by Alisa Adams
Teeth groaned again and rolled onto his belly. Neely let go of his head and stood up, backing away. “Ye can do it Teeth.” She sobbed and cried. “Come on me boyo, ye can do it! Please, try! Try! Please Teeth!”
With a gigantic, long, drawn out groan, Teeth put his front feet out in front of him. He paused as if readying himself. Then slowly with another giant groan, he heaved his big muscular body up onto all four feet and regained his footing. He shook his big head, with his mane flying in all directions.
Neely gasped and sobbed as she covered her mouth. Grateful tears were pouring down her face. “That’s me lovely, brave boy,” she crooned as she walked up to him, touching his neck gently. She looked him over quickly. Blood, there on his upper leg, near his shoulder. And there! There was more blood on his powerful haunches.
Neely threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
Two gunshots had been fired.
Her big, beautiful horse had taken both of them.
18
Neely had her arms around Teeth’s neck as she cried.
“Neely!”
Neely whirled at the sound of the voice. “Cat!” she cried out as she saw Cat riding Old Inch towards her.
Kaithria was right behind her on Dummy.
“Are ye hurt? We heard the shots!” Cat said with stark fear in her voice.
“’Tis Teeth,” Neely cried. “Waddle shot me horse!”
Cat and Kaithria looked from where Teeth was standing calmly with Neely’s arms around his neck, over to where Walter Waddle lay on the ground, still and unmoving.
“Is the mon dead?” Kaithria said calmly.
“I dinnae know. I was terrified for Teeth,” Neely said in a hoarse voice. “That was his second mistake, trying to shoot me horse again,” she said as she tried not to cry.
Kaithria walked over and knelt carefully by the man’s side where he lay on the sand. Then she rose up and walked towards Mentieth. She ran her hands gently over his wounds.
“Mentieth’s wounds are not life threatening,” Kaithria said quietly. “The bullets did not lodge into his flesh. They tore his hide as they flew past. The wounds could be deep and may need stitching.”
Neely let out a sob of relief as she hugged Teeth’s neck again.
Cat stepped forward. “Kaithria?” She pointed to Waddle. “Is he...”
Kaithria nodded her head silently. “Let’s start walking back. All the horses are exhausted and Mentieth is hurting.” She looked at Neely. “Do ye think he can walk, Neely?”
Neely unwrapped her arms from Teeth’s neck and took up his lead rope. “Come Teeth, walk on! Ye can do it!”
The big horse took three hesitant and very lame steps, then he settled into the walk. It was slow, and still uneven, but he was walking.
The three women led the horses by their lead ropes slowly back down the beach. Cat reached over and grabbed Neely’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Ye were magnificent Neely!” Cat said with an encouraging smile at Neely.
“Nay, Teeth was magnificent,” Neely said in a hushed voice as she looked back at the horse who was walking slowly and tiredly behind her. She frowned as she watched him walking. Is the slight limp from his injuries worsening? She slowed her walk even more for his sake. “I just got to sit on him while he did what he knows best to do. I shall never forget that feeling in all me life,” Neely said reverently in a low voice.
“Ye were just learning to ride when I met ye,” Cat said. “Tonight I saw a vera brave woman who rode like a warrior! ’Tis vera hard to ride a horse in full gallop, and ye did it! Ye were wonderful Neely! Wonderful! Och it would have made the Ross sisters proud!”
“I looked back and saw yer face, Cat,” Neely said. “Ye were enjoying galloping on the beach, werenae ye?”
“Och yes, I cannae tell ye how exhilarating that was!” Cat exclaimed happily.
As they walked along the beach in the moonlight, the closer they got to Brough the more the beach would narrow in several places around the rocks and cliffs. And it was fully high tide now.
At one particularly narrow strip of beach, the waves were strong, crashing into the cliff face. Neely stopped.
“I dinnae think Teeth can walk through that,” Neely said worriedly as she eyed the waves ahead of them. She knew full well the force of those waves against one’s body.
“There is no other way around, Neely,” Kaithria murmured softly.
“Are ye afraid for Mentieth or for yourself?” Cat asked. “Mentieth can make it. Dinnae ye say that yer mither always told ye the sea is good for whatever injury ails ye?”
Neely looked at the two women who had stopped when she did and were staring at her with concern.
“I think I am afraid,” Neely whispered. She shivered at the memory of foolishly swimming out to save Steil, and knowing she would not be able to make it back in by herself. How the waves crashed and thundered down on their heads and bodies as they tried to get back to shore. If it wasn’t for Steil, who she thought she had been saving, she would never have made it out of the ocean. He had saved her, truly.
She explained the truth to Kaithria and Cat.
“Och, but ye did save him Neely!” Cat said firmly.
“Undoubtedly ye did,” Kaithria added. “He had to abandon his own plan to bring ye in to shore.”
“Aye, so ye see? Ye did save him by making him save ye!” Cat said with a grin.
