Chapter One
Sands Airgid, northern Highlands
Winter, 1463
“I beg you to reconsider this notion,” Miran MacKay said to her newly seated cousin, Laird Jamie. “There is nothing Kuresh can teach me. And even if there was, I refuse to learn anything from him. I find him arrogant and uncivilized.”
Jamie looked about his great hall, where only a few servants remained to clean up after the late meal. Everyone from the smallest child to his most accomplished warrior had been busy setting up his new household. Recently granted permission to establish a new branch of MacKays by his laird and cousin, Alex, Jamie had worked from sunrise to sunset, finally exhausted after filling his belly. His cherished cousin, Miran, had been tasked with accompanying his right hand, Kuresh, across the northern Highlands to recruit maids for his household.
“I gave ye an order, Miran. Twas not a mere request.”
She shook her head, anger showing on her pretty face. “Let me return to Alex’s household. At least I was happy there.”
Jamie sighed and leaned over the high table, staring down at Miran who had chosen to stand below the dais instead of sitting at her usual place of honor. “You dislike my home? Our home?”
She stared at the floor. “Sands Airgid is a beautiful manor house,” she assured him. “Everything is so new and elegant…”
“But?”
“I find little comfort in luxury, milord.” She gazed at him. “Ye know this of me.”
Aye, the lass had often chosen to wear rough-wool gowns instead of linen. She had chosen to live as a servant instead of the noblewoman she was born to be.
“Ye agreed to accompany us here, Miran. To shed yer old life. The same way Lady Helen and I have given up our pasts to embrace the future.”
“Aye,” she said. “But I dinna agree to accept Kuresh and everything he represents.”
“He is my captain.”
“He is a heathen.”
Jamie scratched his stubbled chin. “Ye would judge a man for his faith?”
“Did God no do the same?”
Obstinate creature! But correct. God had indeed instructed his chosen people to avoid anyone outside their faith. But those times were in the ancient past. And Kuresh… The man had served his cousin honorably and saved Lady Helen’s life. “I doona care for the stories from the Old Testament.”
Miran arched a blond brow. “Doona let the priest hear ye say that!”
“Miran.” Jamie stood and rounded the trestle table, stepping off the dais so he could speak to her on the same level. “I choose no’ to judge a man for his religion.” He rested his palm on her proud shoulder.
“Doona criticize me for having my own opinion of him.”
Because she was ruled by the rigid logic she’d inherited from her father, and emotions like her mother’s, Jamie dinna know what to say, except the hard truth. “Are ye laird of this clan?”
“Nay.”
“Do ye have the right to disobey me?”
“Nay.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes but dinna fall.
“Did ye swear allegiance to me? Promise to serve my wife? Did Laird Alex no agree to ye joining this new branch of the MacKays?”
“Why are ye asking me questions ye already know the answers to?”
“To make sure ye understand. Twas not a conditional arrangement. Ye have no right to flee the moment something happens ye disagree with or are afraid of.”
She wiped her eyes and sniffled. “I am tired, laird. So tired of fighting ye and everyone else who thinks they know what’s best for me. I am a lady, no? Left a substantial inheritance from my father. Enough to grant me independence if I so wish.”
Jamie sighed. “Independence? As a woman?” He chuckled at the thought. “Every woman is dependent on a man in some form. For a woman of yer education and birth, ye are acting foolishly.”
Miran propped a hand on her hip. “If I pledged my soul to God…”
“Nuns?” Jamie chuckled again, but not as happily as before. “Servitude to the Almighty is even more restrictive.”
“But doesna require dependence on a man. No directly.”
She made a fair point, but… “Is God no’ a man?”
“Maybe…”
“Miran?”
“As far as we can comprehend who God is, aye.”
“Then submit to me. I would never place ye in danger, ever ask ye to do something I thought would harm ye.”
She grudgingly nodded. “Tis unfair. I am more capable than half the men in yer service!”
