Love in the Time of a Highland Laird (A Laird for All Time Book 3), Angeline Fortin [top ten ebook reader txt] 📗

waxed parchment so they wouldn’t touch until she wanted them to and accidentally blow up the inn.

They would need to be leaving soon.

Where was he?

Chapter 34

“Ride ahead then, but wait for us ootside the borough. We’ll move in together, keeping tae the shadows. Once ye hear the signal, we’ll attack the guards and Sassenach platoon as one and drive them away from the tolbooth until the escape is made good.”

Keir scrutinized the group of men assembled in the stable behind the inn. Sixty men, one and all who’d lost dearly to the battle at Culloden, gathering at his call to free their clansmen.

Each one a true and loyal Highlander.

Each one eager for a bit of revenge against the Butcher who’d ravaged the countryside and their homes giving no quarter along the way.

No quarter. He had begun to revile the term and the unconscionable carnage committed under the auspices of Cumberland’s act.

Aye, he was eager for a bit of revenge himself.

“We’ll need tae move quickly, lads,” he warned. “As the prisoners are freed from the prison, take one up wi’ ye tae hasten our retreat. The fewer left afoot, the better off we’ll be. Aye?”

“Aye!”

He nodded at their enthusiasm. “We’ve brought a fair arsenal wi’ us from Rosebraugh. Available tae ye if ye dinnae hae arms. See yerselves ready and ride. I’ll follow shortly.”

The group disbanded, murmuring among themselves. Hopefully they would have enough men to accomplish their mission. To free, not just his father, but all those men about to cross through the valley of death.

What would happen to them after, he had no idea. Hopefully with a clean get away, the foot soldiers and militia being held would be forgotten. Their insignificant political importance making the effort to retrieve them improbable.

As for the others, the title lairds and men of rank, Keir wasn’t sure what would become of them. Openly arresting them would be inadvisable even for a man of Cumberland’s rank. On the other hand, he might defy logic and pursue them even in the public eye. So, would his father be able to return to Dingwall? Take up the reins as its laird once more? He didn’t know.

Perhaps it didn’t matter.

Freeing them, making as big an example as Cumberland intended when it came to proving that a Highland laird was more than just a title to be taken away.

That’s what mattered.

Keeping Al safe in the process. Aye, well, that mattered even more. He’d thought he could wait her out, give her plenty of time to think about what she was planning to do. Time to change her mind.

She had not.

In all his days he’d never met a female so bloody stubborn. He didn’t just weep for the future of men any longer. Nay, he despaired for them.

How was a man supposed to protect his own if she didn’t allow him to do his duty?

Nay, she had to be right in the thick of it without thought to her own frailty. One misstep, one confrontation with a Sassenach soldier, might see her cleaved in two.

Her plan—even though it was a bloody fine plan—didn’t sit well with him. But she had a point, bugger it all. The men guarding the prisoner wouldn’t give a look beyond the salacious to a pair of women. If they were questioned, they’d only have to say they were on the way to visit the redcoats camp to sell treats from their baskets.

Aye, unlike an armed man, she’d be able to walk right up to the prison door. No one would consider a wee, delicate woman like her a threat. A danger. She might even linger for a minute or two before she was questioned.

Al assured him it was all she would need.

Bloody hell, he couldn’t bear to let her do it. It was those who might assume they were selling more than just their wares and press them for even sweeter delights that he worried about. What might happen to her if her purpose was discovered. He longed to hold her back, even knowing the benefit that might come from her participation.

“Are ye nae going tae ask me tae come along, brother?” Artair asked after the other men had all wandered away. “Do ye nae think I can raise arms against my enemy?”

Keir slapped his brother on the shoulder. “Nay, brother. I ken ye could. But I need ye tae be here tae minister tae the injured who might return. And…,” he paused with a heavy sigh, “see tae it Al returns safely if something should happen tae me. It may nae be a war, but ‘twill be a battle in any case. I am nae delusional enough tae think we will achieve the whole of our goal wi’oot some loss of life. Mayhap my own.”

“Ye’ve ne’er lost a fight in yer life,” Artair teased uneasily.

“There’s a first time for everything. No one can live forever.”

Silence fell between the brothers.

“I would ne’er let any harm befall Miss Maines,” Artair said at length. “I care for her.”

“As do I.”

His brother shifted uneasily, rocking up on his toes. “Do ye plan tae keep her then?”

He almost laughed. As if Al were some simple creature who could be kept. He could hardly keep up with her.

“I plan tae wed her, Artair. I hope ye will wish us happy.”

His brother grimaced. “Truly? Ye hae nae showed much kindness tae her these last few days beyond…” He flushed and glanced away.

“That isnae yer concern. Know she has my heart. I’m merely uneasy aboot her role in our plan for the night and she willnae let me dissuade her from taking part in it.”

“Aye, I’d thought her a biddable lass, but…” Artair’s lips tightened in an exaggerated grimace that made Keir want to laugh. Aye, Al had too much spunk for a staid man like his brother. Though he’d never mention it, he was surprised Artair had even thought to try to make a preacher’s wife out of her. “Keir, I like the lass… but