Love Saves A Highland Spy: Ladies of Dunmore Series (A Medieval Scottish Romance Story) Read online

  Love Saves A Highland Spy

  Ladies of Dunmore Series (A Medieval Scottish Romance Story)

  Bridget Freya

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  About The Author

  LOVE SAVES A HIGHLAND SPY

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  EPILOGUE

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  Also By Bridget Freya

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  Copyright © 2018, 2019 by Bridget Freya

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author/publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover designed by Ms Melody Simmons. Author has the copyrights to this cover.

  DEDICATION

  I wisnae pushed, I didnae shove, I just met you and fell in you

  Anonymous

  * * *

  This story and future ones will be for my readers that recognise the true meaning of true love!

  Thank you for giving me this opportunity to write a different kind of Scottish Romance editorial for your entertainment pleasures.

  I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much I have enjoyed writing it!

  Have you checked out my other historical Scottish books series?

  Click the link below to get started

  *** AMAZON USA ***

  * * *

  Do you like what you have read?

  I want to hear from you!

  Please do get in touch with me:

  facebook.com/Author-Bridget-Freya

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bridget Freya has been obsessed with the Medieval time period at a young age, and started her writing on short journal.. of course the rest is history and she has never looked back.

  Her first brush with this wonderful genre was when her grandmother gave her copies of medieval romance stories by Diana Gabaldon.

  Bridget's novels are packed with mild sexual tension, twists, with lots of dialogues and an unexpected mystery elements. Read her inspirations as she explored the intricacies of the Medieval and Scottish Highlands Era.

  ~ Bridget

  LOVE SAVES A HIGHLAND SPY

  A MEDIEVAL SCOTTISH ROMANCE STORY

  * * *

  by

  BRIDGET FREYA

  PROLOGUE

  Castle Dunmore, Scotland,

  1744

  “Motherhood is truly such a joy and delight,” Colla declared, raising the teacup to her lips and taking a sip. She wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction and added another lump of sugar before stirring absentmindedly.

  “I am so pleased for ye. Really, I am! Motherhood suits ye quite nicely,” Arabella replied. It was good to see Colla in such high spirits.

  The daughter of the Laird of the MacGowan clan, Colla had been raised in wealth and prestige. However, it was clear to Arabella that none of that meant so much as this duty of motherhood.

  “Thank ye, Arabella. I never have felt something so grand as this before. To think that I have me own child to look after, a child who loves me? It’s really amazing. She grows bigger and bigger by the day!” Colla said with a sad smile. Arabella could see that she didn’t like how quickly her daughter was growing. Colla had done so well with Marian as an infant.

  “Dinnae worry, before ye ken it, ye’ll have another bairn to raise and ye’ll watch as that one and Marian grow together. I’m certain it will be even more beautiful than it is now,” Arabella said, trying to comfort her friend.

  For Arabella, comforting Colla about being a mother was not easy. She had no experience and was speaking purely from her good intentions rather than any worthwhile information. She hoped she could simply encourage her friend to enjoy the days of Marian being an infant before growing sad to lose her baby.

  Arabella knew that Grace, too, was soon to be a mother. Adeline was surely not far behind.

  The summer had been a lonely one with all her friends gone from her. She missed the days when they would ride about the castle and enjoy one another’s company. She still had Joanna, but with her, friendship was always difficult and full of mystery.

  Arabella wondered if she might ever feel the joy that Colla was feeling. She couldn’t imagine having such happiness and freedom to express it. It seemed far too great a wish to hope for.

  “And how have ye been? Since all of us have left, what is it like for ye here? Is me faither treating ye well?” Colla asked.

  Arabella nodded. “Yer faither has always been good to me. Since me parents sent me here, I was always well cared for. And now, with me mum long gone and me faither dealing with his illness far from here, yer faither is all I have, really,” Arabella confessed.

  She looked at Colla’s face, which shown with compassion. Arabella was always concerned when receiving the pity of others and she was grateful that her friend was wise enough not to let it show on her face. It was a much-needed conversation for her to express how she truly felt about all of it.

  Arabella missed her faither and knew that he would probably not live to see her again. He had been sent to far off lands where the sun was warm and bright in order to regain his health. The Scottish air had been too harsh for him in his condition.

