Highland Ruse: Mercenary Maidens - Book Two

by Martin, Madeline

“Kaid.” Her voice caught.

  He strained to look up. She stood over Claire with her sword held in her left hand. Her right arm shone with fresh blood.

  She was injured.

  Kaid tried to rise, but his body was still frozen with the stunning agony of MacKenzie’s kick to his wound.

  “Save…Claire.” He croaked out the two words with all the concentration he could muster.

  The difficult struggle had been worthwhile. A look of determination settled over Delilah’s face, and she lowered into a tensed fighting position.

  Move, damn it.

  Sweat prickled at his brow with the attempt to rise. His body trembled. To no avail.

  Kaid watched helplessly as MacKenzie swung his sword toward Delilah and she blocked it.

  If Kaid could move, just several feet, he could attack MacKenzie from behind. He could kill the bastard.

  Delilah blocked the next blow and struck out with her own, her left attack not as powerful or fluid as her right.

  MacKenzie easily evaded her.

  She would need all the power she could get, or she wouldn’t survive.

  His beautiful, incredible Delilah. She would do anything to protect Claire. Sacrifice anything.

  Even her life.

  The idea of losing her made the ache of his wound seem nothing in comparison to the powerful hurt in his chest.

  Move, damn it.

  • • •

  Delilah kept her gaze fixed on MacKenzie’s cold, handsome face. His eyes were dark and empty. The eyes of a predator, completely oblivious to the blood soaking the room and the bodies strewn about.

  Rhona with her chest glistening, Elizabeth bent over like a discarded doll thrown in a corner, Kaid…

  Delilah’s throat drew tight while Kaid struggled with injured movements to rise.

  She wanted to tell him to be still, that she would be there soon.

  But she looked into the dead, predator eyes fixed on her and knew this could very well be the last day she lived.

  Seumas moved to her right, but she did not relinquish her position in front of Claire. He shifted left, and still she did not move.

  In a smooth lunge, he jabbed his sword toward her. Delilah brought her blade down hard and swiped the dangerous tip of his weapon from where it’d been aimed at her heart. The muscles of her left arm burned with exertion.

  She would be able to keep up the energy only so long. A shiver of anticipation squeezed down her spine.

  She knew what would happen when she could hold it no longer.

  A moan sounded behind Delilah. Claire was coming to.

  “Close your eyes, Claire,” Delilah said in as soothing a voice as she could.

  After all the girl had been through, Delilah could not bear her to witness the carnage of the room.

  MacKenzie smirked and swiped his blade in an arc toward Delilah’s torso. It whistled in the air with its powerful speed, but she leapt back in time to avoid the strike.

  She had to mind her feet when she landed to avoid stepping on Claire. Still, the girl flinched on the ground.

  Delilah chanced a glance at the nearby open doorway. If Delilah could get Claire to leave, perhaps the girl could still live even if Delilah fell.

  “Keep your eyes closed and crawl forward, Claire,” Delilah said.

  The girl started to cry. MacKenzie growled and swept his sword to the right.

  Block.

  He attacked from the left.

  Block.

  Delilah’s left arm screamed in agony.

  “Keep crawling.” Delilah’s throat ached with the threat of tears, but she kept her voice strong. For Claire’s sake.

  MacKenzie snarled his frustration and redoubled his energy, his slashing attacks so vicious, Delilah had no choice but to step backward with each strike. Her arm trembled, and she knew her strikes were lacking the power they’d possessed only moments before.

  The rustle of fabric was the only indication she had that Claire obeyed. Surely she was close enough to the door now.

  Delilah’s blade drooped. It was only for a moment, but MacKenzie saw it and thrust his sword at her. She jerked her own weapon upward to defend herself and made it by only a hair of a second. Even as his knocked blade passed over her body, the tip raked against her waist and left a narrow line of red blooming beneath the torn fabric.

  She would not be able to last much longer.

  “Stand up and look only forward,” Delilah said to Claire.

  “But—”

  “Do it,” Delilah hissed. “And run!”

