Return of the Highlander Read Online Free PDF

a half-Campbell, half-English chief ruling at Leathan Castle.
    “Are you at all familiar with this man you are pledged to marry?” Angus asked, stopping in the center of the hall. “What do you know of his character today?”
    “As I told you,” she replied, “I haven’t seen him in years. I was only a child when he left Leathan.”
    “What sort of child was he?” Angus pressed.
    Larena thought back to those long ago days when she used to run and play with her brothers in the bailey, fighting each other with wooden swords, pretending to be warriors. She had taken part as well and it was with them that she had learned to shoot arrows with remarkable accuracy for a girl.
    Chatham had been nothing like her brothers.
    “He was intelligent,” she told them, “which was why I enjoyed his company. He was different from the others.”
    “How so?” Angus asked with a slight frown.
    “No one could read like Chatham could,” she replied. “No one had the interest. And he was quiet, I suppose. Sometimes the older boys bullied him.” She looked down at her hands on her lap. “My brothers included.”
    She had not been proud of how they treated Chatham. But her brothers were all gone now—fallen heroes at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, many years back. She was the only one left. Her father’s only child—the only hope left to carry on his legacy at Leathan.
    “At least this way,” she heard herself saying to Angus, “my father’s grandchildren will be lairds of Leathan one day. If I don’t marry Chatham, the castle will fall to the English as a garrison and the members of my clan will have no home.” She looked up. “For that reason, please, sir, I beg of you… I realize you do not owe me anything. I am a Campbell and we’ve always been at each other’s throats, but I pray that you will find it in your heart to let me go, so that I may deliver the pardon to save my father’s life and fulfill my promise to Lord Rutherford.”
    Angus considered her plea. “That was quite a speech, lass. No wonder Rutherford couldn’t resist your offer.”
    “It wasn’t my offer,” she said. “The marriage was his idea.”
    Angus’s golden eyebrow lifted.
    “So you’ll hand yourself over to an officer of the British army,” Darach asked, striding toward her, “to save your father’s life?”
    “Of course. What other choice do I have? Wouldn’t you do the same in my place?”
    “I can’t answer that, lass,” he replied. “My father’s dead.”
    Tension rolled into the room, but Larena kept her gaze fixed on his. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    He gave no reply, but his eyes were dark and insolent.
    “Well then,” Angus said, finishing his drink and striding to the sideboard to set down the glass. “I thank you for your candor, Larena Campbell. You’ve been most forthcoming. For that reason, I will honor your request and return your father’s pardon to you. I will also arrange an escort to deliver you safely to Leathan Castle immediately. I will send word to Rutherford at Fort William to inform him that his soldiers were attacked by a young band of MacDuff rebels, but that you are now safe under my protection. In return, you will explain to your future husband that Angus MacDonald of Kinloch desires peace between our clans and also with the English. Assure him that I have no interest in another rebellion. I wish only for the people of Kinloch to live with freedom from strife.”
    Larena stood up—surprised, relieved, and more grateful than ever. “Thank you, sir. You are most generous.”
    He turned to Darach. “And you will be the one to escort the lady home. Take your brother Logan as well.”
    Darach bristled noticeably, and Larena suspected she did the same, for the mere idea of traveling through the Highlands with this dark and menacing Highlander sent her heart into a spin.
    “That’s not necessary,” she blurted out. “I am perfectly capable of traveling on my own.”
    “I’ll hear no such