  “Ye ken that we love that ye’re here with us. Me faither is glad to have ye as his ward. We are only sad for the circumstances that led to it. Yer mum was an amazing woman and yer faither is a man of such nobility and honor,” Colla interjected into Arabella’s thoughts.

  “Thank ye. She was and he truly is. Ye dinnae often meet a baron with the humility of me faither. I’m glad to be his daughter. I only pray that I have the fortune of seeing him again. Once more, anyway,” Arabella said with a sigh.

  “We barely kenned ye when ye came here. We’d met only a few times, aye? At a couple balls and weddings?” Colla asked, trying to remember.

  “Aye. I was right terrified when I came to live here. I was excited about
being around women me own age, young women who were of noble blood and whose import was widely kenned. But I also didnae ken if ye were all going to be kind to me! I feared that ye might not like me or that ye would all be petty and unwilling to share the house with another woman who wasnae one of yer cousins,” Arabella said with a laugh. She was so grateful that her fears had been unfounded.

  “I remember! Ye were like a terrified child! And I ken I scared ye more than any. At least Grace and Adeline are sweet and gentle. But I was far too bold with ye and ye didnae like it in the least,” Colla chuckled.

  “I think it was good for me, honestly. If ye hadnae been so bold, I’d only have hidden. Ye didnae make that a possibility. I had no choice but to come out of me shell and be friends with all of ye,” Arabella said.

  “Aye and it turned out that ye were more like me than the others realized!” Colla said.

  “More like ye? I dinnae ken about that. I’m not so bold as ye. But I suppose I do tend toward the confident side of things and I’m not as mousy as those two,” Arabella said. Her words were strong, but Colla knew her well enough to know she meant nothing harsh by them.

  “And I’m glad for it. I only wish they’d seen it as I did,” Colla replied.

  The two were quiet for a moment and Arabella’s thoughts drifted to the last time she had seen her faither. She missed him greatly, but also knew that she had to live her life and could not dwell too much on her sadness. She was at Dunmore and he was handling his health. It was all she could do to hope for his wellbeing.

  Her thoughts then transitioned to remembering the joyous love between her parents before her mother passed away during childbirth along with the brother that Arabella never came to know. It had been a tragic day for her family, and Arabella often wondered if the loss of his wife and son had been what caused her faither to grow ill.

  However, in their years together, the baron and baroness had been quite happy and joyful. Their union was a beautiful one that was renowned throughout the highlands. It was often said that no such deeply loving couple had ever been seen as those two. It made Arabella proud to hear those words. Now, as she sat with Colla, they returned to her.

  Colla’s happiness was palpable. These days, she often spoke of Marian’s beauty and the child’s grace and all that she would grow to be. Before, and even now at times, she would speak only of Beiste and what a great man he was.

  The pride in her dreamy voice would drift through the fabric of the room when she spoke of him. Her love for him, and his for her, were now what the highlanders spoke of. Beiste and Colla were a legend that none could hope to match.

  Arabella was happy for them, but she couldn’t help wondering if she would ever find that kind of love. Or the joy that came with it.

  “Anyway, what are yer plans these days? Ye’re free to roam Dunmore and ye can also visit people, but what else? There doesnae seem to be much these days among the clan. Who do ye see? What do ye do with yer time?” Colla asked.

  Arabella thought about the fact that she was quite alone. Joanna came and went, but unless she went into the village, or took a long journey to visit her friends, she had very little with which to fill her time.

  “Well, I’m quite glad ye’re here. Honestly, since Adeline left—what was it, three or four months ago?—I’ve had very little to occupy meself with. I suppose it has been rather boring. I read a lot, which ye ken I enjoy, but there’s none of the old things. It is rare that I can find anyone to accompany me on a ride. I often go alone, which displeases yer faither.

  “But overall, life is fine. I just hope that my day of adventure will come as yers did. And my time of finding a man who drives me mad with me love for him and him for me. But whether it happens or not, who am I to say?” Arabella said, ending with a determination not to let her lack of a husband stand in her way of happiness and dignity.

  Colla smiled in the bright way she always had. “My dear Arabella, ye are quite the magnificent woman. I’ve little doubt that ye’ll find a man who is suited to ye better than ye ever imagined. Ye’re exquisite. Ye’re funny and strong, but ye’re also kind. No man could ever resist ye. Not really. Dinnae go thinking anything about not finding someone because I can see that’s in yer mind and I’ll not stand for it,” Colla said with strength.

