Page 20 of Highlander’s Wild Lass (Wild McLeans #1)

“D o ye think the blaeberries are ripe yet, Celestia?” Auralia asked at breakfast, pushing around her eggs.

“They should be, it is almost August,” Anthony answered, leaning toward Celestia so that Auralia would be able to hear him. “Mrs. Duncan would ken.”

Auralia nodded with a smile and turned to her brothers. “Will ye pick them with me? Maybe we can bake somethin’ with them.”

“Aye, sister,” Chester replied while Hugo only nodded with a mouth full of food.

Celestia smiled, finally feeling that all was well. Two months had passed since their father died and with each day they were getting better. Celestia had thrown herself into the distillery with the twins helping when they could around their tutoring and training. Auralia had taken to writing after Master Moreau told her she had promise as an author.

And Celestia and Anthony were, well, she even couldn’t believe it—but they were in love. They had gotten into a fight, over something she couldn’t even remember, but it ended with Anthony telling her that he loved her. And she told him a few days later, though waiting that long tormented him.

After breakfast, Anthony bid them goodbye. A nearby farmer had several cows ready to give birth and needed Anthony’s help.

“Let’s go bother Mrs. Duncan, shall we?” Celestia said, standing from the table.

Mrs. Duncan was found in the castle gardens, hidden behind the tomato plants. “Aye, the blaeberries should be ripened by now,” she told them. “Take a few of the baskets in the corner of the garden and get to pickin’. We’ll bake somethin’ with them once yer done.”

“Do ye nae have any maids to help ye today?” Celestia asked.

“Nae, they’re cleanin’ up breakfast and preppin’ for the next meal,” she told her. “Will ye help me? There’s blight all over the tomatoes, it’ll kill them if I wait any longer. It shouldnae take long, then ye can join the blaeberry pickin’.”

“Of course,” Celestia said, taking a bucket from her. She then turned to her siblings who were walking quickly from the garden to the edge of the forest, just beyond the castle wall. The wall was shorter here, giving a beautiful view of the lush greenery of the trees. “Daenae stray too far into the forest!”

“We willnae!” Chester called back.

Celestia brought the bucket to her nose and nearly gagged. “This smells horrid, what is it?”

“Compost tea, lass,” Mrs. Duncan said with a laugh. “I had to steep it in the sun for days. All ye need to do is take the cloth and wipe the leaves with it.”

They worked in the garden silently until Mrs. Duncan broached the topic of children. “I think maybe a bairn in the new year, what do ye think?”

Celestia blushed. “Perhaps.”

“Do ye want to be a maither?”

Celestia shrugged. “Well, I am well-equipped for it.”

“Very true, ye have raised yer brother and sister well since yer dear maither passed. Ye’ve raised them into kind young people, though the twins do get a bit mischievous now and then.”

“Aye.” Celestia laughed. “I daenae see them growin’ out of that.” Behind her, over the castle wall, she heard Auralia’s melodious laughter. “They seem happy here.”

“I think so too, lass. It was a big adjustment and ye have all been through a lot, but I think ye managed it well,” Mrs. Duncan told her, wringing out her cloth and wiping the next few leaves. “And that tutor of theirs has really livened things up in the servants quarter.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “What do ye mean?”

“He’s keen on some of the maids, but that’s nothin’ new. But he’s—” Mrs. Duncan looked past Celestia, toward the forest. “Who is that there?”

Celestia turned and saw two men riding through the woods. The size and the build of one man were unmistakably that of Ryder Koll. “Oh my god,” she muttered, dropping the pail and running out of the garden.

“Celestia—do nae go runnin’—ye are—”

But Celestia didn’t hear the rest of what Mrs. Duncan was saying, all her senses were turned toward the scene before her.

Koll hopped from his horse and grabbed Auralia who had just strayed into the sparse canopy of the woods. She dropped her basket and screamed.

Celestia continued running.

Chester and Hugo sprinted to Auralia, pushing Ryder again and trying to pull Auralia from his hands.

“Auralia!” Celestia screamed. She was too far away, she knew it.

The twins were thrashing him with their fists and kicking him wherever they could without hurting Auralia. Koll passed Auralia off to the second man, who—as Celestia ran closer—looked an awful lot like the delivery driver she fired.

She wasn’t running fast enough.

Koll turned back to the twins, grabbing hold of Chester, and kicking his legs out from under him. He pushed Hugo away and kicked Chester in the stomach while he was trying to get up.

Her lungs were burning, her legs screaming, and she was sure she was going too fast to keep her balance down the small hill to the woods. “Stop!” she cried out. “Stop it!”