“It was terrifying,” Neely whispered. “What if something happens to Teeth? What if he cannae manage to make it through those waves?” she said fiercely. “Me father, who I adored, turns out to be a smuggler. Then, I accused the only man I have ever loved falsely, and have lost him. I cannae lose this magnificent horse,” she said on a sob as she turned to cry into his neck.
Teeth curled his neck around her, biting and lipping at her hair.
Kaithria put her hand on Neely’s shoulder. “Dinnae we hear ye say that yer father put himself between a bullet and Lord Greysteil? There is honor there Neely. A father to love. ’Tis lucky ye are to have him.”
“Och and we all know ye drive Steil to madness with his love for ye,” Cat said earnestly. “He looks for ye wherever ye go. Dinnae doubt the mon’s feelings for ye,” Cat said with a grin. “I know a man in love when I see one. Me brother Wolf is blissfully in love with Swan. I see the same in yer Steil. So does Swan.” Cat looked at Kaithria, giving a subtle nod towards Neely.
“Aye, I see it as well,” Kaithria added quickly in her soft voice. “He loves ye Neely. Count the good things, not the bad.”
Neely sighed and looked further down the beach to where it narrowed and the waves had nowhere to go but to crash into the hard rocks. She took a deep breath and stood up straight.
“Aye then, no more dithering.” Neely clucked to Teeth and began walking.
The thundering of the waves and the crashing and booming of the surf got louder the closer the women and their horses got to the narrow part of the beach.
“Let’s mount up,” Kaithria said. “’Tis better to be on their backs than have them crashing into us in the surf.”
“Och…” Neely said as her hands trembled with fear.
“Come Neely!” Cat called to her from Old Inch’s back. “Trust his four legs, ’tis better than our two legs. And the horses are stronger than us!”
“But he is hurt!” Neely called fearfully up to her friends.
Kaithria looked down at her. “Neely, ye must get past the waves. Ye are almost there. Ye can do this.”
“But—” Neely started to protest.
Kaithria moved Dummy closer to Neely. She stared down at Neely with a concerned frown. “Do this for Mentieth. Ye need to get him back so we can take care of his wounds.”
Mentieth took Neely through the crashing waves like the powerful, brave, and resilient horse he was.
It was Kaithria and Cat that got knocked off their horses.
Luckily, Neely had her golf club and was able to hold it out to them to grab on
to. She pulled them up onto Teeth’s back. The big horse surged and bounded through the waves to get past the narrow part of the beach to the wider shoreline where Old Inch and Dummy were standing, exhausted.
Mentieth trotted out of the water. His knees high, rising above the waves now. The three women immediately jumped off the horse’s back. Kaithria and Cat went to their own horses.
They could hear the sound of men fighting.
“To the cove!” Neely shouted.
Neely wasted no time but rode Teeth right up to the cove entrance. She saw Steil at the other end of the cove, near the opening to the cave. He was fighting with the twins and four other men. Keir was with him.
Both of the Highlanders looked like they were tiring.
Neely started to go forward but Kaithria and Cat stopped her.
“Neely!” they called to her.
Neely stopped Teeth and spun around.
“We have no weapons!” called out Cat.
Neely smiled and pulled her golf club from behind her back. “We have our horses!” she shouted back with a grin.
Kaithria and Cat put their horses into a gallop, joining Neely as they charged into the fray, knocking men to the ground left and right with the horses’ broad chests.
Neely was swinging her club at the twins and the four strangers that were fighting Steil and Keir.
The six men started covering their heads and ducking from her swings. Teeth’s ears were pinned as he lashed out to bite anyone near him.
Steil and Keir’s fists were flying as Neely’s club was connecting to heads. Little by little they overcame the men.
Four of the men were laying on the ground, knocked out. The twins stood away from them, cowering in fear as they stared up at the three women on the horses that had them pinned against the rocks.
“Enough,” the twins called out. “Keep the angry girl and her angry beast of a horse away from us!”
Cat nudged Old Inch closer to them.
“And these other frightening women and their beasts too!” one of the twins said as he touched his short hair.
Cat smiled proudly as she looked over at Neely and Kaithria.
Keir and Steil walked up to the twins and quickly tied their hands.
Keir grinned at the twin whose hands he was tying. “Looks like me niece gave ye a haircut,” Keir said to the shorter-haired twin.
The twin just frowned, slumping his shoulders in defeat.
Neely walked Teeth away from the men. She followed Kaithria and Cat down the cove where they all dismounted from the tired horses.
Neely went to Teeth’s head and hugged him tightly. “Thank ye Mentieth, thank ye,” she whispered to him. She was crying again. She swiped angrily at her eyes. “I really am not a cryer,” she whispered to the big horse who stared back at her with his soft eyes. “Och, I love ye Teeth. Ye are wonderful!”
“I think I am jealous of that horse,” came a voice.
Neely spun around, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Steil! Are ye hurt?”
