Highland Inheritance (Highlands Ever After Book 2)

  A Highland Inheritance

  Highlands Ever After

  Aileen Adams

  Contents

  A Highland Inheritance

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Afterword

  A Highland Inheritance

  Book Two of the Highlands Ever After Series!

  An English heiress has no cause to live in the Highlands. Or does she...

  Sheriff Colin Ramsey simply wants to keep the peace in the territory. He doesn’t want to have to enforce the Tartan and Dress Act of 1746. Nor does he want to babysit the feisty Highlanders that seek to create chaos and defy the laws—regardless how unjust said laws might be.

  He doesn’t like complications.

  Enter Iona Douglas, who brings complications in spades. This stubborn Englishwoman has inherited Scottish Highland property. She scandalously refuses to follow rules or suggestions. She insists—quite stubbornly—on brushing off advice in this lawless land.

  If only there weren’t feelings involved.

  If only she wasn’t irresistible.

  Colin’s problem is figuring out how to keep the lass alive when she seems hell bent on ending up dead.

  1

  It was with a heavy sigh that Colin Ramsey slid from his saddle in front of the home belonging to Alasdair Macintyre and his wife, Beitris. He’d looked forward to this visit all through the day, as one would look forward to a reward at the end of a trial.

  As of late, every new day had presented a trial.

  The early May air was warm, and the fact that the sun sank later with each passing day spoke of the summer to come. If anything, the past winter would be a blessing of sorts. The likelihood of the people whose safety was his responsibility staying indoors and out of trouble was higher when the snow flew.

  Now? There was no keeping the troublemakers of the village behind closed doors, which left the life of a sheriff in disarray.

  This had been the way of it, ever since word of the banning of tartan had been passed down and spread throughout the land. According to the Act of Proscription, it was illegal as of the previous August for any man to wear the colors of their highland clan, and the punishments for doing so were severe to a degree which turned his stomach. The English were not satisfied at having beaten back the Jacobites. They wished to send a message while suppressing further uprisings.

  Unfortunately, this act had only served to further inflame tempers which had already been near the point of boiling over. Residents of the village and surrounding lands had gone from disbelief, to disgust, to outright fury. There were fires set, messages written in mud or even blood along stone walls, none of which were precisely favorable toward the English. Not that Colin expected anything less—he was hardly in favor of their rule, either.

  Yet he could not allow his personal opinions to interfere with the job he’d been selected to perform. He was a man who took his duty seriously, who would not allow his territory to be overrun either by the English or by resentful Jacobites and their sympathizers.

  This hardly made him a popular figure, though he expected nothing less.

  Every muscle of his body ached from being held in tension for months on end. It seemed he’d done nothing but frown or scowl for as long as he could remember. Having to scold longtime friends—or do worse than scold—had worn his nerves thin to the point of nearly breaking.

  Which was why he had so looked forward to supper with the Macintyres. Not only were they of the same mind as he, but Alasdair had fought alongside him against the English. They were sympathetic to the same cause.

  And Alasdair was a reasonable man, unlike some with whom Colin had dealt since the proclamation came down. Certainly, Colin expected the men to be furious, outraged at being denied the right to display clan pride. Yet he would not do foolish things such as wearing his tartan in public, riding through the center of the village and singing at the top of his lungs to draw attention. That was just one of the challenges Colin dealt with during that day alone.

  Beitris laughed gently when Colin recounted this tale. “Forgive me,” she chortled behind her hand. “I know I ought not laugh. It must be a terrible hardship for you.”

  Colin couldn’t help but to smile at her, though she could not see it. For a woman without use of sight, she possessed a tremendous deal of grit, strength. He admired her more then he could say. She’d seen to the farm coming back to life while attending to a sick, old woman, with no one to help. Colin had checked on them from time to time, but much of the work had been done by Beitris.

  All this, without the use of her sight. Without her husband, who’d been forced to flee the English. And while carrying a child which now caused her to walk with a slow, plodding step, swaying back and forth while holding a hand to her lower back. She had all the strength of the most formidable warrior.

  He would forgive her nearly anything, he imagined.

  “I suspect I would laugh myself, were it not that I needed to bring the man in,” Colin admitted with a rueful chuckle. “Truly, he made quite a sight of himself, dressed from head to toe in his clan tartan. And only that. Head to toe.”

  “Were there any witnesses?” Alasdair asked, passing a platter of sizzling meat across the table.

  “Certainly, and they cheered themselves hoarse,” he assured them. “Part of me wished I could cheer along with them.”

  The scar running down one side of Alasdair’s face twisted even further when he scowled. “It must be trouble for you, going against what ye know to be right in service of your position.”

  Colin shifted in his chair, uncomfortable with the direction which their conversation had taken. “Tis not a simple matter,” he conceded, sopping up rich, flavorful juice with a hunk of bread. “But I have a duty, and I must abide by it. Remember, my position is perhaps the only reason I was not as avidly pursued as yourself when the magistrate came through.”

