Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

left the young prince alone and the ship seaworthy. And why should they not?
    To pirates, Jamie would be just another child—a nuisance to themselves if they took him aboard. The only real danger then would be if they seized the
Maryenknyght
and decided that its captain, crew, and passengers were expendable.
    A sense of unease stirred as these thoughts sped through his mind. He was certain that no other ship had followed the
Maryenknyght
. But he could not be as certain that the reason for its journey to Edinburgh and back had remained a secret.
    A year ago, almost to the day, Jamie’s older brother Davy had died. If the King of Scots died today, Jamie would succeed him, thus setting off a power struggle to determine who would control the throne. The Scots were tired of governors—or regents, as other countries called them—ruling in place of their rightful King.
    Many believed that a full-grown man, a strong one, should rule.
    Jamie’s uncle, the Duke of Albany, believed
he
was that man. And Albany stood next after Jamie to inherit the crown. Worse, Albany had a long history of learning things that others did not want him to know.
    “May God curse him if he’s arranged this!” Jake growled.
    When the five English ships finally disengaged themselves, leaving the
Maryenknyght
to pitch about in the angry waves, apparently uncontrolled, Jake ordered the
Sea Wolf
closer. He wondered why the pirates had not sailed their prize into harbor and, more important, if they had left anyone alive aboard.

    Having shut the lid of the kist into which Alyson had curled herself, Ciara had run across the passageway to drape clothing over the boys. Meantime, Alyson listened intently but heard only great crashing sounds that made the whole ship tremble. Trying to ignore both sounds andfury, she heard Ciara return at last and begin flinging things from the second kist to the shelf bed.
    “Did both boys fit in the one kist, Ciara?”
    “Aye, m’lady. But I doubt they are comfortable or that such a hiding place will serve if them villains come down here.”
    “Pirates will think only about our cargo,” Alyson said, praying that she was right. “They’ll want to offload it to their ships and won’t spare a thought for these two wee cabins before they do that.”
    “I’m none so sure o’ that,” Ciara said. “What if they seize this ship?”
    Alyson sighed. “I’d hoped that that dreadful thought would not occur to you. You did not share it with the boys, I trust.”
    “Nay, nor would I,” Ciara said “But if they do board—”
    “If they do, they do, and we’ll cope as well as we can,” Alyson said.
    Another crash rattled the ship. “Do hurry, Ciara. These bangs and shudders grow worrisome, because it feels as if other ships are banging into ours. If the pirates are boarding, you
don’t
want them to find you!”
    “I should bolt the door. Not that it will keep them—”
    “Don’t,” Alyson said urgently. “If you bolt it and someone comes, he will know that someone is here. A bolt cannot shoot itself home.”
    No reply other than a rustling sound came to her ears, but it told her that Ciara was climbing into the kist. As Alyson waited to hear the thud of its lid closing, another crashing shudder diverted her.
    Heavy footsteps thundered in the passageway.
    Yearning to tell Ciara to hurry, she dared not make asound, lest it carry into the passage. As the thought flitted through her mind, she heard the door bang back on its hinges, followed by a cry of alarm from Ciara.
    “Here now, what’s this?” a deep voice demanded. “What be a female doing aboard this ship?”
    “Get ye gone from here,” Ciara snapped. “Ye’ve nae business troubling a decent woman.”
    “To me, lads,” the man shouted. “Come see what I’ve found.”
    Ciara screamed, and more feet pounded in the passageway.
    Alyson tried to push the lid of her kist open but could not. Evidently, Ciara had slipped the steel pin into the hasp that