Jamie smiled as he watched her climb the narrow stairway that led to the women’s quarters on the third floor. Like most of the MacKay women, pride often got in the way of her doing what was best. But he wouldna hold it against his sweet cousin, for he loved her, and Miran had always made his life more interesting. That, and because she had suffered much for being so young. He would help her find happiness, even if it meant forcing her to do things she dinna want to do.
“I am afraid the lady does not like me.” Kuresh appeared from the shadows.
“And how much of our conversation did ye overhear?”
“Enough to know when I am unwelcome.”
“Some might call that eavesdropping.” Jamie offered him a tankard of ale.
“Or self-preservation.” Kuresh grinned before he took a deep drink.
“I thought ye were forbidden to drink anything fermented.”
“Then why do ye keep offering me wine and ale?”
“To see if ye ever accept.”
“And now I have.” He finished the drink and shoved the vessel back into Jamie’s hand. “More.”
Jamie gladly refilled the tankard. “Take it slow, my friend. This drink will go straight to yer inexperienced head.”
“Do you think me some kind of maiden? I have drunk fermented camel’s milk and Kumis since I was old enough to stand. And had my share of ale while serving Laird Alex.”
Jamie remembered sampling both during his extended visit to Constantinople. After the first time, he nearly vomited from the strong aftertaste. “French wine and Scottish ale are far better.”
“I agree.”
“Do ye think I am being too hard on the lass?” Jamie asked.
“I am not the man to ask.”
Jamie pulled out a bench at one of the lower tables and sat down. “I know ye are attracted to my cousin.”
“I am,” Kuresh readily admitted.
Jamie marveled at the nature of Kuresh and his strange culture. Honest to a fault, his captain had taught him life-saving lessons when they’d travelled together. So had all the people he’d met on his long journey. It had made Jamie a better man, and now a better husband. “Should I end her misery? Let her stay here? Or send her back to Laird Alex?”
Kuresh took another drink. “This journey will benefit her greatly. I will tame her wild spirit one way or another.”
“Kuresh…”
“I will not dishonor her.”
“That wasna what I was thinking.”
“No?”
“She has five maids travelling with her. Even if ye were the sort of brute who would seduce an innocent maid, ye would have to get through the lasses protecting her. Trust me when I say, twould be better to cut off yer own bollocks.”
Kuresh laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind if my lust overpowers me.”
“Good. And what about yer naming ceremony? Are ye truly ready to sever all ties with yer Ottoman home and become a MacKay?”
“I am,” Kuresh said unwaveringly. “Nothing is more important to me.”
“Then get some sleep. In the morn, the priest will be here to oversee everything.”
“Have a blessed night,” Kuresh said, setting the tankard on the table.
“Good night, Kuresh.”
*
Anger overwhelmed Miran as she sat on the stair, unhappy with the conversation she had overheard between her cousin and Kuresh. If that man thought he was the only one who could listen in on private discussions, well… Another indication of his discourteousness. Everything about him made her uncomfortable. A particular moment unraveled in her mind, an event that had happened not too long ago—the one which turned her against Kuresh permanently.
“I spoke with Petro on many occasions about Highland tradition. I served with Laird Alex for seven years in my homeland and here. I have no desire to return to the desert. But if I am ever to be taken seriously, to be honored as a true Highland warrior, I must take a Scottish name.”
“I can give ye a few suggestions,” Miran said as she entered the great hall from the kitchens.
Kuresh immediately spun about. “You’ve called me beast and monster, woman.”
“Ye earned those titles by telling me a woman shouldna speak unless she’s spoken to.”
“I gave you valuable advice—to help you find a husband.”
“I doona want a husband.”
“I believe you need one, woman. One who will teach you how to behave properly.”
Jamie sat back in his chair, watching. Miran knew Lady Helen had warned him the two dinna get along.
“Go back to the kitchens,” Kuresh commanded.
Miran blew out a frustrated breath. “I am nay a maid ye can order about.”
