Page 1 of The Highlander’s Tempestuous Bride (The Highlander’s Bride #3)

Ard Castle, above the Firth of Clyde

Scotland, 1375

Ten-year-old Ryan Macraig sat astride his horse, struggling to keep his emotions in check. He gritted his teeth, but refused to let his father see him as less than a man grown.

Laird Macraig patted his son’s knee awkwardly. “Ye will be fine.” His words were firm, though his voice sounded rough. Ryan wondered who he was trying to convince.

“Ye will foster at the MacLaurey keep. The laird’s son is yer age and ye will get along grand.”

Ryan held back the words he’d already said. He had plenty of friends at Ard Castle, lads he’d grown up with. He had no wish to make new ones. But he knew lairds’ sons often fostered with other clans, and his childhood was now past. It was time he became a man.

“Remember yer heritage, Ryan. Remember our ways.” Laird Macraig’s head turned ever so slightly toward his southern border in a gesture Ryan knew well, but did not understand.

“Learn yer lessons. The Macraigs dinnae always have allies to rely on. Ye must make new ones.”

Ryan faced southward, too. Years ago, the Macraigs and the Macrorys had a firm alliance. For reasons left unspoken, that alliance failed, and the never-ending battle against pirating along their coastal boundary now strained the Macraig power and coffers.

“I will make ye proud, Da.” Ryan bit back the tears of parting .

“I know ye will, lad.” Laird Macraig turned and motioned for Ryan’s escort to mount up. As the procession filed through the castle gates, Ryan allowed himself one final glimpse over his shoulder.

His last sight of his father seared into his mind. Laird Macraig stood tall and straight, the hem of his cloak swaying gently in the breeze, one arm wrapped around the swollen waist of his leman who leaned against his side.

Ryan wondered if his father would forget him once the bairn was born.