. Love was making her weak and she had to fight that weakness. She needed to be strong enough to think only of Osgar’s safety. That meant she had to be strong enough to give him up.
“I dinnae hurt this time,” Osgar said.
Adeline smiled, knowing he meant he did not need her blood. “Good. Ye escaped in time but laddie, ye came too close to dying this time. Three times I have almost lost ye. It cannae go on anymore. We must leave here.”
“Where will we go?”
“To your kinsmen.”
Osgar looked up at her and frowned. “I have kinsmen?”
“Aye, ye do. Ye are of MacNachton blood. The last time those hunters came here to look for you, I followed them when they left. I heard them talk of a clan called MacNachton and that Anne Drummond claims ye are one of them. The men spoke of them as a clan of demons. All they said made me verra certain that ye are kin to them. There were too many similarities for me to doubt it. So, we must seek them out.”
“Where are they?”
“At a place called Cambrun. ’Tis high in the mountains.”
Adeline could still hear the men speaking of how others who had gone hunting there had never returned. It was not something she could tell a little boy of five, however. He lived with enough fear and she did not want him balking at going to Cambrun. The thought of going there terrified her, but it sounded like a place where Osgar would be safe and that was all that mattered.
Osgar sat up and looked around the little cottage. “But I like our home.”
“So do I, love, but ’tis nay longer a safe place for us. Cambrun will be safe.”
“I could keep hiding.”
“Spending hours hidden beneath the floor is no life for ye, laddie. And, thrice ye have nearly been caught. Nay, we must pack what means most to us and seek out your kinsmen for help.”
It proved to be a heartbreaking chore. By dawn, Adeline had reduced her possessions to a few sacks tied to the saddle of one of her ponies. She hated leaving anything behind, for everything in the cottage held a memory of her father or her mother. The only items she could call foolish were her cats, two ratty-eared felines she had saved from the cruelty of the blacksmith’s sons. The animals huddled in the sturdy cage she had made for them and stared at her. Her decision to take them had wavered nearly a dozen times but she had finally, irrevocably, given in to what her heart wanted. She just prayed that she did not lose them on the journey.
“I dinnae think Tom and Meg like their cage,” said Osgar as Adeline put him up on the pony they would ride.
“They would like being left behind even less.” Adeline settled herself behind Osgar and took up the reins. “Who would feed or shelter them?” She checked to make sure the lead to the pony carrying her belongings was secure. “They will settle and they have that nice piece of plaid to keep them warm, aye?”
Adeline stared for another moment at the house she had grown up in. It hurt to leave even though the people she lived amongst had never accepted her. Her father and mother were buried here and it felt as if she were losing them all over again. Then she straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, knowing that her parents would understand. Osgar’s life was threatened. She had no choice. Her parents would always live in her heart and memories, and that had to be enough. Whispering a farewell, she lightly kicked her pony into an easy, steady stride and started her journey north.
The moon was high by the time Adeline made camp for the night. She did not like riding at night but Osgar had to be sheltered during the middle of the day, when the sun was at its full strength. Riding into the night was the only way to make up for that lost time.
She unpacked and unsaddled the horses and then started a small fire. Osgar helped her attend to the cats, making certain they did not escape as she gave the animals food and water. Adeline cleaned out the small box of dirt she had secured inside the cage, something she felt quite proud of.
“Will we be there soon?” asked Osgar as they sat by the fire eating cold chicken and oatcakes.
“I cannae say when we will get there, laddie,” Adeline replied. “I just ken that ’tis in those hills we can see to the north. Once we get closer I will try to get some better directions.”
“Those are verra far away.”
“A few days’ ride. Nay more than that, I am thinking. Weel, a few days if we can keep going straight toward them and the weather doesnae stop us. I think if we were closer, Anne would have left ye with them.”
“I am glad ye found me.”
“So am I, love.”
“Will my kinsmen like me?”
“How can they nay do so? They will be verra pleased to have such a fine lad returned to the clan.”
Adeline prayed that was the truth. She had never met any of the MacNachton clan. Yet, if they were all like Osgar, she could see no reason why they would turn the boy away. They would certainly understand the danger the child was in while living outside their protection. The men she had eavesdropped on had called Cambrun an impenetrable fortress and that was just what Osgar needed.
She would not mind living in such a place, either. Adeline was weary of being an outcast, a woman eyed with suspicion and fear even as she was called to heal an injury or birth a child. She was always but one misstep from being decried as a witch, just as her mother had been. A shiver went through her as the dark memories of her mother’s brutal death flooded her mind. It was not a fate she wished to share. She prayed that the MacNachton clan had a place for her even though she was not their kind, and not just so she could remain with Osgar. For once she would like to feel safe.
When they were done eating, Adeline spread a blanket on the ground. She urged Osgar onto the rough bed, ignoring his muttered complaints about how hard that bed was. Settling down next to him, between him and the fire, she drew another blanket over them.
It did not surprise her when his muttering soon ceased, his breathing growing slow and even as sleep conquered him. Adeline wished she could find the sweet oblivion of sleep as easily, but her mind was crowded with worries and fears. Traveling alone with a child was dangerous. Traveling to a place that might be filled with ones like Osgar, ones full-grown with all the power and cunning of men, was terrifying. She closed her eyes and sternly told herself that she had no choice.
The gray of approaching dawn met Adeline’s eyes when she next opened them. Her first clear thought was one of relief when she realized she had managed to get some sleep. The snap of a twig banished the lingering lassitude of sleep. She did not move, but looked around and tensed. Four men were creeping toward her. They were armed and grim of face.
Adeline yanked her knife from beneath the blanket she rested on and leapt to her feet. “Osgar—run.”
Osgar stumbled to his feet and stared at the men. “Maman?”
“Run, Osgar. Now.”
Even as she spoke Adeline knew it was too late. Two of the men moved quickly to get behind her and Osgar, cutting off all chance of the child escaping. There were four of them against one of her. There were four swords against her one knife. They were free to move as they pleased, while she had to protect Osgar. Adeline wanted to scream in
fury. She had failed Osgar once again.
Lachann MacNachton idly rode along the rough drover’s track. He would easily reach the next shelter before the sun was high, even at his leisurely pace. For two long months he had searched for ones carrying MacNachton blood but found only one. He had sent the young boy home to Cambrun with Martyn and continued the search on his own. Now he was finally headed home, eager to be back amongst his own kind. He was tired of constantly needing to find shelter when the sun was high and of hiding who he was.
The clan had been ignorant of the Lost Ones, those of MacNachton and Outsider blood, for far too long. For every Lost One they found, they heard of too many others who had met with brutal deaths. It made his heart sore. So many of their people lost and far too many of them killed before they even had a chance to truly live or defend themselves. He yet again cursed all the fools who had never taken the time to be sure that the seed they had so freely spilled everywhere they went had not taken root.
“Maman?”
It was only a whisper on the wind but it yanked Lachann out of his dark thoughts. He halted and looked around, idly stroking his mount’s neck to keep the animal quiet. Lachann waited to hear more, to discover where the voice was coming from.
“Run, Osgar. Now.”
Not far, Lachann thought as he dismounted and secured his horse’s reins to a branch. Unsheathing his sword, Lachann began to silently make his way toward the voices he had heard. One did not tell someone to run unless there was some danger. He was not sure why he was compelled to walk into what was none of his concern, but he did not resist the urge to do so. That first word told him that a child was involved. The second voice had been a woman’s.
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