  Beitris stiffened, and instantly Colin regretted ever mentioning it. She had never explained what had been done to her during the harrowing hours in which she’d been held captive while being questioned as to Alasdair’s whereabouts, though she hardly needed to. He’d seen the results with his own eyes, and it had been enough to sicken him.

  Alasdair nodded slowly, his brow furrowed. “What are ye doing with the men who wear their tartan so brazenly?”

  A sore question. Again, Colin shifted in his seat. Should he tell them? It might put them in an uncomfortable spot if he did—the less they knew, the better for all involved.

  But these were friends, and he could not help but wish for them to think well of him. He was merely a man, a man with no family and a few friends worthy of the title. He did not wish for this couple to believe him traitorous or coldhearted. “Until now, the worst I’ve done is issue warnings. I dinna expect them to be heeded, but I can at least say I made it known such behavior would not be tolerated.”

  Beitris passed behind him, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder as she did. A silent message. He knew she would understand, if no one else. That she would feel sorry for him, though it normally disturbed him to no end to be
pitied.

  Then again, he had never faced a challenge such as this one. Torn between love of his history, his people, and the duty he had to a crown he cared nothing for except to hate its influence in his beloved homeland.

  “I fear this shall soon devolve further,” he confessed. “Men are gathering in secret, quietly, plotting against this latest outrage. I canna allow it to happen.”

  Alasdair thumped the table with one fist, scowling. “If there’s anything I might do to assist ye, dinna hesitate to speak of it.”

  “I would not expose ye to danger,” Colin vowed, perhaps more for Beitris’s sake than for Alasdair’s. “Ye are a family man now, with so many who depend upon ye. I would not wish to make life difficult for any of them.”

  “You are a good man, Colin Ramsey,” Beitris murmured. “Truly.”

  “Dinna overpraise him,” Alasdair chuckled before rising to help his wife into a chair. “Ye must rely on the lasses in the kitchen and not take so much upon yourself, my dear. Ye must rest.”

  She scoffed at this, though Colin noted the expression of relief she wore once she’d taken a seat. Alasdair was quick to place a cushion behind her back, hovering over his wife as though she were something rare and precious.

  To Alasdair, Colin supposed, she was. Quite precious, indeed. Not for the first time did Colin ask himself what it would mean to find a sympathetic person awaiting him upon returning from a punishing, difficult day. What would it mean to have her ask after him, to fret over his working so hard? What would it mean to hover over her as his friend did over his wife, to guard her with his life and to look forward to the birth of his child?

  Silly thoughts. The sort he rarely allowed himself to indulge in, the sort which rarely ever occurred to him. Only when in the presence of a pair who truly loved each other did he give a thought to marriage or domestic life. Perhaps it would be best to avoid this particular home for a time—especially once the bairn came to be, which would only make him long for something that was not his.

  Never would he speak these thoughts aloud. Not for anything. He was a man to be respected and feared, not one who gave himself over to flights of fancy or longing for a life that could never be.

  Once Beitris’s comfort was seen to and one of the lasses from the home’s modest kitchen came to tend to what was left on the table, Alasdair led Colin to his study that they might speak privately on the matters in the village. While he respected Beitris and gave credit to her intelligence, he did not wish to worry her with the truth of the troubles he’d seen.

  Alasdair poured a healthy amount of ale into a cup and thrust it toward Colin. “Drink, man. Tis clear ye are in need of one.”

  Colin accepted it, and gladly. “Tis more difficult by the day to contain them.” He knew he need not explain what he meant, nor whom. “I fear the village will become a verra dangerous place if they who live within canna control their outrage. I canna lock everyone away, yet ‘tis what they shall wish done.” No need to say who he meant in this case, either. It was clear enough without the words being spoken.

  “Aye, I suppose so.”

  “We canna have their return,” he muttered, staring out through the window behind Alasdair’s desk. “I will not have it. I must keep them away. Tis not been nearly long enough they’ve been gone from this area. And with ye—”

  “Dinna concern yourself with me.”

  “I do concern myself with ye, if ‘tis all the same,” Colin barked, perhaps sharper than he ought to. What else was there to do when the man seemed determined to argue? “Either I concern myself with ye now or I do it when ye are forced to escape again. If ‘tis all the same to ye, I would rather not.”

  “Forgive me. I did not—”

  Colin hung his head, then shook it slowly back and forth. “Nay, nay. Dinna apologize. I am tired, and fearful. It pains me to say it, but ‘tis the truth.”

  “Perhaps this will blow over as a sudden storm,” Alasdair mused, staring into his cup with a wry expression. “The sort which seem to be the end of the world when at their height, but ne’er cause damage than canna be undone.”

