The Elusive Highlander
Page 18
“Yes, my love, I am verra, verra hungry for your loving,” she told him before giving him a nip on the chin.
Hearing her speak to him in the Scottish dialect sent him into a tailspin, and he almost lost control of his emotions. He flipped over, bringing her in the dominant position astride him.
“I love ye to ride me, mo muirnín. I am yer personal stallion. Let me take ye where ye want to go.” And with that, he released control to her and only responded to the pressure of her female muscles as she rode him in wondrous abandonment.
They had six years of wedded bliss, and then once again, Coira sent him off to war. Only this time he would come home and be able to stay with her and his son. The constant warring and the sadness of losing friends and kin would happen no more, at least for a while. Even the feuding between the clans ceased. It is as if Scotland was holding its breath...
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Update
The signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328
The Scots were victorious in this battle, and Britain was forced to recognize the chosen king, Robert the Bruce, but all had not been won. The Pope refused to acknowledge Scottish independence from England. It took the deposition and killing of Edward II of England in 1327, the invasion of Northern England by Robert the Bruce, who threatened to annex it to Scotland, and the signed document of the Declaration to convince the Pope and Edward III of England to recognize Scottish independence.
There were thirty-nine initial signatories—eight earls and thirty-one barons. The number of signatures differed greatly from the initial thirty-nine when the final copy was presented because it contained only nineteen seals and twelve names. The Declaration was then taken to the papal court at Avignon by Bishop Kininmund, Sir Adam Gordon, and Sir Odard de Maubuisson.
The Pope heeded the arguments contained in the Declaration, influenced by the offer of support from the Scots for his long-desired crusade since they no longer feared invasion by the English. It was in 1328, after a short-lived peace treaty between Scotland and England that the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which renounced all the English claims to Scotland, was signed on May first, 1328, by the new English King, Edward III. Edward III recognized the independence of Scotland and Robert the Bruce as its king.
This passage from the Declaration is what governed the Scots then and even to this day:
...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honors that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself…
To further seal the peace, Robert's son and heir, David, married Joan, the sister of Edward III. Alas, Robert the Bruce didn’t live long afterwards to enjoy the victory. He died in 1329.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I took the liberty of making a few changes in my telling of this story in the name of love. For example, Sir Duncan Campbell built the first castle in Inveraray in 1450, long after the events with Robert the Bruce and the Campbells took place. And although the Campbells had assisted Robert the Bruce in the war for Scottish independence, it was the eldest son, Colin Mor Campbell (Colin The Great), the clan’s chief, who supported the Bruce in freeing Scotland from the English invasion. He was rewarded with the lands of the Earl of Atholl. He also married Bruce's sister, Mary. I tried to give the dates as close to real as possible when one is writing a fiction romance.
Ju