Chapter 1

Chapter One

October, 1662

Finn Mackay was again taken aback by the sight of Castle Varrich, set high on a hill, rising before him as he grew closer to his destination. The area surrounding the castle was covered with rolling hills of deep green and wet grass from the recent rains. Late autumn flowers were wilting, a sure sign that soon the weather would be colder as winter set in.

The majestic castle, overlooking the Kyle of Tongue and Village Tongue, always impressed him with its position. It would be almost impossible for another clan to attack without being seen for miles from the ramparts, making it one of the safest holds in the Highlands.

He patted the pouch tied to his waist where the note from his brother, Craig, sat. The message that thanked the Clan Chief for the offer to make him his second-in-command. As a newly married man, and Craig's wife just now settled at Dun Ugadale, and expecting a bairn, Craig would not be accepting his offer.

It was Finn's job to deliver the message and then talk Laird Foster Mackay into allowing him to step into Craig's place as his second-in-command. It was not the first time one of the Mackays took a brother's place.

Finn's brother, Chieftain and Laird Robin Mackay, had been betrothed to Lady Lorena Gunn, but in love with the Mackay healer, Helena Ross. Craig Mackay was the one who delivered the news to the Gunn laird that Robin would not be honoring the betrothal, but, to avoid a major conflict and possible war, he was there to offer himself in Robin's place.

It had been a bad start to that marriage since Lady Lorena felt insulted and rejected, and Craig had made it known he was only marrying her to save his brother. Now they were so happily married that Craig behaved like a besotted fool, imitating their brother Robin with his wife, Helena.

Finn shook his head. That was not for him. Marriage was fine; he actually had no objection to it once the right lass presented herself, but his brothers had lost control of their senses when it came to their wives.

Control was everything to him, and he shuddered every time he remembered the one time he'd lost control and what had followed.

He pushed all of that to the back of his mind so he could do what he came for. He wanted this position. As the third brother at Dun Ugadale, he was needed at his brother's side, of course, but his duties could easily be replaced. Craig was the one who Robin relied on for most of the major decisions.

Finn felt the need to prove to himself that he was not just the "youngest Mackay brother," but a man who could take control of clan warriors, see that they were trained properly, go into battle alongside his laird, and help make strategy decisions.

The sun was just making its descent when Finn arrived at the castle. "Who goes there?" a voice called from the ramparts, interrupting his thoughts.

Finn placed his hand over his eyes to block out the setting sun and looked up at the guardsman staring down at him. "Finn Mackay, brother to Laird Robin Mackay."

"Weren't ye just here a bit of time ago?"

It had only been a fortnight since Finn and his brothers, along with Craig's wife, Lorena, had left Castle Varrich where they had gathered with the other chieftains for a clan gathering. It was then that the Clan Chief offered the second-in-command to Craig. With both his sons dead, he said he wanted a well-trained warrior, which he was sure the brother to Laird Robin Mackay would be.

"Aye. I am carrying a message for the Clan Chief. Would ye let down the drawbridge?"

No one answered, but it didn't take long for the creaking of the chains to announce the drawbridge was descending. Finn trotted across, the sound of his horse's hooves vibrating in the air.

He arrived at the outer bailey and jumped from his horse. A guardsman met him with his hand out. "I'll take the message to my laird. I'll have the stable lad take care of yer horse and ye may wait in the great hall for the laird's answer."

Although he would have preferred to present the message to the laird himself, and at the same time offer his services in his brother's place, he handed the piece of parchment to the man and, since he was familiar with the keep, headed to the great hall.

He found a sweet lass finishing up her chores from the evening meal. She stopped and placed her hand on her hip giving him a very saucy smile. "Weren't ye here only two weeks ago? With yer two handsome brothers?"

Finn placed his hand on his chest and offered her the smile that tempted many a lass to lift her skirts. "Ach, lass. Ye hurt my feelings. Are ye saying only those two big oafs are handsome?"

She sauntered closer to him with more of an obvious sway to her hips. "Nay. I dinna say that. But it appears yer head is big enough without me adding to yer opinion of yerself."

He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest and grinned "Ye best forget my two brothers, lass. They are both besotted with their wives."

She licked her lip. "And ye? Are ye besotted with yer wife as well?"

"Nay. No wife for me."