“I am the laird’s right hand.”
“And I am his cousin—invited here as his wife’s companion. Perhaps I should ask ye to fetch me some water!”
Kuresh stomped over to where she stood and gripped her by the arm. “If it’s water you seek, I will be happy to escort you outside and to the loch where I will dunk you beneath the frigid water until you promise never to talk to a MacKay captain so disrespectfully again.”
Miran pushed him away. “Nay… Let me take ye to the loch, put ye in a bag filled with rocks so ye sink to the bottom and drown like the vermin ye are.”
Kuresh glared at her.
“If ye doona wish to hear the name I was going to suggest for ye…” Miran said.
“And what title would you choose?”
“Leod.”
Kuresh cast a quick glance at Jamie. “I have never heard this name. What does it mean?”
Jamie tried to contain his laughter. “Beautiful warrior,” he lied.
Kuresh narrowed his eyes. “Beautiful warrior?”
“Jamie!” Miran said. “Doona lie to yer captain.”
Jamie wagged his fingers at her in warning, but Miran dinna listen. She never did.
“What is the true meaning of the name?” Kuresh pressed her.
Miran stood on her toes and whispered in his ear.
“Ugly?” Kuresh’s voice boomed.
That’s when he picked her up and flung her over his shoulder.
A small crowd had begun to gather because of all the noise, and as Miran squirmed and kicked to get away, Kuresh ignored her and headed for the doors. No one challenged him, not even Jamie.
“Jamie!” Helen joined him near the entrance to the great hall. “What is Kuresh doing to Miran?”
“Something I should have done long ago,” he said, taking his wife’s hand and following the onlookers outside.
Kuresh marched to the half-frozen loch. “Do you have anything to say to me, Miran?”
“Lady Miran,” she corrected him.
“Do you?”
“Ye are the ugliest creature I have ever set eyes on! Now put me down!”
“As you wish, Lady Miran.” Kuresh tossed her into the shallowest part of the loch.
Miran screamed and spluttered, splashing like a crazed duck as she surfaced. “I will find the right moment to exact my revenge on ye, Kuresh.”
The captain dinna say a word. He removed his fur cloak and threw it on the ground in front of Miran. “Put this on before you catch your death, woman.” Then, he strode away.
Helen ran to Miran and picked up the cloak. She shook it out. “Come, Miran. I’d better get ye inside by the fire.”
Miran let Helen wrap the fur about her shoulders as her teeth chattered. “Jamie.”
“Aye?”
“I hate him,” she said. “Send him back to Laird Alex, please.”
“Nay,” Jamie refused. “He is an asset to this clan, the best sort of man I’ve ever met.”
“Ye are blind.”
“Miran,” Jamie said, “perhaps I should let him take a whip to yer arse, as I did to Duncan Munroe’s.”
“Come along now,” Helen urged, and they started back toward the manor house.
“In fact…” Jamie began. “I know how to make peace between ye.”
Miran stared at her cousin. “I doona want to make peace with that man. I wish him a painful death.”
Jamie ignored her. “Kuresh is planning a trip across the Highlands, and I will ask him to recruit new soldiers along the way. Why not combine yer efforts? I will send ye with a few other women to find maids who wish to work for me.”
Miran fisted her hands, caught between the life she had always dreamed of living and the one she was forced to live. She must come up with a plan to get rid of Kuresh to restore any chance she’d ever get at happiness. But how? Laird Jamie loved her, she never doubted it. But with his captain always at his side, whispering ideas in his ear, he’d never take her seriously, not about things that mattered, anyway.
Taking a deep and steadying breath, she stood and climbed the rest of the stairs, then walked to her chamber door. She opened it and found a welcoming fire and a tray of food and wine on the table. The first thing she would do in the morning was attend Kuresh’s naming ceremony. She wanted to hear the Scottish title the self-important barbarian had chosen for himself. Then, she’d find a way to make sure he regretted the day he dropped her in the loch.