  She lunged forward, throwing her body into MacKenzie and attacking with every last bit of energy she had. Her sword thrust until it was knocked from her limp grasp and clattered away, out of her reach.

  She clawed and spat and bit, all in a blind fury of sheer desperation, lashing out like an animal caught in a trap.

  Like a lioness protecting her cub.

  Something cold and sharp bit into her hip. She shoved aside the discomfort and raked her nails over MacKenzie’s face.

  He howled in agony. His bleeding face went purple with rage. He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground with such force, she could not catch herself.

  She lay on the floor, exhausted and bleeding, thinking how very much like Elizabeth she must look.

  Poor Elizabeth, whom she had not been able to save. The girl whose father had loved her only so far as to send someone in her stead to ensure the safety of his investment.

  Had the girl ever known a good life?

  MacKenzie loomed over Delilah.

  She kicked hard at his shins with all her might and sent him crashing to the floor at her side. He sat up with a groan and rolled over onto her.

  His hair stood up in all directions, and his eyes were wild and dark. “Ye stupid bitch. I’ll kill ye for that.”

  He jerked something from his waist and a dagger glinted in the moonlight streaming in through the open shutters. Delilah wanted to put her arm up to block him, but her left one was too weak, and her right completely immobile.

  She tried to turn away, but there was nowhere to go.

  Nowhere but death.

  MacKenzie’s eyes widened and near bulged from his head. The breath hissed from him in a low groan and his body sagged forward on top of her.

  Delilah blinked, her brain rattling with confusion for a split second before a heavy body collapsed beside her and a hand slid into hers.

  Warm and tender, and wet with the blood of her attacker.

  Her heart swelled into her throat. She could only lie there and cry while holding tight to Kaid’s hand until they were both inevitably claimed by death.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “I taught you better than to lay around.” The hard voice pulled Delilah from the fog of sleep. “You’d better not be dead.”

  Sylvi?

  The heavy press of weight over Delilah’s chest lifted and air flowed into her lungs so much easier and cleaner than before.

  Delilah squinted.

  Sylvi stared down at her without speaking for a long moment. “You’re alive.”

  Emotion clogged Sylvi’s voice and Delilah knew her friend was crying.

  The hand in Delilah’s was still warm. “Kaid?” she whispered.

  A breeze swept over Delilah, scented sweetly of violets and herbs.

  “He’s alive,” Percy said in her gentle voice. “But only barely. I need light so I can see his wounds.”

  Two large shadows entered the room. Kaid did not make a sound when they lifted him from her side, but his fingers remained clasped in hers.

  Percy tried to pull Delilah’s grip away. “You have to let him go.”

  “I can’t.” Delilah’s throat was so tight, she could scarce breathe, let alone talk. “I love him.”

  “Then let me save him,” Percy said.

  Delilah pulled her hand from his and let the men take him. It wasn’t until he was gone another sharp thought pricked her mind. “Claire.”
She tried to sit up, but Sylvi shushed her.

  “She’s fine,” she said. “Liv found her. The girl was frightened, but unharmed. If it weren’t for her, Percy would have still been in the forest and not summoned here as quickly as she was to help.”

  Delilah rose on her shaking left arm despite Sylvi’s protests and sat upright. “Help me up. I want to see her.”

  “Like hell you will.” Sylvi gave a throaty laugh. “Not until you’re cleaned up. You’ll scare the poor girl.”

  Only then did Delilah look down at herself, at the gashes of blood showing through her clothing. Not just on her hip and arm, but all over. Some of it hers, most of it likely Seumas’s.

  It all slammed into Delilah like a hammer. Kaid’s stillness as he lay beside her with his hand locked on hers, Claire’s fearful cries when Delilah was trying to get her to be strong, the way Elizabeth lay crumpled in death, unloved and forgotten.

  Sobs choked from her chest and Sylvi held her in a comforting embrace Delilah hadn’t known the woman was capable of offering. It was there, clinging onto the support of her friend, that Delilah finally succumbed to the darkness.

