“We were nine,” Anders replied, his tone dry.
“We were wiser than our years.” He clenched the fist holding the cup. “Ye dinna want her, but I’ve seen enough to ken I might.”
“Then ye had best go with her so ye can find out if she’s worth the battle the two of ye will start.”
HER HIGHLAND DECEPTION
The story of Calum Brodie and Ella Munro Ross begins inHIS HIGHLAND HEART(His Highland Heart Series Book 2). Calum falls in love with Ella at first glance. But after escaping a forced marriage, she has no interest in men and spurns his every advance.
InHIS HIGHLAND LOVE(His Highland Heart Series Book 3), Calum is blinded during the battle at Red Harlaw and carried home to be cared for.
In this story, written to be included in a new novel in the His Highland Heart series, Ella wants to help him. Fearful that he will be forever a burden and embarrassed by the intimate care he needs, Calum rejects her help.
Stung but determined, she disguises her voice and her scent and becomes “Janet”, the healer’s assistant. What will she do when Calum finds out?
JULY 24, 1411 - A FIELD NEAR HARLAW, FIFTEEN MILES WEST OF ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND
Calum Brodie stood with his chief, Iain Brodie, on the ridge overlooking the empty field outside the village of Harlaw. “We’re close enough to Aberdeen, like as no’ there will be townsfolk come to watch the battle soon,” he said.
Iain nodded toward Mar’s troops massed on the other side of the field, a mix of knights in mail on horseback, men with spears and halberds, and men on foot, dressed in rough clothing, carrying short swords, pikes, pitchforks, whatever weapons they had to hand. Most looked little different from many in Domnhall’s army. “That lot are merchants and farmers, no’ fighters. If we’re lucky, they’ll decide to blend in with the townsfolk and disappear.”
“We can hope so.”
“Aye, well, hope never won a battle, did it?”
Calum turned to face the men arrayed behind the Brodie laird. They were ready, weapons sharp and faces grim. But their eyes gave away their eagerness for the battle to begin. This day, they fought for Domnhall of Islay, the Lord of the Isles, against the Regent of Scotland, the Earl of Mar, both of whom claimedthe same Ross territory. “Domnhall had best give the signal soon,” he said to Iain.
Iain pulled his claymore from the sheath on his back.
The heavy longsword flashed, blinding Calum for a moment with the sun’s reflection. Iain took great care with his weapons, much as he did with his clan, and had sharpened and polished it to shine. He wanted an enemy to see death coming for him.
“Let’s show him we’re ready, aye?” Iain looked over his clansmen and raised his voice, thrusting his claymore skyward. “Are ye here to watch or to fight?”
“Fight, fight, fight,” rang out and echoed back from the nearby hills.
“For Brodie!” Iain called out when the noise died down and raised his blade again.
In answer, the Brodie oath, “Unite!” rang out and filled the field. The men broke into raucous cheers as other clans allied with them called out their war cries in turn. Calum, heart racing, grinned at Iain. He was a master at rousing his men.
Kenneth Brodie, Iain’s second-in-command, joined them. “T’will be a good day,” he said. “The fog has lifted. We can see every man they have and how they move.”
A cold chill ran down Calum’s back.
“Dinna say that,” Iain scolded. “Lest ye curse us.”
Kenneth frowned, then nodded. “Ye have the right of it. I take it back,” he added and crossed himself.
Despite Kenneth’s words, Calum studied the opposing force. Knights on horseback, mail glinting in the summer sunlight, were easiest to see, though Mar had positioned them toward the rear of his massed spearmen. Domnhall’s army vastly outnumbered Mar’s, but Mar’s knights could make up for their lack of numbers. Men on horseback moved faster. React faster. Their steeds’ hooves and teeth could be as deadly as the steeltheir riders carried. Domnhall’s men would have to take them down as early in the battle as possible.
Calum would be glad when this fight was over. It should settle control of Ross territory that had been under dispute for years. Even though he’d met Ella because of it, he’d be glad to see it done.
Ella. Nay, he couldn’t think of the lass today. He must concentrate on staying alive, returning to her so that he could, someday, win her heart. No matter how he tried, she gave him no encouragement, but he wouldn’t stop. He understood what she’d been through when stolen by Ross warriors and forced into a marriage she didn’t want. She needed to be in command of her own destiny. But he was determined that destiny would include him.
First, he had to stay alive.
Finally, the order came. A cry went up, immediately joined by a host of others. Roars and thundering hooves filled the air as the two sides rushed at each other, cavalry pushing to the fore. Calum fought alongside Kenneth, both staying near Iain, charged with protecting their laird.
In moments, Calum lost himself in the rage of battle, his senses aware of everything around him. Arms lifting, blades flashing in the summer sun, cries of battle and screams of agony, the clash and clang of weapons and shields, thunder of horses’ hooves, neighs and equine screams of distress, the reek of sweat, blood and piss. It all blended into a single awareness, himself at the center, Iain and Kenneth at his sides. He had no recognition of time passing. He measured the progress they made by the number of foes surrounding them. The battle eddied and swirled as they fought off knights and farmers with the same ferocity.