Koll landed a punch on Hugo’s face and Celestia was close enough to see blood coming from his nose. Chester was still on the ground, clutching his stomach. With the boys subdued, Koll said something to the boys, grabbed Auralia from his accomplice’s hands, mounted his horse, and rode away.

When she reached the boys, Koll and Auralia were already small in the distance. “Chester!” she said, falling to her knees beside him. “Can ye get up?”

“Aye,” he groaned, “he knocked the wind out of me. Check on Hugo.”

“Here,” Celestia said as she rushed to Hugo, gathering up her skirt to try to help. The blood was rushing from his nose, pooling in his hand as he tried to get it to stop.

“He took Auralia,” Chester said as he stood, clutching his stomach.

“Did he say anythin’ to ye?” Celestia said in a rush. “Why would he take her? We havenae had any trouble with him since Da died.”

“He wants the customer list, Cellie,” Hugo told her, using his sleeve to staunch the blood flow. “He said we can have Auralia back when we turn over the customer list.”

“But,” Chester said, his breath still wheezy, “he kens about the other list as well, he wants that too. Robbie must have told him—that’s who was with him.”

She grabbed Chester and Hugo by their arms and walked them back toward the castle. “I was sure we were careful with it around him.”

“It doesnae help to lay blame anywhere, what are we goin’ to do?”

“We get her back.”

Mrs. Duncan must have alerted Anthony because he met them near the gardens. He eyed the blood now dripping from Hugo’s nose. Anthony look horrified. “Koll?”

Celestia nodded. “He took Auralia too.”

“What!”

“He wants us to turn over the list of our customers, the underground one too,” she told him, guiding them toward Helena’s healing room.

“How does he ken about that list? I thought it was under lock and key?” Anthony followed along, his hands fingering the handle of the dirk he always wore at his belt.

“It is, Anthony, I dinnae ken how,” Celestia said, thinking about a possible time she maybe slipped up, feeling she could trust Robbie, and brought out the logbook from the safe.

“I’ll ride after him at once,” Anthony said.

Celestia gripped his arm and tugged him to her. “Ye will do nay such thing. He told the lads that I have until sundown tomorrow to deliver the list, or he rides to the closest English garrison and tells the commander about us.”

Anthony exhaled sharply. “And what of Auralia? What is he goin’ to do to her if we daenae do what he wants?”

“He dinnae say,” she muttered, but a hundred different terrible scenarios played in her head. She shooed the twins through to Helena. “Get fixed up,” she told them.

Celestia turned to Anthony, folding her arms over her chest. “I’ll ride to the distillery and grab the lists, and then—”

“Lass, ye are nae goin’ to do anythin’,” Anthony said, placing a gentle hand on the base of her neck. “Ye are stayin’ right here. Sebastian and I’ll get Auralia back, and we willnae need the lists.”

“What do ye mean?” Celestia asked. “He said it could only be me.”

“He can think that, surely,” Anthony said, pulling her close. “But it will be me, Celestia. He will nae lay a single finger on ye or any one of ye again. I’ll see to that.”

He pulled her into a kiss. “This will nae take long,” he said, leaving her standing outside Helena’s rooms.

“Nay, Anthony, I’m comin’ with ye whether ye like it or nae,” Celestia said, rushing after him. “Are ye goin’ to dress up as me? Ye wouldnae make a bonnie woman, Anthony. If he spots ye, he will go straight to the garrison.”

He wiped a hand across his brow. “Please, daenae fight me on this, Celestia. It isnae safe for ye.”

She grabbed hold of his wrist, challenging him. “It will be safe enough.”

* * *

He hated this idea.

Anthony hated this idea.

He looked over at Celestia as they both dressed to travel to Koll Distillery, sliding into her trews and braiding her hair. Like she was readying for battle.

“Celestia,” he tried again as he clasped his belt.

“Nay, I will nae hear of it, Anthony,” she said, sitting on top of the bed to slide into her boots. “There is nothin’ ye can say that will stop me.”

Anthony took the two steps that it took to get to her and lifted her chin to face his. “Ye ken why I dinnae want ye to go, right?”

“Because ye daenae want me beaten by that brute again.”

“Nay, lass,” he said softly. “Ye are with child. Have ye nae been countin’ the days between yer courses?”

She stood abruptly, stepping out of his grasp. “There is nae way, I would ken if I was...I bled...” Anthony saw the realization dawn on her. “There’s nay way.”

“Ye have nae bled, Celestia. In two months.”