The lass picked up the last of the trenchers on the table she'd been cleaning. "My name is Brenda if ye find yerself looking for some company."

Just then the man who had taken the note from him shouted, "Brenda, ye are no' paid to stand around and flash yer charms at visitors. Get back to the kitchen."

Instead of acting embarrassed, Brenda flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Ach, James, yer just a jealous mon."

He shook his head as he reached where Finn sat. "I'll bet the lass was so busy trying to get ye into her bed she dinna offer ye food and drink."

Finn grinned. "Nay. But she is a bonny one."

"Aye, and a jealous one. If ye get involved with her, ye need to watch yer back." He placed his hands on his hips. "Do ye remember where the laird's solar is?"

"Aye."

"We doona let outsiders wander the keep, but the laird said ‘twas all right to send ye up and make sure ye had something to eat." He nodded as he stuck out his hand. "My name is James Mackay. If ye head up to the laird's solar, I'll have the kitchen send up a meal to ye."

Finn nodded and jogged to the staircase, taking two steps at a time. He followed the stone walkway to the laird's solar and knocked.

"Enter."

Laird Foster Mackay was a man approaching his sixth decade. His first wife had died in childbirth, taking the bairn along with her. His second wife gave him two sons and a daughter, the youngest being no more than five summers when the second wife passed.

Satisfied with two sons to follow him, Foster had remained unmarried.

The laird had lines of sorrow on his face and pain in his fading blue eyes. His shoulder length, light brown hair was beginning to show streaks of gray. Within the past year he'd lost both his sons in battles, which was a major surprise to The Mackay since his sons had been the best trained of all the warriors.

One son was cut down and bled to death on the battlefield and the other son died of an infection from a slash on the arm. When they were here a few weeks ago, Finn had heard the man was being badgered by his council members to take another wife since the only child left to him was his daughter, Lady Alison.

He refused, stating he didn't have the heart to take another wife and raise more bairns. Craig had told Finn after his conversation with The Mackay that it was this situation that had encouraged the laird to offer a second-in-command to Craig.

If he could step into his brother's place, he saw this as an opportunity to make a life for himself outside of the two brothers he dearly loved but felt overshadowed by.

The laird waved to the seat in front of his desk.

He sat back and studied Finn for a moment, then tapped the piece of parchment lying on his desk. "I assume there is a reason why yer laird sent ye with this instead of having a messenger deliver it?"

Finn nodded. "Aye, laird. I am here to convince ye to take me in place of my brother."

The Mackay crossed his arms over his massive chest. He was once a formidable man but his sorrows had taken some of the life out of him. "And ye and yer laird feel as though I would need some convincing?"

Finn shrugged. "Ye offered the spot to Craig."

"Aye. That I did."

Unsure what to say next, Finn just waited for the laird to continue. "I offered it to Craig because he has already been acting second-in-command for yer laird. I doona have time to train a mon."

Finn tried hard to not take that as a rejection. Instead, he decided if he was to be considered for the position, he had to fight for it. "I am just as effective as my brother. I am in on all the decisions, training, and strategy."

The laird shrugged. "Yet ‘tis Craig he turns to more than ye."

So there was a spy at Dun Ugadale, giving information to The Mackay.

"Craig was recently at one of our borders for more than a moon and Robin and I, together, made many decisions that benefited the clan."

"Such as?"

He would not be so easily dissuaded from his goal. "We took on twenty new trainees to strengthen our forces. I personally chose the twenty and supervised their training."

The laird nodded for him to continue.

"The council wanted Robin to honor the betrothal agreement between him and Lady Lorena Gunn. Robin fought against them, and I still believe he made the wrong decision."

Foster frowned. "Didn't yer brother Craig step in and take Mackay's place?"

"Aye. But ‘twas no' the honorable thing to do. We were lucky to avoid a war with the Gunns over that."

"So yer brother Craig took Robin's place, and now ye want to step into his place here. Is that something yer family does? When one doesn't want to honor a commitment, a brother takes o'er?"

Growing irritated at how the questioning was going and resenting the inference that he and his brothers were not honorable men, Finn leaned forward, his voice tight. "Craig made no commitment to ye about this position."

"That is true. But yer brother, Robin, dinna honor a betrothal agreement."

"As I said, I counseled him against that."

