Page 24 of Highland Renegade
“Ye are the English countess, aren’t ye?” the boy asked.
His father swatted the side of his head. “’Tis obvious, nae?”
The lad rubbed his ear and stepped out of his father’s range. “A Sassenach will blameusfor the theft.” He turned to Emily. “Please, your ladyship. Doona turn us out.”
“Nobody is going to be turned out,” she replied. “But please explain to me how the two matters relate?”
“Yes, please do,” Juliana said as she and Lorelei joined the group. “None of this makes sense.”
Rory shrugged. “Because ye are nae a Scot.”
“Are you—”
“Hush,” Emily hissed at her. “Not now.” She smiled at Ian. “Please continue.”
“The feuding is nigh five hundred years old,” he said.
Emily felt her own eyes widen. “Five hundredyears? Is that not a bit long to sustain an argument?”
Devon glowered at her. “Scots have long memories.”
“Och, well,” Ian said. “We have nae been fighting the entire time.”
“True,” Alasdair added. “Some MacGregors even took the Campbell surname.”
“Traitors,” Devon muttered.
Carr gave him a reproving look. “And there have been intermarriages amongst us as well. Nae all of them are enemies.”
“I am confused.” Emily turned to Ian. “I still do not understand how the two matters relate.”
“If everyone will be quiet…” Ian gave each of his brothers a warning glance. “After Bannockburn—in the fourteenth century—Robert the Bruce awarded the Campbells Kilchurn Castle and the lands around it.”
“Which had been MacGregors?”
“Most of it,” Ian answered, “but land titles and legal documents were just beginning to be used.”
“So the land was in dispute?”
“Nae!” Devon glared at her. “’Twas ours!”
Ian ignored him. “The Campbells grew more powerful over time—”
“Because they sided with the bloody English when it benefited them,” Devon said.
Carr put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Let Ian finish.”
“Devon is right to some extent. They have amassed great swaths of land to the west and north of us. Presently, we are nae threat to them, but if the Earl of Bute and Lord Mount Stuart are successful in Parliament, we could reclaim some of those—our— lands.”
Emily drew her brows together. “I still do not see the connection.”
“’Tis simple.” Donovan spoke up. “They will expect us to retaliate and not only steal back our sheep but some of theirs as well, or possibly some coos.”
“And that will make us look like thieves, since the English doona see reiving as a time-honored tradition,” Broderick said.
“But if the Campbells—or whoever—started it, why would you be blamed?”
“Because, as Devon said, the Campbells have sided with the Crown enough to have the king’s ear in such a matter. King George also made the Duke of Argyll commander in chief for Scotland, so ye can see who will be believed,” Alasdair explained. “The Campbells will simply claim we were the ones who stole their livestock.”