Her hand went to her belly, still flat. “I feel nay different. I’m sure I had my courses last month?”

Anthony shook his head. “I promise I would nae lie about this, lass. It’s been chaos since we wed and with yer Da dying, ye might just have nae been thinkin’ about it.”

Celestia turned inward, thinking. “Possibly,” she murmured, hand still over her stomach.

Anthony laid his hand over hers. “That’s why I daenae want ye to go. Ye’ll nae only be puttin’ yer life in danger.” He kissed her forehead. “It would be too risky.”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m goin’, Anthony. Koll needs to see it’s me or we’ll never get Auralia back. That’s my main concern right now, I will be fine.”

“Just ken,” he said, leaning in and kissing her, “that I dinnae like this one bit. In fact, I hate this. If ye are hurt and somethin’ happens to ye or the bairn—”

She hushed him, cupping his face. “It’s early days, Anthony. We will be fine.”

In the courtyard, Hugo and Chester rushed up to them as they mounted their horses. “We want to come with ye!” Chester exclaimed. “We can help.”

“I ken yer very adept at bein’ mischievous, but this is entirely different,” Celestia told them from her saddle.

“Ye are nae mischievous at all,” Hugo said, a bandage on the bridge of his broken nose. “Ye would be more of a hindrance than we would.”

Anthony shot Celestia a glare, silently agreeing with her brothers as he climbed onto his horse.

“Nay!” Celestia bellowed, gripping Grannus’ reins. “Stay within the castle walls.”

Chester and Hugo begged off, scowling at their sister.

“Are ye ready?” Sebastian asked, looking back at them from the top of his horse.

Celestia nodded resolutely with Anthony trotting up to her side. “Let’s go.”

They rode hard at first, making decent time to the small town between the castle and Inverness. They walked the horses through the town, allowing them to recover.

“Do ye ken what we’re goin’ to do when we get there?” Sebastian said to Anthony as they kept their eye on Celestia just ahead of them.

“I’m goin’ to slit the man’s throat,” Anthony said.

“I cannae believe ye let her come,” Sebastian said, nodding his head toward Celestia.

“I dinnae let her, she doesnae listen to me,” Anthony ground out. “If she gets hurt, I will nae forgive myself. I will nae forgive her.”

“I’ll look after her,” Sebastian said easily. “Daenae worry.”

Anthony must have had a pained expression on his face, but it felt like he had been grimacing for hours because Sebastian’s brows furrowed and he said, “What is wrong?”

“Nothin’ is wrong, truly, except her asinine wish to come with us,” he said. “She’s with child, Bas—and she’s ridin’ after a madman.”

Sebastian sucked in his bottom lip. “That is... a quandary.”

“That’s one word for it,” Anthony grumbled and kicked his horse into a gallop. “Let’s go, we’re passed the town limits.”

They reached Inverness in record time, the whole time Anthony’s thoughts kept switching from how many ways he could slit Ryder Koll’s throat to how Celestia was riding too hard for a woman with a child in her belly. And she was riding astride too like she always did, but now it felt different, it felt dangerous.

Anthony hid his horse just a few yards downriver from the distillery while Celestia and Sebastian rode onwards. It would look too odd if they showed up without horses.

He was mumbling to himself as he climbed over the back wall of the distillery. The red chimneys glowed in against the setting sun. Anthony withdrew his dirk from its sheath and crept along the wall, listening for voices or noises.

He crept past the building with a large red chimney and his ears piqued, hearing the sounds of muffled crying.

Auralia.

He stood there, back against the brick wall, frozen. Should he rescue Auralia first or take care of Koll? Celestia would kill him if he had come across her sister first and did nothing. But he would hate himself if something happened to Celestia.

I should have never married her , he thought sardonically to himself. The scent of tobacco smoke filled the air and a hacking, phlegmy cough. He peered around the corner to see a middle-aged man with a pipe in his mouth standing in the large doorway of the storeroom.

Celestia said there was another man...

“Quit yer cryin’,” he said, his tone caught between pity and anger. “We havenae hurt ye, lassie. Just be quiet.”

Anthony waited to see if Auralia would respond, but she didn’t. They might have her gagged, he couldn’t see her.

He spotted a pile of unused brick under a scraggly bush and picked one up as he moved closer. His footfalls were quiet on the grass as he approached the man. His eyes on the back of the man with the pipe’s skull.

A brief glance toward Auralia told him that she had spotted him, and ever the smartest, she began wailing even louder. Anthony raised the brick overhead and brought it down against the man’s skull.

The man collapsed to the ground.