The laird sat silent for a moment, continuing to study Finn. "So ye doona think it was a wise decision for The Mackay to make e'en though I understand ‘twas a great deal of feeling on his and his wife's part. Ye doona believe in love?"

"Nay," he answered quickly. "My brothers are both halfwits over their wives. They lack control. ‘Tis dangerous."

The laird seemed surprised by his answer but was apparently ready to move on.

"There is currently a betrothal agreement between my daughter, Lady Alison, and the first Sinclair laird's son. I want the match for two reasons. One, it will join the Mackays and the Sinclairs. Along with the connection yer clan has with the Sutherlands through Robin's marriage, it will make the northern clans the most powerful in the Highlands.

"A second reason is since I no longer have an heir, and doona wish to marry again to produce one, The Sinclair's son will take over the lairdship with Lady Alison as his advisor when I die. Hopefully, he and my daughter will produce many sons to continue the line."

Almost shocked into silence, Finn took a deep breath and studied the man. "Excuse my disrespect, my laird, but with all the Mackay sons from yer chieftains, why no' chose one of them to become Clan Chief upon yer death—that we hope willna be for a long time?"

He waved his question away as a small matter, making Finn consider that the man might be losing his faculties. "I doona want to cause conflicts among my clans," the Clan Chief said, "and it was part of the agreement with The Sinclair."

It took a bit of mental chewing to swallow what the man had planned for his succession. He could see more issues among the Mackay chieftains than what The Mackay considered a good way to avoid conflict by handing such an important position to another clan.

While Finn continued to dwell on this, Foster said, "My question to ye is, would ye have a problem swearing yer fealty to Sinclair when the time comes?"

Without hesitation, Finn said, "Nay." There was no doubt that Sinclair would have a problem with the entire mess the Clan Chief had arranged, but he still wanted the job as second-in-command.

The laird stood, as did Finn. He stuck his hand out and Finn took the older man's grip. Not as strong as it used to be, he noted. "Welcome to Castle Varrich, Finn. Get something to eat, get settled and we'll meet back here tomorrow morning at first light."

Lady Alison Mackay stared out the window of her bedchamber at the setting sun. One of the Mackay brothers had arrived a while ago and, since he hadn't left, she was assuming he would be here in the morning.

She couldn't tell completely which brother it was, but she had reason to believe it was Finn Mackay, the youngest of the three brothers.

And the handsomest.

He'd heard her da vehemently arguing with the council about taking another wife. That was what had led to her betrothal agreement.

Then when questioned by the council members about the lack of a strong second-in-command, Da had said he planned to take one of the Mackays from Dun Ugadale as his second. She had thought he would offer it to Craig Mackay, but she was certain it had not been him who had shown up.

Not that she cared much what was going on at Castle Varrich, her home her entire life. She was merely weeks away from her wedding to Archie Sinclair. Her perfect match.

He didn't want her, and she didn't want him.

The one time they'd met when their fathers worked out the betrothal, Archie let her know he had no intention of giving up his lemman when they married. The woman would share his bed and Alison would be settled in the bedchamber next to his at the Sinclair keep.

When it was necessary for him to plant a bairn in her—which was precisely how he'd said it—he would visit her bed until successful.

When the time came to move to Castle Varrich after her da passed away and he became the new Mackay laird, the trollop would be moving with him. Once Alison produced a few heirs, she could do what she wanted.

A bit taken aback at his brutal honesty, she made it plain that he could keep his lemman because she wanted the kind of marriage where he could do what he wished and the same for her. She would never listen to the orders and commands of a husband.

He agreed, reminding her of the duty to produce a few heirs before she took up with another man. She had assured him she was only too happy to have the kind of marriage that was truly one arranged for the benefit of their clans and she would not cause problems with his mistress.

Mistress!

She'd learned a very valuable lesson on what happens to a foolish woman who trusts someone with her heart. It was something she would never do again. In fact, she had felt quite happy with their conversation. If he had a woman he loved that much, he would never turn his attentions to her.

It did cross her mind what her da thought about Archie Sinclair and his lemman, but she was sure the man would not be crass enough to bring the woman to their wedding in a fortnight.

She was happy, her betrothed was happy and her da was happy.

Then as she'd had time to think it over, she realized what an indignity she'd been presented with. Although she had no desire to find love in a marriage, a bit of respect would have been nice.

She sighed and walked away from the window. If everyone was happy, why did she feel cheated?