Page 1 of Captured By the Highland Devil
CHAPTER ONE
“Father…”
Paige Bradley stared blankly at the piece of paper in her hand without quite understanding what it said—or rather, she could understand it but could not believe it.
“Father…” Her voice was hoarse. “This cannae be right.”
“It came from the King’s pen, girl,” her father Angus said tightly. “It’s a royal decree, I cannae undo it, undermine it or revoke it. It must be done.”
“But—but—” she swallowed, her hand clenching on the page so tightly it almost ripped in two. “He wants me to wed that McKinnon brute. The same scourge who had been wagin’ war against us and killed our people.”
“I ken that,” Angus Bradley, the MacPherson laird, snapped. “If I had the power, I wouldnae want that dastardly man anywhere near us.”
“But-but…” she swallowed. “The King kens about the bad blood between us. Is there nay other solution than marriage?”
Angus shook his head, “He doesnaewantye to marry, he isorderin’ye to marry—” his face twisted into a scowl. “—I daenae believe the Brute is happy about this either but there is nothin’ we can do.”
A suffocating weight compressed her lungs. “But Faither, he killed me cousin Elijah. Nae to mention the many others he slaughtered in the past year alone! H-how can I marry a man with such blood on his hands. I cannae, I will nae marry this man.”
“Ye will,” Angus shot out of his chair and slammed his hands down on the table, sloshing the goblet of wine and sending papers skittering to the floor.
Paige jumped, startled that her father took such a tone with her. “But Faither, I?—”
“Ye will marry him, or all our blood will be on yer hands. Ye and I will be just like yer cousin. The weddin’ is going to happen whether ye like it or nae,” her father said, while reaching for his wine.
Looking at her hands on her lap, Paige asked, “Why did they start the war at all?”
“At first, they invaded for nay reason, then I realized they wanted the mountain,” Angus said tiredly. “That land has mines that are full of gold nae to mention it’s where the coast is and where the fishermen make their catch. How do ye think that clan is rich, daughter-of-mine? All that coin goes to them.”
Paige should have been shocked at hearing that, but she was not. The McKinnon clan were an evil set of people, and their laird, Ruben Miller was the worst of them.
She had never laid eyes on the man before, but whispers told her the man was as ugly as sin, with only one eye and a scar down the other.
“When—” she swallowed. “When is this marriage going to happen?”
“In a few days,” Angus said, unhappily. “The laird and his people will be here by nightfall and tomorrow we’ll have the wedding ceremony.”
“Does Maither ken about this?” she asked.
“Aye, from this mornin’ and she hasnae stopped cryin’ about it,” Angus was agitated, his eyes flicking here and there.
“I need to go see her.” Paige stood and hurried from the room, leaving the crumpled paper behind.
She walked quickly to her mother’s room and found the door half open, from there she heard her mother’s soft sobs. Her mother Daisy Bradley—small, dark-haired, and painfully thin—was prone to nervous fits.
It pained Paige to see her already fretful mother crying. With too many emotions, she would fall into a conniption.
“Mama,” she said while rushing to her side. “Mama, please, daenae fret.”
Peeling the sodden cloth away from her eyes, her mother shook her head, “I dinnae want this for ye, Paige. Ye’re supposed to marry a good man, n-nae this warmonger.”
Perching on the side of the bed, Paige hugged her mother. “I ken Maither, but I daenae want ye to get ill over this. Ye ken that at times of real pressure, ye happen to take too much of it to heart and ye get ill.”
Shaking her head, Daisy said, “At times, aye, I have but it’s warranted for this. Yer life is going to change irreparably, and I daenae ken how to fix it.”
Hugging her mother tightly, she said, “Maybe we can talk to Laird McKinnon. If he does nae want this marriage either, maybe we can forge a peace without the weddin’.”
“We cannae disobey the King,” her mother sobbed. “Marriages are for alliances, Paige.”