“Are ye hurt, lass?” Anthony whispered, rushing to her, pulling down the cloth that had been tied around her mouth.

“Nay,” she said, holding her tied hands out to him.

Anthony took his dirk and cut her loose. “Yer sister and Sebastian are here. Stay hidden in here until we come for ye.”

“Mr. Koll is around the front,” Auralia told him before she ran off to hide.

The distillery was a maze. He could not seem to make heads or tails of the layout. The McLean distillery was built to near perfection, and everything made sense from the beginning of the compound to the back. Perhaps that was another reason Koll wanted Celestia to fail so adamantly.

“Where is my sister?”

Celestia.

He hurried along quietly to where her voice had come from. Stupidly, the man had kept the door open from where Anthony stood to where Celestia, Sebastian, and Koll were.

“Ye willnae see her until ye hand over the books,” Koll said, leaning against a counter, looking at ease. “Ye must come to yer senses, lass. The books for yer sister or nay books and prison—it’s an easy choice.”

“I dinnae ken what ye mean by books, but I brought our one and only client book with me,” Celestia told him, Sebastian staying close by her side.

Koll laughed, launching himself off the counter. “Ye must think me a fool, lass. I ken about the other list. Yer faither wasnae the gentleman ye thought he was.”

Celestia almost advanced but thought better of it. “My faither was a gentleman. And a far better man than yerself.”

“I never claimed to be a gentleman, to be fair,” he said. “I see that bonnie cheek of yers has healed nicely.”

Celestia grimaced, gripping the logbook closer to her chest. “Ye will take care of each and every person in here, like they’re family.”

“Aye, lass, I intend too,” Koll said reaching his hand out.

Celestia stepped back. “Do ye promise?”

Anthony took this moment to rush into the room. He wrapped his arm around Koll’s shoulder and pressed the blade against the skin of his throat. Koll struggled minutely beneath the dirk.

“Robbie is here. He’ll hear us and alert the English.”

“I took care of Robbie, dinnae worry,” Anthony told him.

Koll sucked in a breath. “Ye would kill me, unarmed and alone?”

“Aye,” Anthony said, mouth beside his ear. “I would.”

“A member of yer own clan?”

Anthony huffed out a laugh. “Ye have never been a very good one, so it is nay real loss.”

Koll thrust to the side and connected his elbow with Anthony’s chin. Anthony lost his grip on the man and stumbled backward. Koll lunged for the book in Celestia’s arms, pushing her into Sebastian so that Sebastian had no way to put himself in front of her.

Koll ripped the book out of her hands, lifted it, and brought it down across her face, sending her crashing to the ground.

A searing hot rage took Anthony when he saw Celestia hit the floor. He was no longer in control of his own body, this primeval urge to protect his wife and his child had completely taken over.

He gripped his knife tightly in his hand, just as Koll raised his foot behind him. Celestia was too stunned to see the kick coming. He was aiming right for her abdomen.

Anthony grabbed a fistful of Koll’s hair, ripped him backward, and buried his dirk into his neck. Blood flowed heavily from the wound in Koll’s neck, gurgling and fighting for air as he fell to the floor.

Anthony pulled the dirk from his neck, slowly, the blood pouring out after it. The color drained from Koll’s face as he struggled, hand clumsily fluttering to his neck.

“Celestia,” Anthony said, rushing to pull her up. “Are ye hurt?”

She shook her head, staring down at Koll whose head was resting on the floor now, the fight leaving him. “Is he dead?”

Anthony glanced back at the man. “Soon.”

“Auralia?”

“In the back.”

Celestia took off toward the back. “Auralia!”

Auralia rushed forth, straight into Celestia’s arms.

“Everythin’ is alright,” Celestia said, running a comforting hand down the length of her sister’s back. “We’re goin’ to be alright.”

On the way home, to Castle Ferguson, Anthony rode with Auralia, dead asleep, saddled in front of him, while Sebastian led the way. Celestia trotted alongside him.

“Thank ye, Anthony,” she said, loosening the reins as Grannus fell into step with Anthony’s horse. “I ken today wasnae easy for ye. I ken I can be massively stubborn.”

Anthony swept a sarcastic, side-eyed glance at her before smiling. “Ye mean pig-headed, right? Yer far worse than simply stubborn.”

Celestia frowned for a moment before a smile lit her features. “I promise I’ll go easy from now on... until the bairn is born.”

Anthony shook his head. “I highly doubt that lass, but ye will at least try nae to fight and chase after men?”

“Ye have my word,” she said with a smile.

He reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. “I love ye, lass. Truly.”

“I ken, Anthony.”

The End?