  She didn’t awaken again until many hours later, after the darkness of night had given way to the sharp light of late afternoon. It wasn’t until after her eyes adjusted to the brilliance of the sun that she realized she was in a large chamber. Aside from the massive bed she lay upon, there was no additional furniture in the room or even tapestries on the wall.

  Only then did she remember Edirdovar Castle.

  And Claire.

  And Kaid.

  She turned to her side. A burning pain pulled tight at her skin, but the injury was worth it.

  There, lying beside her, was Kaid. His face was pale still, but he was alive.

  Her eyes stung with tears and blurred his sleeping form.

  “Kaid.” She reached out and touched his face. The two days’ growth of his dark beard rasped against her fingertips and made her want to rub her cheek against it for the familiar, wonderful sensation.

  His brow puckered and his eyes opened, as vividly blue and beautiful as always, lit with intelligence and kindness and the emotion which only shows when a man really and truly loves a woman.

  “Delilah.” He said her name with the same wonder as she’d spoken his. “I thought—”

  She shook her head. “I’m alive, thanks to you. Kaid, you saved me.” Tears clogged her throat, but she continued. “You restored Torra to her land and you kept our Claire safe. You’ve saved your people, Kaid. You did it all.”

  “I couldna have done it without ye, lass. Ye were so brave defending our Claire—” He stopped short and jerked his gaze around the room.

  “Claire?” He almost half shouted her name and sat up with a heavy grimace. “Claire!”

  Delilah eased herself into a sitting position as well despite the searing discomfort which made the simple act difficult. “She’s safe. She—”

  The doors to the chamber flew open and Claire ran through with Liv chasing behind her.

  “Delilah,” Claire cried. “Laird.” She scrambled onto the large bed and crawled into their arms, leaving an exasperated Liv staring after her.

  “I’ve tried to keep her from coming in here all day.” Liv twisted a thick mass of red hair back from her flushed face. “She has been very insistent.”

  Claire caught Delilah’s face between her palms and stared at her so closely her eyes appeared crossed. “I missed ye.” She kissed Delilah on the forehead, then promptly turned to Kaid and repeated the gesture.

  Liv caught Delilah’s gaze, and they shared a smile. Liv quietly quit the room and closed the door behind her, leaving the reunion to continue in private.

  Claire grasped Kaid’s arm and drew it over her like a blanket, then curled into Delilah’s arms with her sweet, silky head resting just under Delilah’s chin.

  “This is how it should be,” Kaid said. “Us together as a family.”

  He put an arm around Delilah and the girl. “Claire, we would be honored to raise ye as our daughter, if ye’ll have us.”

  She sat up and stared at them both. Her mouth opened and closed, then opened once more, but nothing came out. Tears shimmered in her eyes, and she could only nod before she threw herself against them both.

  Her slight body was uncomfortable against Delilah’s injuries, but Delilah paid them no mind. Not when she had Claire safe in her arms and Kaid alive at her side.

  “And ye, Delilah.” Kaid touched her hand with his free arm. “Ye know I love ye. For yer heart, and yer beauty, and yer bravery, and for the amazing talent ye possess. I’d be honored to be yer husband, if ye’ll have me.”

  Delilah swallowed the knot in her throat. How could she say no?

  And it was all as he’d said it would be. He was truly making them, their small group of the orphaned and unwanted, a family.

  “Yes,” she answered in the exhale of a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “A thousand times yes.”

  She leaned over and kissed the familiar warmth of his mouth. The rasp of his whiskers grazed her chin and left her smiling.

  This was how life should be. She wrapped her free arm around Claire and settled back with her shoulders touching Kaid’s.

  Her risk had been worth it for the love of her beautiful new family.

  • • •

  Kaid looked out over the faces of his clan from where he waited with more impatience than was customary even for him. The pastor was a gangly lad with a thatch of thick dark hair atop his narrow head and a grin Kaid probably couldn’t wipe off his face if he tried.

  Finally the doors to the chapel opened and Delilah strode in wearing a gown of deep blue. The silver edge winked and danced along her hem and sleeves the way the stars sparkled in the heavens.

  Kaid stared, awestruck. She caught his eye and beamed so wide, he knew her joy to be entirely genuine.