  Colin snickered at this. “An old spruce once toppled over in one such storm and punched a hole in our roof when I was a lad.”

  “But it could be undone,” Alasdair reminded him. “Perhaps this is the time for more than just warnings.”

  “Aye,” Colin groaned. “It could verra well be.”

  And with each of the kinsmen he locked away, his guilt would grow. The sense of betraying his people, his blood. He was a traitor to them, yet the alternative of an area crawling with Englishmen eager to make an example of the rebellious highlanders was far worse.

  Short of praying for a miracle, there was nothing to be done but his duty.

  2

  “Pardon me? Can someone assist me?”

  Iona may as well have been speaking to a wall for all the good it did. Either the commotion of so many mixed voices left her impossible to hear, or there were none in the crowded tavern who cared about her presence there.

  Never once in her twenty-three years had Iona known such fatigue, such weariness which seemed to have settled into her bones. She could scarcely move without some twinge or ache making her regret it. It was a wonder her joints did not audibly creak when she bent slightly to lower to the floor the bag packed with the most necessary of her possessions.

  “Excuse me.” She had no choice but to reach out and take hold of a man on his way past her. Whether or not he took offense was no longer her concern. This was a matter of survival, nothing less than that, and it was clear there was no one willing or able to take up her cause.

  Which meant she had to take up her own cause. It would hardly be the first time she’d been called upon to do so.

  The man looked her up and down, sneering, clearly unimpressed. This was no surprise, as more than a fortnight of hard travel had left her in terrible shape. She was filthy, her cloak ragged after being caught on so many branches and brambles, to say nothing of the regular beating she’d given it against the rocks lining the streams and rivers in which she’d bathed.

  The few guides she’d managed to acquire during her travels had found this need for cleanliness wasteful, some of them laughing openly at her attempts to remain tidy. She cared not. Just because she’d been called upon to make her life in this cold, unforgiving place did not mean she needed to pick up the manners of those accustomed to life there.

  Though it was not as if her life had been so much finer on the island. On the contrary, it had taken nearly all of her wit to carve out even a simple existence in her secluded home, the only one she’d known up until this point. To think, she had once been horror-stricken at the notion of being alone, with no one to protect or defend her.

  Now, she could not imagine life any other way. Nor would she, no matter how others endeavored to change her way of thinking.

  “What is it, then?” the man asked in a sharp tone. “I have work to be done.”

  She drew herself up to her full height, which was not very impressive and still only took her up to the man’s shoulder. No matter, she told herself. She had just as much right to be there as anyone. “I am in need of assistance. I have come a great distance and am afraid I have quite a way to go, though I was told my destination is mere hours from this village. As it is growing late, I wondered if I might either obtain a guide or secure lodging until morning.”

  It was clear in an instant this was not the person she ought to be speaking with, as he gaped at her as if he’d never heard a person speak before. Was there anything so strange about what she had just explained? “Would that be possible?” she prompted, her hands clutched in front of her. She pressed them together all the harder, willing herself to be strong when all she wanted was to lie down and sleep. Never had she so wished for sleep.

  The man’s gaze was sharp and keen as he looked her up and down. “Could be I might know of a likely guide,” he allowed. “Though t’would cost ye.”

 
“That is no matter,” she assured him. The moment it was out of her mouth, the man’s eyes took on a gleam she recognized as greed. No, this was not the man to trust. “Perhaps I ought to wait the evening and continue on in the morning,” she decided.

  “No need, no need,” he assured her, suddenly friendly. “I would be glad to—”

  She shook her head firmly, as she always did once she’d made up her mind. “Nay, ye have already explained that there is work ye must do. I would not wish to keep ye from it. Now, if there is a room available, I had better remain here for the night. I have been riding a terribly long time, and would like to sleep.”

  “What are ye on about here?” a sharp-tongued, sharp-featured woman demanded when she found them. “Ye were to fetch water, ye dunce. I have been waiting for it all this time and where do I find ye? Chattering on with a lass.”

  The man was embarrassed, Iona could tell, though she could not bring herself to feel sorry for him. Not when it was so plain that he’d wished to take advantage of her. “I was inquiring as to a room,” she explained, turning her attention to the woman before her. “Any small place will do. Tis only myself, with only a single piece of baggage.” She held it up for inspection as if it mattered in the slightest.

  The woman ran a distracted hand over mussed hair the color of copper. “We are quite full at the moment,” she announced. “Tis unusual, a single woman traveling on her own.”

  “I am in an unusual situation,” Iona admitted with what little smile she could manage under the weight of such fatigue. “Do ye have somewhere for me to sleep? I need nothing much. A place on the floor before the hearth would suffice. I would be too glad to pay for a chamber even if that were the case.” Perhaps it was not wise, allowing the woman to see how desperate she was; she might be leaving herself open to unscrupulous methods.