The Fearless Highlander (Highland Defender Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

Dunvegan, wherever that was, and she’d never see him again. Charlotte had come from London to Fort William on an ocean transport after receiving notice that her father was so ill he wasn’t expected to live. However, the army had severely underestimated Colonel Hill’s strength and by the time she arrived, Papa had resumed his place at his writing desk.
    Now entrenched in the daily activities of the fort, so many things concerned her, especially the fact that Papa hadn’t made a complete recovery. After all, the man had fathered her at the age of two and forty. Determined to ensure Papa no longer needed her before boarding a ship for home, Charlotte resolved to remain at the outpost until his color improved.
    Of course, within days of her arrival, her father had mentioned that she might start thinking about marriage. Charlotte eventually wanted to return to London—find a husband there , not in Scotland.
    She pushed through the door of her bedchamber and shuddered. There wasn’t an officer in her father’s ranks who made her heart flutter the way Mr. MacLeod had managed to do even though he was abed with the bloody flux. No, her best chance to find a husband was to return to London where her aunt and uncle could introduce her at court.
    ***
    Hugh feigned unconsciousness until the guard checked on him. Besides, his chances would be far better after dark. He slipped the fork from beneath his thigh and bent one of the tines. Bloody oath, the sickness had weakened him. That combined with being on the brink of starvation for months had taken his once well-toned physique and turned it into a pile of bones. True, he’d weathered incarceration better than most, but he needed a month of good meals with red meat to bring him back to rights. And he had no intention of facing the executioner’s noose.
    He felt a twinge of guilt using kindhearted Miss Hill’s fork as a tool for escape, but then what Highlander would not take advantage of a wee bit of luck when presented with it? God bless her, she’d given him a gift of more than just a full belly. Yes, indeed, a newfangled fork might be useful after all.
    He pushed the bent tine into the padlock and turned. When the metal hit the locking mechanism, Hugh twisted his wrist, adjusting the angle of the tine until the padlock clicked. Careful not to let it drop to the floor, once he’d released the chain between his manacles from the bed, he jammed the fork into the barrel-shaped lock of one shackle, then the other. Thank God, the tine was just the right length to trick all the mechanisms and act like a skeleton key.
    He moaned aloud when the each iron manacle finally opened and dropped from his ankles onto the cot. Rubbing his skin alive, Hugh flexed his feet.
    God save his wretched neck, he’d need every bit of strength he could muster.
    Though the coals had mostly burned to a cinder, enough light remained to cast a dim glow through the surgery. Pushing the blanket aside, Hugh placed his bare feet on the floorboards. He leaned forward for a moment and tested his steadiness. Sickness had a way of knocking a man off balance, but he’d be damned if he’d lie back and wait for Doctor Munro to return on the morrow and declare Hugh fit enough to return to the hold.
    Oh no, he’d paid his penance—not that he owed anything to anyone. He’d been stripped of everything except his kilt and shirt. Lord only knew how he survived last winter without his toes falling off.
    Hugh stood and took a reviving breath. He could do this, damn it. Stealing across the floor, his toe caught on a chair leg. Before he could stop, it scraped the floorboards with a screech louder than a musket blast.
    Hugh froze.
    “What the bloody hell?” bellowed the guard outside the door.
    Let the game begin .
    As the surgery door flew open, Hugh darted behind it. The dragoon inched inside. His musket at the ready, the sharp bayonet affixed to the top passed a foot from Hugh’s nose.
    “Where the bloody hell