  Arabella looked down, embarrassed to be read so easily.

  “Trust me, it will not be long before someone comes into yer life who drives ye wild with foolish passion. Just dinnae let him frustrate ye unless ye’re certain he’s worth being frustrated over. I’ve seen far too many a lass hope for a man who turned out to be just a boy. I ken ye’ve more wisdom than that, but I have to warn ye against it,” Colla said, making Arabella feel a mixture of gladness to have a friend who cared and annoyance that Colla was so much farther along in life than she.

  “I’ll be wise. I’ll watch any man I’ve me heart set on long before I allow him to take me heart from me!” Arabella declared.

  “I ken ye will. In the meantime, ye have to come visit Beiste and me and play with Marian. Oh, it breaks me heart to have had to leave her behind with him while I came on this journey! But ye ken what me faither’s like and I had to come, even if it was rather inconvenient. I’ll head back in two days anyhow. But ye have to come and see them both. They would love it!” exclaimed Colla.

  “Then I shall make every effort to visit ye! I could do with a journey; some time away from here. I honestly need an adventure,” Arabella breathed with a slight whine in her voice. It seemed as if the road was calling her away from Dunmore.

  On the other hand, she knew that the moment she left, she would long to return. It was a place of safety, a place where she had been deeply cared for. The road outside was long and rough. Her heart was torn between the two options.

  “Perhaps ye could convince Joanna to join ye? We would love to see her and I’m certain Grace would want to host ye as well. Oh, of course! Her baby is due soon, ye must come after that and see the bairn and visit us all. It would be a perfect occasion for such a visit!” Colla exclaimed again, realizing the genius of her idea.

  Arabella thought it would be an ideal time to go. It would give her plenty of time to arrange things with Joanna and ensure she was ready for the journey.

  The sound of horses and a caravan were heard outside. Arabella stood and walked over to the window.

  “Oh, it must be them,” Arabella said.

  Colla sighed. “I suppose we had best go and greet them. Honestly, it’s as if me faither has a new child or something,” she complained.

  Arabella laughed. “In a way, it is! A ward is basically like taking in a new child. Dinnae tell me ye’re jealous?” Arabella teased.

  “I’ll decide when we meet the man.”

  Chapter 1

  The Meeting Of A Guest

  “Slow yerself!” Arabella insisted.

  She and Colla had been rushing to get down to the entry of the castle before stopping, straightening their backs, and slowly making their way as polite, classy women rather than the children they still resorted to at times.

  Descending the stairs like women of proper breeding, Arabella and Colla turned the final corner before the new ward of the laird came into view.

  Immediately, Arabella’s breath caught in her chest.

  The man at the base of the stairs, currently being greeted by the Laird of the Clan MacGowan, was stunningly handsome. His strong form was tall and broad. Clearly, he held his position of soldier in high regard for the way he must have worked to become the muscled man he was.

  His pale red hair left no doubt as to his Scots heritage and the way it traveled to the scruff along his chin only accentuated his jaw. The deep brown eyes looked searching and wise, but with a glint of liveliness that seemed to shine.

  Arabella sensed the glance she received from Colla and pulled her eyes from the man to smile nonchalantly at her friend. In return, Colla gave her a knowing look that made it clear to Arabella that she could not hide from her frien
d the fact that she noticed the new ward.

  “Ah, and here is me daughter, Colla,” said the laird, introducing the man.

  “Nice to meet ye, Lady MacGowan,” he said with a smile.

  “And ye as well, but me name’s Mrs. Brewer now,” Colla corrected him.

  “And this is Francis McNeil,” the laird said, finally revealing the name of the guest that had Arabella waiting. “Francis, of course, is the heir to the lairdship of Inveroch!”

  The announcement was a surprise to Arabella. She knew that it must be difficult for him to be in Dunmore, away from the lands he was soon to rule. Until he took the lairdship, he would likely struggle being so far. However, knowing that both his parents must be dead, bringing him here, perhaps some time away would be good for him.

  “And me other ward, Arabella Greerson. She has been Colla’s companion for many years now. Sadly, she is the last of the young ladies living at Dunmore,” the laird said.