Page 3 of Tempting the Highland Captive

“Aye,” they all agreed, nodding. It was not hard for them to imagine just how terribly such a scene could go. A thing such as this could tear the clan apart if not handled properly.

“Perhaps someone from another clan?” Maggie offered helpfully. “I was a Campbell, ye ken, when I wed my dear Fergus.”

Amelia smiled warmly at the older woman but shook her head. “Nae, I have nae attachments tae any lad from any clan.”

Lucas snorted. “And a good thing tae. We cannae have another clan comin’ in and takin’ everythin’ that we have worked for.”

Maggie frowned and swatted Lucas’ arm for the insult. “Haud yer wheesht, man, ye dinnae ken what ye speak.”

“Lucas has a point, Maggie. Nae every highlander would be as loving and loyal tae our clan as ye have been,” Amelia remarked. “The same could be said o’ marryin’ within the clan; however, as there are many who would take advantage o’ the power afforded the laird. Men competing for my hand, we dinnae have time for infighting while we sort ourselves out. Any sign o’ weakness and Michael Rossell will be at our gates with an army.”

The group fell silent in thought, each attempting to come up with a solution to the problem that would be best for the clan and for Amelia as well. None of them wanted to see her endure the same sorrow that her mother had endured. “Who could ye wed that would be the least risk tae ye and the clan?” Maggie finally pondered aloud. “Could ye lie and say ye were wed?”

Father Jacob grunted in disapproval. “You would risk her immortal soul?”

“Nae, I would nae.” Maggie shook her head sheepishly. “Forgive me, Faither, for speaking it.”

The priest nodded and made the sign of the cross. “Even if ye did attempt such a lie, I would nae be able tae lie. ’Twould be I who performed the ceremony, ye ken.”

“Aye.” Maggie nodded, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment at the thought of asking a priest to lie.

“It cannae be a lowlander. ‘Twould hardly be better than a sassenach,” he bit out this last with a tone of disgust. While much of lowland Scotland had converted to Protestantism, Catholicism still had a stronghold in the highlands. To have a Protestant laird was unfathomable to the guardsman’s staunchly Catholic heart.

“Aye, agreed.” Father Jacob nodded emphatically.

“I would never wed either a lowlander or a sassenach. I will wed a highlander or nae man at all,” Amelia reassured them.

The group once more nodded in unison, glad to at least have that small assurance. They went through the list of unwed men within the clan as they rode along. Some were too mean or abusive to even be considered as candidates, but most were simply either too old, too young, or lacked the leadership skills required to be laird. The clan had some very good warriors, but not all warriors were meant to be leaders. Leadership took a special kind of mental strength, a cruelty against one’s enemies combined with a compassion for humanity, in general, that was difficult to master, along with a strategic mind and fortitude of spirit that would outlast all of mankind and nature which might try and tear them down. Not all lairds had these qualities, but Amelia knew her father expected her to choose the very best man for the position.

They stopped overnight at a roadside inn where the two women shared a room, with the priest in the room next door. Lucas slept in the hallway outside of Amelia’s room, as was his duty. Amelia did not envy him such an uncomfortable position, but should anything happen to her on the journey, her father would have the guardsman killed. “Edinburgh will be somewhat different without the king in residence, I should think,” she mused as the women settled into bed for the night.

“I expect it will be little changed. The king does nae affect the daily life o’ folks much, ye ken,” Maggie replied, her features already relaxing into sleep. Each year the ride was getting harder for the older woman. Soon she would not be able to make the trip at all. The laird was displeased to be without his cook so close to Yuletide, but Fergus had been a good warrior and so he let Maggie go to honor her husband’s memory. It took them about two days of hard riding to get to Edinburgh, they would stay a day to visit the prison, then ride the two days back, arriving back at the castle just in time to put the final arrangements together for the festivities.

“’Tis nae much like havin’ a laird then is it,” Amelia observed.

“In some ways it is, but ye are right. In many ways, a laird does much more for his people than a king, but dinnae let the king’s men hear ye say it. The king needs the lairds, he kens that well enough I would suppose, but the lairds need the king too. ‘Tis he that protects us from the English.”

Amelia understood that, but she could not help wondering how the king, the ruler of both Scotland and England, would affect his loyalties towards his own people. “Let us pray that he loves his Scottish subjects as much as a laird loves his own clan.”

“Aye,” Maggie murmured, then drifted off to sleep leaving Amelia alone with her thoughts.

She had been giving a great deal of thought to the responsibilities of leaders in all their many forms of late. Since her father’s ailing health had taken a steep turn for the worse, she had been studying and preparing to take her place as lairdess. Her father’s announcement before she departed that morning came as quite a shock in some ways, but not so much in the fact that she knew her father did not respect her abilities. He considered her to be too tenderhearted and compassionate for the role. Her father also did not believe that women should be in positions of power over men. She had sat through more than one tirade of his complaining about the Scottish and English cousin queens. He staunchly believed that all difficulties would have been solved had both parties been men.

Amelia just as staunchly disagreed citing all the many kings who had failed to achieve peace between the two kingdoms; however, her father saw King James as proof of his beliefs coming to fruition. Amelia argued that such a pass was more an issue of blood than sex. Her father had argued that a king would not have remained a virgin and risked the throne as the English queen had, but he conceded that such actions led to combining crowns and kingdoms when James became king. No matter how many times they discussed the subject, Amelia had never been able to change her father’s mind toward women leaders.

Amelia spent a restless night tossing and turning, thinking of what she would do in response to her father’s demands. She knew that the clan needed protection from Michael Rossell and his men, but at what personal cost to her? She feared the worst. She had very little sleep at dawn but arose and prepared herself the best that she could for the day ahead. When they arrived in Edinburgh, they first stopped at the prison so that Father Jacob might arrange their visit on the morrow with the warden, then retired to a nearby inn for the night. Once again Maggie fell asleep quickly, leaving Amelia alone with her thoughts. Amelia fell into a fitful sleep filled with dreams of abusive husbands and enemies at the gates, exhausted beyond measure.