Neely drank in the sight of him, standing there in the moonlight with the nighttime sea breeze blowing his kilt around his strong legs. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, baring his muscular forearms. His cream linen shirt was billowing open loosely on his broad chest. The breeze played lovingly with his shoulder-length and wavy auburn hair. Neely sighed.
Steil smiled as he came closer. He laughed softly. “I am unhurt.” He put his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes. “Are ye hurt? Why are ye crying?”
Neely looked up into his eyes. The moon was shining brightly, touching his light blue eyes with just a hint of its light, making them look brightly surreal. She stifled another sigh as her eyes roved hungrily over his strong jaw, sharp cheekbones, his fine, straight nose and his beautiful, full lips, and then back again to those eyes of his that made her heart flip and her body tremble.
“Can ye forgive me for accusing ye as I did? I was so wrong, so vera wrong,” Neely whispered. “I owe ye such thanks for what ye did for me da.”
“Nay, ’twas yer father that saved me life. I owed him,” Steil said quietly with a crooked grin.
Neely pulled back, a disappointed look on her face. “Is that why ye paid his fines, and paid for the whisky still license?”
Steil pulled her back towards him, and then into his arms. He held her tightly to him, his chin resting on her head. “Nay, Neilina Eunson.” He softly kissed the tip of her nose. “If he is the father of me wife, I must take care of him as well. ’Tis better to have a legal whisky maker in the family than a smuggler.” He paused and waited for that to sink in.
Neely pulled her head off his chest and stared up at him. “Yer wife?” she asked, her breath catching on the words. “But I am just the daughter of a crofter.” She blushed with embarrassment. “Or rather, the daughter of a smuggler.”
“Och, Neilina, ye are the daughter of a soon-to-be wealthy whisky maker. And I? I am just the lord of a burnt down castle. I have nothing. No home, nothing to offer.”
“Ye have everything, Greysteil McKinnon, have ye not realized that yet?” she whispered as she reached up and pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him sweetly. Then she pulled back and frowned at him. “Ye always said I was annoying,” she said as she stared longingly up at him.
“Please annoy me for the rest of me life.” He laughed gently and then kissed her lips slowly, reverently. “Ye said ye were keeping me. I dinnae understand what ye meant.” He stared down into her eyes, swallowing past the lump in his throat. He whispered, “But now, I do. I am keeping ye, Neilina Eunson, forever.” He kissed her lips, her forehead, her cheeks. His voice deepened as he said, “I love ye. Ye are mo ghraidh. My love. Marry me, be me wife. Forever. I choose ye to be my home, my family, Neilina. Save me once again and say ye will keep this broken man.”
Neely smiled as her heart raced with happiness. She put her hands over his heart. “I believe ye saved me in the end.” She smiled sweetly. “Ye are not broken. And yes, oh yes! I am keeping ye.” She could not help the big smile on her lips. “Forever. For I have always loved ye, as I am sure ye know. I have waited a vera, vera long time to hear those words from yer lips.”
“Ye never knew it, but I loved ye as well. I fought it for far too long.” Steil grinned. “How could I resist ye? Ye dove into a stormy ocean to rescue me, and then came charging up the beach on that mean old battle horse to save me again. Will ye always be saving me, mo ghraidh?”
Neely laughed. “I believe we will be saving each other. Forever. Blissfully forever!” She reached up and pulled his mouth down to hers.
They stood there on the beach, in the moonlight, holding each other tightly as their mouths met hungrily.
Teeth reached forward and latched onto Steil’s shirt and pulled.
Steil did not even notice.
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Beasts of the Highlands
Book #1
Highlander’s Lionheart
Book #2
Highlander’s Scarred Angel
Book #3
Highlander’s Woun
ded Beast
Book #4
Highlander’s Fierce Wolf
Book #5 (This Book)
Highlander’s Heart of Steel
Book #6
Highlander’s Golden Jewel
Want more romance?
Turn the page to read the first chapters of the next installment of the story, “Highlander’s Golden Jewel.”
Prologue
She could hear them!
Even past the frantic beating of her heart and the rasping of her breath as she ran, she could still hear them!
The sound of the men on their horses seemed to ring in her ears. Their loud hooves struck the ground like thunder as they came through the woods after her. Her husband, Laird Ronan Keith, was a large man, and the horse he rode was a big brute. She could hear him, yelling to his warriors to find her.
She ran on, holding the little girl whose thin arms were wrapped tightly around her neck. She dodged and ducked as she ran through the woods with the tree limbs and bushes pulling and tearing at her long black cloak and her tartan skirt. Her breath was coming loudly, harshly, as she fought through the pain burning through her arms from carrying her daughter, as well as the satchel she carried on her back. She ran on, through the heavy morning mist and rain, moving as quickly as she could through the bramble. Her heart was beating frantically with panic. She wanted desperately to run faster, but could not manage with the weight of her daughter in her arms or her wet tartan skirts that were clinging to her legs.