  Claire eased around Delilah’s long skirts and danced down the aisle toward him, scattering bits of herbs on the ground. Several chuckles rose from the audience at the sweet innocence of her excitement. Claire grabbed Kaid’s hand and pulled him down to her.

  He leaned lower, not taking his eyes off the woman who was about to become his wife.

  “She looks like an angel,” Claire whisper-shouted into his ear.

  The congregation laughed aloud this time, and even Delilah laughed along with them.

  When at last she joined him at his side, he could scarce take his gaze from her. The pastor gave him a phrase to repeat.

  And repeat it, Kaid did—anything to secure Delilah as his wife. But he couldn’t remember what he’d said, nor what she’d spoken in turn.

  He was sure the pastor had grinned his goofy smile, and Claire had danced around like a happy flower bobbing in the sunshine, but he didn’t truly notice any of it.

  All he could remember was how Delilah’s hair fell around her shoulders in waves of beautiful honey brown, and how her full lips curved into a smile of bliss when she spoke. And how the depths of her soul and all her love showed in her warm brown gaze.

  At long last, the ceremony had ended, and he claimed his bride’s beautiful mouth in a long, slow kiss to proudly proclaim to all that she was truly his.

  The kiss elicited a few cheers, which he gladly encouraged.

  Torra sat in the front row, watching with her hands folded over her heart and a whimsical grin on her lips. Donnan sat near her with a grin so wide it near split his face. Leasa was at his side, watching the exchange with tears shimmering on her cheeks.

  The only thing which might have made the day mean more was if Delilah’s friends had stayed. But after Percy was no longer needed for her assistance in healing, Sylvi had packed up Percy, Isabel, and Liv with her wee cat and set off for London.

  Sylvi insisted they return Elizabeth’s body to her father. MacKenzie had been such a greedy bastard, he’d already written to her father days prior asking for her dowry since they were already wed. The women
would not be faulted for Elizabeth’s death.

  Deep down, Kaid was glad Delilah did not need to go with them for the task. She already carried enough guilt over the woman’s death, even though Sylvi had assured her the fault was not hers.

  Claire turned toward them and grasped both Kaid’s and Delilah’s hands in her small warm ones. “Are ye happy?” she asked.

  Delilah gave him a beautiful look of joy which sent bliss straight into his heart. “Aye, lass.” He glanced down at Claire. “Are ye happy?”

  She loosed a long sigh. “Ach, aye, I’ve an angel and a da all in one day.”

  Kaid and Delilah laughed together, and both caught Claire in a shared hug.

  Nothing could be more perfect.

  He’d earned the trust of his clan, he had a beautiful, amazing woman at his side, there was peace in his land, and he had a family to love.

  Kaid’s life, as a laird and as a man, was truly and utterly complete.

  Acknowledgments

  I am so very fortunate to have so many supportive people in my life. Thank you to my agent, Laura Bradford, for always providing such wonderful guidance. Thank you to Jaime Levine and Eliza Kirby for their work in editing Highland Ruse, to Erin Mitchell for all her hard work in getting Highland Ruse out there for everyone to see, and to the rest of the staff at Diversion Books who have been integral in getting Highland Ruse out there for people to read.

  Thank you so very much to my beta readers: Kacy Rozier, Karen Archer, Alli Preslar, Liette Bougie, and Carin Farrenholz for their help in making this book the best it can be.

  Thank you to my Marvelous Ladies who are always there to help me come up with a good title, iron out plot details, promote my sales, and share in my exciting news. We are a close group of women who share a lot and have a ton of fun doing it. I feel so very fortunate to have all of you in my life.

  Thank you to my wonderful family—to my dad who is always supportive and ready to tell people about his daughter who writes historical romance novels, to my mom who is always my biggest fan and my final proofreader, to my brother and sister-in-law who always support and love me. And a huge thank you to Mr. Awesome for all the times he’s stepped up to help out with the minions so I can hit a deadline or attend a conference. Thank you to the minions for always being so eager to tell people their mom is an author and to try my books—thank you for your unending love and support.